By: Capriglione H.B. No. 223
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to exemptions to competitive requirements for purchases of
certain services by a municipality.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 252.022, Local Government Code, is
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 252.022. GENERAL EXEMPTIONS. (a) This chapter does
not apply to an expenditure for:
(1) a procurement made because of a public calamity
that requires the immediate appropriation of money to relieve the
necessity of the municipality's residents or to preserve the
property of the municipality;
(2) a procurement necessary to preserve or protect the
public health or safety of the municipality's residents;
(3) a procurement necessary because of unforeseen
damage to public machinery, equipment, or other property;
(4) except for a procurement for lobbying, government
relations, or similar services intended to influence state or
federal lawmakers on behalf of a municipality, a procurement for
personal, professional, or planning services;
(5) a procurement for work that is performed and paid
for by the day as the work progresses;
(6) a purchase of land or a right-of-way;
(7) a procurement of items that are available from
only one source, including:
(A) items that are available from only one source
because of patents, copyrights, secret processes, or natural
monopolies;
(B) films, manuscripts, or books;
(C) gas, water, and other utility services;
(D) captive replacement parts or components for
equipment;
(E) books, papers, and other library materials
for a public library that are available only from the persons
holding exclusive distribution rights to the materials; and
(F) management services provided by a nonprofit
organization to a municipal museum, park, zoo, or other facility to
which the organization has provided significant financial or other
benefits;
(8) a purchase of rare books, papers, and other
library materials for a public library;
(9) paving drainage, street widening, and other public
improvements, or related matters, if at least one-third of the cost
is to be paid by or through special assessments levied on property
that will benefit from the improvements;
(10) a public improvement project, already in
progress, authorized by the voters of the municipality, for which
there is a deficiency of funds for completing the project in
accordance with the plans and purposes authorized by the voters;
(11) a payment under a contract by which a developer
participates in the construction of a public improvement as
provided by Subchapter C, Chapter 212;
(12) personal property sold:
(A) at an auction by a state licensed auctioneer;
(B) at a going out of business sale held in
compliance with Subchapter F, Chapter 17, Business & Commerce Code;
(C) by a political subdivision of this state, a
state agency of this state, or an entity of the federal government;
or
(D) under an interlocal contract for cooperative
purchasing administered by a regional planning commission
established under Chapter 391;
(13) services performed by blind or severely disabled
persons;
(14) goods purchased by a municipality for subsequent
retail sale by the municipality;
(15) electricity; or
(16) advertising, other than legal notices.
(b) This chapter does not apply to bonds or warrants issued
under Subchapter A, Chapter 571.
(c) This chapter does not apply to expenditures by a
municipally owned electric or gas utility or unbundled divisions of
a municipally owned electric or gas utility in connection with any
purchases by the municipally owned utility or divisions of a
municipally owned utility made in accordance with procurement
procedures adopted by a resolution of the body vested with
authority for management and operation of the municipally owned
utility or its divisions that sets out the public purpose to be
achieved by those procedures. This subsection may not be deemed to
exempt a municipally owned utility from any other applicable
statute, charter provision, or ordinance.
(d) This chapter does not apply to an expenditure described
by Section 252.021(a) if the governing body of a municipality
determines that a method described by Chapter 2269, Government
Code, provides a better value for the municipality with respect to
that expenditure than the procedures described in this chapter and
the municipality adopts and uses a method described in that chapter
with respect to that expenditure.
SECTION 2. The changes in Section 252.022, Local Government
Code, as made by this Act, apply only to a contract for procurement
made on or after September 1, 2025. A contract for procurement made
before September 1, 2025, is governed by the law as it existed
immediately before the effective date of this Act, and that law is
continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.