The bill adds a new section to chapter 47.04 RCW and a new section to chapter 39.12 RCW and amends RCW 39.12.015. It modifies existing law to require that contracts for transportation projects on state-owned highways be bid or awarded in compliance with prevailing wages set under the bill’s new procedures. The new prevailing-wage procedures apply to contracts bid or awarded on or after June 1, 2029, and the amendment confirms that the Department of Labor and Industries’ industrial statistician makes prevailing wage determinations and tolls the recovery period for wages owed until the prevailing wage determination is final. The bill creates procedural rules for how the industrial statistician establishes the prevailing rate of wage. For trades or occupations covered by a collective bargaining agreement in the county, the industrial statistician must adopt the hourly wage, usual benefits, and overtime from those agreements; if there is more than one agreement, the industrial statistician must use the rate that represents a majority of workers or, if no majority exists, the rate representing the largest number (plurality). The industrial statistician may seek input from labor and management signatory parties and their multiemployer bargaining representatives. Where a collective bargaining agreement exists in the county, the industrial statistician generally shall not conduct wage surveys or apply hours-worked data to set the prevailing rate except that hours-worked data may be used to resolve an appeal. An interested party may appeal by alleging and proving with competent evidence that the used rate is not the majority or plurality rate; work continues under the established rate while the determination is pending. For trades without a collective bargaining agreement in the county, the industrial statistician will establish prevailing wages by wage and hour surveys or, if those are infeasible, by other appropriate methods. Affected parties identified include the Department of Labor and Industries (industrial statistician), contractors and employers bidding on state-owned highway contracts, workers covered by collective bargaining agreements, labor and management signatories, and interested parties who may appeal. Extracted facts do not include the statutory definition of “prevailing rate of wage,” a definition of “state-owned highways,” implementing procedures or enforcement mechanisms, and they show a possible inconsistency between the bill’s majority/plurality rule and an amendment stating “the higher rate will prevail”; how those provisions interact is not clarified in the provided text.

Starting June 1, 2029, state highway construction contracts will be required to use prevailing wage rates set by the Department of Labor and Industries’ industrial statistician. Where county-level collective bargaining agreements exist, the hourly pay, usual benefits, and overtime from those agreements will generally become the prevailing rate; when there are multiple agreements the statistician will select the rate that represents the majority or, if none, the largest number of workers. For trades without a county agreement the statistician will use wage and hour surveys or other methods. Appeals are allowed but work continues under the statistician’s rate while an appeal is decided, and the time to recover any owed wages is tolled until the prevailing wage determination is final. Practically, the department takes on clearer responsibility for setting rates and consulting parties, contractors and employers bidding on state-owned highway projects are likely to face higher and less flexible labor costs and stronger compliance obligations (which can raise bid and project costs), and workers covered by collective bargaining agreements are likely to receive the CBA wage and benefit levels but may have to wait for a final determination before recovering disputed back pay. Important implementation details are missing or unclear from the provided text—specifically how conflicting rules about multiple collective bargaining agreements interact, the exact legal definition of “prevailing rate of wage,” and what exactly qualifies as a “state-owned highway”—so the timing, size, and distribution of cost and enforcement impacts could vary.