H-1341.1          _______________________________________________

                            SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 1026

                  _______________________________________________

State of Washington              53rd Legislature             1993 Regular Session

By House Committee on Local Government (originally sponsored by Representatives Ludwig, H. Myers, Chandler, Bray, Edmondson and Springer)

Read first time 02/10/93. 

Excepting public defender services from county competitive bid requirements.

     AN ACT Relating to counties contracting for public defender services; and amending RCW 36.32.245.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

     Sec. 1.  RCW 36.32.245 and 1991 c 363 s 62 are each amended to read as follows:

     (1) No contract for the purchase of materials, equipment, supplies, or services may be entered into by the county legislative authority or by any elected or appointed officer of the county until after bids have been submitted to the county.  Bid specifications shall be in writing and shall be filed with the clerk of the county legislative authority for public inspection.  An advertisement shall be published in the official newspaper of the county stating the time and place where bids will be opened, the time after which bids will not be received, the materials, equipment, supplies, or services to be purchased, and that the specifications may be seen at the office of the clerk of the county legislative authority.  The advertisement shall be published at least once at least ten days prior to the last date upon which bids will be received.

     (2) The bids shall be in writing and filed with the clerk.  The bids shall be opened and read in public at the time and place named in the advertisement.  Immediately after the award is made, the bid quotations shall be recorded and open to public inspection and shall be available by telephone inquiry.  Any or all bids may be rejected for good cause.

     (3) For advertisement and formal sealed bidding to be dispensed with as to purchases between two thousand five hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars, the county legislative authority must use the uniform process to award contracts as provided in RCW 39.04.190.

     (4) This section does not apply to performance-based contracts, as defined in RCW 39.35A.020(3), that are negotiated under chapter 39.35A RCW; or contracts and purchases for the printing of election ballots, voting machine labels, and all other election material containing the names of candidates and ballot titles.

     (5) Nothing in this section shall prohibit the legislative authority of any county from allowing for preferential purchase of products made from recycled materials or products that may be recycled or reused.

(6) This section does not apply to contracting for public defender services by a county with a population of less than one hundred seventy-five thousand.

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