18-2-414. Standard prevailing rate of wages for heavy construction services and for highway construction services -- definition. (1) The department shall establish the standard prevailing rate of wages for heavy construction services and for highway construction services annually.

(2) In establishing the standard prevailing rate of wages for heavy construction services and for highway construction services, the department may:

(a) conduct a survey of construction contractors registered under Title 39, chapter 9, who perform heavy construction services or highway construction services, electrical contractors licensed under Title 37, chapter 68, who perform commercial work, or plumbers licensed under Title 37, chapter 69, whose work is performed according to commercial building codes;

(b) adopt by reference through rulemaking the rates established by the U.S. department of labor under the federal Davis-Bacon Act, 29 CFR 1, et seq., for projects in Montana; or

(c) use, as provided by rule, a combination of surveyed rates, as provided in subsection (2)(a), and rates adopted by reference, as provided in subsection (2)(b).

(3) For the purposes of this section, the term "standard prevailing rate of wages for heavy construction services and for highway construction services" means wage rates, including fringe benefits plus zone pay, per diem, and travel allowances, if applicable, that are determined and established statewide for heavy construction projects and highway construction projects. The department may define by rule the terms heavy construction projects and highway construction projects. The definitions of heavy construction projects and highway construction projects must include but are not limited to projects the same as or similar to the construction, alteration, or repair of roads, streets, highways, alleys, runways, airport runways and ramps, dams, powerhouses, canals, channels, pipelines, parking areas, utility rights-of-way, staging yards located on or off the right-of-way, or new or reopened pits that produce aggregate, asphalt, concrete, or backfill when the pit does not normally sell to the general public.