Kansas Senate Bill Prohibits Additional Insureds

The Kansas Senate has passed Senate Bill 379, which prohibits additional insured clauses in a subcontractor's contract.

The bill amends K.S.A. 2006 Supp. 16-121 to read:

"A provision in a construction contract which requires a party to provide liability coverage to another party, as an additional insured, for such other party's own negligence or intentional acts or omissions is against public policy and is void and unenforceable."

"It's very important for subcontractors to only be responsible for the things they are responsible for," says Bill Miller, government relations chairperson for the American Subcontractors Association's Kansas chapter. "The additional insureds provision makes the subcontractor responsible for the negligence of [others]. We think our insurance rates are high enough we should only pay for the things we do."

Miller summarizes, "If we break it we fix it, if you break it, you fix it."

The Kansas legislation was approved 34-4 on January 30, and must now pass the Kansas House in order to become law.

Miller notes that a similar bill was introduced in Missouri last week, and five out of 50 states have already passed similar litigation in the last five years.

CLICK HERE to read about the additional insured clause required by the American Institute of Architects' new contract documents.

For more about these documents, and the additional insured clause, look for the February issue of USGlass magazine.

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