By Roland Murphy for AZBEX
While Phoenix was drawing most of the attention around the state with its passage of a local prevailing wage ordinance, The City of Tucson also waded into the fray as City Council passed its own version the evening of Jan. 9.
The official City announcement said, “This significant milestone reflects the City’s commitment to do the right thing for workers.”
In summarizing the ordinance, the announcement explained, “Moving forward, prevailing wages will be applied to City of Tucson projects and will adhere to the Federal Standard for prevailing wages. Embracing prevailing wages will become our new normal for city projects. This excludes previously voter-approved bonds such as Prop 101, 407 and 411, affordable housing projects, and any project under the $2M threshold.”
Specifically, all public works contracts subject to Title 34 of the Arizona Revised Statues that have solicitations advertised after July 1 with an engineer’s estimate of $2M or more will be subject to the new rule. Prevailing wages will be set “as determined by the U.S. Department of Labor” and applied to trades governed by the federal Davis Bacon Act requirements.
Employers will be required to pay workers weekly and comply with record-keeping and notice posting requirements. Cash pay will be prohibited, as will “misclassification” of workers as independent contractors.
In addition to voter-approved bond- and tax-funded projects from before Jan. 1, Tucson projects for affordable housing and those performed under job order contracts are also excluded.
The City’s announcement featured statements of support from trade unions and affiliated groups, including Arizona Carpenters Union Local 1912, IBEW Local #570 Electrician Union and Arizona Building Trades President Aaron Butler.
A legal challenge to the new ordinance is a virtual certainty. The Arizona Chapter of Associated General Contractors of America announced Jan. 9 it will sue any city that sets prevailing wage requirements and specifically mentioned Phoenix, Tucson and Tempe as lawsuit targets if they passed the ordinances. AZAGC said it will challenge the regulations, “On day one of any ordinances’ effective date or sooner if appropriate.” (AZBEX, Jan. 15)
Chapter President David Martin said, “Instead of battling these issues at the council level we’ll take our arguments through the court system.”
Industry groups at the national level have been outspoken in their opposition to the Biden administration’s efforts on prevailing wage laws, expansion of groups and activities covered under the Davis-Bacon Act, and new restrictions on how independent contractors are defined.
Along with the expected AZAGC lawsuits in Arizona, industry associations including Associated Builders and Contractors and the National Association of Home Builders will continue to oppose the new regulations at the federal level.
There is a real possibility—whether directly cited or not—this set of Arizona-local issues will end up before the U.S. Supreme Court as soon as it can make its way through the process.