Presented at the 2013 Annual Meeting of the ABA Forum on the Construction Industry, "Surfing the Next Wave: The Future of Construction Law and Practice," St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort, Dana Point, California.

This paper reviews the past history, present status, and likely future of domestic and local preference legislation in the United States. For the purposes of this paper, "domestic preference" refers to a favored category of contractors that are citizens of, or construction material that is manufactured in, the United States of America. "Local preference" refers to a favored category of contractors operating from, or construction material manufactured within, a particular state, political subdivision, or geographic region.