HB 1529, seeking to exempt cities from certain public works procurement requirements when employing their county to conduct road striping and paving work, failed to pass the February 17 house-of-origin cutoff. AWC does not expect the bill to return this year but believes it may return next year in a revised form.

We thank the many member cities who assisted AWC staff with our work on the bill.

Cities could contract with counties to lower street maintenance costs under new bill

January 16, 2026

Cities could more easily save street paving and striping costs by contracting with their county to perform that work under a bill set to be heard by the House Local Government Committee.

HB 1529, sponsored by Rep. Dan Griffey (R–Allyn), would exempt such an agreement from statutory public works requirements.

Current law limits cities and towns from using public employees to perform public works costing more than $150,000 or $75,000, depending on the type of work and the crafts or trades involved. Griffey’s bill would remove those requirements where a county performs a city’s paving and striping work.

Initially introduced during the 2025 legislative session, the bill would also lift a need to satisfy competitive bidding requirements for such work if the city is a second-class city or town. For first-class cities, such work would no longer be subject to statute limiting public works performed by public employees to 10%of the city’s public works construction budget during that budget period.

AWC supports the bill and thanks the bill sponsor for assisting local governments in making the most of their limited public dollars through partnership and efficient practices.

Date to remember

HB 1529 is scheduled for a public hearing in the House Local Government Committee on Wednesday, January 21, at 8 am.