Could Texas counties, cities, hospital districts, and school districts buy products or services from disabled-person programs without competitive bidding?
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This page answers the general question as of 1986. Ezel answers yours: what it means for your facts, under current Texas law, with citations.
Texas AG Opinion JM-444: Purchases from Disabled-Person Programs
Plain-English summary
Human Resources Code section 122.014 allowed political subdivisions to substitute equivalent products or services produced by blind or severely disabled persons and said nonprofit agencies serving those workers were not required to engage in competitive bidding. Source: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1986/jm0444.pdf
The request asked whether counties, cities, hospital districts, and school districts could use that provision when their general purchasing statutes otherwise required competitive bidding. Source: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1986/jm0444.pdf
JM-444 answered yes. The specific disabled-vendor purchasing exception prevailed over the more general bidding statutes for each type of political subdivision. Source: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1986/jm0444.pdf
Currency note
This opinion was issued in 1986. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.
Common questions
Did the exception apply only to counties?
No. JM-444 extended the same reasoning to cities, hospital districts, and school districts because their bidding laws were also general statutes. Source: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1986/jm0444.pdf
Why did section 122.014 control?
The opinion applied the rule that a specific statute prevails over a general statute addressing the same subject. Section 122.014 specifically governed purchases of products and services produced by blind or severely disabled persons. Source: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1986/jm0444.pdf
Did a nonprofit disabled-person program have to compete for the contract?
No. The statute expressly said nothing in the chapter required such a nonprofit agency to engage in competitive bidding. Source: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1986/jm0444.pdf
Background and statutory framework
Section 122.014 let political subdivisions buy through their authorized purchasing procedures while substituting equivalent products or services produced under the disabled-person procurement chapter. Source: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1986/jm0444.pdf
The opinion identified general competitive-bidding provisions for counties, cities, hospital districts, and school districts and concluded that they did not apply to purchases made under the more specific Human Resources Code provision. Source: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1986/jm0444.pdf
Citations and references
- Human Resources Code section 122.014
- article 2368a, V.T.C.S., section 2
- article 4494q, V.T.C.S., section 34
- Education Code section 21.901
Source: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1986/jm0444.pdf
Source
- Landing page: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/opinions/jim-mattox/jm-0444
- Original PDF: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1986/jm0444.pdf
Original opinion text
Best-effort transcription from a scanned PDF via OCR. Minor errors may remain; the linked PDF is authoritative.
The Attorney General of Texas
JIM MATTOX
Attorney General
February 21, 1986
Mr. Gibson DuTerroil
Chairperson
Texas Committee on Purchases of Products and Services of Blind and Severely Disabled Persons
314 Highland Mall Boulevard
Suite 258
Austin, Texas 78752
Opinion No. JM-444
Re: Applicability to counties, cities, hospital districts, and school districts of chapter 122 of the Human Resources Code, which relates to the procurement of the products or services of disabled individuals
Dear Mr. DuTerroil:
You ask about the apparent conflict between a statute that allows political subdivisions to purchase products or services produced by disabled persons without engaging in competitive bidding and statutes that require certain political subdivisions to engage in competitive bidding.
Section 122.014 of the Human Resources Code provides:
A product manufactured for sale to a political subdivision of this state or an office or department thereof shall be manufactured or produced according to specifications developed by the purchaser. A political subdivision of this state may purchase products or services for its use from private businesses through its authorized purchasing procedures, but may substitute equivalent products or services produced by blind or other severely disabled persons under the provisions of this chapter. Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to require a nonprofit agency for blind or other severely disabled persons to engage in competitive bidding. (Emphasis added).
You ask whether counties, cities, school districts, and hospital districts may purchase products or services from the disabled without engaging in competitive bidding pursuant to section 122.014 even under circumstances in which other statutes require them to engage in competitive bidding.
In Attorney General Opinion JM-385 (1985), we considered whether a county was required to comply with the competitive bidding procedure set out in the County Purchasing Act, article 2368a, V.T.C.S., before it could purchase goods or services from the disabled pursuant to section 122.014 of the Human Resources Code. Because specific statutes prevail over general statutes on the same subject, we concluded that the specific exception from competitive bidding set out in section 122.014 of the Human Resources Code prevailed over the general requirements of the County Purchasing Act when the county purchased goods or services from the disabled.
The same reasoning applies to the other political subdivisions you ask about. General statutes require cities, hospitals, and school districts to engage in competitive bidding before they make certain purchases. V.T.C.S. art. 2368a, § 2 (cities); V.T.C.S. art. 4494q, § 34 (hospital districts); Educ. Code § 21.901 (school districts). Those general statutes are inapplicable, however, to a situation in which one of those subdivisions purchases goods or services pursuant to section 122.014 of the Human Resources Code.
SUMMARY
General statutes that require counties, cities, hospital districts, and school districts to engage in competitive bidding in order to make certain purchases do not apply to purchases such political subdivisions make pursuant to section 122.014 of the Human Resources Code.
Very truly yours,
JIM MATTOX
Attorney General of Texas
JACK HIGHTOWER
First Assistant Attorney General
MARY KELLER
Executive Assistant Attorney General
ROBERT GRAY
Special Assistant Attorney General
RICK GILPIN
Chairman, Opinion Committee
Prepared by Sarah Woelk
Assistant Attorney General
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