Repeal ahead for Indiana's 80-year-old common construction wage?

Whether repealing Indiana’s Common Construction Wage Law would be good or bad for those communities remains to be seen.

Under the system, cities, counties and school corporations currently form five-member committees that meet roughly every three months to adopt wage scales for each type of worker who would be employed on a public construction project. The wages typically align with those earned by union workers, and must be paid on all locally funded capital projects valued at at least $350,000.

But a bill to repeal the law now seems headed for passage in the Republican-controlled General Assembly, having cleared the House in late February and winning a vote in the Senate Tax and Fiscal Policy Committee last week, largely along party lines. The Senate version is expected to receive a vote in the full Senate on Monday or Tuesday. If passed there, it would move to House and Senate conference committees, then go before the full House and Senate again before heading to the desk of Republican Gov. Mike Pence, who has voiced his support.

Those pushing the bill say eliminating set wages will lower project costs, thereby saving taxpayer dollars. It’s pretty simple, said Rep. Dale DeVon, R-South Bend, co-author of the House version.