(a) If the department, a county, or a municipality uses rubberized asphalt paving, the department, county, or municipality shall use scrap tires converted to rubberized asphalt paving by a facility in this state if available.
(b) In comparing bids submitted for road construction that require paving, the department, a county, or a municipality may give a preference to a bid that provides for using, as a part of the paving material, rubberized asphalt paving described by Subsection (a) if the cost of that paving material does not exceed by more than 15 percent the bid cost of alternative paving materials for the same job. The cost of the materials must be determined by a life-cycle cost benefit analysis.

(c) In this section:
(1) “Rubberized asphalt” means an asphalt material containing at least 15 percent by weight of a reacted whole scrap tire.
(2) “Scrap tire” means a tire that can no longer be used for its original intended purpose.