Senate committee adopts amendment to central payroll portal bill, but lays SF 4,745 over for more work

Senator Gustafson introduced Senate File 4,745, a proposal to create a centralized certified-payroll portal to modernize prevailing-wage reporting and reduce fragmented recordkeeping. The bill would have the Department of Administration host the database and provide a single place for certified payroll records that contracting authorities now collect across state and local agencies.

Supporters told the Senate Labor Committee the portal would make enforcement more efficient and deter fraud. "This cheating has been widespread enough that we don't believe government alone can solve this problem," said Kyle Macarios of the Minnesota Building and Construction Trades Council, citing a recent $1.3 million Department of Labor and Industry settlement against Advantage Construction Inc. Macarios said a uniform, public reporting system would help industry stakeholders and enforcement verify adherence to prevailing-wage law.

Construction-industry groups and trade associations said they back standardization but urged stronger privacy protections. Joel Hansen, director of government relations for Associated Builders and Contractors, said standardized submission would aid contractors and enforcement but raised alarms about personally identifying information. "Even if a name were to be redacted...the information that I just shared with you would be available publicly and could be searched," Hansen said, warning that home addresses, phone numbers and other details collected under current law could be exposed.

Michelle Dreyer, who managed a prevailing-wage program for 18 years and represents trade associations, told the committee she recently downloaded publicly available license data and found home addresses and phone numbers for large numbers of licensed workers. "I downloaded a spreadsheet that included the home addresses and phone numbers of 156,000 electricians," Dreyer said, arguing that making certified payroll broadly searchable would ‘‘significantly expand’’ exposure of sensitive employee details.

Clifton Boyd Jr., president of the National Association of Minority Contractors, said centralizing payroll records creates a single point of failure: "All it takes is 1 data breach," he said, and the consequences could affect thousands of employees. Other testifiers representing local governments and contractors—Bradley Peterson for the Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities and Laura Ziegler for the Associated General Contractors of Minnesota—urged balancing administrative relief with careful implementation around data access and operability.

Committee counsel Doyle Fonteyn walked members through the A13 amendment, which shifts some effective dates (including a registration requirement tied to an availability date of 01/01/2028 and opt-in/registration dates for non-state project owners around 10/01/2028), clarifies exemptions for highway projects administered by MnDOT and for cities of the first class and counties over 500,000 people that meet specified compliance standards, adds an error-correction process for contractors, requires stakeholder engagement, and shows appropriation figures included in a related state-government supplemental bill. Counsel described the fiscal numbers discussed in committee as roughly $1,958,000 in FY2027 and a $1,381,000 base in FY2028 and thereafter.

Committee members pressed for clarity about what data would be public on the portal and what would remain available only via a prevailing-wage–specific data-practices request. Commissioner Nicole Blissenbach of the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry confirmed what certified payroll reports currently require under prevailing-wage law—entries such as name, identifying number, job classification, hours worked, rate of pay, gross amounts, individual deductions, net pay and benefit-contribution details—and said how a portal would present or redact those items depends on statutory interpretation and design choices.

After extended questions and testimony, Senator Umar Verbaten moved adoption of the A13 amendment; the committee adopted the amendment on a voice vote. Chair McKeown then announced that "Senate File 4,745 as amended is laid over," meaning the committee will continue work on the proposal and implementation details before advancing it further. No final floor referral or passage occurred at this hearing.

The hearing also included a fiscal-staff estimate of implementation staffing: the fiscal note on the first-engrossment version showed about 2.5 full-time equivalent positions in fiscal 2027 and 5.5 FTEs beginning in fiscal 2028. Committee members said they will continue stakeholder discussions to resolve outstanding privacy, access and implementation questions before returning to the bill.