Arkansas Adopts Bipartisan PLA Reform Legislation
Gov. Asa Hutchison is the 18th governor since January 2011 to sign legislation or an executive order banning wasteful and discriminatory project labor agreement (PLA) mandates on taxpayer-funded construction projects. Arkansas is one of 21 states in total that limit the ability of public entities to require contractors to enter into a PLA as a […]
Arkansas Senate Passes Bill to Strengthen PLA Reform Executive Order
The Arkansas Senate today unanimously passed S.B. 426, which codifies and strengthens a 2005 executive order issued by then-Gov. Mike Huckabee that bans project labor agreement (PLA) mandates on taxpayer-funded construction. In contrast to the partisanship in Washington, D.C., senators from both parties stood together to reject these handouts to Big Labor bosses. The bill approved by the […]
USACE Project Labor Agreement Survey For Little Rock Air Force Base Runway Due May 6
On Thursday, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) requested comments from the construction community addressing a potential government-mandated project labor agreement (PLA) for a large-scale federal design-bid-build contract to repair/replace the primary runway at Little Rock Air Force Base in Arkansas. To review and learn how to respond to the PLA survey, click here. […]
WSJ Editorial: Government-mandated PLAs “Deserve to be Outlawed”
The title says it all and we completely agree! The editorial board at The Wall Street Journal has again come out against wasteful and discriminatory government-mandated PLAs. Here are the highlights from the editorial (“Project Labor Revolt: The states ban union political bid-rigging. Obama demurs,” 7/19/11): One benefit of the squeeze on state and local […]
Executive Order 13502 “Egregious” and “Simply Unfair”
In an outstanding piece titled, “Forced Union Payments on Tax Paid Projects,” Mike Thompson of the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy calls President Obama’s Executive Order 13502, which encourages federal agencies and departments to utilize wasteful and discriminatory project labor agreements (PLAs) on federal projects over $25 million, “egregious” and “simply unfair.” Here are […]
PLA Laws in the States: Some Say NO to Project Labor Agreements, Others CAVE to Union Pressure
While the federal government is tripping over itself to give handouts to Big Labor by encouraging government-mandated project labor agreements (PLAs) on federal construction projects exceeding $25 million, several states have enacted legislation or issued executive orders rejecting wasteful and anti-competitive PLAs. Since 1995, five states now prohibit government-mandated PLAs on public construction projects. Leaders in […]