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Democrats Propose "Stronger Wisconsin" Agenda
Legislative Democrats held a media availability on Thursday, September 4th to announce a package of bills they are calling “Build a Stronger Wisconsin.” The package memos include the following statement:
We are introducing the Build a Stronger Wisconsin package to ensure every worker has access to fair wages, good benefits, workplace protections, and a high quality of life. For too long, the Legislature has ignored the needs of working people, from rolling back workers' rights to undermining local control and diminishing the economic well-being of the people who work hard for a living. As our state continues to experience worker shortages, it is past time to put Wisconsin workers first.
At the media availability, Rep. Greta Neubauer (D-Racine) said these bills were the top priority for the Democrats for the remainder of the session and they intend on getting them done. She said if it takes until next session, “So be it.”
The package includes four bills:
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LRB-0709 Memo Prevailing Wage. Prevailing wage, granting rule-making authority, and providing a penalty. Deadline: Thursday, September 18, 2025 5:00pm
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LRB-4295 Memo Employee Misclassification. Employee misclassification; construction contractor registration; reporting state tax law violations committed by construction industry employers; and granting rule-making authority, making an appropriation, and providing a penalty. Deadline: Thursday, September 18, 2025 5:00pm
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LRB-0718 Memo Right-to-Work. Eliminating the right-to- work law. Deadline: Thursday, September 18, 2025 5:00pm
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LRB-0711 Memo Project Labor Agreements. Project labor agreements and public contracts. Deadline: Thursday, September 18, 2025 5:00pm
Prevailing Wage
This bill requires that laborers, workers, mechanics, and truck drivers employed on the site of certain projects of public works be paid the prevailing wage and not be required or allowed to work a greater number of hours per day and per week than the prevailing hours of labor unless they are paid overtime for all hours worked in excess of the prevailing hours of labor. Projects subject to the bill include state and local projects of public works, including state highway projects, with exceptions including projects below certain cost thresholds, minor service or maintenance work, and certain residential projects.
The bill requires contracts and notices for bids for projects subject to the bill to include and incorporate provisions ensuring compliance with the requirements. The bill also establishes a requirement that state agencies and local governments post prevailing wage rates and hours of labor in areas readily accessible to persons employed on the project or in sites regularly used for posting notices.
The bill makes a contractor that fails to pay the prevailing wage rate or overtime pay to an employee as required under the prevailing wage law liable to the affected employee for not only the amount of unpaid wages and overtime pay, but also for liquidated damages in an amount equal to 100 percent of the unpaid wages and overtime pay.
The bill includes, for both state and local projects of public works, provisions regarding coverage, compliance, enforcement, and penalties, including:
1) requirements for affidavits to be filed by contractors affirming compliance with the prevailing wage law;
2) record retention requirements for contractors regarding wages paid to workers and provisions allowing for the inspection of those records by Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development;
3) liability and penalty provisions for certain violations, including criminal penalties; and
4) provisions prohibiting contracts from being awarded to persons who have failed to comply with the prevailing wage law.
Transportation projects: Under current law, for certain highway projects for which the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) spends federal money, federal money must make up at least 70 percent of the funding for those projects. WisDOT is required to notify political subdivisions receiving aid for local projects whether the aid includes federal moneys and how those moneys must be spent. For certain projects that receive no federal money, WisDOT may not require political subdivisions to comply with any portion of WisDOT’s facilities development manual other than design standards. Any local project funded with state funds under the surface transportation program or the local bridge program must be let through competitive bidding and by contract to the lowest responsible bidder. The bill repeals all of these requirements.
Right-to-Work
The current right-to-work law prohibits a person from requiring, as a condition of obtaining or continuing employment, an individual to refrain or resign from membership in a labor organization, to become or remain a member of a labor organization, to pay dues or other charges to a labor organization, or to pay any other person an amount that is in place of dues or charges required of members of a labor organization.
- This bill repeals these prohibitions and the associated misdemeanor offense for violating the right-to-work law.
- The bill explicitly provides that, when an all-union agreement is in effect, it is not an unfair labor practice to encourage or discourage membership in a labor organization or to deduct labor organization dues or assessments from an employee’s earnings.
- The bill sets conditions under which an employer may enter into an all-union agreement.
- The bill also sets conditions for the continuation or termination of all-union agreements, including that, if the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission (WERC) determines there is reasonable ground to believe employees in an all-union agreement have changed their attitude about the agreement, WERC is required to conduct a referendum to determine whether the employees wish to continue the agreement. WERC is required to terminate an all-union agreement if it finds the union unreasonably refused to admit an employee into the union.
Project Labor Agreements and Public Contracts
Under current law, the state and local units of government are prohibited from engaging in certain practices in letting bids for state procurement or public works contracts. Among these prohibitions, as established by 2017 Wisconsin Act 3, the state and local governments may not do any of the following in specifications for bids for the contracts:
1) require that a bidder enter into an agreement with a labor organization;
2) consider, when awarding a contract, whether a bidder has or has not entered into an agreement with a labor organization; or
3) require that a bidder enter into an agreement that requires that the bidder or bidder’s employees become or remain members of a labor organization or pay any dues or fees to a labor organization.
This bill repeals these bidding specification restrictions, allowing state and local units of government to opt to use such specifications.
Employee Misclassification
This bill makes changes to current law regarding employee misclassifications:
- Outreach and education regarding employee misclassification
- Worker classification notice and posting
- Website for worker misclassification laws
- Unemployment Insurance; worker misclassification penalties
- Worker’s Compensation; penalties for uninsured employers
- Worker’s Compensation; false or fraudulent claims
- Worker misclassification outreach
- Worker misclassification information
- Construction contractor registration
- Construction industry violations
- Audits and investigations
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