Prevailing wage overhaul passed by Mo. Senate, heads back to House

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The Missouri Senate has passed legislation that would change how the minimum wage required for public construction projects is calculated for rural counties.

The so-called prevailing wage for a given trade is currently calculated based on voluntary surveys collected and submitted by contractors on a public works project.

The bill passed by the Senate would require those wage surveys to be split between union and nonunion wages. Then the wage would be set by whichever group, union or nonunion, reported more hours of work. If there are no reports for a current year, the wage would then be set by an average of reports from the last six years.

Senators voted 23-10 to pass the bill Monday. It now heads back to the House.

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Prevailing wage is HB34

Online:

Legislature: http://www.moga.mo.gov