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OLR Bill Analysis
sHB 6862
AN ACT CONCERNING BROADBAND CONSTRUCTION AND THE
PREVAILING WAGE.
SUMMARY
This bill requires the state’s Broadband Internet Access Service Grant
Program to prioritize giving grants to applicants who meet certain
labor-related criteria (e.g., have certain training programs and use a
directly employed, rather than contracted, workforce) . It
correspondingly requires applicants to the program to disclose certain
related information when they apply.
The bill also brings broadband installation projects funded by grants
from the program under the state’s prevailing wage law (see
BACKGROUND) . In doing so, it (1) requires workers on the projects to
be paid the applicable prevailing wage, (2) extends the law’s
enforcement provisions to the contractors or subcontractors on the
projects, and (3) requires the contracting agent to certify to the labor
commissioner the total cost of the work to be done for the project. (If the
grant recipient is a private-sector entity, it is unclear who the contracting
agent would be for these projects. In addition, the bill does not make a
conforming change that would require the employers on these projects
to submit certified payroll records to an agency or entity with oversight
of them as required for other prevailing wage projects.)
By law, the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection
(DEEP) commissioner must establish and administer the broadband
grant program to support the deployment of broadband Internet access
service. Current law requires her to do this subject to the availability of
federal funding, but the bill makes this subject to the availability of both
state and federal funding.
EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 2023 2023HB-06862-R000491-BA.DOCX
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LABOR-RELATED CRITERIA FOR BROADBAND GRA NTS
The law, unchanged by the bill, requires the DEEP commissioner to
make the broadband program’s grant criteria consistent with any
federal law for the grants, including application requirements, applicant
eligibility, addressing unserved areas in distressed municipalities, and
the applicant’s commitment to pay at least 20% of a project’s costs with
its own funding, among other things.
Current law allows the commissioner, when awarding grants, to
prioritize applicants based on the percentage of the applicant’s
commitment to cost sharing. The bill requires the commissioner to
prioritize applicants that do so and that:
1. have robust training programs for their workforce that will be
performing the contract, including requirements tied to titles,
uniform wage scales, and industry-recognized skill codes;
2. require occupational health and safety training for their
workforce performing the contract;
3. will perform the contract using a directly employed workforce;
4. can show that they have programs to promote training and hiring
pipelines for underrepresented communities; and
5. have either (a) robust compliance records over the past five years
with the state’s labor code, the (presumably, federal) Occupation
Safety and Health Act (OSHA), the federal Fair Labor Standards
Act (FLSA), Title VII of the federal Civil Rights Act, and all other
applicable labor or employment laws or (b) mitigated violations
with labor compliance agreements and measures to ensure future
labor compliance (the bill does not specify what constitutes a
“robust compliance record”).
(Because existing law also requires the commissioner to set eligibility
criteria consistent with any federal requirement for the grants, if the
bill’s criteria conflict with federal requirements, it is unclear which
provision would prevail or how it would impact the state’s eligibility 2023HB-06862-R000491-BA.DOCX
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for federal funds.) As under existing law, the commissioner can deny
applicants that do not submit certain required information.
The bill requires that any disclosure made by an applicant about the
above criteria be publicly available on the Office of Telecommunications
and Broadband’s website.
The bill requires the commissioner to award grants based on a point
system, with each applicant given 0 to 100 points. For grants funded by
the federal Broadband Equity, Access, and Development (presumably,
“Deployment”) program, applicants that satisfy the five criteria above
and the “Fair Labor Practices” outlined in the National
Telecommunications and Information (Administration) Funding
Opportunity published on May 13, 2022, must be awarded at least 25
points. (The “fair labor practices” generally require a demonstrated
record of compliance with federal labor and employment laws.)
For grants from other funding sources, the bill requires applicants
that satisfy the five criteria above be awarded a substantial point
allocation of at least 15 points. (The bill does not specify how the
remaining points in either point system must be evaluated or allocated.)
The bill requires all projects funded by grants from the Broadband
Internet Access Service Grant Program to be subject to the state’s
prevailing wage requirements.
APPLICATION DISCLOSU RES
The bill requires applicants who apply for a grant from the program
to give the DEEP commissioner the following information with their
applications:
1. whether the workforce is directly employed by the contractor or
whether the proposed work will be performed by a
subcontracted workforce;
2. the subcontractors, if any, who the contractor plans to
subcontract with to perform the proposed work; and 2023HB-06862-R000491-BA.DOCX
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3. for each job title required for the proposed work, a description of
(a) the wages, benefits, and applicable wage scales, including
overtime rates, and a description of how the wages are
calculated; (b) the applicant’s training programs and whether
they are tied to titles, uniform wage scales, and industry-
recognized skill codes; (c) safety training, and certification or
licensure requirements, including whether the participant
requires its employees to complete occupational safety and
health training or any other training required by law; and (d) the
entity employing the workforce in each job title.
Under the bill, any applicant awarded a grant must also submit this
information monthly to the commissioner. Any person or entity that
fails to meet these disclosure requirements may be deemed ineligible to
participate in future grant programs through the Office of
Telecommunications and Broadband.
The bill specifies that these disclosure requirements apply to any
applicant that is a public agency (it is unclear if they only apply to public
agencies or what constitutes a “public agency” for these purposes).
BACKGROUND
Prevailing Wage Law
The state’s prevailing wage law requires employers on certain public
works projects to pay their construction workers wages and benefits
equal to those that are customary or prevailing for the same work, in the
same trade or occupation, in the same town. The requirement applies to
new construction projects of $1 million or more and renovation projects
of $100,000 or more.
COMMITTEE ACTION
Labor and Public Employees Committee
Joint Favorable Substitute
Yea 9 Nay 3 (03/23/2023)