Oklahoma Becomes 13th State to Ban PLA Mandates; State Leaders Continue to Stand Up for Free Enterprise
On April 25, Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin signed H.B. 3043, which bans wasteful and discriminatory project labor agreement (PLA) mandates on taxpayer-funded construction in the state. Oklahoma is the ninth state to ban these Big Labor handouts since January 2011, and the 13th state to do so overall.
While Oklahoma does not have a history of problems with PLA mandates, this statute will ensure taxpayers continue to enjoy the value and accountability resulting from public construction that is awarded based on contractors’ ability to provide the best construction at the best price.
This law also ensures neither the state government nor local government entities will be in a position to pick winners and losers for public construction projects based on a contractor’s affiliation with a labor union.
Oklahoma’s leaders continue to be champions of open competition on public construction projects. If Gov. Fallin’s name sounds familiar to readers of this blog, it is because she spearheaded a proposal in former U.S. House Minority Whip Eric Cantor’s (R-Va.) YouCut program when she was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. The YouCut website, launched in May 2010, featured a list of five proposals aimed at reducing federal spending. The public was encouraged to vote for the proposal it would most like to see eliminated by Congress. The YouCut program highlighted some of the ridiculous ways the federal government spends taxpayer money.
Gov. Fallin is not the only champion of free enterprise from the Sooner State. Oklahoma is also home to Congressman John Sullivan, who is the lead sponsor on the U.S. House version of The Government Neutrality in Contracting Act (H.R. 735). This bill would prohibit government-mandated PLAs on federal and federally assisted construction, guaranteeing Americans the best construction at the best price.
Here at TheTruthAboutPLAs.com, we are pleased that responsible state leaders continue to stand up for free enterprise despite strong opposition from organized labor and their allies.