Modular Building Institute Defeats Davis-Bacon Act Expansion

On August 8, 2023, the US Department of Labor (DOL) published its final rule revising and expanding the Davis-Bacon Act. As proposed, the Act would have been expanded to include “secondary sites” such as modular factories on federally-funded projects. However, after an extensive year-and-a-half long lobbying effort by the Modular Building Institute (MBI) and its members, the DOL published the final rule today WITHOUT the proposed expansion to the modular building industry!

MBI members expressed numerous concerns over the rule including its legality, its impact on small business and its inflationary impact on housing. Additionally, a big concern for the industry were the 26 states with so-called “Little Davis Bacon” Acts (state-level laws that mirror the Davis-Bacon Acts requirements) that would have likely adopted the federal government’s reinterpretation, thus eliminating all state-funded projects from consideration as well.

MBI members submitted dozens of written comments opposing the expansion during the proposed rule phase. Members also participated in calls with the Office on Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) to express their concerns. Additionally, MBI Executive Director Tom Hardiman, Jim Gabriel of member company MODLOGIQ and Alan Rasmussen of member company Modern Building Systems went to Washington DC to personally share their testimony of the negative impacts of this rule with key Congressional staffers.

“We had a fantastic team in place,” said MBI’s Board President, Chuck Walen of Satellite Shelters. “We had one of the nation’s top labor law firms in our corner, allies on Capitol Hill, supporters in the affordable housing sector, and most importantly, the support of our members.”

It is important to note that MBI was specifically mentioned eight times in the final rule, while members including Blazer Industries, Phoenix Modular Elevator, Southeast Modular, Modular Solutions, Ltd., Cloud Apartments, Quartz Properties, and many others were also specially cited.

“It’s great to see that the Department of Labor heard the voice of MBI and our membership," said Jon Hannah-Spacagna, MBI's government affairs director. "This will allow the partnerships our industry has established with government agencies to support affordable housing and government projects to continue to grow.”

“In my twenty years with MBI, this is by far the biggest win for our industry,” said MBI executive director Tom Hardiman. “MBI and our members were able to delay this rule’s implementation for over a year and ultimately prevailed in getting the anti-industry language removed.”