Committee reopens discussion on wage-theft ordinance amendments; key changes include committee makeup, complaint flow and removal of permit condition

The Somerville Committee on Legislative Matters began a detailed review on Jan. 28 of proposed amendments to ordinance 24-1754, which would amend sections 9-31 through 9-44 of the City Code to strengthen the city's response to wage-theft complaints.

The administration and staff described four principal changes in the draft: (1) moving from a model that named specific organizations to fill seats on the Wage Theft Advisory Committee toward a standardized structure of nine members (including the council president or designee and the mayor or designee plus representatives from unions, nonprofit/advocacy organizations and local business organizations); (2) clarifying the committee's role as a convener and tracker of complaints rather than a primary enforcement body; (3) removing a section that would have conditioned major building permits on wage-theft compliance…