03/23/2018

Message from Beth--March 23, 2018

What's ACEC Ohio doing in the Ohio General Assembly?

The legislature is heading on Spring Break and will return after Easter for a few weeks before the primary election.  ACEC Ohio has been working over the past year with Representative Bill Seitz on a piece of legislation which would regulate the use of indemnity provisions in contracts related to public improvements. Many of our member firms have been confronted with having to sign a contract with a state or local agency that included uninsurable “broad form” indemnification and/or defense requirements.

As a matter of fairness, design professionals should not be asked to indemnify and/or defend another party for losses that the designer did not cause, cannot insure against and were caused by factors beyond the designer’s control. House Bill 554 will prohibit requiring design professionals to indemnify public agencies for claims that are not attributable to negligent, reckless or intentional wrongful conduct on the part of the design professional.

The bill was introduced the Ohio House of Representatives last week and was assigned to the House Civil Justice Committee.  ACEC Ohio is pushing to have sponsor testimony after Spring Break, if your company has a project in which an indemnification clause caused an insurance claim or have been asked to sign such a clause within a contract, please call me with your story.   Click here to read House Bill 554

Other issues ACEC Ohio is following in the Ohio General Assembly can be found by Clicking Here

Please feel free to contact me with questions.

~Beth