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After robust public comment, vote on prevailing wage draft bill fails – Daily Montanan [1]

['Nicole Girten', 'More From Author', '- July']

Date: 2022-07-13  

The Local Government Interim Committee voted down a draft bill this week concerning prevailing wages in Montana after members of the public expressed concerns over impacts to working Montanans.

Rep. Dave Fern, D-Whitefish, said during the Tuesday meeting that proponents for raising the threshold for public works contracts that require prevailing wages would likely push to move forward during the 2023 legislative session.

“This is not the end of this, and what may come forward may be very different than what we see today,” Fern said.

There were 39 pages of public comment submitted to the committee concerning the draft bill, which would have raised the minimum contract for prevailing wages in Montana. Every single comment was in opposition.

Prevailing wage establishes the rates and requirements for public works contracts for construction services (as well as non construction services) funded by state or local government in Montana. During public comment, it was called the “minimum wage for construction workers.” Right now, this standard applies to all public works projects totaling over $25,000. This bill aimed to raise that threshold to $80,000 projects.

During the committee’s work session Tuesday, members voted 6-4 against a twice-amended bill draft. One of the amendments, submitted by Sen. John Esp, R- Big Timber, brought the threshold down from $80,000 to $50,000.

Seven people spoke in opposition to the draft bill with a wide range of concerns. They argued the change would hurt local workers and potentially lead to greater income inequality, and that it would lead to “tipping the scales” for out-of-state contractors. Under prevailing wage law, at least 50% of skilled laborers on a project must be making the same amount and benefits, as outlined in the Montana Code Annotated.

“There’s a saying we use of the trades that goes with this bill is ‘skilled labor isn’t cheap, cheap laborers isn’t skilled,’” said Justin McEwen, field representative for the regional Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers union.

The sole voice in favor of the draft legislation during public comment was a representative from the Montana Association of Counties, Karen Alley, who said the organization supported it to help alleviate administrative errors as the trigger amount for competitive advertised bidding is $80,000. She said MACo conducted an informal study across counties that said that not many projects fell between the $25,000 to $80,000 threshold, meaning there would be little impact.

But Political Director with the Montana AFL-CIO union federation Amanda Frickle said that in Missoula County alone, 170 projects fell between the $25,000 to $80,000 range and even more fell under the $25,000 threshold that already exists.

“You’re going to see an impact,” Frickle said. “And I would just also caution folks that that is incomplete, because the competitive bid process is not required for projects under $80,000, so we don’t know the full extent to the impact, but folks on the ground have testified that there will be one.”

An amendment that failed from Rep. Mary Ann Dunwell, D-Helena, sought to eliminate the threshold for prevailing wage altogether, meaning all public projects would require prevailing wage. It failed on a tied vote.

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[1] Url: https://dailymontanan.com/2022/07/13/after-robust-public-comment-vote-on-prevailing-wage-draft-bill-fails/

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