Senate Rejects Two Amendments to Prevailing Wage Repeal

As the vote to repeal the state’s prevailing wage draws closer in the West Virginia Senate, Democratic members of the chamber are not being silent about their opposition. Wednesday, two Senators attempted to amend the legislation on the floor.

Sen. Herd Snyder’s proposed amendment would continue with a repeal of the state’s prevailing wage rate, but replace it with the federally calculated Davis Bacon wage. 

“The state doesn’t have to recalculate anything at all,” Snyder said on the floor. “It’s all done at the federal level and they’ve been doing it for many, many decades and have refined it many, many times.”

Snyder added West Virginia must already pay the federal wage rate on construction projects that use federal dollars. 

His amendment, however, was rejected 16-18 on party lines.

Sen. Mike Romano’s proposed amendment added language to the bill that would give West Virginia workers, laborers and mechanics preference for state construction jobs. If those workers cannot be hired, the amendment would require U.S. citizens to be given preference.

“This amendment is straight forward,” he said in a floor speech. “It just gives West Virginians a fair shot at getting a good job.”

The amendment also failed on a party line vote. 

House Bill 4005, a bill to repeal the state’s prevailing wage, will be up for a vote Thursday in the Senate.