Possible increasing public bond thresholds coming to Virginia

Two new bills have been filed in the current session of the Virginia General Assembly dealing with public project bonds; House Bill 1951 and Senate Bill 1126. HB 1951 proposes to raise the threshold for non-transportation related project bonds from $100,000 to $1 Million. SB 1126 proposes to raise the threshold on transportation-related projects from $250,000 to $500,000. In either instance, this will create a significant gap from the current thresholds in which many claims may fall. The losers in this could be the subcontractors and suppliers who would otherwise look to the protection of project payment bonds for payment in the even of non-payment as they cannot lien the public properties. It is unclear if this legislation will ultimately pass, but both are certainly important possible changes to keep eyes upon.