Section 10261.

(a) Payments upon contracts shall be made as the department prescribes upon estimates made and approved by the department, but progress payments shall not be made in excess of 100 percent of the percentage of actual work completed plus a like percentage of the value of material delivered on the ground or stored subject to or under the control of the state, and unused, except as otherwise provided in this section. The department shall withhold not more than 5 percent of the contract price until final completion and acceptance of the project. However, at any time after 95 percent of the work has been completed, the department may reduce the funds withheld to an amount not less than 125 percent of the estimated value of the work yet to be completed, as determined by the department, if the reduction has been approved, in writing, by the surety on the performance bond and by the surety on the payment bond. The Controller shall draw his or her warrants upon estimates so made and approved by the department and the Treasurer shall pay them. The funds may be released by electronic transfer if that procedure is requested by the contractor, in writing, and if the public entity has, in place at the time of the request, the mechanism for the transfer.

(b) Notwithstanding this section, when the director of the department has made a finding prior to the bid that a specified project is substantially complex and therefore requires a higher retention amount than 5 percent, and the department includes both this finding and the actual retention amount in the bid documents, then payments upon contracts by the department shall be made as the department prescribes upon estimates made and approved by the department. However, progress payments shall not be made in excess of 95 percent of the percentage of actual work completed, plus a like percentage of the value of material delivered on the ground or stored, subject to, or under the control of the state, and unused, except as otherwise provided in this section. At any time after 95 percent of the work has been completed, the department may reduce the funds withheld to an amount not less than 125 percent of the estimated value of the work yet to be completed, as determined by the department, if the reduction has been approved, in writing, by the surety on the performance bond and by the surety on the payment bond. The Controller shall draw his or her warrants upon estimates so made and approved by the department and the Treasurer shall pay them with funds appropriated therefor. The funds may be released by electronic transfer if that procedure is requested by the contractor, in writing, and if the public entity has, in place at the time of the request, the mechanism for the transfer.

(c) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2016, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2016, deletes or extends that date.

(Amended by Stats. 2011, Ch. 700, Sec. 6. Effective January 1, 2012. Repealed as of January 1, 2016, by its own provisions. See later operative version added by Sec. 7 of Ch. 700.)