Spokane Promotes A More Diverse Construction Workforce (WA)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

The City is launching a program to encourage women, minorities, and veterans to join the construction industry.

by: Press Release Desk, News Partner
Aug 15, 2019 / 4:58 PM ET

From the City of Spokane: The City of Spokane is launching a small grant program designed to provide training to allow more women, minorities, and veterans be prepared for construction industry jobs. Grants of up to $2,500 are available for organizations that want to establish or expand pre-apprenticeship programs in construction trades for one or more of these groups.

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The City has been working for some time to increase the number of available construction workers in our community. The Spokane region has seen an 18 percent increase in construction jobs over the last year! Ensuring that the community has a well-trained construction workforce is critical as our community continues to grow. And helping women, minorities and veterans qualify for good-paying construction jobs is another goal.

In 2016, the City revised its Public Works Apprentice Program statue, requiring all contractors on public works construction projects to use apprentices for at least 15 percent of the labor hours on the job. The requirement applies to construction projects with an estimated value of $600,000 or more.

The program has helped to grow the number of trained construction workers in our community. This grant program is next step in this effort. Fines paid by contractors who were unable to meet the apprenticeship requirement are funding these grants.

(See Article)

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Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak signs bill restoring prevailing wages (NV)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

May 28, 2019
Geoff Dornan

Gov. Steve Sisolak on Tuesday signed legislation repealing changes made by the Republican dominated 2015 Legislature that weakened Nevada’s prevailing wage laws.

The GOP raised the threshold for projects to require contractors pay prevailing wage from $100,000 to $250,000. They also directed the Labor Commissioner to set prevailing wages for public school and higher education construction projects at 90 percent of what would be required for other public works projects.

AB136 repeals both of those changes, restoring the law to what it was before 2015.
In addition, he signed SB231 which repealed language basically prohibiting contractors and subcontractors from entering into or adhering to any agreement with labor organizations when working on public projects. SB231 eliminates language that strongly discouraged public bodies from hiring contractors who have agreements with unions and prohibits public bodies from awarding grants, tax abatements credits or exemptions to contractors that enter agreements with labor organizations.

Sisolak said he was keeping his campaign promise to “return prevailing wage to public construction projects.”

He said that will help guarantee public construction projects are built by highly qualified workers and increase competition among those contractors.

(Read More)

New Jersey Senate Bill 368

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

Authorizes political subdivisions to set aside 0.5 percent of public works funds to recruit and train women and minorities and promote local hiring.

A political subdivision may elect, but is not required, to transfer to the department or retain, for any one or more of the purposes indicated in subsection b. of this section or for the purpose of providing incentives or otherwise facilitating a local hiring and employment program, an amount equal to one half of one percent (0.5%) of the portion of any public work contract of the political subdivision.

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(Copy of Bill)

Washington State Gov. Jay Inslee Increases Wage Protections on Public Works Jobs (WA)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

May 7 , 2019

Public works projects in Washington state will have increased protections for construction workers with the enactment of a bill that allows them additional time to file complaints over failure to pay the proper wages.

Gov. Jay Inslee (D) signed into law May 7 ESSB 5035, which increases the window from 30 to 60 days after a public works job is accepted to file a complaint over failure to pay the prevailing wage.

(PDF Copy of Bill)

bill-would-allow-cities-counties-to-opt-out-of-prevailing-wage

OPINION: Prevailing-wage repeal, not as benign as some would have you believe

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

By: Dan Shaw
May 3, 2019 11:48 am

Prevailing-wage laws require that construction workers on public construction projects be paid the wages and benefits offered on similar jobs performed by local Wisconsin workers.

This is by no means an extreme idea. In fact, in a recent poll, 83% of the respondents who identified themselves as likely Wisconsin voters said they believe that bid prices for public works should take into account wages and benefits that are comparable to those paid in the same trades elsewhere in the state. Sixty-one percent specifically said they support prevailing-wage laws.

In other words, the public understands that public-works projects should stimulate the local and state economy by properly paying Wisconsin workers. John Mielke and the organization he runs, the Associated Builders and Contractors of Wisconsin, clearly disagree.

After the repeal of state prevailing-wage laws for municipal projects, we saw a nearly 40% increase from 2015 to 2018 in the number of out-of-state contractors winning municipal public works projects in Wisconsin. In 2018 alone, more than $160 million worth of municipal public-works projects were awarded to out-of-state contractors.

For every dollar of construction value that is completed by an out-of-state contractor, economic activity decreases by $2.26 in Wisconsin. In 2018, Wisconsin lost more than $361 million worth of economic activity by having out-of-state contractors perform these local taxpayer-funded projects. It is too soon to measure the effects of losing prevailing-wage protections on state-funded projects, but we can all assume the outcomes will be similar.

I agree with Mr. Mielke that the U.S. economy is growing and that contractors in Wisconsin are scrambling to find skilled workers. Simple principles of supply and demand require the wages of these workers to increase.

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Gov. Pritzker Releases Public Works Plan (IL)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

MAY 18, 2019
Radio.com

CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — It’s finally here — a proposed $41.5 billion public works plan called Rebuild Illinois.

Gov. JB Pritzker’s office presented it to lawmakers Friday. If enacted, it would be the first capital construction plan for the state in a decade.

Mike Sturino, president and CEO of the Illinois Road and Transportation Builders Association, says the construction proposed is a 70-30 split between horizontal (roads and bridges) and vertical (buildings).

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In an e-mailed statement, the governor’s spokeswoman, Jordan Abudayyeh, said:

“As a result of working group sessions with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle from both chambers of the general assembly, the administration is working on a preliminary draft of a comprehensive capital plan that will put 540,000 Illinoisans back to work and finally fix our crumbling infrastructure. The administration looks forward to continuing to engaging in productive conversations before the proposal is finalized.”

In an e-mailed statement, Senate Minority Leader Bill Brady of Bloomington said:

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‘Electronic Bidding Construction Act’ Bill Approved by Assembly Panel (NJ)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

May 16, 2019, 3:00 pm
Insider NJ

(TRENTON) – Legislation sponsored by Assembly Majority Leader Lou Greenwald, Assemblyman Matt Milam and Assemblyman Bruce Land to modernize the bidding process for public works construction projects in New Jersey was approved Monday by the Assembly State and Local Government Committee.

The bill (A-1308), known as the Electronic Bidding Construction Act, would require public contracting agencies that contract for public works construction projects to use electronic procurement technologies, also known as online bidding, when a project’s value exceeds five million dollars.

“In the age of technological innovation, it’s time to update our public bidding process for construction projects,” said Greenwald (D-Camden, Burlington). “Nowadays, there are many e-procurement resources available to help businesses and government agencies conduct business online. These tools make the process simpler and more efficient.”

Under the measure, the State Treasurer would be required to set regulations for the electronic procurement of public works projects The regulations would create a procedure for a public contracting unit to follow once awarded a contract to oversee the administration of the e-procurement process.

A contractor or vendor seeking a contract for public works under the regulations would be classified with the Division of Property Management and Construction in the Department of the Treasury prior to submitting a bid.

“Requests for proposals, requests for information and other bids for public projects can all be done via the Internet,” said Milam (D-Cape May, Atlantic, Cumberland). “We should take advantage of e-procurement tools in order to streamline the public bidding process.”

“E-procurement will help us reduce costs, save time and give us the ability to easily store important records digitally,” said Land (D-Cape May, Atlantic, Cumberland). “This common-sense approach will benefit public contracting and government agencies alike.”

Additionally, regulations established by the State Treasurer would require certain bidding components and would set qualifications for firms providing e-procurement processes.

The bill now heads to the Assembly Speaker for further consideration.

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Public-works projects must pay prevailing wages (NY)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

OP-ED By John R. Durso
Posted May 23, 2019

Few public policies do more to build strong communities across our region than New York’s prevailing-wage law for public-works projects. It is a job-creating economic engine that puts members of our local communities to work and creates local wealth, revenue and investment. However, this useful public law has been undermined because the definition of public works has been blurred by the amalgamation of public and private financing. A bill passed in the State Assembly and awaiting action by the Senate would require that all Industrial Development Agency-funded projects pay prevailing wages, and would help to ensure that our tax dollars are creating careers with fair wages and benefits for Long Islanders who want to build lives here.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo offered a proposal in his Executive Budget to restore the application of prevailing wages to projects receiving public dollars. New York state was on the verge of restoring these protections as originally outlined by statute in 1897, and enshrined in the state Constitution in 1938, but unfortunately, this policy priority fell off the table.

Opponents of restoring prevailing-wage protections assume that higher construction wages directly correlate to higher project costs. This just isn’t true. The best-case scenario is they are drawing this conclusion based on flawed studies, and at worst they are deliberately misleading communities and elected officials to frame the public discourse for their own profit.

According to a state-funded study by Professor Fred B. Kotler of Cornell University, that conclusion is “simplistic and inaccurate.” It fails to account for the fact that labor costs are a small percentage of total project costs, and ignores the fact that higher-paid workers are often higher-skilled workers who find efficiencies and make fewer errors, resulting in fewer expensive change orders. “Construction workers’ wages should be factored into the overall value of the state’s investment in economic development projects,” Kotler wrote. “The prevailing wage law is itself an economic stimulus and can reasonably be considered as part of a broader economic development strategy for the state.”

According to the Economic Policy Institute, for every $1 spent under prevailing-rate laws, $1.50 is generated for our local economies. When workers earn more, they are able to spend more. Wage protections promote a more localized workforce, ensuring that Long Island residents benefit from our economic development investments. It is clear that holding public construction projects to prevailing rate standards brings wealth into communities. This, in turn, creates the virtuous cycle of local consumption and revenue for public services.

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John R. Durso is president of the Long Island Federation of Labor, representing 250,000 members of 160 AFL-CIO local unions, and president of Local 338 RWDSU/UFCW, which represents 15,000 working men and women in the retail and health care industries.

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Nassau legislators unanimously back Albany prevailing wage effort (NY)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

In a bipartisan move, the county’s lawmakers endorse efforts to pay union wages and benefits to construction workers on building projects that receive tax breaks.

By James T. Madore
Updated May 24, 2019 7:45 PM

The Nassau County Legislature has unanimously backed a move in Albany to pay union wages and benefits to construction workers on building projects that receive tax breaks.

The endorsement comes as supporters and opponents of the higher rate, known as the prevailing wage, attempt to reach a compromise before the State Legislature ends its regular session on June 19.

The endorsement also is a rare show of bipartisanship in Mineola and provides a boost to unions that say real estate developers should be compelled to pay the prevailing wage on projects that win taxpayer aid from state or local governments.

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The prevailing wage bill “will ensure that the taxpayer-funded subsidies we are using to spur development also create strong, middle-class jobs for Long Island construction workers,” the Nassau lawmakers said in a May 8 letter to state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Yonkers).

“It’s no secret that Long Island is an expensive place to live, and in Nassau County, the wages this legislation will codify give construction workers a quality of life they wouldn’t otherwise have,” states the letter signed by Presiding Officer Richard J. Nicolello (R-New Hyde Park), Minority Leader Kevan Abrahams (D-Freeport) and 17 other county lawmakers.

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Under current state law the prevailing wage must be paid to all workers, union and nonunion, on government-funded public-works projects such as roads, mass transit and schools. But that wage rate is not required for those employed on private construction projects aided by industrial development agencies or the state.

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Parr: Prevailing wage bill will stop money from leaving New York (NY)

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By Ron Parr
April 15, 2019

New York faces a statewide problem related to public works. Despite what some may say, if this issue is left unresolved it could have disastrous implications for business, hurting both contractors and workers in New York State.

The lack of a clear definition of public works has created a loophole that can be exploited by bad actors to take millions in public subsidies, turn around and hire out of state contractors and pay workers poverty-level wages. The consequences for New York are vast. Tax dollars meant to invest in local companies and spur economic development are funneling into the back pockets of unscrupulous developers and millions in foregone tax revenue continues to accrue.

Legislation in both houses of the state Legislature in Albany would provide the statewide solution New York needs – from Western New York to New York City, from the North Country to Long Island.

Opponents claim public works legislation would increase the cost of construction and impede economic growth, but when you look at the numbers, this is far off the mark. Far from slowing economic growth, public works legislation would significantly boost the economy both upstate and down, first and foremost: through tax revenue.

Mandating wage standards and taxpayer benefits on projects that received public funding would produce an additional $3.5-6.9 million annual sales tax revenue. At present, local contractors lose out in the bidding process to out-of-state contractors that pay poverty-level wages to gain a competitive advantage. Leveling the playing field so that in-state contractors can compete would ensure these tax dollars stay in New York.

Additionally, the payment of prevailing wages often encourages a more skilled, localized workforce. Skilled workers minimize costs by increasing efficiency and decreasing the amount of time needed to complete a project. A clear definition of public works has the potential to actually reduce overall project costs.

Furthermore, public works legislation would strengthen industries outside of construction including insurance, financial services, health care and the restaurant industry, the combination of which would add billions in revenue and produce thousands of jobs.

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