SB 49

Generally, under the current prevailing wage laws, laborers, workers,

mechanics, and truck drivers employed on the site of certain projects of public works

1) must be paid at the rate paid for a majority of the hours worked in the person's

trade or occupation in the area in which the project is located, as determined by the

Department of Workforce Development; and 2) may not be required or permitted to

work a greater number of hours per day and per week than the prevailing hours of

labor, which is no more than 10 hours per day and 40 hours per week, unless they

are paid 1.5 times their basic rate of pay (commonly referred to as overtime pay) for

all hours worked in excess of the prevailing hours of labor. The prevailing wage laws

include three separate laws: one that applies to certain projects of public works to

which the state or any state agency is a party (state prevailing wage law), one that

applies to certain projects of public works undertaken by local governments (local

prevailing wage law), and one that applies to projects under a contract based on bids

to which the state is a party for the construction or improvement of highways

(highway prevailing wage law). Projects to which the prevailing wage laws do not

apply include: 1) single-trade projects of public works for which the estimated

project cost of completion is less than $48,000; 2) multiple-trade projects of public

works for which the estimated project cost of completion is less than $100,000; and

3) with respect to the local prevailing wage law, multiple-trade projects of public

works erected, constructed, repaired, remodeled, or demolished by a private

contractor for a city or village having a population of less than 2,500 or for a town for

which the estimated project cost of completion is less than $234,000. Also under

current law, no local government may enact or administer a prevailing wage law

ordinance or any similar ordinance.

This bill eliminates the state prevailing wage law, the local prevailing wage law,

and the highway prevailing wage law but retains the prohibition against local

governments enacting or administrating their own prevailing wage laws or similar

ordinances.