On May 22nd, U.S. Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ) introduced 听(), which aims to reform the way the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) calculates prevailing wages under the 1931 Davis-Bacon Act.

Sen. Flake鈥檚 bill directs the DOL to set prevailing wages for federal and federally assisted construction projects covered by the Davis-Bacon Act and Related Acts using data collected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

According to a from Sen. Flake鈥檚 office:听

鈥淭he Davis-Bacon Act requires contractors engaging in certain federal construction projects pay workers on such projects not less than the locally prevailing wage for comparable work. Unfortunately for taxpayers, DOL has been unable to develop an effective process for determining market-rate wages, making the system vulnerable to bias and waste.

For example, a prevailing wage rate for thousands of workers in a given locale can be based on the reported wages of as few as six workers from that area. Under certain conditions, DOL will simply rely on inflated union wage rates to set a prevailing wage, making it all but impossible for smaller businesses who cannot match union pay rates to compete with those unions when bidding on projects. In fact, a found 63 percent of Davis-Bacon prevailing wage rates are union rates despite the fact that only 14 percent of the construction workforce belongs to a union.

That same GAO investigation also determined DOL cannot even verify whether its wage calculations accurately reflect local markets, and a separate revealed nearly 100 percent of wage surveys reviewed by DOL contained errors.

According to a Beacon Hill Institute analysis, Davis-Bacon wage rates are on average 22 percent above market rates, driving up labor costs by more than $2 billion dollars in 2016. According to a , using accurate wages would create approximately 30,000 additional construction jobs annually.鈥�

Sen. Flake鈥檚 bill will simply mandate that DOL abandon their flawed approach administered through its Wage and Hour Division and instead rely on BLS data to determine a locale鈥檚 prevailing wage. BLS already calculates wages for approximately two million federal employees.

鈥淚f the Bureau of Labor and Statistics can be trusted to set fair wages for two million federal employees, it can be trusted to do the same for workers on federal infrastructure projects while also providing much-needed relief to taxpayers,鈥� said Sen. Flake. 鈥淭he Opportunity in Federal Construction Act is a commonsense solution to a broken system that will ensure fair wages for workers, more opportunities for small businesses, and less waste for taxpayers.鈥�

estimates repealing the Davis-Bacon Act will reduce federal construction costs by almost $13 billion between 2018 and 2026.

With Congress expected to tackle a potential 10 year $1 trillion infrastructure bill later this Congress, and .

老牛影视supports full repeal of the Davis-Bacon Act, as well as any state and local prevailing wage laws that mandate wage and benefit rates that do not reflect the current construction market. In the absence of full repeal, 老牛影视also continues to support legislative and regulatory efforts designed to mitigate the Act鈥檚 negative effects.

老牛影视supports Sen. Flake鈥檚 bill and other similar bills reforming or eliminating the archaic Davis-Bacon Act, including the (S. 195) and .

老牛影视opposes expansion of Davis-Bacon into areas of public and private projects in which it has not been previously mandated.听