LANSING - Michigan municipalities that have had a prevailing wage law in place prior to Dec. 31, 2014 can keep it: that's the upshot of a May 17 ruling by the Michigan Supreme Court.

"It's good news, and it reaffirms that municipalities in Michigan have the authority to enact laws regarding their own municipal concerns," said Michigan Building and Construction Trades Council John Canzano. "And it reaffirms that wages paid to workers employed by contractors hired by those municipalities are, in fact, a municipal concern."

The case originated from a 2012 lawsuit brought by the anti-union Associated Builders and Contractors, who argued the City of Lansing's law requiring the payment of prevailing wages on city-sponsored construction projects and "the regulation of third party wage and benefit rates is a matter of state, not municipal concern, which has been established by binding Michigan precedent."

The problem with that argument, according to the 6-0 decision by the Supreme Court, is that precedent was based on a 1923 Michigan Supreme Court decision, which said cities didn't have the authority to set third-party wages. That 1923 decision was in turn based on a version of the state Constitution that was drawn up in 1909.

Canzano, who didn't litigate the case but submitted an "amicus" brief for it, said the Supreme Court, even with its heavily conservative tilt, recognized the 1923 precedent as "a relic of a bygone era" and "has no validity today," especially given that the state Constitution was updated in 1963.

While the effects of the May 17 Supreme Court ruling still need study, Canzano said he thinks that it only sustains local prevailing wage laws that were in place before Dec. 31, 2014. Any local prevailing wage laws adopted after that date would be subject to Public Act 105, a state law adopted in 2014 which outlawed local prevailing wage laws that exceed state or federal requirements after Jan. 1, 2015.

"We are pleased to see the Michigan Supreme Court has ruled in favor of local prevailing wage ordinances," said Bart Carrigan, co-chair of the pro-prevailing wage group Protect Michigan Jobs, and current labor relations consultant for the Associated General Contractors of Michigan. "Prevailing wage policies help ensure Michigan has sufficient numbers of skilled construction workers by providing for training schools, fair pay that attracts good workers, and benefits that keep them on the job. We are pleased to see the highest court in the state agree with our position supporting prevailing wage policies at the local level."

The ABC originally won the first round of litigation involving the case in 2012, when an Ingham County Circuit Court judge agreed with their position that Lansing's prevailing wage law was invalid. Upon appeal by the City of Lansing, a 2-1 Court of Appeals decision in 2014 overturned Circuit Judge Clinton Canady III's decision, thus reinstating Lansing's prevailing wage law.

The appellate court said the 1923 Supreme Court ruling was an invalid reference and had no discussion "as to why the setting of wage rates was a matter of state concern." In addition, since that 90-plus-year-old decision, the appeals court judges said the state's 1963 amended Constitution granted Michigan's cities and villages the "power to adopt resolutions and ordinances relating to its municipal concerns."

ABC of Michigan spokesperson Chris Fisher told the news service MIRS that the Supreme Court decision really only affects cities with existing prevailing wage ordinances, which he said makes up "only about 1 percent" of the communities in the state.

Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero said in a statement that the Supreme court ruling is "a landmark victory for working people not just in Lansing, but across Michigan."