Washington Subcontractors Can Seek Bond for Early Release of Retainage

Governor Jay Inslee recently signed into law Washington House Bill 1538 which authorizes subcontractors on public projects to request the prime contractor submit to the public owner a bond to release its portion of the retainage before the public project is complete. The bond needs to be in a form acceptable to the public body and it can only be rejected for “good cause.” This retainage bond should serve to relieve the cash flow burden on subcontractors that have finished their scope of work but cannot get paid in full until the project is completed. The law goes into effect July 23, 2017.