The O’Bannon administration adopted a rule on public project wages Monday, a move Republicans claim is politically motivated and skirts legislative authority.
The state Board of Tax Commissioners said the rule is intended only to clarify confusion over changes Republicans made to the state’s prevailing wage law in 1995.
The law determines how wages are set for public construction projects such as new schools or roads. But opponents of the rule say it is designed to restore union wages on such projects, largely as political pay-back to unions that gave generously to Democrat Frank O’Bannon during the 1996 gubernatorial campaign.
Three organizations, including the Indiana Chamber of Commerce and the Indiana Manufacturers Association, promised to file a lawsuit aimed at striking down the rule.
“I can only speculate that the governor’s political debt to organized labor is such that he is being forced into ignoring perfectly sane advice and compelling legal arguments in order to satisfy a quid pro quo,” said Republican Sen. Larry Borst of Indianapolis, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.
The board voted 2-1 to adopt the rule, with both Democrats in favor and one Republican against. The move came one day before start of the 1998 legislative session.
