H. B. 4699
(By Delegates Collins, Varner, Butcher, Claypole,
Kuhn, Davis and Willison)
(Originating in the Committee on Government Organization)
[March 3, 1998]
A BILL to amend article one-b, chapter twenty-one of the code of
West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated section
three-a, relating to creating a pilot program to evaluate the
efficacy of requiring employment of residents of the local
labor market in publicly funded construction projects.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article one-b, chapter twenty-one of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be
amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section three- a, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 1B. REPORTING OF EMPLOYMENT.
§21-1B-3a. Pilot project for employment of residents of local labor market.
(a) As used in this section, "local labor market" means the
labor market area designated by the West Virginia division of
highways for Appalachian regional commission projects and shall
include every county in West Virginia.
(b) Not later than the first day of January, two thousand, the
West Virginia division of highways shall select at least two
construction projects and the school building authority shall
select at least one construction project, to serve as pilot
programs to evaluate the benefit of requiring the employment of
residents of the local labor market on public improvement projects.
The commissioner of highways and the executive director of the
school building authority shall exchange information related to
construction projects under consideration for inclusion in the
pilot program so that, to the extent possible, the projects
selected may be geographically distributed in different areas of
the state. The project selected by the school building authority
shall be a project funded at least eighty-five percent by state
dollars. Upon selection of the projects to participate in the
pilot program, a condition of awarding the construction contract
shall be that the successful bidder agree to employ at least ninety
percent of the employees engaged or permitted to perform hourly work for wages at the construction site, excluding salaried
supervisory personnel, from the local labor market.
(c) The construction contracts for projects included in the
pilot program shall provide that any employer providing employment
to employees at the construction site not otherwise able to employ
a minimum of ninety percent labor market residents as employees on
a public improvement must inform the nearest office of the West
Virginia division of employment security of his or her employment
needs. If within one week following the placing of a job order,
the division is unable to refer any qualified job applicants to the
employer, or less than the number requested, the division will
award a certificate to the contractor indicating the unavailability
of applicants. The certificate shall be made a part of the
contractor's permanent project records. Upon receipt of the
certificate, the contractor may employ nonresidents of the labor
market to fill any positions covered by the certificate. Every
subcontract related to the construction contracts for projects
included in the pilot program that will, or reasonably may be,
performed as on-site work shall contain provisions conforming to
the requirements of this section.
(d) The reports or payroll records required by the provisions
of this article for the construction projects selected for inclusion in the pilot program shall be supplied to the
commissioner of labor. Notwithstanding the provisions of section
four of this article, with respect to any construction project
selected as part of the pilot program that is not completed by the
termination date set forth in that section, reports shall be
furnished until the completion of on-site construction for the
projects. The commissioner may request reports or payroll records
pursuant to this article for other school building and highways
projects as may be reasonably necessary to evaluate the benefit of
the pilot project, and the reports or payroll records shall be
provided upon request. The commissioner of highways and the
executive director of the school building authority shall provide
to the commissioner of labor their conclusions and supporting data
as to any effect on construction costs of the requirement for
hiring residents of the local labor market. The commissioner shall
maintain all records as a source of research material to determine
the efficacy of such projects. Not later than twelve months
following the beginning of on-site construction of the last project
included in the pilot program, the commissioner shall report his or
her analysis and supporting data, evaluating the benefit of the
pilot project in providing additional jobs for West Virginians,
including information and conclusions provided by the commissioner of highways and the executive director of the school building
authority, to the governor and the Legislature. The report and all
information contained in the report shall be public information, to
be supplied to any member of the public upon request.
NOTE:The purpose of this bill is to create a pilot
program to evaluate the efficacy of requiring the hiring of workers
from the local labor market in publicly funded construction
projects in West Virginia.
The entire article is new, therefore strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.