(1) Subject to the provisions of subsection (2) of this section, any person, company, firm, or corporation entering into a contract for more than fifty thousand dollars with any county, municipality, or school district for the construction of any public building or the prosecution or completion of any public works or for repairs upon any public building or public works shall be required before commencing work to execute, in addition to all bonds that may be required of it, a penal bond with good and sufficient surety to be approved by the board or boards of county commissioners of the county or counties, the governing body or bodies of the municipality or municipalities, or the district school board or boards, conditioned that such contractor shall at all times promptly make payments of all amounts lawfully due to all persons supplying or furnishing such person or such person's subcontractors with labor, laborers, materials, rental machinery, tools, or equipment used or performed in the prosecution of the work provided for in such contract and that such contractor will indemnify and save harmless the county, municipality, or school district to the extent of any payments in connection with the carrying out of any such contract which the county or counties, municipality or municipalities, and school district or school districts may be required to make under the law. Subcontractors, materialmen, mechanics, suppliers of rental equipment, and others may have a right of action for amounts lawfully due them from the contractor or subcontractor directly against the principal and surety of such bond. Such action for laborers, materials, rental machinery, tools, or equipment furnished or labor rendered shall be brought within six months after the completion of the work and not afterwards.

(2) Notwithstanding the monetary qualification provided in subsection (1) of this section, the state, or the governing body of any county, municipality, school district, or other political subdivision determining it to be in the best interest of this state, or any county, municipality, school district, or other political subdivision may require the execution of a penal bond for any contract of fifty thousand dollars or less.