WTAGC

News Bulletin 

AGC Report Card – From the Texas Building Branch, AGC

The 81^st Texas Legislature ended June 1^st
There are three AGC issues headed to Governor Perry

1^st – the recovery of attorney fees bill  (HB 987 by Representative Brandon Creighton) has been approved by both the senate and house and heads to Governor Perry.  This bill will allow for the recovery of attorney fees where a local governmental entity breaches a contract.  Senator Royce West did an outstanding job in working with AGC to make sure we got this bill with attorney fees passed.  Senator West added the amendment in the senate.

2^nd – school background checks  (HB 2730 - DPS Sunset Bill) by Representative Kolkhorst/Senator Hinojosa included an amendment from AGC that makes each employer responsible for making the background checks on their own employees. The bill is headed to Governor Perry for his signature.  We want to thank Representative Kolkhorst for initially putting the amendment in the house version of the bill.  We thank Rep. Patrick Rose for doing a lot of lifting in the house in making sure that the amendment stayed hitched to the wagon.  Over in the senate, Senator Glen Hegar and Senator Chuy Hinojosa played a big role.  Senator Hegar took care of the amendment in the senate version of the bill. Senator Hinojosa, as the senate sponsor of the bill, did the heavy lifting on the floor as our amendment was added along with 25 other amendments.  This became a 400-plus page bill in the end.  Senator Hinojosa and Senator Hegar were very helpful in making sure the correct version of the amendment stayed in the final conference committee report.  This bill is headed to the governor.

3^rd – Limitation on local preference law  HB 2082 by Representative Carl Isett will limit the local 5% bidders preference statute to contracts that are under $100,000.  This local bidders preference is available only to cities under 250,000 population and school districts that are headquartered in these cities.  This bill is currently on the governor’s desk.

For more information on legislative issues go to www.agctbb.org.

CRAIG WALLACE CONSTRUCTION – 1^ST PLACE WINNER

Craig Wallace Construction, LLC has won first place in the 2008-2009 Texas Building Branch – AGC Outstanding Construction Awards Design Build Category ($1 - $10M) for the AIM Bank Levelland Branch.  The projects required an extensive submittal and were judged by a distinguished five member panel, all involved in various phases of construction in Texas.   The award will be presented at the Texas Building Branch – AGC 32^nd annual convention in Vancouver, British Columbia on July 21^st.  Congratulations for this distinguished and well deserved award!

The following outstanding projects were West Texas Chapter award winners and proudly recommended for consideration in the State Outstanding Awards Contest.

Texas Specialty Hospitals at Lubbock ($5-$10M)                                     Craig Wallace Construction, Lubbock, TX

Brownwood Middle School Additions & Renovations ($5-$10M)       Waldrop Construction, Brownwood, TX

Brownwood High School Additions & Renovations ($10-$30M)         Waldrop Construction, Brownwood, TX

We are very proud of these contractors as well as the many suppliers and subcontractors who were part of building these projects.  Congratulations to each and every one!

For more information on the TBB Annual Conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, go to www.tbbagc.org.

More news at www.agc.org.