Delaware Kills Statewide PLA Mandate Over Cost and Jobs Concerns

Lawmakers rejected the union-backed mandate amid concerns about higher costs and fewer local jobs.

Virginia's Leaders Should Take Note

Delaware's latest attempt to mandate project labor agreements is dead - and it was the state's own Democratic leadership that let it die.

Senate Bill 272 would have required a PLA with the Delaware Building and Construction Trades Council on every state-funded school construction or renovation project of $5 million or more. Even a merit shop that won a bid outright would have been forced to hire a set share of union labor. The bill cleared the Senate in May - sponsored by a legislator who also helps lead the Building and Construction Trades Council - and advanced out of a House committee on June 29. Then it never reached the House floor before the session ended.

‍ ‍The reason came straight from House Majority Leader Kerri Evelyn Harris. Her caucus couldn't get clear answers on what the mandate would cost or whether it would keep jobs in Delaware. One school district warned the requirement would add tens of millions of dollars to its construction plans - costs that flow directly to local property taxpayers. On jobs, Harris put it plainly: the majority needed someone to prove which side actually keeps work local, and no one could.

That is the entire case against PLA mandates, delivered not by opponents but by Democratic leadership itself. When a labor-friendly legislature controlled by a single party cannot justify a PLA requirement on cost or local employment, the policy isn't being blocked by politics. It's failing on the merits.

The response has been telling. Rather than answer the cost and jobs questions, some union leaders have turned on the very lawmakers who raised them - publishing angry letters, demanding donations back, and threatening primary challenges.

Virginia localities face the same test. When a county considers a PLA, it owes taxpayers answers to the same questions Delaware lawmakers asked: What will the mandate cost, and will it actually keep the work in local hands? Delaware’s legislature would not move without those answers. Virginia’s elected leaders should not sign away taxpayer dollars without them either.