The Davis-Bacon Act (40 U.S.C. §§ 276a-276a-5, now re-codified as 40 U.S.C. 3141-3148) became law in 1931. As amended, the act requires that construction contracts entered into by the federal government specify minimum wages to be paid to the various classes of laborers and mechanics working under those contracts. Minimum wages are defined by the act as those determined by the Secretary of Labor (a) to be prevailing (b) in the locality of the project (c) for similar crafts and skills (d) on comparable construction work. The prevailing wage concept was expanded in 1964 to include a fringe benefit component. The act has a coverage threshold of $2,000. Through the years, Davis-Bacon prevailing wage provisions have been added to more than 50 program statutes. In addition, many states and some local jurisdictions have "little Davis-Bacon" acts of their own. Most of these differ from each other in coverage or other requirements—and differ, as well, from the federal statute. This report sketches the evolution of the Davis-Bacon Act and suggests the scope of the controversy that has formed around it. It then examines, briefly, some of the trends in the scholarship and reportage concerning the act and, finally, provides a bibliography of published non-documentary sources that are generally available to persons with a deeper interest in the statute, its history, and its administration. Early in the 20 th century, it was not at all clear that the federal government had the authority to regulate wages and conditions of work in the private sector. When Congress attempted to deal legislatively with hours of work, child labor or minimum wages, its enactments were often found by the courts to be in violation of its constitutional authority. Only after 1937 when the U.S. Supreme Court sustained a Washington state labor standards statute ( West Coast Hotel v. Parrish (300 U.S. 379)) did Congress assume a more confident affirmative role in regulation of the workplace. If government found its role in the private sector somewhat circumscribed by the courts, it was on was on firmer constitutional ground in prescribing labor standards for its own direct employees. Thus, public employees, both federal and those in state and local government, were often protected by mandated minimum wage and overtime pay standards. But, while their own employees were protected, some public agencies sought to circumvent these requirements (and to expand their purchasing power) by "contracting out" for construction, goods and services. This caused some reformers to protest that the various units of government ought to provide a better example of fairness for private sector employers. In 1891, Kansas adopted a law requiring that "not less than the current rate of per diem wages in the locality where the work is performed shall be paid to laborers, workmen, mechanics, and other persons so employed by or on behalf of the state of Kansas" or of other local jurisdictions. Through the next several decades, other states followed suit, enacting a variety of labor-protective statutes covering workers in contract production. Federal contracting practice, into the 1930s, required that "the lowest responsible bid" be accepted. In this instance, responsibility referred to a reasonable expectation that a project could be completed in a timely fashion without regard for the wages paid to workers or the conditions under which they worked. This "made the government an unwilling collaborator with unscrupulous firms that sought to get government business by cutting wages." In the construction field, it was alleged that migratory contractors from low-wage sections of the country would bid for federal work and, because they paid wage rates lower than those prevailing in the locality of a proposed project (and employed nonresident workers), they enjoyed a competitive advantage over "fair" local contractors. In 1927, Representative Robert L. Bacon (R-NY) introduced legislation to require that locally prevailing wage standards be met in federal construction work. Although hearings were conducted, the legislation was not brought to the floor. Similar legislation was introduced in 1928 and again in 1930. Finally, in March 1931, at the urging of the Hoover Administration, the Bacon Act (co-sponsored by Senator James Davis (R-PA), formerly Secretary of Labor in the Harding, Coolidge and Hoover Administrations) was passed and signed by President Herbert Hoover. Almost immediately after its adoption, certain deficiencies in the Davis-Bacon Act became apparent. Both industry and organized labor, while voicing different concerns, appealed to the Congress and to the White House for revision of the statute. While mandating under Davis-Bacon that not less than the locally prevailing wage be paid, Congress had not established a regular system though which such wage rate determinations might be made. Thus, contractors, when bidding on a public project, had to commit themselves to pay whatever wage could be agreed upon or, in the event of a dispute, whatever wage the Secretary of Labor might later decide was prevailing. Thus, industry sought amendment of the act to provide for predetermination of wage rates. Organized labor was concerned that enforcement procedures under the act were inadequate. Pointing to the $5,000 threshold for triggering the statute, it noted that certain employers might fragment contracts in order to escape the act's requirements. Besides, the unions suggested, many contracts for painting and decorating fell below the threshold and thus, workers in those fields would not be covered at all. It was alleged that some employers paid the locally prevailing rate to their employees as the act required, but would then demand, under the table, a "kick-back" of a portion of that wage. Some estimated that as much as 25% of the legitimate wage costs for federal projects was being returned to employers through kick-back arrangements. Under pressure both from labor and employers, Congress commenced oversight hearings on the recently adopted statute in January 1932; but, just as the hearings began, President Hoover issued Executive Order No. 5778, generally strengthening the enforcement and administration of the act. Since the Hoover reforms, a fine tuning of implementation of the statute, had been achieved through administrative action and, thus, could be reversed at will by a later President, Congress pressed forward with legislative action. But, when the legislation reached the President's desk in July 1932, Mr. Hoover vetoed the bill, his Labor Secretary, William Doak, observing that the measure "would be impracticable of administration" and "would stretch a new bureaucracy across the country." Congressional hearings on public contracting issues continued through the next several years. With support from the Roosevelt Administration, legislation authored by Senator Royal Copeland (D-NY) was called up in the Senate (April 26, 1934) and, after a brief statement by the Senator, passed. The House proceeded in a similar fashion, acting without debate. On June 13, 1934, President Franklin Roosevelt signed the measure. The Copeland "anti-kickback" Act provided a fine and/or imprisonment for anyone who induces any person engaged in federal or federally financed construction "to give up any part of the compensation to which he is entitled under his contract of employment." The act authorized the administering agencies to "make reasonable regulations" for its enforcement, but specifically required that "each contractor and subcontractor shall furnish weekly a sworn affidavit with respect to the wages paid each employee during the preceding week." By the spring of 1935, Senator David Walsh (D-MA) had drawn up general Davis-Bacon amendments, designed to address perceived administrative problems. The Davis-Bacon amendments of 1935 reduced the threshold for coverage from $5,000 to $2,000. They provided coverage for all federal contract construction of whatever character to which the United States and the District of Columbia might be a party: "construction, alteration, and/or repair, including painting and decorating, of public buildings or public works." Henceforth, bids for contracts covered by Davis-Bacon were to state "the minimum wages to be paid various classes of laborers and mechanics," thus establishing a requirement of predetermination of the wage rates. The Comptroller General was directed to prepare a list of contractors who had "disregarded their obligations to employees and subcontractors" with such violators of the Davis-Bacon/Copeland provisions to suffer potential debarment from further federal contracts for a period of up to three years. Other administrative provisions were also included. For a period of about 20 years following adoption of the 1935 Davis-Bacon Act amendments, the act appears to have attracted little attention. Then, in the mid-1950s, Congress began, increasingly, to add Davis-Bacon provisions to program statutes, triggering debate over both the substance and application of the act. Defense construction and the new space program brought the act into renewed prominence during the early 1960s and, since that time, it has remained more-or-less continuously a focus of congressional interest. In 1962, a Special Subcommittee of the House Committee on Education and Labor was assigned the task of general oversight of Davis-Bacon Act—by this point, three decades old—and the related contract labor standards statutes. Chaired by Representative James Roosevelt (D-CA), the Subcommittee conducted the most extensive review of the act since the mid-1930s. In addition to general operation of the statute, the Roosevelt Subcommittee focused specifically upon the following areas: (a) how Davis-Bacon wage rate determinations are made and the extent to which they are an accurate reflection of wage rates that actually prevail, locally, in the area of construction; (b) whether a system of review of Davis-Bacon wage rate determinations and related decisions of the Department of Labor might be needed; and (c) "any other constructive proposals" for the improvement of the act and of its administration.