Request By:
Mr. Vic Hellard, Jr.
Director
Legislative Research Commission
Capitol Building
Frankfort, KY 40601
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Thomas C. Jacobs, Deputy Attorney General
In your recent letter to the Attorney General, you raise the following question:
"Is it reasonable for the personal service contract review committee to accept for filing from state agencies those contracts which contain a cancellation clause providing for 'cancellation at any time upon notice, ' interpreting such provision to mean that the contractor is not required to give more than thirty days' cancellation notice and that, therefore, there has been compliance with the provisions of KRS 45.710?"
In OAG 78-640 you raised a question in regard to the acceptance for filing from state agencies of contracts which contain a cancellation clause of less than thirty days. In that opinion we said:
"It is the view of this office that the intent of the legislature will be fulfilled by allowing contracts with cancellation notices of shorter duration than the thirty days set forth in the statute. The obvious purpose of the statute was to allow the contractor to cancel a contract on thirty days' notice to the contractee rather than waiting until the entire contract period has expired. The obvious beneficiary would be the Commonwealth of Kentucky. It is impossible to accept the idea that a bill, which was passed for the purpose of improving state contracting procedures, could be so narrowly read that it would work to the detriment of its obvious intended beneficiary. If the contract provides for a period shorter than thirty days, there has been compliance with the intent of the statute."
Since a contract which provides cancellation "at any time upon notice" does not require the contractor to give more than thirty days' cancellation notice, but does allow for cancellation upon less than thirty days' notice, it is the opinion of this office that the personal service contract review committee may accept for filing contracts which contain a cancellation clause providing for "cancellation at any time upon notice. " Those cases cited in OAG 78-640 are applicable to the question you are now raising.