08/16/2016

Indemnification Bill Introduced

Senate Bill 340

Over the past year, ACEC Ohio with the guidance of our lobbyist Kevin Futryk, worked with Senator 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. Senate Bill 340 will prohibit agencies from 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.

Here is a PDF copy of Senate Bill 340.

At this time, the Ohio Legislature is not scheduled to meet until after the November election. We hope that S.B. 340 will receive hearings, in the meantime, we are meeting with allied interests to discuss the bill.