By WV MetroNews
Posted: Wed 3:17 PM, Jan 27, 2016
CHARELSTON, W.Va. (WV MetroNews) The House of Delegates Wednesday passed legislation repealing the state’s prevailing wage law that sets hourly pay rates for workers on state-funded projects. The bill (HB 4005) now goes to the Senate.
The 55-44 vote followed an emotional debate on the House floor between supporters and opponents of the legislation as labor union members and business backers looked on from the gallery.
FIRST OF ITS KIND NATIONAL STUDY EXAMINES ECONOMIC, SOCIAL, AND FISCAL IMPACTS OF STATE PREVAILING WAGE LAWS
Posted by Frank Manzo IV
February 9, 2016
CONTACT: Todd Stenhouse, (916) 397-1131 or toddstenhouse@gmail.com
Chicago, IL – As policy debates rage in states from Michigan and New Hampshire to New Mexico and West Virginia, researchers from the Illinois Economic Policy Institute, Colorado State University-Pueblo, and Smart Cities Prevail have just completed the first ever national study on the economic, social, and project cost impacts of state prevailing wage laws.
Prevailing wage laws govern the wage rates paid to construction workers on government-funded public works projects.
The report, entitled “The Economic, Fiscal, and Social Impacts of State Prevailing Wage Laws: Choosing Between the High Road and the Low Road in the Construction Industry,” utilizes industry standard IMPLAN modeling software and industry comparisons between states with and without prevailing wage laws to assess the impact of these policies on a variety of economic and social factors: including job creation, wages, worksite productivity, rates of in-state contracting, impacts on taxpayers, reliance on government assistance programs, and effects on communities of color and veterans.