ABC applauded a decision by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas granting a nationwide preliminary injunction that blocks some provisions in the U.S. Department of Labor’s final rule expanding the Davis-Bacon Act.

Associated General Contractors of America’s lawsuit asserted that the Biden administration lacks the legal authority to expand the law to cover manufacturing facilities miles away from projects and delivery truck drivers spending any amount of time on a jobsite, or to retroactively impose the measure on already-executed contracts, among other things. The court granted AGC’s motion for a nationwide preliminary injunction, temporarily blocking the AGC-challenged provisions.

“The preliminary injunction issued in response to AGC’s federal lawsuit is a victory for the construction industry and the rule of law. It strikes down the Biden administration’s effort to do an end-run around Congress via regulatory action that benefits special interests,” said Ben Brubeck, ABC vice president of regulatory, labor and state affairs.

“ABC’s pending federal lawsuit, filed in East Texas, targets other provisions in the DOL’s extreme overhaul of more than 50 Davis-Bacon Act regulations that undermine commonsense reforms put in place by the Reagan administration. We are hopeful ABC’s lawsuit will also prevail over the Biden administration’s regulatory overreach,” said Brubeck.

On Aug. 8, 2023, the U.S. Department of Labor released a final rule, Updating Davis-Bacon and Related Act Regulations, which makes drastic revisions to the Davis-Bacon Act and Related Acts regulations that apply to federal and federally assisted construction projects funded by taxpayers.

The DOL’s final rule mostly disregards the feedback of ABC contractors, construction industry stakeholders, and thousands of small businesses urging the withdrawal of this unnecessary, costly and burdensome regulation.

On Nov. 7, 2023, ABC and its Southeast Texas chapter filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, challenging the controversial final rule.

Learn more at abc.org/davisbacon.