Davis-Bacon Act Law and Legal Definition
The Davis–Bacon Act is a United States federal law which was enacted in 1931. The act is named after its Republican sponsors, James J. Davis, a Senator from Pennsylvania and a former Secretary of Labor under three presidents, and Representative Robert L. Bacon of Long Island, New York. The Davis-Bacon act was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Herbert Hoover on March 3, 1931. The Act established the requirement for paying prevailing wages on public works projects. It requires that all federal government construction contracts, and most contracts for federally assisted construction over $2,000, must provide for paying workers on-site equal to the locally prevailing wages and benefits paid on similar projects.