SCS/SB 596 - Currently, contracts for public construction are barred from containing provisions that require or prohibit the parties from entering into agreements with labor unions on the project or discriminate against parties for doing so when the project is funded by greater than 50% of state funds. Under this act, the same requirements shall apply to contracts funded in any amount with public funds. The act defines "public funds" to include funds belonging to the state, any agency of the state, or any instrumentality or political subdivision thereof. The act redefines "project labor agreement" to apply to agreements for projects of agencies and instrumentalities of the state. The act bars the usage of such agreements on all public construction projects in the state.
Standing to seek equitable relief and monetary damages for violations of the laws relating to state purchasing and printing are established.
The act also modifies Missouri law relating to the prevailing wage.
Prevailing wage laws shall not apply in any county that receives federal disaster assistance under a federal disaster declaration for projects undertaken as a result of the disaster.
The definition of "construction" only includes new construction, enlargement, or major alteration. Reconstruction, improvement, painting and decorating, and major repair are no longer considered construction for the purposes of prevailing wage.
Under current law, a locality, for the purposes of determining the prevailing wage for an occupational title, may encompass two or more counties adjacent to the one in which the construction is to be performed in certain instances. This act only allows the county in which the work is to be performed to be used as a basis for determining the prevailing wage.
Under current law, prevailing wage in a locality is determined by the Department of Labor to be the hourly rate for a particular occupational title by means of wage surveys. This act repeals this provision and establishes that the prevailing wage for a locality shall be the median hourly estimated wage of the construction and extraction occupational code most closely resembling the occupational title as published in the Metropolitan and Non-Metropolitan Area Occupational Employment Wage Estimate published by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, or the median hourly wage estimate for occupational code 47-0000 in the construction and extraction occupational code if the former cannot be determined.
Under current law, when the Department of Labor finds a violation of the prevailing wage statutes, it provides a notice of penalty to the employer. This act changes references to "notices of penalty" to "notices of violation".
Under current law, prevailing wage penalties are not due until 45 days after the date of the notice of the penalty. This act removes that provision.
Under current law, if employers pay backwages before the department initiates an enforcement action to enforce monetary penalties, the department is precluded from initiating such an enforcement action. Under the act, the department is also precluded from initiating any administrative, civil, or criminal action and the employer shall not appear on the notice of conviction list that would otherwise bar the employer from participating in public works construction.
Under current law, the prevailing wage for each title may be adjusted in response to fluctuations in wages due to collective bargaining agreements. Those adjustments shall not be allowed under this act.
Provisions requiring contractor and subcontractor signage on motor vehicles and other motorized equipment and imposing a six month term of imprisonment on those violating the prevailing wage laws are removed.
This act is similar to SB 175 (2011), SB 176 (2011), SB 468 (2012), SB 439 (2012).
CHRIS HOGERTY