Senate committee hears bill to weight broadband grants for projects meeting labor standards

CARSON CITY — The Senate Committee on Commerce and Labor heard testimony on SB 93 on Wednesday, a bill that would require the state—agency that distributes federal broadband grant funds to give a 30% relative scoring weight to applicants that meet specified labor standards or are signatory to a collective bargaining agreement.

The measure, presented by Senator Skip Daley, who represents Senate District 13, would apply the scoring preference when the state awards federal broadband funds allocated under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the American Rescue Plan. "This bill was very similar to this bill. We was last session was vetoed by the governor," Daley told the committee, describing the proposal as a reintroduction of a previously vetoed measure.

Supporters argued the scoring preference would promote higher wages, safer worksites and a local pipeline of trained workers. Susie Martinez, executive secretary-treasurer of the Nevada State AFL-CIO, testified in support, as did multiple local labor organizations including the Communication Workers of America and the Building and Construction Trades Council of Northern Nevada. Mark Ellis, president of Communication Workers of America Local 9413, said union crews already operate in many rural Nevada towns and described federal BEAD funds as intended to both expand service and develop a local workforce. "We were supposed to be training up Nevadans so they could learn how to do this fiber work, so so they can have a career," Ellis said.

Opponents including the Associated Builders and Contractors of Nevada and the Nevada chapters of the Associated General Contractors and the Vegas Chamber said the 30% scoring advantage could disadvantage open-shop, small and minority-owned contractors. Warren Hardy of the Associated Builders and Contractors said the bonus could work at cross-purposes with provisions intended to promote hiring from underrepresented communities, which he said are often nonunion.

Under the bill's text as explained to the committee, an applicant or any subcontractor performing construction under a grant would need to meet labor standards enumerated in the bill (including prevailing wage and training requirements) to qualify for the scoring preference; being signatory to a collective bargaining agreement is treated as meeting those standards. Daley said the bill does not make union membership mandatory: "You don't have to be. You get 30%, on your scoring matrix, if you are meeting these labor standards and you're deemed to meet the labor standards if you have a union agreement."

Committee members asked how the bill would interact with federal grant rules and with existing training and safety requirements. Senators also asked whether the state already holds the federal funds and about timelines for completing projects; Daley replied that the state has received and is stewarding the funds through the Office of Science, Innovation and Technology (OSIT) and said he did not know a completion deadline for the federal grants.

The hearing drew multiple labor and industry witnesses who described past project problems and the differences between first-mile, middle-mile and last-mile broadband work. Testimony cited specific project failures in Lovelock and the larger BEAD-related funding allocations; Mark Ellis stated figures for the BEAD project and an additional middle-mile allocation during his remarks. Several witnesses described OSHA 10/30 training as a baseline safety standard for construction workers and discussed how applicants could document training and hiring commitments in grant applications.

No formal vote was taken in committee. After testimony and questions, the chair closed the public hearing on SB 93 and moved to the next bill.

Notes: This article summarizes the hearing and testimony recorded on the official transcript. It does not report any committee action or vote because none was taken during the hearing.