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PA Chamber supports prevailing wage reform bills
Proposals would lessen negative impact on job creators, taxpayers
Pennsylvania Chamber members applaud the state House Labor and Industry Committee for advancing a number of bills that would reform Pennsylvania’s archaic, costly and detrimental Prevailing Wage Act. Abolishing prevailing wage requirements for public construction projects has long been a top priority for the PA Chamber. Short of a full repeal, however, Chamber members welcome the efforts of pro-business lawmakers to enact commonsense reforms to a law that has a number of harmful effects. For starters, the Prevailing Wage Act has for decades required workers on public construction projects costing more than $25,000 to be paid no less than the local “prevailing minimum wage,” which is often grossly inflated, burdening local governments and taxpayers with higher costs. In fact, prevailing wage rates can increase the price tag of projects from 10 percent to 20 percent. With local governments and school districts already operating under increasingly tight budgets and taxpayers at their breaking point, the prevailing wage mandate is just one more obstacle that makes it difficult to balance budgets and undertake vital infrastructure and construction projects. The law also forces job creators to pay workers in excess of what they might voluntarily accept; imposes extensive paperwork and administrative costs on employers; and generally hinders job creation and economic growth. In addition, decades of failure to clarify what jobs are subject to prevailing wage or to increase the project cost threshold has led to confusion for job creators, which can face stiff penalties for even accidental violations, and means that prevailing wage mandates now encompass nearly every public construction undertaking. The solution is a package of bills that the PA Chamber expressed support for in a memo sent to lawmakers in advance of the Oct. 3 meeting of the House Labor and Industry Committee. These measures, which were advanced from the committee and await a vote by the full House, include H.B. 1329, which would raise the threshold for public construction projects from $25,000 (established in 1961) to $185,000 when adjusted for inflation; and H.B. 1685, which would require the Department of Labor and Industry to eliminate confusion for contractors by clarifying what jobs are subject to prevailing wage rates. The House Labor and Industry Committee also approved H.B. 1271, which would exempt certain road maintenance work from the Prevailing Wage Act; H.B. 1541, which would stipulate that only projects for which 51 percent or more of the funding is public are subject to the Prevailing Wage Act; and H.B. 709 and H.B. 1191, which would provide exemptions for school districts and local governments unless they choose to opt in to paying prevailing wage. The PA Chamber urges lawmakers to support the long overdue passage of this legislation, which would bring needed improvements to Pennsylvania’s archaic and costly prevailing wage mandates as some other states have begun to do. ### Founded in 1916, the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry is the state's largest broad-based business association, with its membership comprising businesses of all sizes and across all industry sectors. The PA Chamber is The Statewide Voice of Business. |
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