Most states, including Missouri and Illinois, but not Kansas, have some form of prevailing wage law on the books. These statutes are commonly referred to as “Mini-Davis Bacon Acts” because they, to varying degrees, are patterned after the federal law enacted in 1931 mandating the payment of the prevailing wages for the locale on public works construction projects. 40 U.S.C. Section 3141 et. seq. While the Kansas prevailing wage statute is the oldest in the country dating back to the late 1800s, it was repealed in 1987.
Recent attempts to repeal the Missouri statute, Section 290.210 RSMo. et. seq., have failed. For an excellent article on successes and failures in repealing or limiting prevailing wage statutes in other states, refer to the Summer 2016 issue of the American Bar Association’s journal, “The Construction Lawyer.” In this article, attorneys Ryan R. Zimmerman of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Asha A. Echeverria of Portland, Maine, discuss recent successes to repeal statutes in Indiana and West Virginia and the defeats in Kentucky and Michigan. To prove that compromise is the art of legislation, Wisconsin did not repeal, but limited the scope of its law. (The authors’ end notes provide excellent resource materials to gain a fuller understanding.) Each state’s recent action is briefly summarized below.
INDIANA. In 2015, Indiana’s governor signed legislation prohibiting local governmental units from usurping the law by prohibiting agencies from requiring “a wage scale or wage schedule for a public works contract awarded by the public agency.”
WEST VIRGINIA. In 2016, the Republican legislature passed and the Democrat governor vetoed a bill to repeal West Virginia’s prevailing wage law for public construction projects. Both houses of the West Virginia legislature promptly overrode the governor’s veto. As part of that process they also overrode a veto of legislation making West Virginia a right to work state.
WISCONSIN. In Wisconsin the prevailing wage law was not repealed in its entirety but, its applicability is limited to public works projects of the state or state agencies effectively repealing it as to local governmental units.
KENTUCKY. Efforts in Kentucky to partially repeal that state’s prevailing wage statute dating back to 1940 were unsuccessful. The senate passed a bill eliminating the requirement of paying prevailing wages on school projects, but the bill died in committee in the House.
MICHIGAN. The effort to repeal Michigan’s prevailing wage statute went down a path much less traveled. A private effort to acquire the requisite number of signatures for a citizen initiative proposal to repeal the law failed because it lacked the requisite number of signatures.
In light of 2016 election results in Missouri where Republicans captured the governor’s office and retained control of both houses of the legislature, it is highly predictable that efforts to repeal Missouri’s prevailing wage statute will be renewed in 2017, along with legislation for Missouri to join Kansas and other states as a “right to work” state.
Author: Richard Stockenberg, Sandberg Phoenix & von Gontard P.C., rstockenberg@sandbergphoenix.com, Direct Dial: 314-446-4301