By: Raney (Senate Sponsor - Alvarado) H.B. No. 3989
(In the Senate - Received from the House April 24, 2023;
May 2, 2023, read first time and referred to Committee on
Transportation; May 11, 2023, reported favorably by the following
vote: Yeas 8, Nays 0; May 11, 2023, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the adoption of a policy on the preclusion of private
design professionals from contracting with the Texas Department of
Transportation.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter F, Chapter 2261, Government Code, is
amended by adding Section 2261.260 to read as follows:
Sec. 2261.260. TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
PRECLUSION POLICY FOR PRIVATE DESIGN PROFESSIONALS. (a) In this
section, "private design professional" has the meaning assigned by
Section 2252.905.
(b) Before the Texas Department of Transportation may make a
determination under this subchapter that a private design
professional is precluded from performing a contract for
architectural or engineering services or from participating in a
procurement for those services, the department must adopt a written
preclusion policy.
(c) A policy under this section must:
(1) be published or distributed in a manner that
ensures that private design professionals in this state are aware
of the policy;
(2) provide that the private design professional be
notified in writing at the time the Texas Department of
Transportation determines that a potential basis for preclusion
exists; and
(3) provide for an appeals process by which the
private design professional is given a reasonable amount of time to
establish that no basis for preclusion under the policy exists.
SECTION 2. The changes in law made by this Act apply only to
a contract entered into on or after the effective date of this Act.
A contract entered into before the effective date of this Act is
governed by the law in effect on the date the contract was entered
into, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.
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