WV House votes to repeal prevailing wage
By Phil Kabler, Statehouse Reporter for the Gazette-Mail
The House of Delegates voted Wednesday to repeal West Virginia's just-revised Prevailing Wage Act, even though eight Republicans joined the House's 36 Democrats in voting against the measure.
The 55-44 vote followed more than 2½ hours of intense debate over the bill (HB 4005).
Earlier, the House, on a mostly party-line 61-38 vote, rejected a motion calling for an economic impact study of the law's repeal. That marked the second time a call for an economic impact study had been quashed, along with rejections of three motions.
Requesting a fiscal note on the repeal legislation's impact on state agencies.
"Good stewards of the taxpayers' money â we're not even going to take the time to study this," said Delegate Isaac Sponaugle, D-Pendleton, after his motion was rejected.
"People are hell-bent about shoving this through," Sponaugle said. "It doesn't matter about facts. It doesn't matter about evidence. It doesn't matter about House rules."
"I think there are those who are afraid to find out this is a bad deal for West Virginia and a bad deal for West Virginia workers," added Delegate Brent Boggs, D-Braxton.
Proponents argued that, even with revisions enacted last session â including elimination of the wage requirement for projects of $500,000 or less â the 81-year-old prevailing wage law continues to artificially inflate wage rates for construction workers on major state-funded construction projects....
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WV House votes to repeal prevailing wage By Phil Kabler, Statehouse Reporter for the Gazette-Mail
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