Pub. Contract Code, § 7203 · Chapter 7. Contract Clauses
Pub. Contract Code, § 7203
Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
(a) A public works contract entered into on or after January 1, 2016, that contains a clause that expressly requires a contractor to be responsible for delay damages is not enforceable unless the delay damages have been liquidated to a set amount and identified in the public works contract.
(b) “Delay damages” as used in this section, means damages incurred by the public agency for each day after the date on which the work was to be completed by the contractor pursuant to the public works contract. Delay damages shall not include damages incurred by a public agency after the filing of a notice of completion or, in the absence of a notice of completion, the acceptance by the public agency of the public work as complete.
(c) “Public agency” shall include the state, the Regents of the University of California, a city, charter city, county, charter county, district, public authority, municipal utility, and any other political subdivision or public corporation of the state.
(d) This section shall not be construed to limit a right or remedy that the public agency has to enforce the express terms of the public works contract, except for a clause that expressly requires a contractor to be liable for delay damages.
(e) This section shall not be construed to preclude a public agency from including more than one clause for delay damages for specified portions of work when the delay damages have been liquidated to a set amount for each individual clause and identified in the public works contract.
(f) This section shall not apply to departments identified in Section 10106.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Added by Stats. 2015, Ch. 434, Sec. 2. (AB 552) Effective January 1, 2016.
Source of truth
- Edition
- As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
- Official file
- https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PCC§ionNum=7203.
- Text hash
- sha256 30869b612c678b431b9cd1d7bef8903554109ad528315f4c2abaae012c5b44a1
- Composed by
- compose_ca.py 2026-10-22: the Legislative Counsel's CAML content files read by a tokenizer (caml_readers.reader_a); an independent xml.etree reading (caml_readers.reader_b) agrees on every section
This section cites
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Public Contract Code
Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.