Happy 50th birthday prevailing wage, you haven't changed a bit!

For a half century, you have cost Pennsylvania taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, if not more, because of your inflated wage rates, sense of entitlement, and general reluctance to change. Now, at age 50, some might say you're a little long in the tooth or even maybe over the hill. But it doesn't have to be that way, not if you are prepared to accept a little help.

So think of this as an intervention of sorts, an opportunity to change how you will be remembered once you are no longer with us, a chance to rewrite your long, albeit somewhat controversial, legacy. It's not too late.

First, recognize that big labor and other opportunistic groups have twisted the true intent of your act. As you may recall, the purpose of your law was to prevent out-of-state contractors from underbidding local contractors with "cheap" labor that undercut local wage rates. It required workers on public projects costing more than $25,000 to be paid the "prevailing wage" in their respective region, a minimum wage of sorts for public construction projects.

Instead, it has had the opposite effect. Today, the prevailing wage law actually incentivizes contractors, both locally and from out of town, to bid this kind of work over other types of jobs. That's because it pays a higher hourly rate and is more profitable than nearly all other construction projects, all at the taxpayer's expense.

For example, on most private sector projects, the hourly wage rate is determined by the "fair market value." For prevailing wage projects, these rates are determined primarily by big labor's collective bargaining agreements (the "union contractual rate"), elevating the costs of public construction projects anywhere from 5 to 20 percent. As a result, state agencies, counties, municipalities and school districts are forced to pay an artificially inflated hourly rate for public contracts, leading to increased project costs, decreased buying power and, ultimately, higher property taxes.

Given these difficult economic times and the need for more investment in public infrastructure projects, is it reasonable to continue with these "business-as-usual" practices of an era that has long since passed? I don't think so and neither do the taxpayers of this state.

Second, don't be fooled by the "you get what you pay for" quality argument, implying that prevailing wage construction projects are of higher quality, and are on time and within budget. This is a false argument perpetuated by big labor to distort the facts.

I think the better question to ask is why should the construction industry be paid a premium for its services when other industries are not? For many other government services, contractors almost always work at a discounted rate. Whether it is accountants or management consultants, the hourly rate charged by these professionals to their government clients is usually less than what they charge customers in the private sector.

How do I know? I used to be one. Heck, even hotels offer significant discounts to government workers and/or contractors who need accommodations. Why then do construction companies who choose to bid on these projects need to charge more? It just doesn't make any sense, nor is it reasonable.

Fortunately for taxpayers, this is about to change.

But don't be scared, prevailing wage. We don't expect you to change overnight, nor do we expect you to go away. What we do expect, however, is for you to move into the 21st century with three common-sense reforms that will help strengthen your credibility with the taxpayers, level the playing field for businesses that bid your work, and adjust your incredibly low threshold (it hasn't changed since 1963) for inflation.

With the passage of HB 1271 (prime sponsor Rep. Ron Marsico, R-105th District), HB 1685 (Bear), HB 1329 (Rep. Fred Keller, R-85th District), we can take a dramatic leap forward by: 1) removing basic road maintenance projects from your act, allowing local governments to stretch their limited public works funds even further; 2) requiring that there be a standard set of job classification definitions for contractors to use statewide, making it easier for them to comply with your payment rules; and 3) adjusting the 1963 prevailing wage threshold of $25,000 for inflation to $185,000 so taxpayers can get a break on smaller construction projects.

If you can do this, prevailing wage, you will have gone above and beyond everyone's expectations.

And hey, you might even be able to rewrite your legacy. It is never too late to try.

State Rep. John Bear, R-Lititz, represents the 97th Legislative District and is the Republican vice chairman of the House Labor & Industry Committee.