Prevailing wageSenate Bill 908House final passage, October 19, 2026
The House passed Senate Bill 908 by 128 to 75, sending prevailing wage for off-site custom fabrication to the governor
The House passed the Senate’s text on October 19, 2026, without changes. The bill would put shop fabrication for public work under prevailing wage, the rate the state sets for each craft by locality on public work.
- Yes
- No
- Majority
- Two-thirds
The Pennsylvania House voted 128 to 75 on October 19, 2026, to pass Senate Bill 908, according to the House roll call. The bill amends the Prevailing Wage Act so that workers who custom-fabricate goods off-site for a public project, such as duct, pipe assemblies or rebar cages, are paid the prevailing rate for their craft in the project’s locality.
The House passed the Senate’s text, Printer’s No. 1804, without changes, so the bill needs no further Senate vote. The bill page lists it as signed in the Senate the same day. Under the state constitution, a bill that passes both chambers is presented to the governor, and it becomes law if the governor signs it or does not return it within 10 days of receiving it. The changes would take effect 60 days after that.
- Senate37 to 13Passed June 10
- House128 to 75Passed October 19, no changes
- Governor10 daysTo sign or return it after it is presented
- In effect60 daysAfter enactment
The House Labor and Industry Committee reported the bill on October 5, which an earlier article covered. Since then it has had two floor votes on amendments, a vote in the Appropriations Committee and the final vote.
How the votes split
All 103 House Democrats voted yes, and Republicans split 25 yes and 75 no
All 103 House Democrats voted yes. Republicans split 25 yes and 75 no. Earlier the same day, the Appropriations Committee sent the bill to the floor 27 to 10, with 5 of its 15 Republicans joining its 22 Democrats. In the Senate in June, all 23 Democrats and 14 of 27 Republicans voted for the bill. Its prime sponsor, Sen. Frank Farry, is a Republican.
The Senate’s 37 yes votes cleared two-thirds of its 50 members. The House’s 128 fell short of two-thirds of 203.
Montgomery County
The county’s 12 House Democrats and all six of its senators voted yes
Fourteen House members list Montgomery County among the counties their districts serve. The 12 Democrats voted yes. The two Republicans, Rep. Donna Scheuren of the 147th District and Rep. Milou Mackenzie of the 131st, voted no. All six senators whose districts include part of the county voted yes in June, among them Republican Sen. Tracy Pennycuick. Four of the six, Sens. Amanda Cappelletti, Art Haywood, Vincent Hughes and Pennycuick, are listed on the bill as sponsors.
Of 20 legislators whose districts reach into Montgomery County, 18 voted yes and the two House Republicans voted no
Senate, final passage June 10
- Amanda CappellettiD, District 17Yes
- Maria CollettD, District 12Yes
- Art HaywoodD, District 4Yes
- Vincent HughesD, District 7Yes
- Katie MuthD, District 44Yes
- Tracy PennycuickR, District 24Yes
House, final passage October 19
- Matthew BradfordD, District 70Yes
- Tim BriggsD, District 149Yes
- Melissa CerratoD, District 151Yes
- Joe CiresiD, District 146Yes
- Mary Jo DaleyD, District 148Yes
- Nancy GuenstD, District 152Yes
- Liz HanbidgeD, District 61Yes
- Milou MackenzieR, District 131No
- Steven MalagariD, District 53Yes
- Napoleon J. NelsonD, District 154Yes
- Benjamin SanchezD, District 153Yes
- Donna ScheurenR, District 147No
- Greg ScottD, District 54Yes
- Joe WebsterD, District 150Yes
Amendments the House rejected
The House voted down two Republican amendments, each by 81 to 122
On October 7 the House voted down two Republican amendments, each by 81 to 122. All 103 Democrats and 19 Republicans voted against both.
Rep. Barbara Gleim’s amendment would have raised the act’s threshold, the estimated project cost above which prevailing wage applies, from $25,000 to $250,000. The same change had failed 12 to 14 in the Labor and Industry Committee two days earlier.
Rep. Chad Reichard’s amendment would have added one sentence to the bill’s definition of custom fabrication:
“The term shall not apply to a municipality with a population of 20,000 or less, based on the most recent population estimates published by the United States Census Bureau.”
The Census Bureau’s estimates for July 1, 2025, put 45 of Montgomery County’s 62 municipalities at 20,000 or fewer. Conshohocken had 9,266 residents, West Conshohocken 1,498 and Plymouth 18,555. Whitemarsh, at 20,198, was just over the line. The bill as passed has no population exception.
Conshohocken, West Conshohocken and Plymouth fall under the amendment’s 20,000 line. Whitemarsh, at 20,198, is just over it.
45 of the county’s 62 municipalities had 20,000 or fewer residents
In June the Senate tabled three other Republican amendments, which set them aside without a vote on the substance. They would have raised the threshold to $2.5 million, struck the custom fabrication provisions, or applied the bill’s changes only to cities of the first class, which in Pennsylvania means Philadelphia.
Five amendments that did not pass: three tabled in the Senate in June, two defeated in the House in October
| Amendment | What it would have done | Vote, yes to no | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| A03572Sen. Scott Martin (R), Senate | Raise the $25,000 threshold to $2.5 million | Tabled, June 10 | Set aside |
| A03573Sen. Scott Martin (R), Senate | Strike the custom fabrication provisions | Tabled, June 10 | Set aside |
| A03582Sen. Dawn Keefer (R), Senate | Apply the changes only to cities of the first class | Tabled, June 10 | Set aside |
| A03659Rep. Barbara Gleim (R), House | Raise the $25,000 threshold to $250,000 | 81 to 122, October 7 | Failed |
| A04419Rep. Chad Reichard (R), House | Exclude municipalities of 20,000 or fewer from the custom fabrication definition | 81 to 122, October 7 | Failed |
What the bill changes
The bill adds off-site custom fabrication to the public work covered above $25,000
The act covers construction, reconstruction, demolition, alteration and repair paid for in whole or in part with a public body’s money when the project’s estimated total cost is over $25,000. Labor and Industry’s Bureau of Labor Law Compliance sets the rates by locality and enforces them. The bill adds custom fabrication to that list of covered work and defines it as nonstandard goods or materials fabricated or assembled off-site but produced specifically for a public work project.
The definition names
Left out
The rate for fabrication work would be the prevailing rate for the craft in the locality where the public project is located. A firm that contracts or subcontracts to fabricate for public work would carry the same compliance, reporting and penalty provisions as any other contractor, and bid specifications would have to state the minimum rate for fabrication workers.
A new sentence in Section 5 says workers “may not be paid multiple rates on the same project.” The Senate’s June amendment excluded rehabilitation of residential property with fewer than eight units, except housing authority property in Philadelphia, and school safety and security improvements with a total project cost up to $50,000. The $25,000 threshold stays as it is.
Before you bid
What to ask before you bid public work this winter
Public owners around Conshohocken have construction coming to bid. Conshohocken Borough Council’s agenda for October 21 lists a vote on authorizing advertisement for bids for the borough’s Public Safety Facility, the fire and EMS building the borough plans to finance with bonds. Projects like it can be under contract, with shop drawings and fabrication under way, when a 60-day effective date arrives. The bill text sets that date and says nothing about contracts bid or signed before it.
- If your shop builds duct, pipe spools, electrical assemblies, rebar cages or signs for public jobs, ask the public owner or the general contractor whether the specifications will state a rate for custom fabrication, and which rate determination applies to shop hours on a job that is under way when the law takes effect.
- The Bureau of Labor Law Compliance answers questions about a particular project at 1-800-932-0665.
- If you pay one worker under more than one classification on a public job today, ask the bureau how the Section 5 language would apply before you price the next one.
- For a decision about your payroll or a contract you have signed, ask the bureau or a labor lawyer.
For background on the act, see how Pennsylvania’s Prevailing Wage Act applies to public construction jobs, and for where local bids are posted, see where public construction bids are posted for Conshohocken-area work.
The record
Nine recorded votes from June to October 2026, drawn on one count scale
| Date | Body and motion | Yes | No | Yes and no as bars | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2 | Senate Labor and Industry CommitteeReport the bill as committed | 11 | 0 | Passed | |
| June 9 | Senate Rules and Executive Nominations CommitteeAdopt amendment A03566 | 17 | 0 | Adopted | |
| June 9 | Senate Rules and Executive Nominations CommitteeRe-report the bill as amended | 17 | 0 | Passed | |
| June 10 | SenateFinal passage | 37 | 13 | Passed | |
| October 5 | House Labor and Industry CommitteeReport the bill as committed | 14 | 12 | Passed | |
| October 7 | HouseAmendment A03659 raising the threshold to $250,000 | 81 | 122 | Failed | |
| October 7 | HouseAmendment A04419 exempting municipalities of 20,000 or fewer from custom fabrication | 81 | 122 | Failed | |
| October 19 | House Appropriations CommitteeRe-report the bill as committed | 27 | 10 | Passed | |
| October 19 | HouseFinal passage | 128 | 75 | Passed |
Caveats
The bill is not law yet, and the date the changes would apply is not set
The bill is not law yet. As of the morning of October 20, the last action on the bill page was its signing in the Senate on October 19. The 10-day clock for the governor starts when the bill is presented, and the effective date follows from the date of enactment, so the date the changes would apply is not set yet. The constitution requires two-thirds of all members elected to each chamber to override a veto. The House vote of 128 is below two-thirds of its 203 members, and the Senate vote of 37 is above two-thirds of its 50.
The county lists come from each legislator’s biography page, which shows the counties a district serves in whole or in part. A member listed here may not represent Conshohocken itself. The General Assembly’s Find My Legislator tool matches an address to its districts.
The population figures are Census Bureau estimates, and they matter here only because of the rejected amendment. The General Assembly’s pages, the Census file and the borough agenda were checked on October 20, 2026. Open the bill page for its current status.