Senate Tax and Fiscal Policy Committee Chairman Senator Brandt Hershman set the ground rules initially, for what turned out to be a four-hour meeting, with 90 minutes of testimony allotted to both sides of the Bill repealing common construction wage. The opponents testified first and exceeded that time frame by more than 30 minutes.

Proponents, however, were not extended the courtesy of an extension to their time. The Indiana Chamber, the Indiana Manufacturers Association, the Indiana Builders Association and a few other groups were not permitted to speak for lack of time and were asked to submit their testimony in written form.

The Chamber’s written testimony from Kevin Brinegar that was submitted to Hershman stated:

“It has been the staunchly held position of the Indiana Chamber, for over 50 years, that the Common Construction Wage Law, as it is now called, should be repealed in favor of open and fair competitive bidding on public construction projects.

“CCW costs Hoosiers tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars in excess, unnecessary tax burdens each year. And every dollar that taxpayers are overcharged for public construction is a dollar that another business owner doesn’t have available to pay his or her employees or provide them health care or a pension. It’s another dollar that a farmer doesn’t have to buy new equipment, or it is a dollar that an elderly couple on a fixed income doesn’t have to pay their property taxes or their heating bill.

“Perhaps most importantly, in my 20-plus years of involvement with this issue I have yet to meet a bad contractor or a bad employee.The people who came to the hearing, both union and merit shop, all represented good Hoosier companies and good Hoosier employees. So this issue and this bill is not about good guys and bad guys. It’s about a bad law.”

Opponents of the bill were: the Indiana Building Contractors Alliance, representatives of several construction companies, the mayor of Portage, a professor of economics at the University of Utah and the Indiana Institute for Working Families. Several others also testified against the repeal. 

Proponents included: a policy analyst for the Heritage Foundation; Sen. Arlan Meekhof of Michigan; Winco Construction Company; Henry Electric; former state representative and construction business owner Bill Davis; Loren King, CEO of Trinitas Ventures; a Fort Wayne city councilman; a Harrison County commissioner and county councilman; a Fort Wayne Community School board member; and the Association of Builders and Contractors. 

The committee is considering an amendment regarding the bidding process. Specifically, the amendment proposed includes: implementation of a three-tiered contractor system, maintaining some level of general liability insurance, E-verify, that no cash be paid to employees, that names and addresses of employees be submitted, if non-responsive, then a 48-month prohibition to participating in a public works project and a potential prohibition of local adoption of a common wage. Our coalition is discussing with the chairman as to which provisions are acceptable and which ones are not.

Source: Indiana Chamber.