Bush administration reinstating fair wage rates for Katrina workers News
Bush administration reinstating fair wage rates for Katrina workers

[JURIST] The Bush administration announced Wednesday that on November 8 it plans to reinstate rules that ensure workers on federal Hurricane Katrina [JURIST news archive] projects receive fair wages that are close to the amount of local wages on similar projects. In the days following Hurricane Katrina, the President signed an executive order suspending provisions [JURIST report] of the 1931 Davis-Bacon Act [Dept. of Labor backgrounder; text], which protects federal contract workers from being underpaid, to reduce rebuilding costs and allow minority-owned companies to bid on projects. Representative Peter King (R-NY) [official website], a critic of the move, contended that its continued application would “antagonize organized labor” and result in lower pay for federal workers. AP has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Georgia became first US state to ban lynching

On December 20, 1893, Georgia became the first state in the Union to pass a law against lynching, making the act punishable by four years in prison. The statute was not particularly effective—read the text of the 1899 pamphlet Lynch Law in Georgia by anti-lynching activist Ida Wells-Barnett.