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www.HartfordBusiness.com March 16, 2015 • Hartford Business Journal 11 lawmakers consider changes to cT's prevailing wage By Greg Bordonaro gbordonaro@HartfordBusiness.com T he tug-of-war between labor and business over Connecticut's prevailing wage is heating up once again at the State Capitol. A litany of bills aimed at reducing, or out- right eliminating, the state's prevailing wage are being debated in the Labor and Public Employees Committee, drawing support from businesses and some municipalities and opposition from unions. State Sen. Toni Boucher (R-Wilton) is behind many of the measures, including Senate Bills 180, 181, and 182. One bill aims to eliminate Connecticut's prevailing wage, while the other two propose to increase the wage threshold. Prevailing wage laws require workers on public works construction projects to receive the same wage that is customarily paid for the same work in the project's town. For exam- ple, if a bricklayer on a private-sector job in Farmington customarily receives $59.96 an hour in wages and benefits, a bricklayer on a public works construction project in town is required to be paid the same rate. The law aims to keep government's use of low-bid contracting from significantly reduc- ing the market price of labor. Currently, 32 states and the federal gov- ernment have prevailing wage laws. In most states, prevailing wage only kicks in when a public works project's contract value meets or exceeds a pre-determined threshold amount. Since 1991, Connecticut's thresh- old has been $400,000 for new construction and $100,000 for remodeling. In one of her bills, Boucher, who argues the prevailing wage serves as an unfunded mandate on cash-strapped municipalities by driving up capital project costs, proposes to increase the threshold to $5 million for new construction and $2 million for remodeling. Several small towns, including Coventry, Bolton, Harwinton, and Lyme, submitted tes- timony supporting the proposals. The National Federal of Independent Busi- ness also voiced support for changes, specifi- cally asking the state to adopt a $1 million threshold for all projects, arguing that current prevailing wage laws make it harder for small construction firms to win project bids. Lori Pelletier, executive-secretary treasur- er of the Connecticut AFL-CIO, provided writ- ten testimony opposing any prevailing wage law changes, arguing they help protect the state from attracting unskilled, cheap labor. "Weakening this law will undoubtedly further open the floodgates for out-of-state companies to under-bid projects, bus in their own out-of-state workers, and pay them a low wage with no health insurance," Pelletier wrote. It's unlikely lawmakers will approve any major changes to Connecticut's prevailing wage, particularly with the House and Sen- ate controlled by Democrats. However, that doesn't stop the issue from being raised at the legislature on annual basis. Some small towns in particular are push- ing for changes as they face continued bud- getary pressures. n State Prevailing wage laws Prevailing Wage State Thresholds Connecticut $ 400,000 for new construction $ 100,000 for remodeling Delaware $ 100,000 for new construction $ 15,000 for alteration, repair, renovation, rehabilitation, demolition, or reconstruction Maine $ 50,000 Massachusetts None New York None Pennsylvania $ 25,000 Rhode Island $ 1,000 New Jersey $ 2,000 for work done on public property other than a municipality $ 14,187 for work done for, or on the property of, a municipality s O u r C e : O F F i C e O F l e g i s l a T i v e r e s e a r C H a construction crew builds the addition to the Uconn cell & Genome Sciences Building in Farmington. P H O T O | P a b l O r O b l e s Typical Prevailing wages in cT Prevailing Wages Hourly Job Rate Benefits Total Boilermaker $35.24 25.01 $60.25 Bricklayer $32.50 27.46 $59.96 Crane Handler $36.80 22.3 $59.10 Plumber $39.31 26.27 $65.58 Roofer $32.85 17.72 $50.57 sOurCe: OFFiCe OF legislaTive researCH Orafol Americas selected EMCOR Services New England Mechanical (NEMSI) to install a new central chilled water plant at their 98,000 square foot facility in Avon, CT. NEMSI had been providing mechanical service and maintenance for over 15 years to the site. NEMSI delivered a creative, cost-effective solution that tripled the size of the process chilled water system, eliminated the negative pressure problems in the building, and addressed noise issues voiced by neighbors. The team overcame unforeseen schedule delays, secured a large utility incentive, and coordinated with the site expansion work, to minimize the capital expenditure and keep their process energy costs virtually unchanged. 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