Original article from The Central New York Business Journal

On April 9, Gov. David A. Paterson announced the overhaul of the Wicks Law, the first change to the legislation in more than 40 years. He called the action "historic reform" as part of an effort to reduce local mandates and "the crushing burden of local prop- erty taxes." The governor waxed eloquent: "Today's reforms, which were many years in the making, prove that when we work together, we can get real results for the people of New York."

Were it only so....
The Wicks Law is not exactly a house-hold word with most taxpayers, but it is a hot-button issue with unions, contractors, political junkies, and public officials charged with facility construction. The Wicks Law mandate is a series of laws first enacted in 1912 requiring New York State and its local governments to award multiple construction contracts for most public works that exceed $50,000 in cost. The original purpose was to protect sub-contractors from bidding fraud on very large public projects.

What changes in the Wicks Law did our governor and Legislature enact? First, they raised the cap from $50,000, a figure in effect since the 1960s. Upstate projects must now exceed $500,000, downstate suburbs $1.5 million, and New York City $3 million to trigger the law. Second, counties, municipalities, school districts, and other ' local public entities with a population exceeding 50,000 can establish their own guidelines controlling the qualification of bidders seeking to bid on public-works projects.

Third, the government responsible for the project is exempt from the Wicks Law if it implements a project labor agreement. (PLA). A PLA applies the terms of union labor agreements to all the work on a project by requiring all contractors and subcontractors to sign on to the agreement. Fourth, the new legislation requires all bidders on public projects exceeding the Wicks thresholds to participate in New York State Department of Labor (NYSDOL) apprenticeship training programs that have been approved by NYSDOL. All programs must have been in place for not less than three years and must have graduated at least one apprentice during that period and have at least one apprentice currently enrolled in the program.

And fifth, the new legislation gives the New York State Commissioner of Labor the power to enforce the law.

What have these changes wrought? The governor's assumption that New York State will save hundreds of millions of dollars in construction costs is fairy dust. Almost everyone uses a prime contractor — including the federal government, most state governments, and private industry — to manage a project. Back in 1987, the New York State Division of the Budget estimated that the Wicks Law increased construction costs 24 percent to 30 percent. A final report on the impact of the Wicks Law conducted by the New York State School Boards Association placed the added costs of the mandate in the 20 percent to 30 percent range.  And the new caps themselves are ineffective, since the original $50,000 trigger is worth more than $2 million today. Bottom line: most projects are still covered by Wicks, ensuring higher costs to the taxpayers.

Inserting local decision-making into who is qualified to bid may sound like flexibility, but to me it sounds like an open invitation to cronyism and to political payoffs.

The PLA exemption is trading one costly mandate for another. Non-union shops tend to avoid PLA bidding and the restrictions mandated by the unions. A reduction in bidders typically means an increase in estimated cost. The PLA is also discriminatory because it forces most of the work force, which is non-union, to follow union rules.

The apprenticeship requirement is an undiluted sop to the unions. Back in August 2007, NYSDOL placed a moratorium on developing new programs. This move ensured that most non-union shops could not compete for public projects, since the training had been done traditionally by unions.

The rewriting of the law to give NYSDOL the power of enforcement is the most blatant of many examples of how the original intent of the law has changed. What started out as an economic dispute between contractors and subcontractors over how to do business with each other was hijacked by the unions through their elected minions in Albany. PLAs, apprenticeship programs, and prevailing wage have nothing to do with the original intention of the Wicks Law.

Gov. Paterson may allude to "historic reform" and savings for the overburdened Empire State taxpayer, but the reality is quite different. The new Wicks Law not only guarantees continued high construction costs on public projects, but also a strengthening of union control over the bidding process.

"Reform" suggests improving something by eliminating abuses and errors. The result should be change for the better. The announcement on April 9 was not reform; it was just one more example that our state elected officials respond to the unions and not to the taxpayers. Only in Albany can this be called "get[ting] real results for the people of New York." ?