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Last month I called attention to an important opportunity for the Oregon Legislature to help the state鈥檚 construction industry in a very meaningful way.

This 鈥渋ssue鈥� has since been assigned an identity: House Bill 4034. The legislation deals with a topic on the minds of a lot of contractors these days 鈥� getting paid on time.

As I noted, this proposal is likely the most achievable step the Legislature can take on behalf of the construction industry in this session.

That鈥檚 why I am happy to report that this important proposal has cleared a few initial hurdles. Last week, in fact, the Oregon House of Representatives unanimously passed House Bill 4034.

鈥淭his is a good bill,鈥� stated Rep. Jason Conger of Bend. 鈥淚t reinforces the idea that you should say what you are going to do and then you should do what you said you would do.鈥�

HB 4034 does two significant things.

First, it addresses what have become ridiculously low penalties for late payment on public construction projects. Instead of indexing payment penalties to 鈥渢hree times the discount rate on 90-day commercial paper,鈥� which presently sits at 0.45 percent a year, the bill establishes a flat rate of 9 percent.

Second, the bill ensures that contractors are notified of changes in invoicing procedures 45 days in advance and requires owners and upstream contractors to provide copies of new forms they will use.

Rep. Mark Johnson of Hood River led the House鈥檚 floor debate on the legislation and noted that the current penalty for late payment on a $1 million invoice is less than $400 a month. Pretty absurd, isn鈥檛 it?

鈥淚f we want to increase available capital in small business, HB 4034 is one of the best ways we can do that,鈥� Johnson explained. 鈥淭his legislation will ensure money gets to contractors in a timely way.鈥�

HB 4034 now finds itself in the Senate General Government, Consumer and Small Business Protection Committee which is chaired by Sen. Chip Shields of Portland. Shields showed strong leadership on similar legislation last year, so it鈥檚 exciting that he will have another opportunity to work with stakeholders on this issue again.

With only about two weeks left in the Legislature鈥檚 monthlong session, contractors should hope legislators keep this issue at the top of their 鈥渢o do鈥� list.

John Killin is president of the Associated Builders and Contractors鈥� Pacific Northwest chapter and executive director of the Independent Electrical Contractors of Oregon.