Senate Bill 854, signed into law June 20, 2014, became effectively immediately. It established a new public works contractor registration program which will collect fees to fund compliance monitoring and enforcement, determine prevailing wage and public works coverage, and hear enforcement appeals. As of July 1, 2017 Senate Bill 96 was signed, amending the DIR prevailing wage monitoring program for public works projects. New reporting requirements are in place (See below):
Public works Contractor Registration Fee Increased, Small Project Exemption Established Effective July 1, 2017.
The Department of Industrial Relations (DIR), is advising public works contractors of 2017-2018 State Budget changes that go into effect on July 1, 2017. Annual registration fees for public works contractors have increased from $300 to $400, and contractor on small projects are expempt from public works registration and electronic certified payroll requirements.
Public works contractors who pay $300 to renew their annual registration on or before June 30, 2017, are not required to pay the increased amount. Beginning June 1, 2019, contractors will have the option to renew their annual registration for up to three years at a time. The Labor Commissioner will be able to assess public works contractors penalties of up to $8,000 - in addition to any penalty or registration fee - for failure to register. Awarding agencies are also subject to penalties of $100 a day, up to the maximum of $10,000, for hiring an unregistered contractor to perform work on a public works project. A contractor that hires an unregistered subcontractor is also subject to penalties of up to $10,000.
Small Project Exemption:
Contractors who work exclusively on small public projects are not required to register as a public works contractor or file electronic certified payroll reports for those project. Contractors are still required to maintain certified payroll records on a continuous basis, and provide them to the Labor Commissioner's office upon request. Additionally, awarding agencies are not required to submit the notice of contract award through DIR's PWC-100 system on projects that fall within the small project expemption. The small project exemption applies for all public works project that do not exceed:
$25,000 for new construction, alteration, installation, demolition or repair
$15,000 for maintenance
DIR has extensive information regarding public works requirements on its Public Works website, including instructions for contractors on how to register.
More information can be found at The Department of Industrial Relations website; http://www.dir.ca.gov/Public-Works/PublicWorks.html