(AP) - A Nevada labor union is seeking a temporary restraining order to block a state agency from spending $10 million in federal stimulus money on a program to weatherize homes for low-income families.
In court papers filed Monday in Las Vegas, the Nevada AFL-CIO contends that the Nevada Housing Division is attempting to skirt a new state law that requires contractors doing weatherization work to pay prevailing wage, offer health insurance and hire half of the workers from a training program that has yet to be created.
"They're thumbing their nose at the law," Danny Thompson, secretary-treasurer of the Nevada AFL-CIO, told a Reno newspaper.
State officials say they intend to comply with Senate Bill 152, once all of its provisions are in place. But they argue they risk losing the weatherization money if they don't comply with federal requirements to spend it immediately.
The lawsuit lacks merit, said Dianne Cornwall, director of the Department of Business and Industry.
"This is a baseless, worthless lawsuit, and they're only wasting time in trying to get these funds out to the folks that really need them," she said.
The issue centers on the first round of stimulus money, about $10 million, for the weatherization program. The housing division had awarded grants to five nonprofit agencies to conduct the work before the Legislature passed SB 152, the so-called green jobs law.
The law requires the state to use stimulus money to create a green jobs training program and then put the newly trained to work on weatherization and energy retrofit projects.
Cornwall said the housing division will comply with the law as much as possible. But a key provision - creation of a nonprofit collaborative to train workers hired for the weatherization program - has yet to be established.