Sponsor Testimony - HB 146, State Representative Craig S. Riedel (Commerce and Labor Committee)
Summary
Sponsor testimony of State Representative Craig S. Riedel on HB 146, addressed to Chairman Stein and the members of the Commerce and Labor Committee. The testimony says the legislation would let local government entities and state institutions of higher education choose for themselves whether to apply prevailing wage on public improvement projects. It argues that prevailing wage inflates project costs and that quality and safety are the same whether or not a project pays it, and gives Summit County and Van Wert County as examples of a county choosing differently on road paving. It thanks Representative Manchester as joint sponsor and asks the committee to hold questions until Representative Manchester has presented.
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“Sponsor Testimony - HB 146, State Representative Craig S. Riedel (Commerce and Labor Committee).”
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, SHA-256 782ac0d0d229dfc9b129abd60aef96252d4b221ea4b31d9a997f3e310a8bc064.Full text
82ND HOUSE DISTRICT COLUMBUS OFFICE
DEFIANCE , PAULDING , AND V AN W ERT V ERN R IFFE C ENTER
COUNTIES , AND THE NORTHWEST CORNER 77 S OUTH H IGH S TREET 11TH FLOOR
OF A UGLAIZE COUNTY
COLUMBUS , OH 43215-0253
PHONE: (614) 644-5091
Committees REP 82@ OHIOHOUSE . GOV
Economic and Workforce
Development; Energy and
Natural Resources; Vice
Chairman of Ways and Means
State Representative Craig S. Riedel
Sponsor Testimony HB 146
Chairman Stein, Vice-Chair Johnson, Ranking Member Lepore-Hagan and members of the Commerce and
Labor Committee, thank you for the opportunity to provide sponsor testimony for House Bill 146. This
legislation will give local government entities and state institutions of higher education the ability to choose for
themselves whether or not they want to apply prevailing wage on public improvement projects.
Prevailing wage is a state calculated mandated wage that is used on all local government construction jobs that
exceed certain monetary thresholds. State universities, cities, counties, townships and other government entities
such as libraries, museums and fairgrounds are all subject to pay prevailing wage when these thresholds are
exceeded.
Simply stated, prevailing wage is state government overreach into local government affairs and it works
opposite of free market principles. Most often this mandated wage drives up and inflates the overall cost of a
project leaving that local government entity less money to work with on other construction projects. By not
allowing the labor rates to be part of the competitive bid process on a project, the taxpayer ends up overpaying
because the free market is unable to play out.
Supporters of prevailing wage will want you to believe that it provides higher quality work and safer working
conditions. There is no credence to those assertions. I worked 27 years in private business, all in the
construction industry. I will attest that the quality of workmanship and safety on construction projects today are
of the same caliber whether or not that project pays prevailing wage. There may have been a day 40 or 60 years
ago when that was true but it certainly is not the case now. In today's construction world, the workmanship and
safety culture at a non-union construction company is every bit as equal to that of a union construction
company. There is no longer any validity to that belief.
The beauty and genius of HB 146 is that it allows prevailing wage to be permissive. The local government
entity gets to choose for itself on a job by job basis whether it wants to use prevailing wage. For example, if
Summit County wants to use prevailing wage on a project to pave a stretch of road it can choose to do so. At the
same time, if Van Wert County decides that it does not want to use prevailing wage to pave a similar stretch of
road and instead uses market rates, that likely saves taxpayer dollars, it can do so as well.
HB 146 is a common sense bill with a simple concept; allow prevailing wage to be a permissive decision for
local governments, not a mandated one. The end result will allow local governments to make decisions that
benefit them and their local residents.
77 SOUTH HIGH STREET, COLUMBUS, OHIO 43215-6111
www.ohiohouse.gov
82ND HOUSE DISTRICT COLUMBUS OFFICE
DEFIANCE , PAULDING , AND V AN W ERT V ERN R IFFE C ENTER
COUNTIES , AND THE NORTHWEST CORNER 77 S OUTH H IGH S TREET 11TH FLOOR
OF A UGLAIZE COUNTY
COLUMBUS , OH 43215-0253
PHONE: (614) 644-5091
Committees REP 82@ OHIOHOUSE . GOV
Economic and Workforce
Development; Energy and
Natural Resources; Vice
Chairman of Ways and Means
State Representative Craig S. Riedel
Sponsor Testimony HB 146
I want to thank Representative Manchester for her leadership and work as my joint sponsor. In addition, I want
to thank my Legislative Aide, Margaret Camma, for all of her help. To the entire committee, thank you for your
time and attention as you thoughtfully consider this important matter.
At this time, I would respectfully request that the Committee hold their questions until Representative
Manchester has had an opportunity to present her sponsor testimony at which time we would be happy to
entertain any questions the Committee might have.
Craig S. Riedel
Ohio House of Representatives
82nd Ohio House District
77 SOUTH HIGH STREET, COLUMBUS, OHIO 43215-6111
www.ohiohouse.gov
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