Store Research
ASSEMBLY BILL 1837 (HARRIS – 1984)
CHAPTER 42, STATUTES OF 1984
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As enacted Assembly Bill 1837 added Division 1 (commencing with section 100) to, and section 7102 to the Public Contract Code. (Exhibit #1e) Assembly member Elihu M. Harris introduced Assembly Bill 1837 on March 4, 1983 at the request of the Associated General Contractors of California. (See Exhibits #1a and #7, document SP 1)
The Assembly Committee on Governmental Organization and the Assembly Committee on Ways and Means heard the bill. (See Exhibits #3 and #4) On the Senate side, the Senate Committee on Judiciary and the Senate Committee on Finance considered the measure. (See Exhibits #2 and #6) Assembly Bill 1837 was amended twice in the Assembly and once in the Senate. (See Exhibits #1b through #1d and #2) Subsequent to legislative approval, Governor George Deukmejian approved Assembly Bill 1837 on March 18, 1984 and the Secretary of State recorded it on March 19, 1984 as Chapter 42 of the Statutes of 1984. (See Exhibits #1e and #2)
The Senate Democratic Caucus Consent Analysis of Assembly Bill 1837 as last amended on February 21, 1984 provides the following summary of the legislation:
Under existing law, a public entity may require in its contract a clause which limits the public entity’s liability for its delays in performance to an extension of time for the contractor. Courts have interpreted such clauses strictly and generally have limited its applicability to cases where the delay was within the contemplation of the parties when the contract was formed.
This bill would provide that such a contract clause would not preclude the recovery of damages by a contractor when the public entity was responsible for the delay and the delay was unreasonable under the circumstances and was not contemplated by the parties. The bill would also add several findings to the Public Contracts Code, as specified.
(See Exhibit #9, page 1)