Finds that: (1) The state annually awards contracts to private contractors and vendors. Such expenditures should be spent in a manner that promotes the creation of jobs that allow residents to support themselves and their families with dignity;

(2) The present federal and state minimum wages generate income at a level below the amount required to support a family at a basic level;

(3) Jobs that do not pay living wages result in families who have greater need of social services provided by the state and paid for by state taxpayers; and

(4) The payment of adequate wages to workers employed by private contractors and vendors that contract with the state will promote stability and reduced turnover, resulting in a higher quality of service.

Requires all contractors and subcontractors covered under the act to pay employees performing work under contracts or subcontracts a living wage no less than nine dollars and seventy cents per hour if health benefits are paid for in whole or in substantial part by the employer, or eleven dollars and fifty-five cents per hour if health benefits are not so provided.