00 Enrolled HB 155 01 Relating to the applicability of prevailing wage rates to public construction contracts; and, 02 with regard to public construction contracts, relating to notifications, bonding notifications, 03 filings, notices, primary contractors, final payments, penalties, advertised specifications, 04 required contract provisions, terminations, lists of violating contractors, and remedies. 05 _______________ 06 * Section 1. AS 36.05 is amended by adding a new section to read: 07 Sec. 36.05.005. Applicability. This chapter applies only to a public 08 construction contract that exceeds $25,000. 09 * Sec. 2. AS 36.05.010 is amended to read: 10 Sec. 36.05.010. Wage rates on public construction. A contractor or 11 subcontractor who performs work on a public construction contract in the state [, AS 12 DEFINED BY AS 36.95.010,] shall pay not less than the current prevailing rate of 01 wages for work of a similar nature in the region in which the work is done. The 02 current prevailing rate of wages is that contained in the latest determination of 03 prevailing rate of wages issued by the Department of Labor and Workforce 04 Development at least 10 days before the final date for submission of bids for the 05 contract. The rate shall remain in effect for the life of the contract or for 24 calendar 06 months, whichever is shorter. At the end of the initial 24-month period, if new wage 07 determinations have been issued by the department, the latest wage determination 08 shall become effective for the next 24-month period or until the contract is completed, 09 whichever occurs first. This process shall be repeated until the contract is completed. 10 * Sec. 3. AS 36.05.045(a) is amended to read: 11 (a) Before commencing work on a public construction contract, the person 12 entering into the contract with a contracting agency shall designate a primary 13 contractor for purposes of this section. Before work commences, the primary 14 contractor shall file a notice of work with the Department of Labor and Workforce 15 Development. The notice of work must list work to be performed under the public 16 construction contract by each contractor who will perform any portion of work on the 17 contract and the contract price being paid to each contractor. The primary contractor 18 shall pay all filing fees for each contractor performing work on the contract, including 19 a filing fee based on the contract price being paid for work performed by the primary 20 contractor's employees. The filing fee payable shall be the sum of all fees calculated 21 for each contractor. The filing fee shall be one percent of each contractor's contract 22 price. The total filing fee payable by the primary contractor under this subsection may 23 not exceed $5,000. [THERE IS NO FEE FOR A CONTRACT UNDER WHICH THE 24 TOTAL AMOUNT PAYABLE BY THE CONTRACTING AGENCY IS LESS 25 THAN $25,000.] In this subsection, "contractor" means an employer who is using 26 employees to perform work on the public construction contract under the contract or a 27 subcontract. 28 * Sec. 4. AS 36.05.070(a) is amended to read: 29 (a) The advertised specifications for a public construction contract 30 [EXCEEDING $2,000 TO WHICH THE STATE OR A POLITICAL SUBDIVISION 31 OF THE STATE IS A PARTY] that requires or involves the employment of 01 mechanics, laborers, or field surveyors must [SHALL] contain a provision stating the 02 minimum wages to be paid various classes of laborers, mechanics, or field surveyors 03 and that the rate of wages shall be adjusted to the wage rate under AS 36.05.010. 04 * Sec. 5. AS 36.05.070(c) is amended to read: 05 (c) A public construction contract under (a) of this section must [FOR 06 PUBLIC WORKS IN THE STATE OR A POLITICAL SUBDIVISION SHALL] 07 contain provisions that 08 (1) the contractor or subcontractors of the contractor shall pay all 09 employees unconditionally and not less than once a week; 10 (2) wages may not be less than those stated in the advertised 11 specifications, regardless of the contractual relationship between the contractor or 12 subcontractors and laborers, mechanics, or field surveyors; 13 (3) the scale of wages to be paid shall be posted by the contractor in a 14 prominent and easily accessible place at the site of the work; 15 (4) the state or a political subdivision shall withhold so much of the 16 accrued payments as is necessary to pay to laborers, mechanics, or field surveyors 17 employed by the contractor or subcontractors the difference between 18 (A) the rates of wages required by the contract to be paid 19 laborers, mechanics, or field surveyors on the work; [,] and 20 (B) the rates of wages in fact received by laborers, mechanics, 21 or field surveyors. 22 * Sec. 6. AS 36.05.090(a) is amended to read: 23 (a) The state disbursing officer in the case of a state public construction 24 contract and the local fiscal officer in the case of a political subdivision public 25 construction contract shall pay directly to laborers, mechanics, or field surveyors 26 from accrued payments withheld under the terms of the contract the wages due 27 laborers, mechanics, or field surveyors under AS 36.05.070. 28 * Sec. 7. AS 36.05.110 is amended to read: 29 Sec. 36.05.110. Contracts entered into without advertising. The fact that a 30 public construction contract authorized by law is entered into upon a cost-plus-a- 31 fixed-fee basis or otherwise, without advertising for proposals, does not make 01 AS 36.05.070 - 36.05.110 inapplicable if those sections [THEY] are otherwise 02 applicable to the contract. 03 * Sec. 8. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section to 04 read: 05 APPLICABILITY. This Act applies to public construction if the public construction is 06 subject to AS 36.05 and if the contract for the public construction is entered into on or after 07 the effective date of this Act. In this section, "public construction" has the meaning given in 08 AS 36.95.010.