Researcher: JM Page 1 3/9/21
OLR Bill Analysis
HB 6378
AN ACT CODIFYING PREVAILING WAGE CONTRACT RATES.
SUMMARY
This bill revises the method the labor commissioner must use to set
prevailing wage rates on public works projects. The prevailing wage
law requires contractors on public works projects to at least pay the
prevailing hourly wage rate (including benefits), as determined by
law, to all eligible workers on the project. The requirement applies to
new construction projects of $1 million or more and renovation
projects of $100,000 or more.
Current law allows the commissioner to set the rates in one of two
ways: (1) on his own, after (a) holding a hearing to determine the
prevailing wage rates on any public work within a specified area and
(b) establishing classifications of skilled, semiskilled, and ordinary
labor, or (2) by adopting and using the applicable prevailing wage rate
determinations made by the federal labor secretary for the federal
prevailing wage law. In practice, the labor commissioner uses the
federally-determined rates for the four types of prevailing wage
projects: building, heavy, highway, and residential.
The bill instead requires the commissioner to make the prevailing
wage rate (including benefits) for each trade or occupation the same as
the rate established in the dominant collective bargaining agreement in
effect for that trade or occupation for the town where the project is
being constructed. (The bill does not say how the labor commissioner
determines which agreement is “dominant.”) If there is no collective
bargaining agreement for a trade or occupation in the town, the
commissioner must use the federally-determined rate. The bill also
makes a conforming change in a related law by eliminating the
requirement for the labor commissioner to hold a hearing to determine
the prevailing wage rates for state highway projects. 2021HB-06378-R000025-BA.DOCX
Researcher: JM Page 2 3/9/21
The bill applies the new method for determining the rates for
building, heavy, and highway projects. It is not clear how the rate
determinations will be made for residential projects, which are those of
either single- or multi-family housing or dormitories of no more than
four stories.
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2021
COMMITTEE ACTION
Labor and Public Employees Committee
Joint Favorable
Yea 10 Nay 3 (02/18/2021)