2017 -- H 5602

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LC000849

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2017

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A N   A C T

RELATING TO PUBLIC PROPERTY AND WORKS -- LABOR AND PAYMENT OF DEBTS

BY CONTRACTORS

     Introduced By: Representatives Morgan, Chippendale, Price, Giarrusso, and Nunes

     Date Introduced: March 01, 2017

     Referred To: House Labor

     It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

     SECTION 1. Section 37-13-7 of the General Laws in Chapter 37-13 entitled "Labor and

Payment of Debts by Contractors" is hereby amended to read as follows:

     37-13-7. Specification in contract of amount and frequency of payment of wages.

     (a) Every call for bids for every contract in excess of one thousand dollars ($1,000) two

hundred thousand dollars ($200,000), to which the state of Rhode Island or any political

subdivision thereof or any public agency or quasi-public agency is a party, for new construction,

or for the alteration, and/or repair, including painting and decorating, of public buildings or public

works of the state of Rhode Island or any political subdivision thereof, or any public agency or

quasi-public agency and which requires or involves the employment of employees, shall contain a

provision stating the minimum wages to be paid various types of employees which shall be based

upon the wages that will be determined by the director of labor and training to be prevailing for

the corresponding types of employees employed on projects of a character similar to the contract

work in the city, town, village, or other appropriate political subdivision of the state of Rhode

Island in which the work is to be performed. Every contract shall contain a stipulation that the

contractor or his or her subcontractor shall pay all the employees employed directly upon the site

of the work, unconditionally and not less often than once a week, and without subsequent

deduction or rebate on any account, the full amounts accrued at time of payment computed at

wage rates not less than those stated in the call for bids, regardless of any contractual

relationships which may be alleged to exist between the contractor or subcontractor and the

employees, and that the scale of wages to be paid shall be posted by the contractor in a prominent

and easily accessible place at the site of the work; and the further stipulation that there may be

withheld from the contractor so much of the accrued payments as may be considered necessary to

pay to the employees employed by the contractor, or any subcontractor on the work, the

difference between the rates of wages required by the contract to be paid the employees on the

work and the rates of wages received by the employees and not refunded to the contractor,

subcontractors, or their agents.

     (b) The terms "wages", "scale of wages", "wage rates", "minimum wages", and

"prevailing wages" shall include:

     (1) The basic hourly rate of pay; and

     (2) The amount of:

     (i) The rate of contribution made by a contractor or subcontractor to a trustee or to a third

person pursuant to a fund, plan, or program; and

     (ii) The rate of costs to the contractor or subcontractor which may be reasonably

anticipated in providing benefits to employees pursuant to an enforceable commitment to carry

out a financially responsible plan or program which was communicated in writing to the

employees affected, for medical or hospital care, pensions on retirement or death, compensation

for injuries or illness resulting from occupational activity, or insurance to provide any of the

foregoing, for unemployment benefits, life insurance, disability and sickness insurance, or

accident insurance, for vacation and holiday pay, for defraying costs of apprenticeship or other

similar programs, or for other bona fide fringe benefits, but only where the contractor or

subcontractor is not required by other federal, state, or local law to provide any of the benefits;

provided, that the obligation of a contractor or subcontractor to make payment in accordance with

the prevailing wage determinations of the director of labor and training insofar as this chapter of

this title and other acts incorporating this chapter of this title by reference are concerned may be

discharged by the making of payments in cash, by the making of contributions of a type referred

to in subsection (b)(2), or by the assumption of an enforceable commitment to bear the costs of a

plan or program of a type referred to in this subdivision, or any combination thereof, where the

aggregate of any payments, contributions, and costs is not less than the rate of pay described in

subsection (b)(1) plus the amount referred to in subsection (b)(2).

     (c) The term "employees", as used in this section, shall include employees of contractors

or subcontractors performing jobs on various types of public works including mechanics,

apprentices, teamsters, chauffeurs, and laborers engaged in the transportation of gravel or fill to

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the site of public works, the removal and/or delivery of gravel or fill or ready-mix concrete, sand,

bituminous stone, or asphalt flowable fill from the site of public works, or the transportation or

removal of gravel or fill from one location to another on the site of public works, and the

employment of the employees shall be subject to the provisions of subsections (a) and (b).

     (d) The terms "public agency" and "quasi-public agency" shall include, but not be limited

to, the Rhode Island industrial recreational building authority, the Rhode Island commerce

corporation, the Rhode Island airport corporation, the Rhode Island industrial facilities

corporation, the Rhode Island refunding bond authority, the Rhode Island housing and mortgage

finance corporation, the Rhode Island resource recovery corporation, the Rhode Island public

transit authority, the Rhode Island student loan authority, the water resources board corporate, the

Rhode Island health and education building corporation, the Rhode Island turnpike and bridge

authority, the Narragansett Bay water quality management district commission, Rhode Island

telecommunications authority, the convention center authority, the board of governors for higher

education, the board of regents for elementary and secondary education, the capital center

commission, the housing resources commission, the Quonset Point-Davisville management

corporation, the Rhode Island children's crusade for higher education, the Rhode Island

depositors economic protection corporation, the Rhode Island lottery commission, the Rhode

Island partnership for science and technology, the Rhode Island public building authority, and the

Rhode Island underground storage tank board.

     SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.

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EXPLANATION

BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

OF

A N   A C T

RELATING TO PUBLIC PROPERTY AND WORKS -- LABOR AND PAYMENT OF DEBTS

BY CONTRACTORS

***

     This act would raise the minimum threshold when public works contractors are required

to pay prevailing wages to their employees from one thousand dollars ($1,000) to two hundred

thousand dollars ($200,000).

     This act would take effect upon passage.

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