2025 · Regular session · House bill
HB2791
HB2791 gives the Texas Workforce Commission express authority to buy goods and services connected with its vocational-rehabilitation work using commission-approved purchasing methods that provide the best value.
Official caption: Relating to powers and duties of the Texas Workforce Commission with respect to the procurement of goods and services for the provision of vocational rehabilitation services.
Official report lists House author(s): Button, Bell, Keith, Longoria, Lopez, Janie, Harris Davila. This does not identify sponsors or amendment drafters.
Bill explanation published · Version and amendment review scope is stated below · Individual amendment records may not be separately annotated.
Bill highlights
Selected points from the published explanation. Follow each point to its source-linked context; conditions and limits may matter.
- HB2791 gives the Texas Workforce Commission express authority to buy goods and services connected with its vocational-rehabilitation work using commission-approved purchasing methods that provide the best value.
- Best value is not simply the lowest purchase price.
- TWC may adopt purchasing rules, including open-enrollment contracting with multiple vendors when it determines that serves the state's best interests.
What does it do?
HB2791 gives the Texas Workforce Commission express authority to buy goods and services connected with its vocational-rehabilitation work using commission-approved purchasing methods that provide the best value. It took effect June 20, 2025, and applies only to acquisitions made on or after that date. It does not itself change who qualifies for rehabilitation services. Final law
Best value is not simply the lowest purchase price. TWC must consider all relevant factors and document that consideration: installation and training costs, delivery, quality and reliability, recipients’ needs, vendors’ ability and past performance, maintenance, long-term costs, staff productivity, purchase price, and effects on compliance with purchasing laws for historically underutilized businesses and persons with disabilities. The list also allows other relevant factors.
TWC may adopt purchasing rules, including open-enrollment contracting with multiple vendors when it determines that serves the state’s best interests. If an open-market solicitation for rehabilitation goods or services in a particular area receives no responsive bids, TWC may negotiate with a qualified vendor that meets the original requirements—but only after a written finding that an open-market award is unavailable. The price must be consistent with current market value and the contract term cannot exceed five years. That five-year limit belongs to this no-responsive-bid route, not every contract authorized by the bill.
What changed along the way?
The House committee substitute made consideration of all relevant best-value factors mandatory rather than permissive. It expressly covered goods as well as services in the contracting authority, removed the filed version’s limitation of the no-bid fallback to hospital goods or services, and assigned the written finding and award to the commission. It also added the prospective-acquisitions rule. These are changes that survived into law, not separate benefits promised by the filed bill. Filed text; committee text
The House-passed, Senate committee and enrolled operative texts match the House substitute. The amendment index lists no floor amendments. The House passed it 125–19, with one present but not voting; the Senate passed it 30–1. The governor signed it June 20, and the votes satisfied the immediate-effect requirement. All text versions; official history
For the full amendment record, open the official amendment index.
Official bill versions
Compare the published text versions in the official text index. A change is not attributed to a specific amendment here without a verified record.
Who could benefit—and who could bear the costs?
People receiving vocational-rehabilitation services may benefit if multiple-vendor purchasing or the no-responsive-bid fallback improves access to suitable goods and services, especially where vendors are scarce. Suppliers may gain contracting opportunities. These are possible practical effects, not guaranteed service levels or payments.
Greater purchasing discretion also makes documented value judgments, vendor qualification and price checks important. TWC bears those administrative responsibilities; the bill does not authorize simply ignoring the original solicitation when using the fallback.
The May 2 fiscal note, the latest listed, anticipates no significant state or local fiscal effect and assumes costs can be absorbed with existing resources. The March 24 and April 2 notes agree. No quantified savings or additional appropriation is specified.
Official sources
- Bill history and latest recorded action
- Bill versions, analyses and fiscal notes
- Action history and votes
- Amendment index
Catalog report retrieved 2026-10-25. Check the official record for corrections or later changes.
