House Votes to Repeal the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces (“Blacklisting”) Rule

Back in October 2016, we wrote about the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces rule (commonly known as the contractor “Blacklisting” rule) and how its implementation had been temporarily halted by a federal court in Texas.  The Blacklisting rule would have allowed agencies to essentially debar contractors on a contract-by-contract basis if a contractor had a labor law violation on its record.  Many in the contracting community lobbied hard against this rule, arguing (among other things) that the Blacklisting rule would put contractors at risk of inconsistent disqualification from procurements without the same due process rights that go along with agency suspension and debarment programs.  Well, it now looks like Congress has decided to step in and flex a rarely used law to get rid of the Blacklisting rule for good.

Today, by a vote of 236-187, the House of Representatives passed a disapproval resolution pursuant to the Congressional Review Act to repeal the Blacklisting rule.  The disapproval resolution will now go to the Senate, where it is expected to pass, and then to the President’s desk, where it is expected to be signed.  Once the disapproval resolution is signed by the President, the Blacklisting rule will be repealed and the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council will be prohibited from issuing the same or substantially similar rule in the future.

The Congressional Review Act (enacted in 1996 as part of the GOP’s “Contract With America”) allows Congress sixty legislative/session days to review and disapprove of a new regulation.  Only successfully used once before, it now appears that Congress may use the Congressional Review Act to repeal several regulations that were finalized in the last few months of the Obama administration.