SENATE LABOR COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

SENATE, No. 3041

with committee amendments

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  DECEMBER 5, 2024

      The Senate Labor Committee reports favorably and with committee amendments Senate Bill No. 3041.

     Under current law, contractors or subcontractors who have failed to pay prevailing wages are prohibited from receiving public works contracts for a period of three years.  Under this bill, this prohibition will also apply to any corporation or other legal entity which is owned or operated as a cooperative, in which at least one approved vendor of the cooperative is a contractor or subcontractor who has failed to pay prevailing wages. 

     The bill defines “cooperative” as a system of collective ownership of a corporation or other legal entity in which the shareholders or other co-owners each also have a long term proprietary interest or other long term arrangement of control over the operations of the business.

COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS:

     The committee amended the bill to indicate the bill’s prohibition applies to a cooperative in which any cooperative-approved vendor, not any member of the cooperative, has failed to pay the prevailing wage required by law.

     Further, the amendments define “vendor” as any person, firm, corporation or other entity which provides or offers or proposes to provide goods or services to or perform any contract and makes technical corrections to the bill.