SEN. KUSHNER LEADS SENATE PASSAGE OF BILL TO WITHHOLD PAYMENTS FOR VIOLATING PREVAILING WAGE LAWS

HARTFORD – State Senator Julie Kushner (D-Danbury) today led bipartisan Senate passage of a bill that will withhold state payments to contractors who are found guilty of violating prevailing wage laws while working on state projects.

Senate Bill 1488, “AN ACT AUTHORIZING THE COMPTROLLER TO WITHHOLD PAYMENT FOR VIOLATIONS OF THE PREVAILING WAGE STATUTES,” passed the Senate on a bipartisan 27-8 vote and now heads to the House of Representatives for consideration.

“This bill is just good common sense in that the state shouldn’t be paying on a state project where the contractor has violated state law and has ceased working,” Sen. Kushner said. “Why would we continue to pay them?”

SB 1488 allows the labor commissioner to notify the state comptroller when she has issued a stop work order against a contractor or subcontractor for a prevailing wage violation on a public works project. Once the comptroller receives that notice, he may withhold payment to the contractor or subcontractor the order was issued against until the (1) labor commissioner releases the stop work order, (2) the contractor or subcontractor pays any penalties imposed under

the prevailing wage law or the law on additional wage-related penalties, or (3) the parties finalize a settlement agreement.

Connecticut’s prevailing wage law generally requires contractors and subcontractors on certain public works projects to pay their construction workers wages and benefits equal to those that are customary or prevailing for the same work, in the same occupation, in the same town. The requirement applies to new construction projects costing at least $1 million and renovation projects costing at least $100,000.

Two years ago, Sen. Kushner led Senate passage of a different bill to strengthen the penalties against contractors who refuse to pay their employees the prevailing wage on building projects, or who don’t maintain worker’s compensation insurance in case one of their workers is injured on the job. In 2023, Senate Bill 1035 broadened the state Department of Labor’s authority to issue stop work orders to include instances where a contractor or a subcontractor knowingly or willfully pays an employee less than the prevailing wage that’s required on a public works project. That bill also increased the civil penalty for violating a stop work order from $1,000 a day to $5,000 for each day that an order is violated.