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May 6, 2011 |
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24 Days Left in Legislative Session
May 12th is fast approaching, this is the last day for any House
bill to be taken up on the House Major State or Regular Calendar – local
bills will have until May 20th. The deadline for the House to consider
Senate bills is May 24th. As of this morning, the House
Calendars Committee has set calendars for today, Saturday and Monday. Any
House bill not on one of these calendars faces long odds of passage by the
Thursday deadline for second reading of the House bills. |
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Alternative Delivery Bill on Today's House Calendar The headline makes it sound real good for HB 628, the Alternative Delivery bill. AGC and our partners on this bill have endured many obstacles and hurdles that have been thrown in the bill's path this session. Several items that were holding up the bill have been removed from the legislation, so we believe we are in pretty good shape. However, it is not likely the House will reach this bill for debate today. If they do not get to it, it will roll over to the next House Calendar, but the Governor’s Loser Pays bill was knocked off the House Calendar yesterday with a point of order. Earlier today, the Governor declared this legislation an emergency item, so it now will move to the head of the list for the Saturday calendar.
To be realistic about it, we don’t expect the House to get to this bill
until next week even though it is on today’s House Calendar. That’s how
it usually is as we hit these days near the deadlines. |
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Public Private Partnership Bill Close to Heading to Governor
The P3 legislation is making its way to the home stretch and could easily
head to the Governor in a couple of weeks. The Senate version of the bill,
SB 1048, was passed out of the House Committee and is now in Calendars
waiting to be put on a House Calendar. As this is a Senate bill, it will be
taken up by the House after the May 12th deadline for House
bills. The deadline for Senate bills is May 24th. |
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HB1390-Retainage Compromise Bill in Senate
The compromise retainage notification bill, HB 1390 by Representative
Deshotel has been passed by the Texas House. HB 1390 is in the Senate
Business and Commerce Committee where its Senate companion had a hearing
back in March. It should not take long for this bill to move to the Senate
floor. AGC, ABC and TCA met with Senate staff to review the changes that
have been made in this legislation. Again, a big thank you to Robert Bass
for his help in changing this legislation. |
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Breach of Contract Update
HB 1041 by Representative Paul Workman is still in the House Calendars
Committee along with 419 other bills. Representative Workman has shifted
gears to begin looking at other bills that could be amended to add the
breach of contract language. It appears that there might be one or two
other possibilities, but the question is whether or not those bills are
going to even get near the House finish line. AGC does appreciate all the
calls and letters that have been made to the House Calendars Committee
members about HB 1041. |
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School Background Checks Bill Passes Respective Chambers
The school background checks technical corrections legislation is in real
good shape. Both versions of the bill have been passed out of their
respective bodies and are waiting for final action in the other chamber.
AGC expects that SB 1042 by Senator Hegar will be the bill that will move to
the finish line first. We expect Representative Jim Jackson to be able to
move the Senate bill out of the House Public Education Committee next week. |
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Bills on Final House Bills Calendars The following bills of interest to AGC are on one of the final House Calendars. They are in a position to cross the finish line. However, we have all witnessed the finish line crashes that have kept bills from getting across the line.
HB 51 by Representative Eddie Lucio III – deals with green building has been
set on the May 9th Calendar. |
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Calendars Committee Bills As of this morning, there are 419 bills in the House Calendars Committee. All of these bills are now looking for germane bills that are on a House Calendar. Below is a list of bills of interest to AGC that are in this category. They are on life support. HB 800 by Representative “Doc” Anderson – Interlocal Co-ops & Roofing Contracts. HB 1428 by Representative Deshotel – trust fund protection for retainage. HB 1497 by Representative Howard – reallocation of career and technology education. HB 1860 by Representative Deshotel – liens on removables. HB 2989 by Representative Deshotel – deals with employee misclassifications.
HB 3040 by Representative Chisum – deals with lender default notices. |
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Immigration Bills
The sanctuary city bill – HB 12 by Representative Burt Solomons is set to be
debated in the House today. The Senate companion to this bill, SB 11 by
Senator Tommy Williams is in Senate Transportation & Homeland Security. |
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Other AGC Bills-Indemnification and Statute of Repose HB 2010 by Representative Smithee that is the TCA/AGC indemnification legislation was heard in the House Insurance Committee two weeks ago. It has been held in the committee as pending business. The Senate version – SB 361 by Senator Duncan has passed the Senate and is also in the House Insurance Committee. We know discussions are taking place among committee members to find some language that is acceptable to be passed out of the committee. This legislation is still alive, but it is nearing life support status.
HB 958 by Representative Workman that deals with the statute of repose is
still in the House Business & Industry Committee as pending business. This
bill is dead. |
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Other Legislation HB 1987 by Representative Workman and HB 1739 by Representative Walle that deal with mandatory workers comp insurance for construction projects were heard and are still pending business in the House State Affairs Committee. These bills are dead. HB 3020 by Representative Gutierrez that calls for mandatory rest breaks on construction projects was heard and is still pending business in the House B & I Committee. This bill is dead. SB 1389 by Senator Gallegos that would require a mandatory 10 hour OSHA class for all workers on public works construction jobs was heard and is pending business in the Senate State Affairs Committee. This bill is dead.
SB 671 by Senator Gallegos that would create a state OSHA has not had a
hearing in the Senate State Affairs Committee. This bill is dead. |
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House and Senate Headed to Conference Committee on Budget
The question last week was how was the Senate going to find 21 votes to pass
the Budget bill; well it turns out they found a way to go around that
roadblock. The Senate passed its version of HB 1 on Thursday and then early
today, the House refused to accept the Senate changes. So the bill is off
for a fight in conference committee. Most observers in the Capitol believe
the House has the car keys and is in the driver’s seat on the negotiations.
The Senate would like to spend $12 Billion more in the next biennium than
their House counterparts. Most look for the Senate to blink and expect that
state general revenue funding will likely be in the neighborhood of $78
Billion which would be a cut of a little over $4 Billion from the current 2
year budget. |
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AGC Web Site Has Legislative Information
Don’t forget that the AGC TBB website –
www.agctbb.org has information about bills that are being followed by
AGC. The state’s Texas Legislature Online website -
http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/ is another good source for AGC members
to keep track of all the issues that the 82nd Texas Legislature
is dealing with this session |