Senate Republicans on Tuesday quickly killed a measure that would have required the Colorado Department of Transportation to consider prevailing wages for public-private projects.

The Democratic-sponsored House Bill 1068 was killed by the Republican-controlled Senate Transportation Committee with few stakeholders signed up to testify after an only eight-minute hearing.

The bill died on a party-line vote.

It says that when CDOT considers bids for public-private partnership projects involving federal dollars, those bids must calculate construction costs using local prevailing wages and benefits.

The aim of the measure was to prevent lowball bids on public-private projects from companies that don’t pay their employees fair wages.

Sen. Dominick Moreno, D-Commerce City, said the purpose of the bill was to “ensure that when taxpayer dollars are spent, we’re actually creating high-quality jobs.”

Sponsors of the bill said the measure would have simply aligned state procurement practices with the federal Davis-Bacon Act.

But Republicans suggested that since there already is federal law on the subject, it is not necessary to pass a separate state law. That sentiment was backed up by CDOT.

“The bill … includes the provision that we pay federal Davis-Bacon prevailing wages on projects that … have federal funds involved. Those are projects that we’re required to pay federal Bacon-Davis wages on today,” CDOT officials told lawmakers.

“This piece of legislation has no bearing on the Department of Transportation,” added Sen. Randy Baumgardner, R-Hot Sulphur Springs.

When the bill was in the House, Republicans lined up to testify against the measure, suggesting that the legislation would reduce the amount of projects local governments would be able to complete.

“Why would you want to reduce those projects and make those dollars not go as far?” asked Rep. Jon Becker, R-Fort Morgan.

But Democrats argued that the bill is necessary to assure that prevailing wages are paid, despite confusing and complicated partnerships.

Rep. Adrienne Benavidez, D-Commerce City, the sponsor of the bill in the House, pointed out, “There is this blurring of lines. Is this a federal project? Is it a state project? Is it a public project?”