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Committee backs administration tweaks to Transportation Modernization Act to authorize emergency use of alternative delivery tools
Summary
The committee unanimously approved House Bill 1320, an administration bill that would amend the Transportation Modernization Act to let TDOT commissioners declare emergencies enabling alternative procurement tools and to change scoring and communication rules for selection committees. The bill moves to calendar rules.
House Bill 1320, an administration bill to amend the Transportation Modernization Act (TMA), was approved by the House Transportation Committee on March 4, 2025, and will be placed on the calendar rules docket.
A presenter described the bill as technical changes intended to make the TMA more useful for the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) based on post-disaster experience. The Transportation Modernization Act, enacted in 2023, gave TDOT alternative delivery tools such as construction manager/general contractor (CMGC) and progressive design-build that the department used during Hurricane Helene response. Committee testimony said the bill would "tweak" the TMA to allow selection committee members to communicate with each other and to permit scoring to be compiled and totaled rather than averaged. The proposed change also would allow the TDOT commissioner to declare an emergency and use alternative delivery methods in statute rather than requiring a separate gubernatorial executive order.
The presenter explained the practical purpose: previous statutory language constrained communication and emergency use of progressive delivery tools; the bill would codify the emergency authority the department used after Hurricane Helene and revise committee scoring procedures to reduce potential bias.
The clerk reported "21 ayes" on the electronic vote. The committee recorded no amendments on the floor and referred the bill to calendar rules.
The committee did not place a deadline for subsequent action during the hearing. The bill as presented focuses on procurement and internal TDOT procedures and does not change the existence of the TMA; it proposes revisions to how and when existing tools may be used.
