NASBP Focal Point – March 5, 2025

Federal Report

Joint Legislative Fly-in: This year’s Fly-in attendance surpassed previous years, where 136 registrants attended 131 meetings, representing 33 states. Fly-in attendees were also fortunate to meet with 8 members of Congress. The breakdown included 59 Senate and 72 House meetings. Attendees were well-armed with information prior to their visits which included talking points and a one-pager seeking additional Congressional support for H.R. 1285/S.570, the recently reintroduced legislation to require performance and payment guarantees for loans/grants and P3s utilized through the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA). NASBP would like to personally thank Fly-in attendees for taking time out of their busy schedules to come to Washington and advocate on behalf of the surety industry. For those of you who were unable to attend this year’s fly-in, please consider attending a future Fly-in. Please see the NASBP/SFAA joint press release for additional information. 

S. 713 (Barrasso)/H.R. 1579 (Pfluger): The Broadband Buildout Accountability Act removes the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program from the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) exemption to require proof of how the grant program spends the $42 billion to ensure taxpayer dollars are not misused. NASBP is attempting to track deployment of BEAD contracts. Please let us know if you are working with internet service providers (ISPs) to qualify for bonding for the construction of BEAD-funded networks.

As a reminder, the BEAD Bond Kit is available in Word fillable documents, which includes two performance bond forms, model language for state broadband offices to insert into award agreements, and a sample letter template to confirm for state broadband offices the bond amount for which an ISP or its construction contractor initially qualifies.

State Activity

AR SB 202 (Hickey) Amends Arkansas Code § 27-67-206(f) and (g), concerning new construction projects for the State Highway Commission, to require bidders to furnish bonds to fully cover the exposure of the state rather than one-fourth of the penal sum of the bond of the contract price. SB 202 was signed into law Feb. 27 as Act 217.

Update: NM HB 19 (Lundstrom) Establishes Public Private Partnerships (P3s) to facilitate the development of trade ports. The bill requires the private partner to provide performance and payment bonds pursuant to Section 13-4-18 NMSA (LMA). The private partner may also provide guarantees, letters of credit, or other acceptable forms of security, the amount of which may be less than one hundred percent of the value of the contract involved based on the determination of the public partner, or, for public-private partnership agreements requiring approval pursuant to the Trade Ports Development Act, based on the determination by the secretary. HB 19 passed the House on March 3 and was referred to the Senate Committee on Tax, Business and Transportation Committee and Senate Finance Committee.

OK SB 739 (Stewart) Eliminates the 5% retainage statute requirement for contracts and/or subcontracts when bonds are required. SB 739 is likely supported by the subcontractor community. NASBP’s long-standing adopted position dating back to 2001 is it “supports the prudent use of retainage in a manner that is equitable to all parties involved”… On Feb. 11, the Committee on Local and County Government passed SB 739 out of Committee.

If you are aware of any bills impacting the industry, please reach out to Larry LeClair, NASBP’s Director of Government Relations, and let us know.