Senator Damon Thayer Calls On Governor to Add Repeal of Prevailing Wage To Special Session Call

June 11, 2009

 Column from Senator Damon Thayer

The gavel hadn’t fallen on the recent legislative session before Kentuckians were told that fixing this year’s budget problem would look easy compared to next year.  The Governor has just announced that he will be calling in the Legislature at a cost of $60,000 a day to address the budget shortfall during a Special Session.

Frankfort is already discussing options from expanded gaming to additional budget cuts to tax reform to meet these looming challenges.  It would be my suggestion, however, that we first dedicate ourselves to maximizing every dollar we invest in Kentucky’s future.

Let us look at an example.  According to a report by the Legislative Research Commission, Kentucky’s prevailing wage laws artificially inflate school construction labor costs by 21 percent. That means that 21 cents of those dollars are directed at inflated wages as opposed to going toward investments in larger schools, enhanced technology, more energy efficient facilities and an overall better environment for Kentucky’s children to learn in.

In 2004, KDE estimated that between 1999 and 2004, the prevailing wage law artificially increased the cost of school construction by more than $480 million. To put this in perspective, the total resource requirements in 2005 to meet the reported “needs assessment” of Category 4 and 5 schools, schools in the worst physical shape, was just under $500 million. Had the dollars that were directed toward inflated prevailing wages during that period been invested in our schools –nearly every child in Kentucky would have been attending an adequate school.

This is why I filed legislation to repeal “prevailing wage” during the 2009 Session and it is my intent to do so again.  As the Governor and General Assembly come together to further address our budget shortfall, the time has also come to decide that failing to maximize our investment in our schools is a failure to maximize our investment in our children.  Fortunately, this failure need not continue. We can increase our investment in our schools and Kentucky’s children without having to raise one additional dollar from new taxes.

I urge the Governor to add the prevailing wage issue to the special session call so that the General Assembly can maximize every taxpayer dollar that is invested in our future.

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Note:  Senator Damon Thayer (R-Georgetown) serves as the Chairman of the State and Local Government Committee.  He is also a member of the Agriculture Committee, the Transportation Committee, and the Licensing, Occupations and Administrative Regulations Committee.  He represents the 17^th District including Grant, Kenton, Owen, and Scott counties.