119

EXTRACT FROM RIVERS AND HARBORS ACT

An act authorizing the construction, repair, and preservation of certain public works on rivers and harbors, and for other purposes. (Act of Aug. 30, 1935, 49 Stat. 1039)

SEC. 2. [Authorization of Parker and Grand Coulee dams-All contracts and agreements heretofore made ratified-Authorization of Head Gate Rock dam, Arizona.]-That for the purpose of controlling floods, improving navigation, regulating the flow of the streams of the United States, providing for storage and for the delivery of the stored waters thereof, for the reclamation of public lands and Indian reservations, and other beneficial uses, and for the generation of electric energy as a means of financially aiding and assisting such undertakings, the projects known as "Parker Dam" on the Colorado River and "Grand Coulee Dam" on the Columbia River, are hereby authorized and adopted, and all contracts and agreements which have been executed in connection therewith are hereby validated and ratified, and the President, acting through such agents as he may designate, is hereby authorized to construct, operate, and maintain dams, structures, canals, and incidental works necessary to such projects, and in connection therewith to make and enter into any and all necessary contracts including contracts amendatory of or supplemental to those hereby validated and ratified. The construction by the Secretary of the Interior of a dam in and across the Colorado River at or near Head Gate Rock, Arizona, and structures, canals, and incidental works necessary in connection therewith is hereby authorized, and none of the waters, conserved, used, or appropriated under the works hereby authorized shall be charged against the waters allocated to the upper basin by the Colorado River compact, nor shall any priority be established against such upper basin by reason of such conservation, use, or appropriation; nor shall said dam, structures, canals, and works or any of them, be used as the basis of making any such charge, or establishing any such priority or right, and all contracts between the United States and the users of said water from or by means of said instrumentalities shall provide against the making of any such charge or claim or the establishment of any priority right or claim to any part or share of the water of the Colorado River allocated to the Upper Basin by the Colorado River compact, and all use of said instrumentalities shall be in compliance with the conditions and provisions of said Colorado River compact and the Boulder Canyon Project Act.

120

RATE OF WAGES FOR LABORERS AND MECHANICS ON PUBLIC

BUILDINGS

An act to amend the act approved March 3, 1931, relating to the rate of wages for laborers and mechanics employed by contractors and subcontractors on public buildings. (Act of Aug. 30, 1935, 49 Stat. 1011)

SEC. 1. [Locally prevailing wages to be paid weekly at site of work; scale of wages to be posted; payments may be withheld from contractors. That the Act entitled "An Act relating to the rate of wages for laborers and mechanics employed on public buildings of the United States and the District of Columbia by contractors or subcontractors, and for other purposes", approved March 3, 1931, is amended to read as follows:

"That the advertised specifications for every contract in excess of $2,000, to which the United States or the District of Columbia is a party, for construction, alteration, and/or repair, including painting and decorating, of public buildings or public works of the United States or the District of Columbia within the geographical limits of the States of the Union or the District of Columbia, and which requires or involves the employment of mechanics and/or laborers shall contain a provision stating the minimum wages to be paid various classes of laborers and mechanics which shall be based upon the wages that will be determined by the Secretary of Labor to be prevailing for the corresponding classes of laborers and mechanics employed on projects of a character similar to the contract work in the city, town, village, or other civil subdivision of the State in which the work is to be performed, or in the District of Columbia if the work is to be performed there; and every contract based upon these specifications shall contain a stipulation that the contractor or his subcontractor shall pay all mechanics and laborers employed directly upon the site of the work, unconditionally and not less often than once a week, and without subsequent deduction or rebate on any account, the full amounts accrued at time of payment, computed at wage rates not less than those stated in the advertised specifications, regardless of any contractual relationship which may be alleged to exist between the contractor or subcontractor and such laborers and mechanics, and that the scale of wages to be paid shall be posted by the contractor in a prominent and easily accessible place at the site of the work; and the further stipulation that there may be withheld from the contractor so much of accrued payments as may be considered necessary by the contracting officer to pay to laborers and mechanics employed by the contractor or any subcontractor on the work the difference between the rates of wages required by the contract to be paid laborers and mechanics on the work and the rates of wages received by such laborers and mechanics and not refunded to the contractor, subcontractors, or their agents.

"SEC. 2. [If contractor violates wage provision, Government may terminate contract; contractor and surety liable for excess costs.]Every contract within the scope of this Act shall contain the further

121

provision that in the event it is found by the contracting officer that any laborer or mechanic employed by the contractor or any subcontractor directly on the site of the work covered by the contract has been or is being paid a rate of wages less than the rate of wages required by the contract to be paid as aforesaid, the Government may, by written notice to the contractor, terminate his right to proceed with the work or such part of the work as to which there has been a failure to pay said required wages and to prosecute the work to completion by contract or otherwise, and the contractor and his sureties shall be liable to the Government for any excess costs occasioned the Government thereby.

"SEC. 3. (a) [Comptroller General authorized to furnish list of violators; no contract to be awarded for three years to contractors on list. The Comptroller General of the United States is hereby authorized and directed to pay directly to laborers and mechanics from any accrued payments withheld under the terms of the contract any wages found to be due laborers and mechanics pursuant to this Act; and the Comptroller General of the United States is further authorized and is directed to distribute a list to all departments of the Government giving the names of persons or firms whom he has found to have disregarded their obligations to employees and subcontractors. No contract shall be awarded to the persons or firms appearing on this list or to any firm, corporation, partnership, or association in which such persons or firms have an interest until three years have elapsed from the date of publication of the list containing the names of such persons or firms.

"(b) [If withheld payment insufficient, laborers and mechanics have right of action against contractor.]-If the accrued payments withheld under the terms of the contract, as aforesaid, are insufficient to reimburse all the laborers and mechanics with respect to whom there has been a failure to pay the wages required pursuant to this Act, such laborers and mechanics shall have the right of action and/or of intervention against the contractor and his sureties conferred by law upon persons furnishing labor or materials, and in such proceedings it shall be no defense that such laborers and mechanics accepted or agreed to accept less than the required rate of wages or voluntarily made refunds.

"SEC. 4. This Act shall not be construed to supersede or impair any authority otherwise granted by Federal law to provide for the establishment of specific wage rates.

"SEC. 5. This Act shall take effect thirty days after its passage, but shall not affect any contract then existing or any contract that may thereafter be entered into pursuant to invitations for bids that are outstanding at the time of the passage of this Act.

"SEC. 6. In the event of a national emergency the President is authorized to suspend the provisions of this Act.

"SEC. 7. The funds appropriated and made available by the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935 (Public Resolution Numbered 11, Seventy-fourth Congress), are hereby made available for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1936, to the Department of Labor for expenses of the administration of this Act."

Dates of due and delinquent taxes in the Western States

First Monday in No-2 Dec. 1, 1⁄2 June 1......1⁄2 if not paid Jan. 1, 1⁄2 on July 1. vember. do..

Third Monday in Sep- Third Monday in Sep- Nov. 30 or, if 30th is a Sunday or

123

NOTE.-Pages 123 to 134 are acts inadvertently omitted from Federal Reclamation Laws Annotated, 1931.

EIGHT-HOUR LAW

An act relating to the limitation of the hours of daily service of laborers and mechanics employed upon the public works of the United States and District of Columbia. (Act Aug. 1, 1892, 27 Stat. 340)

[Limiting hours of labor.]-That the service and employment of all laborers and mechanics who are now or may hereafter be employed by the Government of the United States, by the District of Columbia, or by any contractor or subcontractor upon any of the public works of the United States or of the said District of Columbia, is hereby limited and restricted to eight hours in any one calendar day, and it shall be unlawful for any officer of the United States Government or of the District of Columbia or any such contractor or subcontractor whose duty it shall be to employ, direct, or control the services of such laborers or mechanics to require or permit any such laborer or mechanic to work more than eight hours in any calendar day except in case of extraordinary emergency.

SEC. 2. [Penalty for violation.]-That any officer or agent of the Government of the United States or of the District of Columbia, or any contractor or subcontractor whose duty it shall be to employ, direct, or control any laborer or mechanic employed upon any of the public works of the United States or of the District of Columbia who shall intentionally violate any provision of this act, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and for each and every such offense shall upon conviction be punished by a fine not to exceed one thousand dollars or by imprisonment for not more than six months, or by both such fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the court having jurisdiction thereof.

SEC. 3. [Present contracts not affected.]-The provisions of this act shall not be so construed as to in any manner apply to or affect contractors or subconstractors, or to limit the hours of daily service of laborers or mechanics engaged upon the public works of the United States or of the District of Columbia for which contracts have been entered into prior to the passage of this act.

NOTE

(See act of June 19, 1912, and act of Mar. 3, 1913.)

The Eight-hour law is codified in U. S. C., title 40, ch. 5, secs. 321-326.