H. B. 2496
(By Delegates Caputo, Talbott and Hatfield)
[Introduced January 9, 2008; referred to the
Committee on Industry and Labor, Economic Development and
Small Business then Government Organization.]
A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated §5-22-3, relating to
requiring contractors awarded state public works construction
projects to meet time restrictions for the completion of a
public works construction project; defining "public works
construction contract"; providing a monetary penalty for
failure to complete a public works construction project on the
agreed-upon completion date; providing exceptions in which
extensions may be granted; providing limitations upon an
increase in contract price, or extension of time to complete
a project, in the event of change orders; and directing the
Secretary of the Department of Administration to propose
legislative rules designed to implement the law.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated §5-22-3, to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 22. GOVERNMENT CONSTRUCTION CONTRACTS.
§5-22-3. Requirement of on-time completion of construction
contracts
.
(a) Every public works construction contract shall include a
provision which requires the contractor awarded the contract to
complete the construction project by an agreed-upon completion
date. For the purposes of this section,
"public works construction
contract" means any contract between a private contractor and any
public agency of this state for the construction, reconstruction,
establishment, acquisition, improvement, renovation, extension,
enlargement, increase, equipment, maintenance and repair (including
replacements) of facilities, buildings, engineering and
architectural works, museums, other public buildings, incinerator
plants, land-fill or other garbage disposal systems, hospitals,
piers, docks, terminals, airports, drainage systems, flood control
systems, floodwalls, sewers, culverts, bridges (including
approaches, causeways, viaducts, underpasses and connecting
roadways), public markets, cemeteries, motor vehicle parking
facilities (including parking lots, buildings, ramps, curb-line
parking, meters and other facilities deemed necessary, appropriate,
useful, convenient or incidental to the regulation, control and
parking of motor vehicles), stadiums, gymnasiums, sports arenas, auditoriums, public recreation centers, public recreation parks,
swimming pools, roller-skating rinks, ice-skating rinks, tennis
courts, golf courses, polo grounds or other public improvements, or
the grading, regrading, paving, repaving, surfacing, resurfacing,
curbing, recurbing, widening or otherwise improving of any highway,
street, avenue, road, alley, sidewalk, way and any other structure,
facility or improvement constructed or undertaken by a public
agency.
(b) All public works construction contracts shall include a
provision requiring completion of the project by a certain date,
including a monetary penalty of not less than one thousand dollars
per day for every day that passes beyond the agreed-upon completion
date.
(c) A request for an extension of time beyond an agreed upon
completion date may only be granted in the event of an
unforeseeable emergency, to accommodate significant changes made by
the public agency with which the contract exists, or because of the
fortuitous existence of extreme inclement weather conditions:
Provided, That, for the purpose of this section "extreme inclement
weather conditions" means the existence of meteorological elements
and conditions that vary, at least ten percent beyond the average
meteorological elements and conditions for the particular temporal
period at issue, based on the recorded meteorological elements and
conditions of the previous ten years, which so demonstrably hamper the necessary activities for completion of the project, consistent
with applicable industry standards, that the requirement of
completion on the agreed upon date becomes unreasonable.
(d) In the event of change orders for related additional
services, extensions may not be granted which exceed twenty
percent, either as to an increase to the original contract price,
or as to an extension of time relative to the agreed upon
completion date: Provided, That in the event an additional service
is expressly included as an option in the original contract, the
restrictions contained in this subsection do not apply unless
expressly provided in the contract.
(e) The Secretary of the Department of Administration shall
propose rules for legislative approval in accordance with the
provisions of article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code
designed to implement the provisions of this section.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to
require that each state
public works contract include a provision requiring a definitive
completion date and that contractors awarded such contracts be
required to meet the time restriction. The bill also defines
"public works construction contract" and provides a monetary
penalty for failure to complete a public works construction project
on the agreed-upon completion date. It also provides exceptions in
which extensions may be granted while providing limitations upon an
increase in the contract price or extension of time to complete a
project in the event of change orders. Finally, it directs the
Secretary of the Department of Administration to propose
legislative rules designed to implement the law.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.