Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Payments Contracts topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Committee adopts substitute for bill to speed payments to contractors, delays effective date to 2026
Summary
The House Community and Regional Affairs Committee adopted a committee substitute for House Bill 113 that lengthens vendor payment deadlines to 30 days, aligns private-contractor interest accrual with the bill, narrows the grant definition, removes a mandated 20% advance within 10 days, and delays the bill's effective date to July 1, 2026.
The House Community and Regional Affairs Committee on April 10 adopted a committee substitute for House Bill 113, a measure that changes how and when state and local entities pay contractors and grant recipients.
Ella Lubin, staff to the bill sponsor, told the committee that the substitute makes five main changes: "All instances of a 21 payment deadline have been removed and replaced with a 30 day payment deadline," it amends Alaska Statute 36.92.00(b) to align private-contractor interest accrual with the bill, it replaces "transfer anything of value" with "provide funds" in the grant definition, it removes a prior requirement for a 20% advance within 10 days, and it delays the effective date to July 1, 2026.
The committee substitute also includes language intended to remove an "unintended liminal period" between payment deadlines and the start of interest accrual for private contractors under existing statute, Lubin said. Committee members asked whether the change would affect fiscal notes; staff said departments had been notified but revised fiscal notes had not yet been published.
Co-chair Donna Mears moved to adopt the substitute as the working document. After an explanation and opportunity for questions from members including Representative Holland and Representative Prox, the committee adopted the substitute by unanimous consent with no roll-call tally recorded in the hearing transcript.
The committee set no immediate amendment deadline and indicated staff and sponsors would continue to work on the bill before future action. No formal vote count was recorded in the transcript; the motion was handled by objection/withdrawal and adoption by the chair.
Background and next steps: HB 113 was in its fourth hearing and the committee substitute served as the working draft. Staff said the 30-day change was intended to "streamline the bill itself regardless of fund source" and to harmonize payment and interest rules across private contractors, nonprofits, municipalities and tribes. The committee did not adopt further amendments at this hearing.
Because the substitute delays the bill's effective date to July 1, 2026, any implementation timeline will depend on subsequent action by the Legislature and any administrative rulemaking or departmental procedures that follow final passage.
