House Labor & Industry panel reports bill expanding prevailing-wage coverage; repeal amendment fails

The House Labor & Industry Committee voted to report House Bill 846, which would amend the Prevailing Wage Act to prohibit split rates and to cover off-site custom fabrication and HVAC duct cleaning. The committee defeated Amendment A00456, which would have repealed the Prevailing Wage Act.

John, a committee staff member, summarized the measure: “House bill 8 46, printer's number 876, amends the prevailing wage act to prohibit the practice of split rates and cover off-site custom fabrication and HVAC duct cleaning.”

The bill’s sponsor and supporters said the measure would strengthen pay protections for workers on public projects. In explaining Amendment A00456, Chairman Groff argued the opposite, saying the amendment would repeal the prevailing wage because “the underlying bill makes the act more costly and harmful than it already is.” He told colleagues that prevailing wage requirements increase public-construction costs by an estimated 10 to 15 percent in many areas and said some rural projects have reported increases of “20 to 30%.”

Opponents of repeal described prevailing-wage rules as protections that support pensions, health care and training. Representative Miller told the panel, “You take away those aspects, and you go at these workers,” adding that prevailing-wage components include “pension, health care” and training. Representative Dawkins urged backing the labor movement’s role in securing middle-class wages and said the committee should be “pro worker, not pro work.”

Representative Glaude raised practical enforcement questions about how the Department of Labor & Industry (L&I) would apply the bill to out-of-state or foreign fabricators, asking, “What authority does L and I have to enforce the requirements to pay prevailing wages to the workers?” He posed hypothetical enforcement problems if a contractor contracts with a Florida firm or a Canadian firm and a worker filed a complaint, and asked how L&I would investigate or convert foreign pay into a prevailing-wage determination.

Committee members also cited prior court decisions and legal risks. A committee member noted that New Jersey’s attempt to apply prevailing-wage rules extraterritorially drew adverse rulings in federal court, citing Ortiz v. Goya Foods and other decisions as precedent suggesting limits on a state’s ability to enforce wage rules outside its borders.

The committee debated whether the bill would apply to maintenance work; opponents said portions of the bill would reach maintenance activities such as HVAC duct cleaning and would therefore expand the law beyond traditional construction and renovation. Proponents said the change would close loopholes that permit split-rate pay practices and extend protections to workers who perform off-site or subcontracted fabrication.

Amendment A00456, a gut-and-replace amendment offered to repeal the Prevailing Wage Act, was defeated on a roll call. The committee then voted to report House Bill 846 “as reported.” Jonathan, the committee clerk, read the roll for both votes.

The committee did not adopt other modifications on the record and took no final action to send the bill directly to the governor; the committee’s action was to commit (report) the bill as reported. The transcript did not specify the bill’s next calendar step beyond being reported from committee.

How members voted: the transcript records the amendment and reporting roll calls (partial transcript roll-call text is preserved in the committee record). The meeting adjourned after the committee reported the bill.