CS for SB 908 - Construction Bonds

• Requires notices of nonpayment on construction payment bonds to be verified under oath and served within 45-90 days after claimants furnish labor, services, or materials, with specific content requirements including amounts paid, due, and expected to become due.

• Establishes that claimants or lienors who serve fraudulent notices of nonpayment (willfully exaggerated amounts or false claims) forfeit bond rights, with fraudulent service constituting a complete defense and entitling prevailing parties to attorney fees.

• Expands attorney fees provisions in payment bond disputes to include contractors in addition to owners, subcontractors, laborers, and materialmen under section 627.756.

• Allows contractors to record a notice identifying a bond as a conditional payment bond before project commencement to limit surety liability to payments received from the owner, and clarifies that failure to properly designate does not convert the bond into a different type.

• Amendments to sections 627.756 and 713.245 apply only to bonds issued on or after October 1, 2018; effective date of October 1, 2018.