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House adopts changes to construction-contract law after amendment clarifications
Summary
Second Substitute House Bill 503, updating construction procurement language and removing fiscal-impact language tied to differing site conditions, passed the House 73–0 after amendments to clarify bonding, lien notices and default-rate language.
The House on Feb. 29 passed Second Substitute House Bill 503, a construction procurement package whose sponsors said codifies current practice and removes earlier language that created a fiscal impact by mandating certain terms for differing site conditions. Representative Morley introduced Amendment No. 2 to strip the fiscal-impact language and to direct contracting parties to address differing site conditions within contract terms.
The floor accepted additional friendly and contested amendments intended to clarify professional responsibility and to ensure departments such as UDOT have timely guidance for design-build and construction-management projects. Representative McKiff proposed language changing ‘‘should not have known’’ to ‘‘could not have reasonably known’’ for contractor knowledge standards; the amendment was accepted as friendly wording.
Supporters said the changes remove unintended fiscal exposure and align statutory text with procurement practice. After adoption of the amendments, the House passed the bill 73–0 and referred it to the Senate.
