Missouri's Republican-led House has endorsed a bill to repeal the state's "prevailing wage" requirements for public construction projects.
The 93-60 vote Tuesday is part of a Republican push to revamp the state's labor laws by limiting union powers.
Missouri law currently requires governmental entities such as cities and school districts to pay wages above the state's basic minimum wage for construction and maintenance projects.
Those "prevailing wages" are set for each construction trade on a county-by-county basis. They're determined based on voluntary wage surveys submitted by contractors working in each county, but when no wages are reported the union rate for that trade is used.
A second House vote is needed to send the prevailing-wage repeal to the Senate.
