On June 24, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Astrowsky issued a ruling striking down the Phoenix and Tucson Prevailing Wage Ordinances. The HBACA along with a several other business groups filed an amicus brief in this case in support of the Associated Minority Contractors and the General Contractors.

Back in January, the cities of Phoenix and Tucson adopted very similar prevailing wage ordinances for construction. The cities argued that because voters had adopted a minimum wage initiative which gave the cities the ability to set minimum wages, the statute prohibiting prevailing wage ordinances was effectively nullified. Our coalition argued that these two laws could be harmonized. Fortunately, Judge Astrowsky agreed with our position.

In his opinion, the Judge wrote:

While the prevailing wage can be said, and was so said by Defendants to be the “minimum wage” an employer must pay when involved in a city contract, this does not mean that the prevailing wage is the minimum wage as established by A.R.S. 23-363. The two are not calculated in the same method, thus, to equate same is not logical. Unlike minimum wage laws, they set entire schedules of pay rates for specific industries. Moreover, these schedules are highly variable, and they represent an average wage based on a particular trade and locality, not an across-the-board floor. A superficial overlap in the colloquial meaning of the word “minimum” does not mean that “minimum wage laws,” as a term of art, encompasses “prevailing wage laws.” 

This ruling, and particularly the strength of the ruling is good news for our industry, the business community, and those that like to see that government does not stray from its legal authority to regulate.