Lawmakers Hold Hearing On Plans To Change Or Scrap Prevailing Wage

Editor’s Note: The hearing is now over. Read about what happened at the hearing here.

A hearing to repeal or reform Wisconsin’s prevailing wage law is underway at the state Capitol, and many of the same groups that testified for and against the state’s new right-to-work law are in attendance.

The Wisconsin Taxpayers’ Alliance predicted savings if there is no minimum or prevailing wage law for public construction projects. Washington County Administrator Joshua Schoemann said it would be another “tool” to ease state levy limits and urged repeal or reform of the prevailing wage law.

Wage supporters said the current law ensures a level playing field and changing the system would set off what Peter James of Fennimore called a “vicious race to the bottom.”