Skip to content
Bills from the 2025–26 session

Senate Bill 490

Prevailing wage, granting rule-making authority, and providing a penalty. (FE)

Topics: Legislature: Criminal Penalties, Joint Review Committee on, Public works, Road: Construction and repair, Transportation, Department of: Roads, Wage: Payment, Workforce Development, Department of

Stopped in committee

It never got a ⁠, so it never came up for a vote. The last day for votes this session was Mar 19, 2026. To try again, a lawmaker would have to start a new bill.

  1. Introduced, passed

    Oct 2, 2025

  2. Committee, stopped here

    Stopped here. No public hearing was held.

  3. Senate vote, not reached

  4. Assembly vote, not reached

  5. Governor, not reached

  6. Law, not reached

Latest entry in the official record, Mar 23, 2026: “Failed to pass pursuant to ⁠”

It never got a hearing in the Senate Committee on Government Operations, Labor and Economic Development. The committee's chair at the time was Dan Feyen. Chairs decide which bills get a hearing. See every bill that never got a hearing this session.

Read the bill

Following saves it on this device. New actions show on your Following page. You can also get updates in a feed reader.

Embed this on your site

Paste this code into your page. The card shows the latest record each time it loads. Preview the card

The same bill was also filed in the Assembly as AB 464. That version died when the session ended.

What it would have done

Summary by the , the Legislature's nonpartisan drafting office. It's their wording, not ours.

Prevailing wage This bill requires that laborers, workers, mechanics, and truck drivers employed on the site of certain projects of public works be paid the prevailing wage and not be required or allowed to work a greater number of hours per day and per week than the prevailing hours of labor unless they are paid overtime for all hours worked in excess of the prevailing hours of labor. Projects subject to the bill include state and local projects of public works, including state highway projects, with exceptions including projects below certain cost thresholds, minor service or maintenance work, and certain residential projects. Under the bill, “prevailing wage rate” is defined as the hourly basic rate of pay, plus the hourly contribution for bona fide economic benefits, paid for a majority of the hours worked in a trade or occupation in the area in which the project is located, except that, if there is no rate at which a majority of those hours is paid, “prevailing wage rate” means the average hourly basic rate of pay, plus the average hourly contribution for bona fide economic benefits, paid for the highest-paid 51 percent of hours worked in a trade or occupation in the area. “Prevailing hours of labor” is defined as 10 hours per day and 40 hours per week, excluding weekends and holidays. The bill requires the Department of Workforce Development to conduct investigations and hold public hearings as necessary to define the trades or occupations that are commonly employed on projects that are subject to the prevailing wage law and to inform itself of the prevailing wage rates in all areas of the state for those trades or occupations, in order to determine the prevailing wage rate for each trade or occupation. The bill contains certain other provisions regarding the calculation of prevailing wage rates by DWD, including provisions allowing persons to request recalculations or reviews of the prevailing wage rates determined by DWD.

The bill requires contracts and notices for bids for projects subject to the bill to include and incorporate provisions ensuring compliance with the requirements. The bill also establishes a requirement that state agencies and local governments post prevailing wage rates and hours of labor in areas readily accessible to persons employed on the project or in sites regularly used for posting notices.

Read the full summary

The bill makes a contractor that fails to pay the prevailing wage rate or overtime pay to an employee as required under the prevailing wage law liable to the affected employee for not only the amount of unpaid wages and overtime pay, but also for liquidated damages in an amount equal to 100 percent of the unpaid wages and overtime pay.

Finally, the bill includes, for both state and local projects of public works, provisions regarding coverage, compliance, enforcement, and penalties, including 1) requirements for affidavits to be filed by contractors affirming compliance with the prevailing wage law; 2) record retention requirements for contractors regarding wages paid to workers and provisions allowing for the inspection of those records by DWD; 3) liability and penalty provisions for certain violations, including criminal penalties; and 4) provisions prohibiting contracts from being awarded to persons who have failed to comply with the prevailing wage law.

Transportation projects Under current law, for certain highway projects for which the Department of Transportation spends federal money, federal money must make up at least 70 percent of the funding for those projects. DOT is required to notify political subdivisions receiving aid for local projects whether the aid includes federal moneys and how those moneys must be spent. For certain projects that receive no federal money, DOT may not require political subdivisions to comply with any portion of DOT’s facilities development manual other than design standards. Any local project funded with state funds under the surface transportation program or the local bridge program must be let through competitive bidding and by contract to the lowest responsible bidder. The bill repeals all of these requirements.

Because this bill creates a new crime or revises a penalty for an existing crime, the Joint Review Committee on Criminal Penalties may be requested to prepare a report.

Who's behind it

15 senators are its ⁠. All 15 are Democrats.

45 more lawmakers ⁠.

See all 60 names

Authors (15)

Signed on in support (45)

What it would cost

State agencies filed a . Each opens as a PDF from the Legislature.

What happened

  1. Mar 23, 2026

    The session ended, and the bill died with it.

  2. Dec 4, 2025

    A state agency sent in its estimate of the cost.

  3. Nov 7, 2025

    A state agency sent in its estimate of the cost.

  4. Oct 31, 2025

    A state agency sent in its estimate of the cost.

  5. Oct 21, 2025

    A state agency sent in its estimate of the cost.

  6. Oct 2, 2025

    Sent to the Senate Committee on Government Operations, Labor and Economic Development.

  7. Oct 2, 2025

    Introduced in the Senate.

See the official record, word for word
  1. Oct 2, 2025 · Senate

    Introduced by Senators Carpenter, Wirch, Dassler-Alfheim, Drake, Habush Sinykin, Hesselbein, L. Johnson, Keyeski, Larson, Pfaff, Ratcliff, Roys, Smith, Spreitzer and Wall; cosponsored by Representatives Sheehan, Anderson, Andraca, Arney, Bare, Billings, Brown, Clancy, Cruz, DeSanto, DeSmidt, Doyle, Emerson, Fitzgerald, Goodwin, Haywood, Hong, Hysell, J. Jacobson, Joers, Johnson, Kirsch, Madison, Mayadev, McCarville, McGuire, Miresse, Moore Omokunde, Neubauer, Ortiz-Velez, Palmeri, Phelps, Prado, Rivera-Wagner, Roe, Sinicki, Snodgrass, Spaude, Stroud, Stubbs, Subeck, Taylor, Tenorio, Udell and Vining

  2. Oct 2, 2025 · Senate

    Read first time and referred to Committee on Government Operations, Labor and Economic Development

  3. Oct 21, 2025 · Senate

    Fiscal estimate received

  4. Oct 21, 2025 · Senate

    Fiscal estimate received

  5. Oct 21, 2025 · Senate

    Fiscal estimate received

  6. Oct 31, 2025 · Senate

    Fiscal estimate received

  7. Nov 7, 2025 · Senate

    Fiscal estimate received

  8. Dec 4, 2025 · Senate

    Fiscal estimate received

  9. Mar 23, 2026 · Senate

    Failed to pass pursuant to Senate Joint Resolution 1

Terms on this page

Committee

A small group of lawmakers that looks at a bill first. Most bills never leave committee.

More in the glossary

Public hearing

A meeting where anyone can speak to a committee about a bill, or send written comments.

More in the glossary

Senate Joint Resolution 1

The session's calendar. Any bill not passed by its last voting day dies.

Official term: Failed to pass pursuant to SJR 1. More in the glossary

Legislative Reference Bureau

The Legislature's nonpartisan office that drafts bills and writes the summary at the top of each one.

Official term: LRB analysis. More in the glossary

Author

A lawmaker who formally puts a bill forward. The text itself is drafted by the Legislative Reference Bureau.

Official term: Author, coauthor. More in the glossary

Signed on in support

Lawmakers who back a bill without being one of its authors, often from the other chamber.

Official term: Cosponsor. More in the glossary

Cost estimate

A state agency's estimate of what a bill would cost or save.

Official term: Fiscal estimate. More in the glossary

From the Wisconsin Legislature's official record, checked Sep 15, 2026. See the source

Committee

A small group of lawmakers that looks at a bill first. Most bills never leave committee.

More in the glossary

Public hearing

A meeting where anyone can speak to a committee about a bill, or send written comments.

More in the glossary

Senate Joint Resolution 1

The session's calendar. Any bill not passed by its last voting day dies.

Official term: Failed to pass pursuant to SJR 1

More in the glossary

Legislative Reference Bureau

The Legislature's nonpartisan office that drafts bills and writes the summary at the top of each one.

Official term: LRB analysis

More in the glossary

Author

A lawmaker who formally puts a bill forward. The text itself is drafted by the Legislative Reference Bureau.

Official term: Author, coauthor

More in the glossary

Signed on in support

Lawmakers who back a bill without being one of its authors, often from the other chamber.

Official term: Cosponsor

More in the glossary

Cost estimate

A state agency's estimate of what a bill would cost or save.

Official term: Fiscal estimate

More in the glossary