Blacklisting regulation repeal signed into law

AGC of America and its members achieved a major legislative victory yesterday when President Trump signed legislation to repeal of the Blacklisting regulations, which would have implemented President Obama’s Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Executive Order.  

Following a concerted AGC advocacy effort in conjunction with business, the House voted for repeal with a 236-187 vote on Feb. 2 and the Senate voted for repeal on a 49-48 vote on March 9.  (Among the Washington State congressional delegation, Reps. Herrera Beutler, McMorris-Rodgers, Newhouse and Reichert voted with AGC with a “yes” vote; Reps. DelBene, Heck, Kilmer, Larsen, Smith and Sens. Cantwell and Murray voted “no”.)

Under the blacklisting regulations, both prime and subcontractors would report violations and alleged violations of 14 federal labor laws and “equivalent” state labor laws during the previous three years, and again every six months, on federal contracts over $500,000. Prime contractors would also be responsible for evaluating the labor law violations of their subcontractors at all tiers during both contract solicitation and contract performance. A single alleged violation could lead a contracting officer to either (1) deny a prime contractor the right to compete for a federal contract; or (2) remove a prime contractor or subcontractor from an ongoing project.
 
For more information, contact Jimmy Christianson of AGC of America at 703.837.5325 or christiansonj@agc.org.