BILL REQ. #:  S-3366.1 

Read first time 01/23/12.   Referred to Committee on Labor, Commerce & Consumer Protection.

     AN ACT Relating to the prevailing rate of wage paid on public works; and amending RCW 39.12.020, 39.12.021, and 39.12.030.

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

Sec. 1   RCW 39.12.020 and 2007 c 169 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
     The hourly wages to be paid to laborers, workers, or mechanics, employed in construction activities 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 by the state, or any county, municipality, or political subdivision created by its laws, or work not covered by chapter 18.27 or 19.28 RCW.

Sec. 2   RCW 39.12.021 and 1989 c 12 s 8 are each amended to read as follows:
     Apprentice workers employed in construction activities upon public works projects for whom an apprenticeship agreement has been registered and approved with the state apprenticeship council pursuant to chapter 49.04 RCW, must be paid at least the prevailing hourly rate for an apprentice of that trade. Any worker for whom an apprenticeship agreement has not been registered and approved by the state apprenticeship council shall be considered to be a fully qualified journey level worker, and, therefore, shall be paid at the prevailing hourly rate for journey level workers.

Sec. 3   RCW 39.12.030 and 2009 c 62 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) The specifications for every contract for the construction, reconstruction, maintenance or repair of any public work to which the state or any county, municipality, or political subdivision created by its laws is a party, shall contain a provision stating the hourly minimum rate of wage, not less than the prevailing rate of wage, which may be paid to laborers, workers, or mechanics in each trade or occupation required for such public work employed in the performance of the contract either by the contractor, subcontractor or other person doing or contracting to do the whole or any part of the construction work ((contemplated by)) under the contract, and the contract shall contain a stipulation that such laborers, workers, or mechanics shall be paid not less than such specified hourly minimum rate of wage. If the awarding agency determines that the work contracted for meets the definition of residential construction, the contract must include that information.
     (2) If the hourly minimum rate of wage stated in the contract specifies residential construction rates and it is later determined that the work performed is commercial and subject to commercial construction rates, the state, county, municipality, or political subdivision that entered into the contract must pay the difference between the residential rate stated and the actual commercial rate to the contractor, subcontractor, or other person doing or contracting to do the whole or any part of the work under the contract.