Two Republican state representatives will unveil legislation tomorrow to change the state’s prevailing wage law. Actually, Ohio’s lawmakers have been trying to alter those laws for a while now.
Since 1931, Ohio has had a law mandating trade workers on certain state and local projects be paid specific hourly wages and benefits.
Two Republican lawmakers want to ban the mandate that local governments, universities and others pay the prevailing wage, saying doing so will lower the cost of construction projects.
This isn’t the first-time lawmakers have tried to change the law. There were three efforts to eliminate the prevailing wage requirement in the last General Assembly, but none passed out of committee. Trade unions have vehemently opposed those bills. And this time, unions and Democrats who backed Republican House Speaker Larry Householder could have a strong say in the matter.
