Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin recently signed off on a House bill that will prohibit state and local government agencies from "forcing bidders to sign on to project labor agreements (PLAs) for public work projects," according to an article by Construction Dive. This now makes Kentucky the 25th state in the U.S. to enact a law that will ban government-mandated PLAs, with caveats.
This new law does not outright ban PLAs: Contractors can still enter into voluntary PLAs. This regulation will be applied to taxpayer-funded projects and favors open-shop rather than union-affiliated construction projects, according to Associated Builders and Contractors.
Those in favor of the law claim it will lower the costs of construction while those opposed claim, according to Construction Dive, "mandatory PLAs are not in use in the state and that 100% of the voluntary ones are with merit shop contractors."
—Christie Citranglo, editorial associate