ENROLLED

H. B. 2331


(By Delegates Warner and Mezzatesta)


[Passed April 14, 2001; in effect ninety days from passage.]




AN ACT 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, 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 schedule of wages shall be made a part of the specifications for the construction and shall be 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 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 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 the first day of January of each year. 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 new rates are filed and until the new rates are filed, the rates for the preceding year shall remain in effect: Provided, That such 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.