Colorado and Iowa have considered prevailing wage laws for state construction workers
The Colorado state House has rejected a bill that would have required contractors to pay union-level wages to workers on government construction projects.
Republican representative David Balmer was one of the legislators who opposed the bill. He said the government should keep its hands out of the wage process.
"The free market already does an outstanding job setting wages," Balmer told the Denver Business Journal. "The government should not be mandating how much we pay because it will only drive up the cost of projects and cause people to lose jobs."
At the same time, the Iowa House labor committee approved a prevailing wage bill Monday night which the entire House was expected to vote on today.
Advocates of the bill say it would make sure contractors do not receive state projects based on cheap labor practices. However, two former governors of the state issued a joint statement today denouncing the bill saying it would be bad public policy if passed, according to the Des Moines Register.
