ABC supports the Highway Trust Fund Reform Act of 2019 (H.R. 3904), legislation introduced on July 24 by Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) that would exempt federally funded or federally assisted Highway Trust Fund projects from federal Davis-Bacon requirements, known as prevailing wage. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that repealing Davis-Bacon would save the Federal Highway Administration more than $700 million a year.

The Michigan Legislature voted to repeal Michigan’s prevailing wage law, a 50-year-old law that overcharges taxpayers on public construction projects and limits competitive bidding opportunities for Michigan workers. The historic vote makes Michigan the 24th state without a prevailing wage law. 

On Feb. 12, the West Virginia legislature voted 18-16 to override Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin’s vetoes of  a prevailing wage repeal bill and the West Virginia Workplace Freedom Act, making West Virginia the 26th Right to Work state in the country and the fourth state to pass Right to Work since 2012. 

Last week, the New Hampshire House rejected a bill (House Bill 1641) that would have required prevailing wage be paid on all state construction projects. Citing a union-backed study, proponents of the bill argued the legislation would create jobs, spur economic activity, and raise workers’ wages without increasing the cost of projects. Opponents rejected those assertions and insisted the state would pay more for construction projects under the provisions of the bill. 

The New York Independent Budget Office (IBO) has released a revised report on the impact prevailing wage requirements would have on affordable housing projects built with the 421a property tax break. The 421a tax credit had been the subject of extensive negotiations in the past months. In Jan. 2016, the parties involved announced they could not reach a compromise, killing the tax credit and jeopardizing Mayor de Blasio’s plans for 80,000 affordable housing units for New York City residents. The agency had initially estimated that prevailing wage requirements would add $2.8 billion to the initiative’s total, bu

On Feb. 4, the West Virginia Legislature sent two important bills to the governor’s desk. The House of Delegates passed ABC-supported right-to work legislation, the “Workplace Freedom Act” (SB 1) by a vote of 54-46, while the state Senate approved legislation repealing the state’s prevailing wage law along party lines. The measures were intensely debated in both chambers in the weeks leading up to the votes. West Virginia’s prevailing wage law was mired in controversy following the passage of a reform bill in 2015 and ABC’s West Virginia Chapter has been a vocal supporter of repealing the state’s prevailing wage.

West Virginia State Senator Sue Cline (R-Wyoming) was sworn into office on Jan. 25 following a Jan. 22 court decision requiring Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin (D- W.Va.) to appoint a Republican to fill a vacant seat. Sen. Cline was appointed to fill a vacancy created by the resignation of Sen. Daniel Hall (R-Wyoming), who was elected as a Democrat but switched parties prior to resigning.

During a controversial budget session, Wisconsin significantly reformed its prevailing wage laws with the help of the ABC Wisconsin Chapter which organized a coalition of local chambers of commerce, school districts, small businesses, and municipal utilities to repeal prevailing wage requirements on all Wisconsin public works projects except those built by the state of Wisconsin and state highway projects. 

Associated Builders and Contractors of West Virginia (ABCWV) voiced its concerns over the newly presented methodology for the calculation of prevailing wage rates in West Virginia after Workforce West Virginia released a summary of its report on June 1. The report, a product of prevailing wage reform legislation (S.B. 361) signed  March 12 by West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin (D), illustrates how new methodology will determine  forthcoming prevailing wage rates on state-funded public improvements.  However, because Workforce West Virginia failed to publish its new prevailing wage calculations by the July 1 deadline because lawmakers complained t

Gov. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) signed the ABC-led repeal of common construction wage into law May 6, eliminating prevailing wage requirements for publicly-funded construction projects in Indiana effective July 1. The ABC Indiana/Kentucky chapter played a significant role in ensuring the state understood the negative effects the legislation has on taxpayers, helping to make Indiana the 19th state with no prevailing wage requirements on taxpayer-funded construction.