Federal law shields contractors from liability for worker falls on infrastructure projects

What it does

This bill shields property owners and contractors on federally-funded infrastructure projects from absolute liability for worker injuries caused by elevation or gravity-related hazards (falls, dropped objects). Instead of absolute liability—where a defendant pays damages regardless of the worker's own negligence—the bill mandates comparative negligence, meaning workers can only recover if the property owner/contractor was at least partially at fault. The bill preempts state laws that impose absolute liability and gives federal courts exclusive jurisdiction over these claims.

Why we flagged it

The bill's operative mechanism is a federal preemption that eliminates absolute liability for contractors and property owners on federally-funded projects, replacing it with a comparative negligence standard that reduces their exposure to worker injury claims. This is a direct liability cap benefiting the construction and development industry.

What the text implies

• Federal preemption of state tort law is unusually broad: the bill strips states of authority to set liability standards for any project receiving any federal funding, including indirect funding and tax incentives, potentially affecting thousands of projects nationwide.
• Exclusive federal court jurisdiction removes state courts from applying state law, concentrating power in federal courts and potentially creating a two-tier system where federally-funded projects have weaker worker protections than non-federally-funded projects in the same state.
• The definition of 'covered person' includes workers themselves, meaning a worker's own negligence, impairment, or failure to follow safety instructions bars recovery entirely under comparative negligence—a significant departure from absolute liability which compensated workers regardless of their own conduct.
• The bill's effective date (January 1, 2026) applies retroactively to claims 'arising from' projects where federal assistance was accepted after that date, potentially affecting ongoing projects and claims filed years later.
• Carve-out for workers' compensation laws may be illusory: workers' comp typically provides limited benefits and bars workers from suing employers; this bill may leave workers with only workers' comp (capped benefits) and no tort remedy against contractors or property owners.

Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.

Who it affects

Workers on federally-funded infrastructure projects lose a significant legal protection. Absolute liability ensured full compensation for injuries caused by elevation/gravity hazards regardless of worker conduct; comparative negligence requires workers to prove contractor fault, shifting injury risk from contractors to workers. Workers who are injured despite following all safety instructions, or who are impaired or make mistakes, recover nothing or less.

Who stands to gain

• construction contractors
• property developers
• infrastructure project owners
• construction companies receiving federal contracts

Named in the bill

property owners, contractors, subcontractors, federal courts, state courts, state governments, local governments, infrastructure projects, transportation projects

Where it stands

5 cosponsors: 5 Republicans.

• May 21, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
• May 21, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on the Judiciary · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary”

Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.

Money around this bill

20 lobbying clients named this bill on 30 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $29,081,826 in lobbying spend. A filing names 12 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.

More lobbying clients named this bill than 97% of bills with at least one filing.

Nicholas Langworthy, the sponsor, reported $1,046,611 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.

• Chamber of Commerce of the U.S.A. — $17,960,000 on 1 filing
• National Multifamily Housing Council Inc — $2,330,000 on 1 filing
• American Association for Justice — $1,840,000 on 1 filing
• Associated Builders and Contractors Inc — $1,400,000 on 2 filings
• National Association of Home Builders — $1,240,000 on 1 filing

Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.