ABC Applauds Appeals Court Decision in CityCenterDC Davis-Bacon Case
WASHINGTON, D.C., April 5—Associated Builders and
Contractors (ABC) applauded a
decision to stop an unprecedented expansion of the 1931 Davis-Bacon
Act onto a private construction project that was issued today by the U.S. Court
of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. ABC filed an amicus brief in
the case arguing against forcing contractors to pay inaccurate
government-determined wage and benefits rates on the CityCenterDC project in
Washington, D.C.
“The decision is expected to save the District an estimated $20 million in costs that would have been incurred had the court ruled the project was subject to the archaic Davis-Bacon Act,” said ABC Vice President of Regulatory, Labor and State Affairs Ben Brubeck. “More importantly, the court’s rejection of the Obama administration’s increasingly overreaching Department of Labor will benefit the public, developers and construction industry by reinforcing the 85-year precedent that privately-funded projects, including projects developed via non-traditional arrangements on land owned by municipalities, are not subject to Davis-Bacon wages.”
On April 5, Judge Brett Kavanaugh affirmed judgment of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia’s 2014 decision in District of Columbia v. Department of Labor. The lower court granted summary judgment to the District of Columbia and private developer CCDC Office LLC. In that decision, Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who was appointed to the bench by President Obama, rejected the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) ruling that the Davis-Bacon Act can be expanded to include privately funded and constructed projects such as CityCenterDC.
“The decision is expected to save the District an estimated $20 million in costs that would have been incurred had the court ruled the project was subject to the archaic Davis-Bacon Act,” said ABC Vice President of Regulatory, Labor and State Affairs Ben Brubeck. “More importantly, the court’s rejection of the Obama administration’s increasingly overreaching Department of Labor will benefit the public, developers and construction industry by reinforcing the 85-year precedent that privately-funded projects, including projects developed via non-traditional arrangements on land owned by municipalities, are not subject to Davis-Bacon wages.”
On April 5, Judge Brett Kavanaugh affirmed judgment of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia’s 2014 decision in District of Columbia v. Department of Labor. The lower court granted summary judgment to the District of Columbia and private developer CCDC Office LLC. In that decision, Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who was appointed to the bench by President Obama, rejected the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) ruling that the Davis-Bacon Act can be expanded to include privately funded and constructed projects such as CityCenterDC.
From Associated Builders and Contractors
From NCRA
Trenton H. Cotney
Florida Bar Certified Construction Lawyer
Trent Cotney, P.A.
407 N. Howard Avenue
Suite 100
Tampa, FL 33606
Comments
Post a Comment