BGS warns S.125 payroll-reporting amendment would strain contractors, state agencies

Wanda Manoli, commissioner of the Department of Buildings and General Services, told the House General & Housing Committee on April 23 that an amendment to S.125 requiring employers and subcontractors on certain state construction projects to submit weekly payroll records would create significant administrative, privacy and cost burdens for both businesses and state agencies.

The proposed language would add a new subsection to Title 29, Section 161 that asks contractors and subcontractors on covered projects to submit payroll records weekly by mail or email, accompany them with a signed accuracy statement, preserve those records for three years after project completion, and make them available for inspection by the Department of Labor. Manoli said the change would apply not only to projects directly managed by Buildings and General Services (BGS) but to any entity receiving funds through the Capital Construction Act or the capital cash fund, including the Agency of Natural Resources, Vermont State Colleges and the Vermont Veterans Home.

Manoli urged the committee to review Title 29 §161 "in its totality," arguing the amendment's reach is broader than some have assumed. "This bill's impact on these businesses, especially the small, is going to be burdensome," she said. She added that the new filing and retention requirements could increase costs on projects because contractors would factor the additional administrative work into bids.

Manoli summarized the provisions in the amendment as she read them: weekly submission of payroll records to the state agency overseeing the project by mail or email; a signed verification of accuracy from employers and subcontractors; a three-year retention requirement; and inspection authority for the commissioner of labor. "I'm very sensitive because of my role at DMV on protecting private information," she said, noting that collecting large volumes of payroll data would create public-records and redaction obligations for BGS. "I'm sitting here imagining a $30,000,000 construction project with all of these records, and I get a public record request," she said.

Manoli also said the amendment is tied to prevailing-wage enforcement (she referenced Davis-Bacon and state prevailing-wage law). She described current practice as contractually requiring prevailing wage and relying on Department of Labor enforcement when complaints arise, and she said the Department of Labor "would be charged with the enforcement issue." Manoli said BGS currently relies on industry certification in contracts and that requiring BGS or other agencies to certify payrolls on a weekly basis would demand substantial additional staff and capacity: she estimated BGS would need at least four additional staff if weekly filings were mandated, and that requiring project managers to certify weekly would divert 30–40% of their time from site management.

She raised implementation questions the committee would need to resolve, including which projects (bonded vs. cash-funded vs. federal) would be covered, how agencies with different funding mixes (for example, FEMA- or Davis-Bacon-covered projects after flood recovery) would reconcile existing federal reporting requirements, and how public-records retention and redaction would be handled. She said a key ambiguity in the draft language is whether classification proof for licensed trades (journeymen and apprentices) must also be submitted weekly.

Committee members asked clarifying questions about enforcement and staffing. Manoli offered to provide contract language and additional materials after the hearing and repeated that the bill, as drafted, would affect multiple agencies beyond BGS. No vote or formal action on S.125 was recorded during her testimony.

For now, the committee paused to break for the floor and planned to resume to hear additional witnesses, including David Mickenberg (listed to return later) and Kelly Price from "Vermont Warden Services," who were scheduled to testify after the floor session.