BILL REQ. #: H-2684.1
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SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 1957
_____________________________________________State of Washington | 60th Legislature | 2007 Regular Session |
By House Committee on Transportation (originally sponsored by Representative Eddy; by request of Department of Transportation)READ FIRST TIME 3/5/07.
AN ACT Relating to bond amounts for department of transportation
highway contracts; amending RCW 39.08.030; and providing an expiration
date.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec. 1 RCW 39.08.030 and 2003 c 301 s 4 are each amended to read
as follows:
(1) The bond mentioned in RCW 39.08.010 shall be in an amount equal
to the full contract price agreed to be paid for such work or
improvement, except under subsections (2) and (3) of this section, and
shall be to the state of Washington, except as otherwise provided in
RCW 39.08.100, and except in cases of cities and towns, in which cases
such municipalities may by general ordinance fix and determine the
amount of such bond and to whom such bond shall run: PROVIDED, The
same shall not be for a less amount than twenty-five percent of the
contract price of any such improvement, and may designate that the same
shall be payable to such city, and not to the state of Washington, and
all such persons mentioned in RCW 39.08.010 shall have a right of
action in his, her, or their own name or names on such bond for work
done by such laborers or mechanics, and for materials furnished or
provisions and goods supplied and furnished in the prosecution of such
work, or the making of such improvements: PROVIDED, That such persons
shall not have any right of action on such bond for any sum whatever,
unless within thirty days from and after the completion of the contract
with an acceptance of the work by the affirmative action of the board,
council, commission, trustees, officer, or body acting for the state,
county or municipality, or other public body, city, town or district,
the laborer, mechanic or subcontractor, or materialman, or person
claiming to have supplied materials, provisions or goods for the
prosecution of such work, or the making of such improvement, shall
present to and file with such board, council, commission, trustees or
body acting for the state, county or municipality, or other public
body, city, town or district, a notice in writing in substance as
follows:
Such notice shall be signed by the person or corporation making the
claim or giving the notice, and said notice, after being presented and
filed, shall be a public record open to inspection by any person, and
in any suit or action brought against such surety or sureties by any
such person or corporation to recover for any of the items hereinbefore
specified, the claimant shall be entitled to recover in addition to all
other costs, attorney's fees in such sum as the court shall adjudge
reasonable: PROVIDED, HOWEVER, That no attorney's fees shall be
allowed in any suit or action brought or instituted before the
expiration of thirty days following the date of filing of the notice
hereinbefore mentioned: PROVIDED FURTHER, That any city may avail
itself of the provisions of RCW 39.08.010 through 39.08.030,
notwithstanding any charter provisions in conflict herewith: AND
PROVIDED FURTHER, That any city or town may impose any other or further
conditions and obligations in such bond as may be deemed necessary for
its proper protection in the fulfillment of the terms of the contract
secured thereby, and not in conflict herewith.
(2) Under the job order contracting procedure described in RCW
39.10.130, bonds will be in an amount not less than the dollar value of
all open work orders.
(3)(a) On highway construction contracts administered by the
department of transportation with an estimated contract price of eighty
million dollars or more, the department shall fix the amount of the
bond to adequately protect one hundred percent of the state's exposure
to loss. The amount of the bond shall not be less than eighty million
dollars.
(b) The department shall develop risk assessment guidelines before
implementing (a) of this subsection and gain approval of those
guidelines from the office of financial management. The guidelines
must include a clear process for how the department measures the
state's exposure to loss and how the bond amount, determined under (a)
of this subsection, adequately protects one hundred percent of the
state's exposure to loss.
(c) If the office of financial management approves the risk
management guidelines in (b) of this subsection, the secretary of
transportation must approve each bond issued for less than the full
contract price of a project.
(d) The department shall report to the house of representatives and
senate transportation committees by December 1, 2008, regarding: The
number of projects where the department authorized bonds for less than
the full contract price; the difference between the project amount and
the bond requirement; the number of bidders on the project; and other
information that documents the effects of the reduced bond amounts on
the project.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2 This act expires June 30, 2011.
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