Rep. Marsico reintroduces prevailing wage bill

State Rep. Ron Marsico (R-Dauphin) reintroduced legislation Monday to eliminate prevailing wage requirements for constructions projects that use only a small amount of public funding.

The bill would require 51 percent of a construction, renovation, or repair project to be paid for through public funds before being subject to the requirements. Current state law requires all projects of at least $25,000 that receives any public funds follow prevailing wage rules.

“I believe that many of us have heard the horror stories about local communities getting grants from DCED for various purposes to fund a small part of a project (baseball field, etc.), and finding out that receiving the money made the project subject to Prevailing Wage Act requirements,” he said in a co-sponsorship memo. “I believe my legislation is reasonable in that it simply requires that a majority of a construction project's costs be paid by a public body.”

The legislation is similar to Maryland’s prevailing wage law, he said in the memo.

Marsico also introduced the bill last session but it did not receive a vote from the Labor and Industry Committee, where it currently resides.

Marsico has been a proponent of other prevailing wage reforms, including a bill that would allow county voters to choose whether school construction projects should be subject to the requirements.

Pennsylvania’s prevailing wage structure is established by the Prevailing Wage Act of 1961 and specific rates are set by the state Department of Labor and Industry.

Source: Central Penn Business Journal