The House approved a manager's amendment to the American Clean Energy Security Act of 2009 (HR 2454) on June 26 that would give the secretaries of labor and energy the discretion to mandate project labor agreements, and includes broad Davis-Bacon Act language.
 

Democratic leaders lost 44 Democrats in the vote (219-212 vote) on the American Clean Energy and Security Act, but offset some of those defections with eight “yes” votes from Republicans, a number that in the end proved crucial to passage.
 

Section 424A of the bill would allow the Labor Department and the Department of Energy to designate certain construction projects as “Green Construction Careers Demonstration Projects,” within 180 days after enactment.
 

The purpose of designating the demonstration projects is “to promote middle class careers and quality employment practices in the green construction sector among targeted workers and to advance efficiency and performance on construction projects related to this Act,” according to the legislation.
 

To participate in the demonstration projects, the bill said, contractors and subcontractors “shall submit adequate assurances with its bid or proposal that it participates in a qualified apprenticeship or other training program, with a written arrangement with a qualified pre-apprenticeship program, for each craft or trade classification of worker that it intends to employ to perform work on the project.”
 

The bill defines “qualified apprenticeship or other training program” as an employee welfare benefit plan as defined under Employee Retirement Income Security Act Section 3(1). An employee welfare benefit plan is “established or maintained by an employer or by an employee organization, or by both, to the extent that such plan, fund, or program was established or is maintained for the purpose of providing for its participants or their beneficiaries,” according ERISA.

The climate change bill also included a provision that would broadly require the payment of prevailing wages under the Davis-Bacon Act, but includes an exemption from the requirements for residential retrofitting projects and certain nonresidential projects.
 

The bill represents the first time that the House has approved legislation to limit growth of the nation's greenhouse gas emissions.