Judiciary committee advances construction wage-liability bill, immigration legal-aid funding request and mortuary-board discipline changes

The Senate Committee on Judiciary met Wednesday for multiple work sessions and committee motions that advanced three substantive bills to the Senate floor or to the budget committee.

Senate Bill 426 (construction wage liability)

Senate Bill 426 would make project owners and their general contractors jointly and severally liable for unpaid wages owed to construction workers on certain projects, authorize civil actions by unpaid workers or representatives, and create disclosure and withholding mechanisms for subcontractor payroll records. The committee considered two competing amendment packages: a dash-10 amendment offered clarifications and a 21-day right-to-cure; a dash-11 amendment (sponsored by Senator McLean) added subrogation rights that would let an owner or general contractor who pays unpaid wages step into the worker's position and seek recovery from the unpaid-wages fund administered by the Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI).

After debate the committee adopted the dash-10 amendment and then voted to move SB 426, as amended by dash-10, to the Senate floor with a due-pass recommendation.

Sen. McLean, sponsor of the dash-11 substitute, described dash-11 as a compromise intended to get unpaid workers paid promptly while preserving BOLI's existing unpaid-wage collection process. "If you…