NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that pursuant to Sections 66.0903 (5), 103.49 (3g), 779.14 (1s), and 227.11, Stats., the Department of Workforce Development proposes to hold a public hearing to consider the amendment and creation of rules relating to the adjustment of thresholds for application of prevailing wage rates and payment and performance assurance requirements.

Interested persons are invited to appear at the hearing and will be afforded the opportunity to make an oral presentation of their positions. Persons making oral presentations are requested to submit their facts, views, and suggested rewording in writing.

Visitors to the GEF 1 building are requested to enter through the left East Washington Avenue door and register with the customer service desk. The entrance is accessible via a ramp from the corner of Webster Street and East Washington Avenue. If you have special needs or circumstances that may make communication or accessibility difficult at the hearing, please call (608) 267-9403 at least 10 days prior to the hearing date. Accommodations such as ASL interpreters, English translators, or materials in audiotape format will be made available on request to the fullest extent possible.

Statutory authority: Sections 66.0903 (5), 103.49 (3g), 779.14 (1s), and 227.11, Stats.

Statutes interpreted: Sections 66.0903 (5), 103.49 (3g), and 779.14, Stats.

Adjustment of thresholds for application of prevailing wage rates. The state prevailing wage laws require that when a state agency or local governmental unit contracts for the construction of a public works project it must obtain a prevailing wage rate determination from the Department of Workforce Development and require that the contractors and subcontractors on the project pay their employees in accordance with those wage rates. Under current law the state prevailing wage rate laws do not apply to any single-trade public works project for which the estimated cost is below $35,000, and do not apply to any multi-trade public works project for which the estimated cost is below $172,000.

Pursuant to ss. 66.0903 (5) and 103.49 (3g), Stats., and s. DWD 290.15, the Department is required to adjust the dollar amounts of the thresholds each year in proportion to any change in construction costs since the thresholds were last determined. The threshold adjustment is based on changes in the construction cost index published in the Engineering News-Record, a national construction trade publication. This rule adjusts the thresholds from $35,000 to $36,000 for single-trade projects and from $172,000 to $175,000 for multi-trade projects based on a 1.7% increase in the construction cost index between December 2000 and December 2001. Section DWD 290.15 is also amended to clarify that the department rounds off the thresholds to the nearest thousand.

Adjustment of thresholds for payment and performance assurance requirements. Section 779.14, Stats., sets payment and performance assurance requirements that apply to contracts for the performance of labor or furnishing of materials for a public improvement project or public work. Section 779.14 (1s), Stats., requires the department to adjust the thresholds for various requirements in proportion to any change in construction costs since the statute was effective or the last adjustment. This is the first adjustment since the statute was effective in June 1998. The thresholds are adjusted to reflect a 8.7% increase in the construction cost index from June 1998 to December 2001. These adjustments are also based on changes in the construction costs index as published in the Engineering News-Record and are rounded to the nearest thousand.

The proposed rule does not affect small business as defined in s. 227.14, Stats.

Under the rule, a state agency or local governmental unit contracting for the construction of a single-trade public works project that costs more than $35,000 but less than $36,000 or a multi-trade project that costs more than $172,000 but less than $175,000 is not covered by the prevailing wage requirement.

The proposed rules are available on the DWD web site at http://www.dwd.state.wi.us/dwd/hearings.htm. A paper copy may be obtained at no charge by contacting:

Elaine Pridgen

Office of Legal Counsel

Dept. of Workforce Development

201 E. Washington Avenue

P.O. Box 7946

Madison, WI 53707-7946

(608) 267-9403

pridgel@dwd.state.wi.us

Written comments on the proposed rules received at the above address no later than March 1, 2002, will be given the same consideration as testimony presented at the hearing.