Proposed Changes to Wisconsin's Prevailing Wage Law Draws Mixed Reviews

Written By: Jerry Hanson  |  Posted: Monday, July 4th, 2011

            The Republican-controlled Joint Finance Committee has adopted changes to the prevailing wage law that the Assembly and Senate will be debating. The Democrat-controlled legislature and Gov. Doyle in 2009 expanded the number of public Works projects subject to prevailing wage to include all projects over $25,000. This forced many small municipalities to downsize the number of projects they could undertake. The changes proposed by the Joint Finance Committee include establishing three thresholds, a) $48,000 for single-trade projects; b) $234,000 for multiple-trade construction projects conducted by townships or cities and villages with less than 2,500 population, provided that the work is conducted with a private contractor; c)$100,000 for all other multi-trade municipal and state public works projects.

            They also proposed repeal of the monthly wage reporting requirements for contractors and subcontractors, and the requirement that the Department of Workforce Development (DWD) post this information on its website. The proposed changes would also repeal the prevailing wage statutes regarding publicly funded private construction projects.

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