MILWAUKEE — The Associated General Contractors (AGC) of America and the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) of America both filed lawsuits with the federal government, claiming the Biden Administration’s push to expand prevailing wage across more federal projects is illegitimate.

AGC filed its lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas; ABC filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. Both contractor groups responded to the Department of Labor’s final update to the Davis-Bacon Act, which sets the standard on construction worker wages on public projects.

Both groups have said the new requirements would artificially raise construction costs and are now saying the rule change is unlawful. The new rule will change the DOL’s prevailing wage definition to include that a single rate is paid to 30% of local construction workers on a given project.

AGC filed its complaint to DOL Secretary Julie Su. ABC filed against Su and Jessica Looman, the DOL administrator of the division of wage and hour.

According to a complaint, AGC raised concerns about the federal government expanding Davis-Bacon to cover truck drivers, manufacturing workers and material suppliers.

ABC argued the rule reverts to outdated policies and increased regulatory burdens on small contractors, a separate complaint showed.

“As an industry that largely pays above existing Davis-Bacon rates, our concerns are with the administration’s unconstitutional exercise of legislative power and not with the wage rate themselves,” Stephen E. Sandherr, the chief executive officer of the AGC of America, said in a statement.

ABC argues that the rule reverts to outdated policies, expands prevailing wage requirements, and increases regulatory burdens on small construction contractors. Association officials claimed the rule could lead to adopting union wage scales more often, negatively impacting fair and open competition.

ABC and AGC officials in Wisconsin didn’t have further comment outside of support for their respective lawsuits.