Legislative Update: Design-Build Advocacy Across the Southwest Region - April 11, 2025

The DBIA Southwest Region continues to track significant legislative activity affecting design-build project delivery across Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana. Recent developments underscore both opportunities and threats to the growth of design-build in public infrastructure projects. Here’s a breakdown of what’s moving, what we support, and where your voice is needed most.

Texas: Expanding and Defending Design-Build

Supportive Legislation

Several bills aim to expand access to design-build—particularly Progressive Design-Build—for water and wastewater (W/WW) projects:

• SB 553 (Flores) – Authorizes Progressive Design-Build for W/WW projects and removes the population threshold.

  • Status: In Senate Business & Commerce Committee

• SB 1301 (Sparks) – Removes the population threshold on W/WW design-build projects.

  • Status: In Senate Business & Commerce Committee

• HB 4625 (Kitzman) – Mirrors SB 1301 for House consideration.

  • Status: In House State Affairs Committee

• HB 5582 (Troxclair) – Authorizes Progressive Design-Build for W/WW projects.

  • Status: In House State Affairs Committee

Restrictive Legislation

Unfortunately, several bills seek to limit design-build in transportation projects by reducing TXDOT’s authority to only two contracts per biennium (currently six):

• SB 1655 (Nichols) – Restricts TXDOT to two design-build contracts per biennium.

  • Status: Introduced

• SB 35 (Nichols) – Passed Senate; now in House Transportation Committee

• HB 5329 (Hunter) – House version of SB 1655

  • Status: In House Transportation Committee

Monitoring

• HB 2148 (Gervin-Hawkins) – General updates to Construction Manager-at-Risk and Design-Build methods.

  • Status: In House State Affairs Committee

Oklahoma: Capitol Complex Overhaul Bills

Oklahoma continues to pursue legislation related to the renovation and oversight of the State Capitol:

• SB 479 (Daniels) – Streamlines renovation oversight and dissolves existing committees.

  • Status: Passed Senate Committee

• SB 171 (Kirt) – Updates security and administrative oversight related to the State Capitol Building.

  • Status: In House Government Oversight Committee

Arkansas: Making CM/GC Permanent

• HB 1605 (Wing) – Would make the construction manager-general contractor (CM/GC) pilot program permanent for the state highway commission.

  • Status: Pending in House Public Transportation Committee

Louisiana: New Authority with Design-Build Powers

• SB 97 (Pressly) – Creates the Coordinated Use of Resources for Recreation, Economy, Navigation, and Transportation Authority. Grants design-build authority for implementing integrated development plans.

  • Status: In Senate Natural Resources Committee

⚖️ Why It Matters

Design-build—especially Progressive Design-Build—offers proven benefits:

• Faster project delivery

• Lower cost growth and fewer change orders

• Better risk allocation and collaboration

• Greater accountability and innovation

With infrastructure needs growing, especially in smaller communities, expanding access to design-build is more important than ever. At the same time, we must defend against legislation that would limit its use in critical sectors like transportation.

DBIA-SW will continue to provide updates and tools to support regional advocacy. Your voice, your projects, and your communities are what drive our mission—and together, we can move design-build forward across the Southwest.