By Haggerty H.B. No. 2721
74R7949 JMM-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to certain requirements with regard to prevailing wage
1-3 rates.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 2(a), Chapter 45, General Laws, Acts of
1-6 the 43rd Legislature, Regular Session, 1933 (Article 5159a,
1-7 Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
1-8 (a) The public body awarding any contract for public work on
1-9 behalf of the State, or on behalf of any county, city and county,
1-10 city, town, district or other political subdivision thereof, or
1-11 otherwise undertaking any public work, shall ascertain the general
1-12 prevailing rate of per diem wages in the locality in which the work
1-13 is to be performed for each craft of type of workman or mechanic
1-14 needed to execute the contract, and shall specify in the call for
1-15 bids for said contract, and in the contract itself, what the
1-16 general prevailing rate of per diem wages in the said locality is
1-17 for each craft or type of workman needed to execute the contract,
1-18 also the prevailing rate for legal holiday and overtime work, and
1-19 it shall be mandatory upon the contractor to whom the contract is
1-20 awarded, and upon any subcontractor under him, to pay not less than
1-21 the said specified rates to all laborers, workmen and mechanics
1-22 employed by them in the execution of the contract. Failure of the
1-23 awarding body to ascertain and specify in the call for the contract
1-24 the prevailing wage rate in that locality relieves the contractor
2-1 or subcontractor from liability under this Act. To ascertain the
2-2 general prevailing wage rate, the public body shall either conduct
2-3 a survey to determine the prevailing wage based upon the wages
2-4 received by classes of laborers and mechanics employed on projects
2-5 of a character similar to the contract work in the city, county or
2-6 other political subdivision of the State in which the work is to be
2-7 performed, or adopt the prevailing wage rate as determined by the
2-8 U.S. Department of Labor in accordance with the Davis-Bacon Act<,
2-9 if the survey on which the Davis-Bacon rate was founded was
2-10 conducted within three years prior to the bidding of the project>.
2-11 SECTION 2. Section 2258.022(a), Government Code, is amended
2-12 to read as follows:
2-13 (a) A public body shall determine the general prevailing
2-14 rate of per diem wages in the locality in which the public work is
2-15 to be performed for each craft or type of worker needed to execute
2-16 the contract and the prevailing rate for legal holiday and overtime
2-17 work by:
2-18 (1) conducting a survey of the wages received by
2-19 classes of workers employed on projects of a character similar to
2-20 the contract work in the political subdivision of the state for
2-21 which the public work is to be performed; or
2-22 (2) using the prevailing wage rate as determined by
2-23 the U.S. Department of Labor in accordance with the Davis-Bacon Act
2-24 (40 U.S.C. Section 276a et seq.).
2-25 SECTION 3. If S.B. 959 or H.B. 2125 of the 74th Legislature,
2-26 Regular Session, 1995, becomes law and includes the addition of
2-27 Chapter 2258 to the Government Code, and notwithstanding Section 4
3-1 of this Act, Section 2 of this Act takes effect on September 1,
3-2 1995, and on that date Section 2(a), Chapter 45, General Laws, Acts
3-3 of the 43rd Legislature, Regular Session, 1933 (Article 5159a,
3-4 Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), as amended by this Act, is
3-5 repealed, otherwise Section 2 of this Act does not take effect.
3-6 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
3-7 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-8 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-9 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-10 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-11 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
3-12 passage, and it is so enacted.