According to findings of an ABC membership survey published on March 3, 2021, ABC members overwhelmingly support repeal or reform of the federal Davis-Bacon Act and related state and local prevailing wage laws that increase costs and reduce competition from qualified contractors on taxpayer-funded construction projects.

On Dec. 14, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division issued two All Agency Memoranda, AAM 235 and AAM 236, with revisions to certain DOL wage determinations for federal contractors under the Davis-Bacon Act.  

On July 29, ABC sent a letter to President Trump applauding him for issuing two executive orders, Regulatory Relief to Support Economic Recovery and Accelerating the Nation’s Economic Recovery from the COVID-19 Emergency by Expediting Infrastructure Investments and Other Activities, which will help to remove burdensome barriers to job creation and help the economy continue to rebound from the COVID-19 crisis.

During its annual reconvene/veto session April 22, the Virginia General Assembly agreed with Gov. Ralph Northam (D) and delayed the effective date of two laws permitting prevailing wage and project labor agreement requirements on taxpayer-funded public works projects.

The New York State Legislature took action to include an expansion of prevailing wage in the state’s budget for fiscal year 2020-21, which was signed into law on April 3 by Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D). The provision expands the view of what projects are considered “public works” and applies prevailing wage to private projects of $5 million or above in project cost that receive at least 30% of their financing from public assistance. This assistance goes beyond direct public investment to include loan and grant programs and certain tax incentives, greatly increasing the number of projects required to pay prevailing wages.

On Sept. 26, the U.S. Senate voted 53-44 to confirm Eugene Scalia as secretary of labor.

On Sept. 24, the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions voted 12-11 to advance the nomination of Eugene Scalia to serve as the secretary of labor. The nomination will move to the full Senate for a final confirmation vote.

On March 29, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General released an audit report on the prevailing wage rates mandated by the Davis-Bacon Act on federal or federally assisted construction projects. 

A study released by the University of Kentucky Center for Business and Economic Research concluded that West Virginia’s prevailing wage mandate, repealed by the state legislature in 2016, inflated the cost of public school construction. By comparing projects bid from 2013 to 2018 and using data provided by the West Virginia School Building Authority, the authors determined that the cost of projects bid without a prevailing wage requirement were 7.3 percent lower than those bid with government-mandated wages.

A study released by the Minnesota Center for Fiscal Excellence found that the prevailing wage determination process utilized by the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry leads to inaccurate wage rates on construction projects. A disproportionate 75 percent of prevailing wages reflected union rates in the period analyzed in the study, even though just 32 percent of private construction workers in Minnesota belong to a union.