California Senate Bill 885 ("SB 885") (Wolk), which
would have expanded upon existing legislative safeguards for design
professionals that discourage risk-shifting towards subcontractors
in construction project indemnity agreements, was pulled from the
Assembly Judiciary Committee on July 12 at the request of the
author. Had it passed out of the Assembly and been signed by
Governor Brown, SB 885 would have rendered unenforceable all
contracts or contract terms entered into on or after January 1,
2017 requiring design professionals to indemnify claims against
another party on a construction project concerning that party's
negligence, reckless or willful misconduct.
Since SB 885 had serious repercussions relative to indemnity
claims arising from public works construction contracts, it is no
surprise that public agencies were strongly opposed to the bill.
For instance, the California Special Districts Association targeted
SB 885 as a "top priority oppose bill" and the
