Iowa Law Restricts Government-Mandated Project Labor Agreements, Protects Hawkeye State Construction Industry
On April 13, Gov. Terry Branstad (R-Iowa) signed SF 438 into law, which promotes fair and open competition on contracts for construction services funded by Iowa taxpayers. The measure will ensure that the government cannot mandate controversial project labor agreements (PLAs) on state, state-assisted and local construction projects, guaranteeing that the 85 percent of Iowa’s […]
Victory in Idaho: Appeals Court Upholds Idaho Law Protecting Fair and Open Competition on Public Construction Projects
Big news out of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit: Idaho’s law restricting state agencies or political subdivisions from requiring contractors to enter into project labor agreements (PLAs) as a condition of performing public work stands. There are no legal challenges against any of the enacted 23 state anti-PLA mandate laws or executive […]
Project Labor Agreement on Iowa State Penitentiary Fails to Fulfill Local Hiring Promises
The Des Moines Register reported the $132 million Iowa State Penitentiary project in Fort Madison, Iowa, has created jobs for a large number of out-of-state union workers, despite promises by advocates of project labor agreements (PLAs) that these union-favoring pacts create jobs primarily for Iowa’s taxpayers and construction workforce (“Many prison project jobs went to non-Iowans,” 10/12/13): “When […]
Congressman Steve King: Fighting for Free Enterprise in Iowa
Congressman Steve King (R-Iowa) has a strong record of fighting to repeal onerous regulations and tax increases on Iowa’s job creators and taxpayers. As a former contractor, Rep. King understands the importance of open completion and free-enterprise. In the 112th Congress, Rep. King’s voting record to prohibit government-mandated project labor agreements (PLAs) on federal construction […]
Idaho Legislature Shows Commitment to Taxpayer Value; Rejects Federal District Court’s Decision
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 […]
Virginia Construction Industry Supports Legislation Ensuring Fair and Open Competition On Public Construction Contracts
Yesterday, ABC Virginia issued a press release supporting the Fair and Open Competition in Government Contracting Act (HB 33) pre-filed this Monday in Richmond (see the full release below). HB 33 prohibits Virginia and recipients of state funding or assistance from requiring or prohibiting contractors to enter into union agreements, such as a project labor agreement (PLA), as […]
Federal Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Against Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad’s Open Competition Executive Order
Despite the attempts of lawmakers in California to override the will of local voters and their elected officials, not all of the news on wasteful and discriminatory project labor agreement (PLA) mandates from the states last week was bad. On Sept. 7, a federal District Court judge in Iowa dismissed a lawsuit filed by the […]
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 […]
Open Competition Legislation on the Move!
There have been some big developments for proponents of fair and open competition around the country. It is clear that taxpayers from sea to shining sea are sick of their hard earned tax dollars funding special interest handouts in the form of wasteful and discriminatory project labor agreements (PLAs). Last week, lawmakers in Idaho cleared […]
Gov. Branstad Determined to Enforce Open Competition Executive Order on Cedar Rapids Convention Center Project
Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad’s recent executive order to prohibit the use of wasteful and discriminatory project labor agreements on construction projects funded by taxpayer dollars is facing its first real test. The Cedar Rapids City Council voted 5-4 on Tuesday, Feb. 8 to move forward with a PLA requirement for the construction of the city’s […]