Republicans Block Attempts To Stall Common Construction Wage Bill

Senate Republicans rejected an attempt Tuesday to stall efforts to eliminate the state’s common construction wage. 

One day after contractors and workers rallied at the Statehouse against legislation to repeal the common construction wage, South Bend Democratic Senator John Broden offered an amendment to the bill aimed at killing the issue this year.  Broden’s proposal would move the entire issue of repealing the common wage to a summer study committee.

“Before we jettison this entire law, I think we would benefit from further study of this very complicated issue,” Broden said.

But Middlebury Republican Carlin Yoder, the bill’s Senate sponsor, says lawmakers tried to study the common wage last summer – but legislative leaders rejected that attempt.

“So now here we are, having gone through the whole process, through the committees, through the House and we’re standing up here on seconds, and now suddenly it’s a good idea to study it.  And I don’t think that’s fair to taxpayers across the state of Indiana,”Yoder said.

Republicans also rejected an attempt by Democrats to allow local governments to establish their own common wage ordinances once the state law is repealed.