WASHINGTON, D.C., April 17—Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) today applauded Gov. Scott Walker (R-Wis.) for signing
“As Americans consider proposals to rebuild our nation’s deteriorating infrastructure, it is imperative that lawmakers pass measures that support fairness and efficiency in the government’s procurement of construction services to ensure that taxpayers receive the best possible return on investment,” said Brubeck. “Unfortunately, this cannot be accomplished when government agencies cater to special interests by mandating PLAs, which steer contracts to unionized firms and create a labor monopoly for unionized workers, who make up just 14 percent of the construction industry nationally.”
Gov. Walker signed the bill at the construction
“Wisconsin’s merit shop construction community
When mandated by a government agency on a taxpayer-funded project, PLAs drive up the cost of construction projects between 12 percent and 18 percent, according to a series of academic studies. PLAs typically ensure construction contracts are awarded only to companies that agree to recognize unions as the representatives of their employees on that job; use the union hiring hall to obtain workers at the expense of existing qualified employees; obtain apprentices through union apprenticeship programs; follow inefficient union work rules; pay into union benefit and multi-employer pension plans workers will never benefit from unless they meet vesting requirements; and force workers to pay union dues and/or join a union as a condition of employment. In the past week, ABC has argued against PLA mandates in editorials in The Wall Street Journal and The Hill.
In 2009, President Obama signed Executive Order 13502, which strongly encourages, on a case-by-case basis, government-mandated PLAs on federal construction projects and permits state and local governments procuring federally assisted construction contracts to mandate PLAs. In January 2017, ABC and a coalition of construction and industry stakeholders asked President Trump to issue an executive order similar to President Bush’s Executive Orders 13202 and 13208, which prohibited government-mandated PLAs on $147.1 billion worth of federal construction contracts and hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of federally assisted projects.
Wisconsin is the 21st state to adopt legislation or executive action ensuring fair and open competition on state and local projects since 2011. Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad signed legislation on April 13 that codifies his 2011 executive order and guarantees government neutrality toward PLAs on state, state-assisted and local public construction projects (SF 438). In 2015, West Virginia became the 22nd state to ban government-mandated PLAs when Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin signed the bipartisan Establishing Fair and Open Competition in Governmental Construction Act (SB 409). Gov. Tomblin was the first Democratic governor to sign a bill prohibiting PLA mandates.
On March 28, a U.S. House of Representatives committee favorably reported the ABC-supported Fair and Open Competition Act (H.R. 1552) out of committee. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Dennis Ross (R-Fla.), would extend neutrality toward the use of PLAs
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