On February 10, 2022, Associate Policy Director Brianna January testified before the Senate Finance Committee in opposition to SB 259 – Procurement – Prevailing Wage – Applicability. This bill would apply the Prevailing Wage Law to a certain contract for the construction of a public work by expanding the definition of “construction” to include services provided under a mechanical systems service contract.

From the MACo Testimony:

This bill would usurp local authority over typical facilities maintenance management and would prove extremely costly for counties by extending the application of the State’s prevailing wage law to also cover all mechanical system service contracts on capital projects that were performed under the prevailing wage.

SB 259 would prescribe a uniform, one-size-fits-all approach to county facility management and contract procurement, not taking into consideration regional differences, including local markets and costs of business. Counties, as the owner and operator of public facilities, already implement complex operational and fiscal systems to deal with facility maintenance, uniquely tailored to the needs of each jurisdiction. SB 259 would apply a blanket approach to certain facility maintenance procurement, disregarding the effective and locally appropriate systems already in place.

MACo plans to testify on the bill’s crossfile, HB 611, on February 15, 2022.

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