The 2024 legislative session begins on February 5th and is scheduled to adjourn on March 10. This is a 35 day short session because it is an even numbered year. The intent of these short session is to handle emergencies and make minor tweaks to the budget. Consequently, there are far fewer bills and generally not new or sweeping bills.
So far, the only public purchasing bill I have heard of is a bill that will be in the House Committee on Business and Labor. While I have not seen the text of it, it appears to be the extension of a concept introduced in the 2023 session and a coalition of labor and construction has been working on this.
This bill relates to Surety bonds and retainage and has three main provisions:
- Requires contracting agencies to accept surety bonds from contractors in lieu of retainage for construction projects
- Specifies requirements for the surety bonds
- Specifies the relationship between the contractor and subcontractor when the contractor submits a bond on behalf of the subcontractor
More updates will be coming as we get to the start of the session.