(The Center Square) – The Washington Supreme Court has reversed a lower court to find the state's latest prevailing wage law constitutional.
The statute "requires the industrial statistician" at the Washington Department of Labor and Industries "to adopt the prevailing wage from whichever collective bargaining agreement (CBA) covering work in a particular county has the highest wages, if such a CBA exists," said the court in its decision Thursday.
Several groups of builders and contractors had brought suit, claiming the law, passed in 2018 by the Washington Legislature, was "an unconstitutional delegation of legislative authority." The trial court found for the government, the appeals court for the builders, and now the state's highest court has reversed that decision.
Previously, L&I could look at several different metrics to calculate the prevailing wage, which is the hourly wage the government requires contractors to pay their workers. The new law changed that and likely increased costs in the process.
Andrew Villeneuve, founder of the Northwest Progressive Institute, cheered the ruling.
"This welcome decision confirms that the Legislature followed the Constitution in its efforts to shore up our prevailing wage system, which has been beneficial to Washington workers," he told The Center Square in an email. "We thank the Court for its thoughtful resolution of the case."
He explained, "The purpose of SSB 5493, which passed with bipartisan support in the 2018 session,...
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