Plain English Breakdown
The official text contains conflicting words ('require authorize') regarding whether the court must award penalties, though it clarifies a penalty up to $1,000 is involved.
Access to Public Works Sites for Wage Monitoring
This law requires public project owners and awarding bodies to let joint-labor management committee representatives visit job sites to check if workers are paid correctly, while allowing access to be denied if safety rules are not followed.
What This Bill Does
- Requires an awarding body or owner to give reasonable access to representatives of a joint-labor management committee on public works projects.
- Allows these representatives to monitor compliance with prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements.
- Authorizes project owners, contractors, or subcontractors to deny or revoke access if the representative fails or refuses to follow job site safety rules.
- Permits the committee to sue an awarding body, contractor, or subcontractor that willfully denies reasonable access to their representatives.
- Requires courts to award a civil penalty of up to $1,000 and attorney's fees in cases where access was wrongfully denied.
Who It Names or Affects
- Awarding bodies and owners of public works projects
- Contractors and subcontractors working on public jobs
- Representatives of joint-labor management committees
Terms To Know
- Public works
- Construction, alteration, demolition, installation, or repair work done under contract and paid for in whole or part by public funds.
- Prevailing wage
- The general rate of per diem wages required to be paid to workers on public works projects.
- Joint-labor management committee
- A group with representatives that monitors compliance with prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements.
Limits and Unknowns
- The bill states access must be 'reasonable, as defined,' but does not provide the specific definition in this summary.
- Safety rules for denying access are described only as being 'as specified' without listing them here.
- Civil penalties and costs are awarded 'as specified,' meaning exact details depend on other parts of the law.