The ACCA, NAHB and Associated General Contractors are fighting a proposal to require contractors that work on private buildings follow federal prevailing wage laws.

The ACCA, NAHB and Associated General Contractors of America are fighting a proposal to require contractors that work on private buildings follow federal prevailing wage laws.

The clause, part of the Building Star Energy Efficiency Act currently in the U.S. House, would require privately funded projects qualifying for energy-efficiency rebates under the bill pay wages and benefits no less than what is customary for work in the region.

Eight groups, including the Air Conditioning Contractors of America and the National Association of Home Builders, sent a letter June 7 to members of Congress decrying the clause, calling it an “unprecedented” expansion of a law designed for federal projects into the private market.

"Extending Davis-Bacon in this manner will seriously undermine the compelling policy objectives that Building Star rebates were designed to address in the first place -- namely, creating jobs, reducing energy use, lowering greenhouse gas emissions, and curbing our national dependence on foreign fuel supplies," the groups wrote.

The Davis-Bacon Act is the 1931 federal law establishing that local wages be paid on public works projects in most circumstances.

Paul Stalknecht, president and chief executive of the ACCA, said that while his group supports many of the goals of the legislation, it cannot support the bill in current form.

"Unfortunately, the legislation that was introduced turned what could have been a good start into a non-starter,” he said. “ACCA will strongly oppose any attempt to expand cumbersome, archaic Davis-Bacon rules into the private marketplace."