County ferry contracts

AN ACT Relating to county ferry maintenance and repair contracts; 1
and amending RCW 36.32.235. 2
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:3
Sec. 1. RCW 36.32.235 and 2023 c 395 s 24 are each amended to 4
read as follows: 5
(1) In each county which by resolution establishes a county 6
purchasing department, the purchasing department shall enter into 7
leases of personal property on a competitive basis and purchase all 8
supplies, materials, and equipment on a competitive basis, for all 9
departments of the county, as provided in this chapter and chapter 10
39.04 RCW, except that the county purchasing department is not 11
required to make purchases that are paid from the county road fund or 12
equipment rental and revolving fund. 13
(2) As used in this section: 14
(a) "Public works" has the same definition as in RCW 39.04.010.15
(b) "Riverine project" means a project of construction, 16
alteration, repair, replacement, or improvement other than ordinary 17
maintenance, executed at the cost of the state or of any 18
municipality, or which is by law a lien or charge on any property, 19
carried out on a river or stream and its tributaries and associated 20
floodplains, beds, banks, and waters for the purpose of improving 21
H-0237.1
HOUSE BILL 1054
State of Washington 69th Legislature 2025 Regular Session
By Representatives Leavitt, Ramel, Paul, Shavers, Bronoske, Timmons,
Nance, and Berg
Prefiled 12/12/24. Read first time 01/13/25. Referred to Committee
on Local Government.
p. 1 HB 1054
aquatic habitat, improving water quality, restoring floodplain 1
function, or providing flood protection. 2
(c) "Stormwater project" means a project of construction, 3
alteration, repair, replacement, or improvement other than ordinary 4
maintenance, executed at the cost of the state or of any 5
municipality, or which is by law a lien or charge on any property, 6
carried out on a municipal separate storm sewer system, and any 7
connections to the system, that is regulated under a state-issued 8
national pollutant discharge elimination system general municipal 9
stormwater permit for the purpose of improving control of stormwater 10
runoff quantity and quality from developed land, safely conveying 11
stormwater runoff, or reducing erosion or other water quality impacts 12
caused by municipal separate storm sewer system discharges.13
(3) Except as otherwise specified in this chapter or in chapter 14
36.77 RCW, all counties subject to these provisions shall contract on 15
a competitive basis for all public works after bids have been 16
submitted to the county upon specifications therefor. Such 17
specifications shall be in writing and shall be filed with the clerk 18
of the county legislative authority for public inspection.19
(4) An advertisement shall be published in the county official 20
newspaper stating the time and place where bids will be opened, the 21
time after which bids will not be received, the character of the work 22
to be done, the materials and equipment to be furnished, and that 23
specifications therefor may be seen at the office of the clerk of the 24
county legislative authority. An advertisement shall also be 25
published in a legal newspaper of general circulation in or as near 26
as possible to that part of the county in which such work is to be 27
done. If the county official newspaper is a newspaper of general 28
circulation covering at least 40 percent of the residences in that 29
part of the county in which such public works are to be done, then 30
the publication of an advertisement of the applicable specifications 31
in the county official newspaper is sufficient. Such advertisements 32
shall be published at least once at least 13 days prior to the last 33
date upon which bids will be received. 34
(5) The bids shall be in writing, may be in either hard copy or 35
electronic form as specified by the county, shall be filed with the 36
clerk, shall be opened and read in public at the time and place named 37
therefor in the advertisements, and, after being opened, shall be 38
filed for public inspection. No bid may be considered for public work 39
unless it is accompanied by a bid deposit in the form of a surety 40
p. 2 HB 1054
bond, postal money order, cash, cashier's check, or certified check 1
in an amount equal to five percent of the amount of the bid proposed.2
(6) The contract for the public work shall be awarded to the 3
lowest responsible bidder. Any or all bids may be rejected for good 4
cause. The county legislative authority shall require from the 5
successful bidder for such public work a contractor's bond in the 6
amount and with the conditions imposed by law. 7
(7) If the bidder to whom the contract is awarded fails to enter 8
into the contract and furnish the contractor's bond as required 9
within 10 days after notice of the award, exclusive of the day of 10
notice, the amount of the bid deposit shall be forfeited to the 11
county and the contract awarded to the next lowest and best bidder. 12
The bid deposit of all unsuccessful bidders shall be returned after 13
the contract is awarded and the required contractor's bond given by 14
the successful bidder is accepted by the county legislative 15
authority. Immediately after the award is made, the bid quotations 16
obtained shall be recorded and open to public inspection and shall be 17
available by telephone inquiry. 18
(8) As limited by subsection (11) of this section, a county 19
subject to these provisions may have public works performed by county 20
employees in any annual or biennial budget period equal to a dollar 21
value not exceeding ((ten)) 10 percent of the public works 22
construction budget, including any amount in a supplemental public 23
works construction budget, over the budget period.24
Whenever a county subject to these provisions has had public 25
works performed in any budget period up to the maximum permitted 26
amount for that budget period, all remaining public works except 27
emergency work under subsection (13) of this section within that 28
budget period shall be done by contract pursuant to public notice and 29
call for competitive bids as specified in subsection (3) of this 30
section. The state auditor shall report to the state treasurer any 31
county subject to these provisions that exceeds this amount and the 32
extent to which the county has or has not reduced the amount of 33
public works it has performed by public employees in subsequent 34
years. 35
(9) A county may procure public works with a unit priced contract 36
under this section for the purpose of completing anticipated types of 37
work based on hourly rates or unit pricing for one or more categories 38
of work or trades. 39
p. 3 HB 1054
(a) For the purposes of this section, "unit priced contract" 1
means a competitively bid contract in which public works are 2
anticipated on a recurring basis to meet the business or operational 3
needs of the county, under which the contractor agrees to a fixed 4
period indefinite quantity delivery of work, at a defined unit price 5
for each category of work. 6
(b) Unit priced contracts must be executed for an initial 7
contract term not to exceed one year, with the county having the 8
option of extending or renewing the unit priced contract for one 9
additional year, except that contracts for the maintenance or repair 10
of a county ferry vessel or county ferry district vessel operated 11
under chapter 36.54 RCW may instead be for a term of up to 10 years.12
(c) Invitations for unit price bids shall include, for purposes 13
of the bid evaluation, estimated quantities of the anticipated types 14
of work or trades, and specify how the county will issue or release 15
work assignments, work orders, or task authorizations pursuant to a 16
unit priced contract for projects, tasks, or other work based on the 17
hourly rates or unit prices bid by the contractor. The contract must 18
be awarded to the lowest responsible bidder as defined under RCW 19
39.04.010. Whenever possible, the county must invite at least one bid 20
from a certified minority or woman contractor who otherwise qualifies 21
under this section. 22
(d) Unit price contractors shall pay prevailing wages for all 23
work that would otherwise be subject to the requirements of chapter 24
39.12 RCW. Prevailing wages for all work performed pursuant to each 25
work order must be the prevailing wage rates in effect at the 26
beginning date for each contract year. Unit priced contracts must 27
have prevailing wage rates updated annually. Intents and affidavits 28
for prevailing wages paid must be submitted annually for all work 29
completed within the previous 12-month period of the unit priced 30
contract. 31
(10) If a county subject to these provisions has public works 32
performed by public employees in any budget period that are in excess 33
of this ((ten)) 10 percent limitation, the amount in excess of the 34
permitted amount shall be reduced from the otherwise permitted amount 35
of public works that may be performed by public employees for that 36
county in its next budget period. Ten percent of the motor vehicle 37
fuel tax distributions to that county shall be withheld if two years 38
after the year in which the excess amount of work occurred, the 39
county has failed to so reduce the amount of public works that it has 40
p. 4 HB 1054
performed by public employees. The amount withheld shall be 1
distributed to the county when it has demonstrated in its reports to 2
the state auditor that the amount of public works it has performed by 3
public employees has been reduced as required. 4
(11) In addition to the percentage limitation provided in 5
subsection (8) of this section, counties subject to these provisions 6
containing a population of 400,000 or more shall not have public 7
employees perform: A public works project in excess of $90,000 if 8
more than a single craft or trade is involved with the public works 9
project, a riverine project or stormwater project in excess of 10
$250,000 if more than a single craft or trade is involved with the 11
riverine project or stormwater project, a public works project in 12
excess of $45,000 if only a single craft or trade is involved with 13
the public works project, or a riverine project or stormwater project 14
in excess of $125,000 if only a single craft or trade is involved 15
with the riverine project or stormwater project. A public works 16
project, a riverine project, and a stormwater project means a 17
complete project. The restrictions in this subsection do not permit 18
the division of the project into units of work or classes of work to 19
avoid the restriction on work that may be performed by public 20
employees on a single project. 21
The cost of a separate public works project shall be the costs of 22
materials, supplies, equipment, and labor on the construction of that 23
project. The value of the public works budget shall be the value of 24
all the separate public works projects within the budget.25
(12) In addition to the accounting and recordkeeping requirements 26
contained in chapter 39.04 RCW, any county which uses public 27
employees to perform public works projects under RCW 36.32.240(1) 28
shall prepare a year-end report to be submitted to the state auditor 29
indicating the total dollar amount of the county's public works 30
construction budget and the total dollar amount for public works 31
projects performed by public employees for that year.32
The year-end report submitted pursuant to this subsection to the 33
state auditor shall be in accordance with the standard form required 34
by RCW 43.09.205. 35
(13) Notwithstanding any other provision in this section, 36
counties may use public employees without any limitation for 37
emergency work performed under an emergency declared pursuant to RCW 38
36.32.270, and any such emergency work shall not be subject to the 39
limitations of this section. Publication of the description and 40
p. 5 HB 1054
estimate of costs relating to correcting the emergency may be made 1
within seven days after the commencement of the work. Within two 2
weeks of the finding that such an emergency existed, the county 3
legislative authority shall adopt a resolution certifying the damage 4
to public facilities and costs incurred or anticipated relating to 5
correcting the emergency. Additionally this section shall not apply 6
to architectural and engineering or other technical or professional 7
services performed by public employees in connection with a public 8
works project. 9
(14) In lieu of the procedures of subsections (3) through (12) of 10
this section, a county may let contracts using the small works roster 11
process provided in RCW 39.04.151 through 39.04.154.12
Whenever possible, the county shall invite at least one proposal 13
from a certified minority or woman contractor who shall otherwise 14
qualify under this section. 15
(15) The allocation of public works projects to be performed by 16
county employees shall not be subject to a collective bargaining 17
agreement. 18
(16) This section does not apply to performance-based contracts, 19
as defined in RCW 39.35A.020(6), that are negotiated under chapter 20
39.35A RCW. 21
(17) Nothing in this section prohibits any county from allowing 22
for preferential purchase of products made from recycled materials or 23
products that may be recycled or reused. 24
(18) This section does not apply to contracts between the public 25
stadium authority and a team affiliate under RCW 36.102.060(4), or 26
development agreements between the public stadium authority and a 27
team affiliate under RCW 36.102.060(7) or leases entered into under 28
RCW 36.102.060(8). 29
--- END ---
p. 6 HB 1054