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83rd OREGON LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--2025 Regular Session
Senate Bill 460
Sponsored by Senator WEBER, Representative JAVADI; Senator THATCHER, Representatives LEVY B, OSBORNE,
WRIGHT (Presession filed.)
SUMMARY
The following summary is not prepared by the sponsors of the measure and is not a part of the body thereof subject
to consideration by the Legislative Assembly. It is an editor’s brief statement of the essential features of the
measure as introduced.The statement includes a measure digest written in compliance with applicable readability
standards.
Digest: Says that laws that require paying a certain wage rate for workers on public works do
not apply to a worker who is not yet a fully skilled worker. (Flesch Readability Score: 66.5).
Exempts workers on public works who are participants in a pre-apprenticeship program from the
application of laws that determine and require payment of a prevailing rate of wage.
Takes effect on the 91st day following adjournment sine die.
A BILL FOR AN ACT
Relating to an exemption of pre-apprenticeship participants from the application of the prevailing
rate of wage; creating new provisions; amending ORS 279C.810; and prescribing an effective
date.
Be It Enacted by the People of the State of Oregon:
SECTION 1. ORS 279C.810 is amended to read:
279C.810. (1) As used in this section:
(a) “Funds of a public agency” does not include:
(A) Funds provided in the form of a government grant to a nonprofit organization, unless the
government grant is issued for the purpose of construction, reconstruction, major renovation or
painting;
(B) Building and development permit fees paid or waived by the public agency;
(C) Tax credits or tax abatements;
(D) Land that a public agency sells to a private entity at fair market value;
(E) The difference between:
(i) The value of land that a public agency sells to a private entity as determined at the time of
the sale after taking into account any plan, requirement, covenant, condition, restriction or other
limitation, exclusive of zoning or land use regulations, that the public agency imposes on the de-
velopment or use of the land; and
(ii) The fair market value of the land if the land is not subject to the limitations described in
sub-subparagraph (i) of this subparagraph;
(F) Staff resources of the public agency used to manage a project or to provide a principal
source of supervision, coordination or oversight of a project;
(G) Staff resources of the public agency used to design or inspect one or more components of
aproject;
(H) Moneys derived from the sale of bonds that are loaned by a state agency to a private entity,
unless the moneys will be used for a public improvement;
(I) Value added to land as a consequence of a public agency’s site preparation, demolition of real
NOTE:Matter in boldfaced type in an amended section is new; matter [italic and bracketed] is existing law to be omitted.
New sections are in boldfaced type.
LC 919 SB460
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property or remediation or removal of environmental contamination, except for value added in ex-
cess of the expenses the public agency incurred in the site preparation, demolition or remediation
or removal when the land is sold for use in a project otherwise subject to ORS 279C.800 to 279C.870;
or
(J) Bonds, or loans from the proceeds of bonds, issued in accordance with ORS chapter 289 or
ORS 441.525 to 441.595, unless the bonds or loans will be used for a public improvement.
(b) “Nonprofit organization” means an organization or group of organizations described in sec-
tion 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code that is exempt from income tax under section 501(a) of
the Internal Revenue Code.
(2) ORS 279C.800 to 279C.870 do not apply to:
(a) Projects for which the contract price does not exceed $50,000. In determining the price of a
project, a public agency:
(A) May not include the value of donated materials or work performed on the project by indi-
viduals volunteering to the public agency without pay; and
(B) Shall include the value of work performed by every person paid by a contractor or subcon-
tractor in any manner for the person’s work on the project.
(b) Projects for which no funds of a public agency are directly or indirectly used. In accordance
with ORS chapter 183, the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor and Industries shall adopt rules to
carry out the provisions of this paragraph.
(c) Projects:
(A) That are privately owned;
(B) That use funds of a private entity;
(C) In which less than 25 percent of the square footage of a completed project will be occupied
or used by a public agency; and
(D) For which less than $750,000 of funds of a public agency are used.
(d) Projects for residential construction that are privately owned and that predominantly provide
affordable housing. As used in this paragraph:
(A) “Affordable housing” means housing that serves occupants whose incomes are no greater
than 60 percent of the area median income or, if the occupants are owners, whose incomes are no
greater than 80 percent of the area median income.
(B) “Predominantly” means 60 percent or more.
(C) “Privately owned” includes:
(i) Affordable housing provided on real property owned by a public agency if the real property
and related structures are leased to a private entity for 50 or more years; and
(ii) Affordable housing owned by a partnership, nonprofit corporation or limited liability com-
pany in which a housing authority, as defined in ORS 456.005, is a general partner, director or
managing member and the housing authority is not a majority owner in the partnership, nonprofit
corporation or limited liability company.
(D) “Residential construction” includes the construction, reconstruction, major renovation or
painting of single-family houses or apartment buildings not more than four stories in height and all
incidental items, such as site work, parking areas, utilities, streets and sidewalks, pursuant to the
United States Department of Labor’s “All Agency Memorandum No. 130: Application of the Standard
of Comparison “Projects of a Character Similar” Under Davis-Bacon and Related Acts,” dated
March 17, 1978.However, the commissioner may consider different definitions of residential con-
struction in determining whether a project is a residential construction project for purposes of this
[2] SB460
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paragraph, including definitions that:
(i) Exist in local ordinances or codes; or
(ii) Differ, in the prevailing practice of a particular trade or occupation, from the United States
Department of Labor’s description of residential construction.
(e) A determination or payment of the applicable rate of wage for a worker on public
works who is a participant in a pre-apprenticeship program, including a program authorized
or implemented under Title I, Subtitle C, of the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportu-
nity Act (P.L. 113-128) and regulations under 20 C.F.R. part 686, both as in effect on the ef-
fective date of this 2025 Act.
SECTION 2. The amendments to ORS 279C.810 by section 1 of this 2025 Act apply to
procurements for public works that a contracting agency advertises or otherwise solicits or,
if the contracting agency does not advertise or solicit the procurement for public works, to
a contract for public works that the contracting agency enters into on or after the effective
date of this 2025 Act.
SECTION 3.This 2025 Act takes effect on the 91st day after the date on which the 2025
regular session of the Eighty-third Legislative Assembly adjourns sine die.
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