Indemnity: design professionals.

Under existing law, all contracts, amendments to contracts, provisions, clauses, covenants, and agreements contained in, collateral to, or affecting contracts with a public agency for design professional services that purport to require the design professional to defend the public agency under an indemnity agreement, including the duty and the cost to defend, are unenforceable. Existing law exempts claims that arise out of, pertain to, or relate to the negligence, recklessness, or willful misconduct of the design professional from this provision. This bill would limit a design professional's duty to defend a public agency against a negligence claim to reimbursement of defense costs incurred by the public agency that were caused by the design professional's actual negligence.