By: Israel (Senate Sponsor - Watson) H.B. No. 1764
         (In the Senate - Received from the House May 10, 2017;
  May 10, 2017, read first time and referred to Committee on
  Transportation; May 19, 2017, reported adversely, with favorable
  Committee Substitute by the following vote:  Yeas 8, Nays 0;
  May 19, 2017, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
 
  COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR H.B. No. 1764 By:  Hall
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
 
  relating to the operation of metropolitan rapid transit
  authorities.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 451.110(c), Transportation Code, is
  amended to read as follows:
         (c)  Subsection (a) does not apply to a contract for:
               (1)  an amount less than or equal to the simplified
  acquisition threshold as defined by the Federal Acquisition
  Regulation (48 C.F.R. Section 2.101) or a successor regulation
  [$50,000 or less];
               (2)  the purchase of real property;
               (3)  personal or professional services; or
               (4)  the acquisition of an existing transit system.
         SECTION 2.  Section 451.111(a), Transportation Code, is
  amended to read as follows:
         (a)  Except as provided by Subchapter Q, unless the posting
  requirement in Subsection (b) is satisfied, a board may not let a
  contract that is:
               (1)  for more than the simplified acquisition threshold
  as defined by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (48 C.F.R. Section
  2.101) or a successor regulation [$50,000]; and
               (2)  for:
                     (A)  the purchase of real property; or
                     (B)  consulting or professional services.
         SECTION 3.  Section 451.133(a), Transportation Code, is
  amended to read as follows:
         (a)  An authority may not spend for capital improvements
  money in excess of the total amounts [amount] allocated for major
  capital expenditures in the current and preceding annual budgets of
  the authority [budget].
         SECTION 4.  Section 451.362, Transportation Code, is amended
  by amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (e) to read as
  follows:
         (a)  Notwithstanding other provisions of this chapter and
  except as provided by Subsections (c), [and] (d), and (e), the
  board, by order or resolution, may issue bonds that are secured by
  revenue or taxes of the authority if the bonds:
               (1)  have a term of not more than 12 months; and
               (2)  are payable only from revenue or taxes received on
  or after the date of their issuance and before the end of the fiscal
  year following the fiscal year in which the bonds are issued.
         (e)  In an authority confirmed before July 1, 1985, in which
  the principal municipality has a population of less than one
  million, bonds may have a term of not more than 15 years.  The bonds
  are payable only from revenue received on or after the date the
  bonds are issued.
         SECTION 5.  Sections 451.455(h) and (i), Transportation
  Code, are amended to read as follows:
         (h)  The number of accidents per 100,000 miles is computed by
  multiplying the annual number of accidents by 100,000 and dividing
  the product by the number of miles for all service, including
  charter and nonrevenue service, [directly operated by the
  authority] for the same period. In this subsection, "accident"
  includes:
               (1)  a collision that involves an authority's revenue
  vehicle, other than a lawfully parked revenue vehicle, and that
  results in property damage, injury, or death; and
               (2)  an incident that results in the injury or death of
  a person on board or boarding or alighting from an authority's
  revenue vehicle.
         (i)  The number of miles between mechanical road calls is
  computed by dividing the annual number of miles for all service
  [directly operated by an authority], including charter and
  nonrevenue service, by the number of mechanical road calls for the
  same period. In this subsection, "mechanical road call" means an
  interruption in revenue service that is caused by revenue vehicle
  equipment failure that requires assistance from a person other than
  the vehicle operator before the vehicle can be operated normally.
         SECTION 6.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.
 
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