The House Committee on Industry and Labor met at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 5 to consider two pieces of legislation, one of which would strike language requiring workers on state-funded construction projects to report certified payroll information to the WV Division of Labor.
House Bill 2441 would amend current statute which requires the employers working on publicly funded construction projects to submit payroll information containing their employees’ counties of residence, addresses, and the number of employees working on a given project. The bill would strike this requirement, allowing the WV Division of Labor to get needed compliance information from already conducted spot-checks.
Delegate Geoff Foster, R-Putnam, lead sponsor of the bill, argued that the passage would protect the privacy of the employees working on these sites.
“Somebody’s personally identifiable information should not be public information,” Foster said.
House Bill 2441 generated lengthy debate regarding transparency and the legislation’s implication for the West Virginia Jobs Act.
Opponents of the bill, such as Shawn Fluharty, D- Ohio, argued that passage of House Bill 2441 would complicate compliance with the West Virginia Jobs Act, which ensures that public construction projects give employment preference to West Virginia citizens.
“The West Virginia Jobs Act is crucial to keeping jobs in West Virginia,” Fluharty said. “The passage of this bill would make it harder for us to pinpoint where these employees live, where they’re coming from, and it makes it easier for employers to hire illegal immigrants for these jobs instead.”
Other opponents argued that House Bill 2441 reduced transparency regarding state taxpayer dollars.
Delegate Rodney Miller, D-Boone, spoke to the issue of transparency.
“The need for transparency in our state transcends politics, we can agree to the importance of transparency across both sides of the aisle. The public deserves to know what happens with public money. The passage of this bill enhances the ability for these contractors to violate our state code.” Miller said.
Mitch Woodrum, the WV Commissioner of Labor, was available to answer questions pertaining to the bill.
Woodrum testified that while the legislation may perhaps make it easier for illegal immigrants to slip through the cracks and gain these employment positions, that the Division of Labor is committed to conducting spot checks to ensure that West Virginians are getting first preference when it comes to these state projects.
There was a request for the WV Press Association to also answer questions, but the request was denied by the Chair due to time constraints.
Despite heated discussion, House Bill 2441 was approved by the committee, and advanced to the House Committee on the Judiciary for second reference.
The House Committee on Industry and Labor also had a consideration of House Concurrent Resolution 25, a resolution that would request the Joint Committee on Government and Finance to study and analyze the discrepancy between estimates and actual readings of electrical meters. This is due to widespread state complaints regarding electrical meters.
House Concurrent Resolution 25 was unanimously approved by the Committee, and was advanced to the House Floor with the recommendation that it be adopted but first be referenced to the House Committee on Rules.
