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- Part of Records of the Office of the Chief of Staff (Clinton Administration), Harold Ickes, Jr.'s Files
Extracted text
OCR Page 1 of 17717 P02
JUL 26 '95 18:18
Davis Bacon
7/30 4m for first
MEMORANDUM TO: Harold Ickes
Jennifer O' 'Connor
9/4 ok to fill
From:
Maria Echaveste
mE
per Jan
Date:
July 27, 1995
Re:
Davis-Bacon Reform and Repeal
This is in follow-up to our conversation last week.
Background
Davis-Bacon Repeal - The House and the Senate are
considering legislation to repeal the Davis-Bacon Act. In March
the Senate Labor Committee adopted repeal legislation (Sen.
Kassebaum, S. 141) -- on a party line vote. (A reform bill,
similar to the Administration's bill from last Congress discussed
below, was defeated on a party-line vote.) Similar legislation
is pending before the full Economic and Educational Opportunities
Committee in the House (H.R. 500). There is also speculation
that repeal of the Davis-Bacon Act could be rolled into the
reconciliation bill, although 21 majority members of the House
have urged against it and the House leadership has indicated that
repeal will receive a full hearing and consideration. Early
attempts to engage majority Members in an effort to reform Davis-
Bacon were rebuffed by those approached, at least until their
full efforts to repeal the Act had played out in their entirety.
Last year the Administration, in the person of Steve Kelman
at OFPP, with the assistance of DOL and in the context of
procurement reform, negotiated a reform bill which was introduced
at the end of the session by Senator Simon. The bill increased
the threshold for coverage and reduced the paperwork burden on
contractors. There was a hearing in the Senate but no
legislative action on the proposal.
Helpers - The fiscal year 1995 Labor/HHS Appropriations bill
prevents the Department of Labor from implementing the Reagan-era
helper regulation. The helper regulation was the subject of
extensive litigation and Congressional intervention throughout
the 1980's. Congressman Bonior and Senator Harkin have been the
most vocal of the supporters of prohibiting the use of helpers on
Davis-Bacon projects. The helper regulation requires the DOL to
recognize a helper classification of workers on Davis-Bacon job
sites where helpers prevail in an area. Helpers are low-paid
semi-skilled workers who assist a journeyperson. The building
trades argue that the recognition of helpers will undercut
laborers and apprentices and lead to low-paid, dead-end jobs for