Sponsors (2)
Repeals the federal Davis‑Bacon prevailing wage statute, removing the statutory requirement that contractors pay locally prevailing wages on covered federal construction contracts.
The bill reduces federal prevailing-wage requirements to lower costs and compliance burdens for contractors and procurement, but at the likely expense of lower pay for construction workers, weaker union leverage, potential hits to project quality (and taxpayer risk), and legal gaps for state programs.
Small and mid-sized construction contractors can bid on federal construction projects without complying with Davis-Bacon prevailing-wage rules, reducing their labor cost burden and making bids more competitive.
Federal procurement paperwork and compliance overhead for bidders and contracting agencies would be reduced by eliminating prevailing-wage reporting and enforcement requirements.
Construction workers on federal projects would no longer be guaranteed prevailing wages, likely lowering pay for many workers on those projects.
Lowering required wages could lead to reduced workmanship, higher worker turnover and training costs, or greater reliance on lower-paid labor, shifting costs or risks onto taxpayers and harming project quality.
Unionized construction workers and collective-bargaining leverage could be weakened, reducing negotiated wages and benefits across the sector.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Official title: To repeal the wage requirements of the Davis-Bacon Act.
Introduced April 30, 2026 by Eric Burlison · Last progress April 30, 2026
Repeals the federal Davis‑Bacon prevailing wage law by removing Subchapter IV of Title 40, U.S. Code, which eliminates statutory requirements that federal construction contractors pay locally prevailing wages on covered federal construction projects. The repeal takes effect 30 days after enactment but does not apply to contracts already in force or to procurement invitations for bids outstanding on that date.