Losing Ground: Lessons from the Repeal of Nine "Little Davis-Bacon" Acts

Abstract

Like the 1931 federal Davis-Bacon Act, legislation in 41 states has required that the "prevailing" wage be paid on state-government-funded construction projects. Between 1979 to 1988, however, nine states repealed their prevailing wage laws. (Nine states never had such a law.) The remaining 32 states have retained prevailing wages. These variations in state experience provide useful information with which to consider probable effects of additional state repeals or the proposed repeal of Davis-Bacon. This study found that state repeals of prevailing wage laws had several effects.