SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 977
WHEREAS, the prevailing wage law governs the wages and benefits paid to construction employees in various crafts on public works projects and is enforced by the Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations through the Division of Labor Standards; and
WHEREAS, the prevailing wage is established by wage and benefit survey information voluntarily submitted by contractors working on both public and private construction contracts; and
WHEREAS, not enough wage surveys are turned into the Division of Labor Standards on the various job classifications in some counties to set a prevailed wage for a specific job title in all Missouri Counties; and
WHEREAS, because of insufficient information, some urban wages for some job classifications are determined to be "prevailing wage" in rural counties which has caused rural officials in public bodies to question the credibility of the data and questions about the objectivity of the Labor and Industrial Relations Commission have been raised; and
WHEREAS, numerous legislative attempts have been made over the past several decades to change the prevailing wage law, but have been unsuccessful; and
WHEREAS, Missouri union leaders, business interests, contractors' associations and public officials impacted by the current law desire to work together and establish a task force that will present a proposal to the General Assembly that could establish credibility and fairness to the prevailing wage process in the state of Missouri:
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the members of the Missouri Senate, Ninety-Second General Assembly, First Regular Session, wholeheartedly support the creation of a private task force on prevailing wage and eagerly await a report detailing the results of its findings.