Bills with PLAs/CWAs pass the Legislature – Bills that provide tax breaks to certain industries – but which require the use of Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) or Community Workforce Agreements (CWAs) in order to secure the tax breaks – were recently passed by the Legislature and will be signed into law by the Governor.
AGC vigorously opposes using the tax code to promote PLAs/CWAs, and thanks the hundreds of members who responded to the AGC “action alert” on these bills. Amendments were offered to remove the PLA/CWA every step of the way, in committees and on the House and Senate Floors, but ultimately these efforts failed, largely along party lines. AGC thanks Sen. Mark Schoesler (R-9) and Rep. Ed Orcutt (R-20) for offering these amendments.
“Open and fair competition is a core value of AGC,” testified AGC’s chief lobbyist before the Senate Ways and Means Committee. “We appreciate that tax breaks should require accountability. But with regard to the procurement of construction services, the first question regarding accountability should be, was it procured in a fair and open manner? With these bills, the answer to that would be no.”
The bills are:
HB 1846. Expands and extends the existing sales and use tax exemption for data centers in rural counties. Requires data centers receiving an exemption to be developed under a community workforce agreement or project labor agreement, for new construction work performed on computer data center site.
HB 1988. Establishes a retail sales and use tax deferral program for certain investment projects in clean technology manufacturing, clean alternative fuels production, and renewable energy storage. Reduces the amount of state sales and use tax that must be repaid by eligible projects if the recipient complies with specified labor standards, including PLAs/CWAs.
SB 5714. Defers state and local sales and uses taxes on a qualified solar canopy, including labor and services rendered in the planning, installation, and construction of the project, that is located in a qualifying commercial center. Reduces the amount of state sales and use tax to be repaid if the recipient complies with specified labor standards. Including PLAs/CWAs.
For more information, contact AGC chief lobbyist Jerry VanderWood.