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Newsline No.: 2017-52                                                                                                       Date: June 28, 2017

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Public Works Contractor Registration Fee Increased, Small Project Exemption Established Effective July 1

 

The Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) is advising public works contractors of 2017-2018 State Budget changes that go into effect on July 1. Annual registration fees for public works contractors have increased from $300 to $400, and contractors on small projects are exempt from public works registration and electronic certified payroll reporting 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 a 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 works projects are not required to register as a public works contractor or file electronic certified payroll reports for those projects. 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 exemption. The small project exemption applies for all public works projects that do not exceed:

 

 $25,000 for new construction, alteration, installation, demolition or repair

 $15,000 for maintenance

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