February 27, 2003

Thursday, 1:30 p.m.

MADISON

G.E.F. 1 Building, Room H305

201 E. Washington Avenue

Interested persons are invited to appear at the hearings 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 regarding communication or accessibility 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) and 103.49(3g), Stats.

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

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 ss. 66.0903(5) and 103.49(3g), Stats., and the current s. DWD 290.155(1), the state prevailing wage rate laws do not apply to any single-trade public works project for which the estimated cost is below $36,000, and it does not apply to any multi-trade public works project for which the estimated cost is below $175,000.

Under 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 construction trade publication. The proposed rule adjusts the thresholds from $36,000 to $37,000 for single-trade projects and from $175,000 to $180,000 for multi-trade projects based on a 2.7% increase in the construction cost index between December 2001 and December 2002.

Rule Text

SECTION 1. DWD 290.155(1) is amended to read:

DWD 290.155(1) This chapter does not apply to any single-trade public works project for which the estimated cost of completion is below $36,000 $37,000, and any multi-trade public works project for which the estimated cost of completion is below $175,000 $180,000.

The proposed rule does not affect small business.

Under the proposed rule, a state agency or local governmental unit contracting for the construction of a single-trade public works project that costs more than $36,000 but less than $37,000 or a multi-trade project that costs more than $175,000 but less than $180,000 will not be covered by the prevailing wage requirement.

For substantive questions concerning the proposed rule, call Mike Dixon, Construction Wage Standards Section Chief, at (608) 266-0028.

Written comments on the proposed rules received at the following address no later than February 28, 2003, will be given the same consideration as testimony presented at the hearing.

Elaine Pridgen

Office of Legal Counsel

Dept. of Workforce Development

P.O. Box 7946

Madison, WI 53707-7946

(608) 267-9403