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(MLive File Photo | Tanya Moutzalias )

LANSING, MI — Michigan Republicans are introducing and prioritizing legislation to repeal the state’s prevailing wage law, an effort that could prove divisive as the new Legislature begins the 2015-16 session.

Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof on Thursday announced plans to sponsor Senate Bill 1, which will seek repeal the 50-year old law that requires union wages and benefits for workers on government-funded construction projects.

“It’s about a savings for taxpayers,” Meekhof, R-West Olive, told MLive on Thursday, confirming that the Senate intends to have a prevailing wage legislation early in the session.

“You’re talking about local governments and school systems that build buildings, and by using prevailing wage, it generally costs them 10 percent more. They could have contracted for the same constructed building, with the same safety and worthiness and all of that, and the taxpayers will pay less for it.”

Republican Reps. Brad Jacobsen of Oxford, Aric Nesbitt of Lawton and Amanda Price of Park Township will sponsor prevailing wage repeal legislation in the House, making them the first three bills introduced this year. Sens. Peter MacGregor of Rockford and Dave Robertson of Grand Blanc will sponsor related legislation in the Senate.

The early prevailing wage push shows the GOP flexing its muscle after picking up seats in the November election and growing its majorities in both chambers. Democrats have long fought changes to the prevailing wage law because repeal would likely lower wage rates for construction workers on certain projects.

“I think we need to be focused on getting people back to work and making sure people that are unemployed or underemployed can find those jobs and get trained for them, not trying to punish people for making a decent wage,” Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich, D-Flint, told MLive this week. “So I’m hopeful we won’t do that.”

The pending prevailing wage push could also be a test of the relationship between the new Legislature and Republican Gov. Rick Snyder.

Snyder "hasn't supported (prevailing wage repeal) during the last four years and has no intention of doing so in the next four," said spokesperson Sara Wurfel.

Democrats, who agreed to a large road funding package and ballot proposal late last year, left meetings with the governor and quadrant leaders confident that prevailing wage repeal — along with a proposal to change the electoral college system — was off the table.

“I don’t want to get into all the details, but suffice it to say, that overall we feel that the Republicans in control of (state) government are unlikely to push repeal of prevailing wage or changing the electoral college in years to come,” House Minority Leader Tim Greimel, D-Auburn Hills, told MLive last month.

Michigan’s prevailing wage law and road funding are not directly related. Most road construction projects utilize at least some federal money that is filtered through the state. And when federal money is involved, federal prevailing wage law applies.

But the road funding ballot proposal, which will ask residents to approve a sales tax hike, makes prevailing wage “ripe” for conversation, according to House Speaker Kevin Cotter, R-Mt. Pleasant.

“We owe it to (voters) to have the conversation, to say, is our current policy of prevailing wage, is it costing you more?” Cotter told MLive in a recent interview. “…We have to answer that question before we can go to them and sell this road plan."

In the 2013-2014 session legislation that would have banned local prevailing wage made it through a House committee during Lame Duck, but fizzled on the House floor.

Meanwhile, prevailing wage is also being challenged on the legal front, where the Michigan Associated of Builders and Contractors is suing the city of Lansing over a local standard. If the legal challenge prevails, it could impact local prevailing wage practices statewide.

Just one day after beginning the legislative session by calling for a positive tone in the Senate, Meekhof acknowledged the prevailing wage legislation could be divisive.

“I’m sure it will be,” he said, “but it’s the way you treat your colleagues and have the discussion. It’s about local taxpayers, what they can afford and what they can expect in value for their money.”

Editor's note: This post was updated with a comment from the governor's office.

Jonathan Oosting is a Capitol reporter for MLive Media Group. Email him, find him on Facebook or follow him on Twitter.