As amended on August 19, 2024, this bill would require, by January 1, 2027, the Judicial Council and the California State University (CSU) to identify and select a minimum of three major construction projects and subject those projects to project labor agreements (PLAs). 

A study that just came out last week by the RAND® Corporation finally uses rigorous empirical evidence to prove that attaching PLAs to largescale, publicly-funded construction projects increases costs and reduces the construction of critical infrastructure. 

The report, which was peer reviewed by the UC Berkeley Terner Center for Housing Innovation, found that the effect of attaching a PLA requirement to Proposition HHH, which required the use of virtually 100 percent union construction labor resulted in an increase in project costs of twenty-one percent (21%). The logical conclusion of this data point is without the PLA, Prop. HHH would have resulted in more affordable housing units being constructed. In addition, the report found that due to the PLA, construction took twenty-seven percent (27%) longer to complete. 

SB 984 will result in LESS construction of school and court facilities. Contact your assemblyperson TODAY and urge them to vote NO on SB 984.