Payment of Undisputed Amounts on Public Works Contracts

House Bill 1195 was introduced into the 2009 Washington State Legislature. It would require public agencies to issue a change order to a contract for the full amount of additional work, or portion of additional work not in dispute within 30 days of satisfactory completion of the work by the contractor. After 30 days, interest at the rate of 1% per month would accrue on the dollar amount not in dispute. Additional work is defined as work beyond the scope defined in the original contract.

The legislation came out of discussions at the Capital Projects Advisory Review Board when contractors complained that some public agencies were not issuing change orders until the end of a project, and thus not paying the contractor for change order work performed until the end of the project.

The State Government and Tribal Affairs Committee will hear testimony on this bill at their hearing on Friday, January 23, 2009 at 1:30 p.m.