ENGROSSED
Senate Bill No. 618
(By Senators Ross and Ball)
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[Introduced February 21, 2000; referred to the Committee on
Government Organization; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section three, article five-a, chapter
twenty-one of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to the attachment of
wage rates to construction contracts.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section three, article five-a, chapter twenty-one of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 5A. WAGES FOR CONSTRUCTION OF PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS.
§21-5A-3. Fair minimum rate of wages; determination; filing;
schedule of wages part of specifications.
Any public authority authorized to let to contract the
construction of a public improvement shall, before advertising for
bids for the construction thereof of the public improvement,
ascertain from the state commissioner of labor the fair minimum
rate of wages, including fair minimum overtime and holiday pay, to
be paid by the successful bidder to the laborers, workmen or
mechanics in the various branches or classes of the construction to
be performed; and such the schedule of wages shall be attached to
and made a part of the specifications for the construction and
shall be printed on published in an electronic or other medium and
incorporated in the bidding blanks by reference when approved by
the commissioner of labor where the construction is to be performed
by contract. The "fair minimum rate of wages", for the intents and
purposes of this article, shall be is the rate of wages paid in the
locality in this state as hereinbefore defined to the majority of
workmen, laborers or mechanics in the same trade or occupation in
the construction industry. The commissioner of labor or a member
of his or her department division designated by him or her shall
assemble the data as to fair minimum wage rates and shall file wage
rates. Rates shall be established and filed as hereinafter
provided on January one of each year annually on the first day of January. These rates shall prevail as the minimum wage rate on all
public improvements on which bids are asked during the year
beginning with the date when such the new rates are filed and until
the new rates are filed, the rates for the preceding year shall
remain in effect: Provided, however, That such the rates shall not
remain in effect for a period longer than fifteen months from the
date they are published, but this provision shall not affect
construction of a public improvement then underway.