Tomorrow afternoon (July 30, 2013), the San Diego City Council is scheduled to vote on a proposal from Mayor Bob Filner to abandon its own policy concerning government-mandated wage rates on city construction contracts and adopt union-backed state laws.
Here’s a collection of relevant documents.
Provided to the San Diego City Council from the Office of Mayor Bob Filner
May 8, 2013 memo from San Diego Mayor Bob Filner calling on the city council to impose state prevailing wage on city contracts
July 16, 2013 Report to the City Council from the Office of Mayor Bob Filner, coauthored by Jennifer Badgley, Office of the Mayor, Director of Special Projects and Labor Affairs, formerly Organizer/Political Director for International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local Union No. 569 in San Diego
The ordinance proposed by Mayor Bob Filner imposing on the City of San Diego a requirement for contractors to pay state prevailing wage rates on city construction contracts
Provided by the City of San Diego Office of the Independent Budget Analyst
June 18, 2013 report from the Office of the City of San Diego Independent Budget Analyst “Review of Proposal to Require Compliance with the State’s Prevailing Wage Laws on all City Public Works Projects”
…the CIP Budget includes 190 construction contracts totaling $331 million anticipated to be awarded in FY 2014. About 21% or 16 of these contracts, totaling about $70 million, require payment of prevailing wages since they are funded with State or federal monies. If prevailing wages are required to be paid on the remaining $261 million construction contracts, a 5% or 10% increase would increase total costs by $13 million or $26 million respectively. Given tight financial constraints and competing budget priorities, this would likely reduce the number of capital projects that the city can implement.
…our best judgment is that prevailing wages will increase total project costs for the City. The potential for increased total project costs is particularly important in light of the high priority the Council has assigned to addressing the City’s infrastructure challenges, including a backlog in deferred capital for buildings/facilities, streets, and storm drains currently estimated at $898 million.
Provided by the City Attorney for the City of San Diego
June 17, 2013 memo from City Attorney of San Diego noting that “The California Supreme Court also recently reaffirmed that charter cities like San Diego do not have to pay prevailing wages” and explaining various legal questions about Mayor Bob Filner’s proposed ordinance
Provided by Other Agencies of the City of San Diego
June 20, 2013 Construction Industry Quarterly Meeting of City of San Diego Public Works Department where prevailing wage proposal was reportedly discussed. It included a presentation by Murtaza Baxamusa, City of San Diego, Office of the Mayor, Special Advisor for Public Policy, formerly with the San Diego County Building Trades Family Housing Corporation and the union-oriented Center on Policy Initiatives
Documents That Should Have Been Officially Provided to the San Diego City Council
Are Charter Cities Taking Advantage of State-Mandated Construction Wage Rate (“Prevailing Wage”) Exemptions? – 92-page guidebook to status of prevailing wage policies in California’s 121 charter cities
State Building and Construction Trades Council of California, AFL-CIO v. City of Vista et al. - California Supreme Court decision of July 2, 2012 upholding constitutional right of charter cities to establish their own policies concerning government-mandated wage rates for municipal construction contracts