State Legislation | The Truth About PLAs

San Diego Union-Tribune: Vote for Prop. A – Don’t Let Bullies Win

May 16, 2012 – 4:28 pm

The editorial staff of the San Diego Union-Tribune Saturday announced their support for Proposition A, which would ban government-mandated project labor agreements (PLAs) on city funded construction projects in San Diego. This support comes despite union claims that if Proposition A is adopted, the city risks losing future state construction funding due to a new [...]

By Andy Conlin | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Ballot Initiative, California, Chula Vista, Editorial, local legislation, Open Competition, PLAs, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, Proposition A, San Diego, San Diego County, San Diego Union Tribune, State Legislation | Comments (0)

California $16 Billion in the Red

May 13, 2012 – 9:50 am

While many states have found ways to balance their budgets, California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) reported yesterday that California has a $16 billion mid-budget cycle deficit. Nearly all 50 states, including California, are required to balance their budgets, so this news will likely trigger some combination of spending cuts and significant tax increases. Here are [...]

By Andy Conlin | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 20 in 2010, ABC California, Ballot Initiative, California, Chula Vista, Fresno, Gov. Brown, local legislation, Oceanside, PLAs, PLAs Cut Competition, Sacramento, San Diego, San Diego County, State Legislation | Comments (0)

Oklahoma Becomes 13th State to Ban PLA Mandates; State Leaders Continue to Stand Up for Free Enterprise

May 7, 2012 – 1:53 pm

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 [...]

By Andy Conlin | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Executive Order 13502, Federal Contracting, Oklahoma, PLA Ban, PLAs Cut Competition, President Obama, Rep. Mary Fallin, State Legislation, Sullivan, YouCut | Comments (0)

California Lawmakers Pay Back Their Big Labor Allies, Take Steps to Deprive Charter Cities of Local Control

May 1, 2012 – 12:40 pm

Elected officials in California have again taken their focus away from solving the troubled state’s problems to give a handout to their Big Labor enablers. From 2000 to 2011, the merit shop construction community helped local leaders and voters across the state understand that government-mandated project labor agreements (PLAs) deprive taxpayers of the opportunity to [...]

By Andy Conlin | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 20 in 2010, ABC California, Ballot Initiative, California, Chula Vista, Fresno, Greenmail, local legislation, Open Competition, Orange County, Palmdale Water District, PLAs, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, PLAs Cut Competition, PLAs Increase Costs, Project Labor Agreements, Proposition A, San Diego, San Diego County, School Construction, State Legislation, The Politics of PLAs | Comments (0)

Virginia Passes Law Curtailing Government-Mandated Project Labor Agreement Schemes

April 24, 2012 – 9:54 am

In a win for taxpayers and Virginia’s merit shop construction industry, on April 9, Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) signed the Fair and Open Competition in Government Contracting Act (HB 33) into law. H.B. 33 prohibits the Commonwealth of Virginia and recipients of state assistance from mandating project labor agreements (PLAs) and enacting PLA preferences discriminating [...]

By Ben Brubeck | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged ABC Virginia, Barbara Comstock, Dennis Martire, Dulles Transit Partners, Fair and Open Competition in Government Contracting Act (HB 33), Fairfax County, Gov. McDonnell, local hire, Loudoun County, Metro Washington Airport Authority, Michael Curto, MWAA, PLAs, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, PLAs Cut Competition, PLAs Discriminate, PLAs Increase Costs, Project Labor Agreements, Ray LaHood, Silver Line, State Legislation, The Politics of PLAs, Tim Hugo, Union-only PLAs harm local workers, Virginia, Virginia Chamber of Commerce | Comments (1)

Idaho Legislature Shows Commitment to Taxpayer Value; Rejects Federal District Court’s Decision

April 19, 2012 – 12:05 pm

Last week, Idaho Gov. Butch Otter (R) signed S.B. 1337, which is the legislature’s second attempt to ban wasteful and discriminatory project labor agreement (PLA) mandates on taxpayer-funded construction. The prior piece of legislation (S.B. 1006 of 2011) Gov. Otter signed on March 3, 2011 to ban these taxpayer-funded handouts was invalidated in December 2011 [...]

By Andy Conlin | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Executive Order 13202, Gov. Terry Branstad, Idaho, Iowa, Lawsuit, Michigan, PLAs, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, PLAs Cut Competition, Project Labor Agreements, State Executive Order, State Legislation | Comments (0)

Santa Fe City Council Adopts the State’s First PLA Mandate

April 2, 2012 – 12:35 pm

There was a distributing development in Santa Fe, N.M., on Feb. 29, when the city council quietly adopted a policy requiring community workforce agreements (CWAs) on all projects costing more than $500,000. A community workforce agreement is no different than a wasteful and discriminatory project labor agreement (PLA); it just goes by another name. Washington, [...]

By Andy Conlin | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged ABC Newsline, local legislation, New Mexico, Open Competition, PLAs, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, PLAs Cut Competition, PLAs Increase Costs, Project Labor Agreements, State Legislation, Union-only PLAs harm local workers | Comments (0)

Airport Authority Continues Big Labor Favors on Dulles Metro Silver Line

February 23, 2012 – 5:52 pm

Last week, the Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority (MWAA) gave Big Labor Bosses a generous Valentine’s Day gift. On Wednesday, MWAA passed a resolution adopting a new policy needlessly favoring contractors that submit proposals promising to use a union project labor agreement (PLA) to construct Phase 2 of the $2.8 billion Silver Line metro extension project [...]

By Ben Brubeck | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged ABC Virginia, Metro Washington Airport Authority, MWAA, PLAs, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, PLAs Cut Competition, PLAs Increase Costs, Project Labor Agreements, Silver Line, State Legislation, Union-only PLAs harm local workers, Virginia | Comments (0)

Minnesota Vikings to Require PLA on Upcoming Stadium Project

February 16, 2012 – 2:58 pm

On Feb. 6, the Minnesota Vikings signed an agreement with the Minnesota Building and Construction Trade Division (BCTD), AFL-CIO to require contractors to sign a project labor agreement (PLA) on the upcoming construction of their new stadium. This will ensure that nearly all of the construction jobs on the project will go to union workers—leaving [...]

By Andy Conlin | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Citi Field, Detroit, local legislation, Minnesota, Op-Ed, Open Competition, PLAs, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, PLAs Cut Competition, PLAs Discriminate, PLAs Increase Costs, Project Labor Agreements, Safety Problem on PLA Project, Stadium, State Legislation, Union-only PLAs harm local workers | Comments (0)

Bill to End Union Abuse of Environmental Laws Fails in California Assembly Committee

January 11, 2012 – 5:13 pm

On January 9, 2012, the California State Assembly’s Natural Resources Committee considered Assembly Bill 598, a bill sponsored by ABC of California and introduced by Assemblywoman Shannon Grove (R-Bakersfield) that would give authority to file lawsuits under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) solely to the California Attorney General. The hearing was an opportunity for [...]

By Andy Conlin | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged ABC California, California, Greenmail, Kevin Dayton, local legislation, PLAs, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, PLAs Cut Competition, PLAs Discriminate, PLAs Increase Costs, Project Labor Agreements, State Legislation, Union-only PLAs harm local workers | Comments (0)