S-0784.1  _______________________________________________

                         SENATE BILL 5366

          _______________________________________________

State of Washington      57th Legislature     2001 Regular Session

By Senators Hochstatter, Swecker, McDonald, Stevens, Johnson and Honeyford

Read first time 01/19/2001.  Referred to Committee on Labor, Commerce & Financial Institutions.

Exempting public works and maintenance contracts of school districts from prevailing wage requirements.

    AN ACT Relating to prevailing wages; amending RCW 39.12.020; and creating a new section.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.  The legislature finds that funding for common school construction, remodeling, and maintenance is scarce.  The legislature also finds that taxpayers have strongly expressed their desire for frugal public spending.  Yet laws requiring the payment of prevailing wages on public works and maintenance contracts force taxpayers to pay more than they otherwise would for school construction, remodeling, and maintenance.  Thus, the legislature intends to exempt public works and maintenance contracts of school districts from prevailing wage requirements, and permit wage competition among firms seeking such contracts.

    Sec. 2.  RCW 39.12.020 and 1989 c 12 s 7 are each amended to read as follows:

    The hourly wages to be paid to laborers, workers, or mechanics, upon all public works and under all public building service maintenance contracts of the state or any county, municipality or political subdivision created by its laws, shall be not less than the prevailing rate of wage for an hour's work in the same trade or occupation in the locality within the state where such labor is performed.  For a contract in excess of ten thousand dollars, a contractor required to pay the prevailing rate of wage shall post in a location readily visible to workers at the job site:  PROVIDED, That on road construction, sewer line, pipeline, transmission line, street, or alley improvement projects for which no field office is needed or established, a contractor may post the prevailing rate of wage statement at the contractor's local office, gravel crushing, concrete, or asphalt batch plant as long as the contractor provides a copy of the wage statement to any employee on request:

    (1) A copy of a statement of intent to pay prevailing wages approved by the industrial statistician of the department of labor and industries under RCW 39.12.040; and

    (2) The address and telephone number of the industrial statistician of the department of labor and industries where a complaint or inquiry concerning prevailing wages may be made.

    This chapter shall not apply to workers or other persons regularly employed on monthly or per diem salary by the state, or any county, municipality, or political subdivision created by its laws.  This chapter shall not apply to public works and public building service maintenance contracts of a school district, as defined in chapter 28A.315 RCW, or an educational service district, as defined in chapter 28A.310 RCW.

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