Nick Rahall: “I rise in support of the continuation of the prevailing wage laws embodied in the Davis-Bacon Act, and against repeal of…”

“I rise in support of the continuation of the prevailing wage laws embodied in the Davis-Bacon Act, and against repeal of this vital act. As you know, Mr. Speaker, on March 2, 1995, the Subcommittee on Worker Protections, so-called, voted to repeal the Davis-Bacon Act. They did so without a single member of the minority membership being present, an action that is, in and of itself, unprecedented in recent memory. The Democrats, refusing to be a party to the demise of the Davis-Bacon Act at the hands of their colleague in the other party, walked out in protest. The Davis Bacon Act has been in effect since 1931, and 32 States have their own Davis-Bacon Acts, with 9 States having repealed previous State statutes. Perhaps before taking any further action to repeal Davis-Bacon, all Members should take a look at what has happened in the nine repeal States. A recent, February 1995, study conducted by the University of Utah, one of the nine States having repealed their State Davis-Bacon Act, showed that: First, it resulted in driving down construction earnings and the loss to the State's coffers of substantial income tax and sales tax revenues. Second, as a result of the repeal of the State statute in Utah, the size of total cost overruns on State road construction tripled, and there has been a major shift to a less-skilled labor force, lowering labor productivity along with wages, and increasing injuries and fatalities in the workplace.”