Oregon has set itself on a path that champions local labor force investment together with a strategic approach to public infrastructure projects. Governor Tina Kotek lent her pen to an executive order, EO 24-31, described as a significant step forward in the realm of state construction—a move aimed at enhancing timeliness, reducing costs, and betting on the skilled workforce inherent in Oregonian communities. Governor Kotek points to leveraging the impending slew of large-scale infrastructure projects as an avenue for bolstering the worker ecosystem and fortifying the trust people have in the state's capacity to manage massive undertakings with prowess and efficiency.
As reported by the Governor's Office, the executive order outlines the need for project labor agreements (PLAs) for state-funded builds where on-site labor amounts to at least 15% of the total construction costs. By installing this requirement, the governor said, "With the broad use of PLAs across state projects, Oregonians will know that public dollars are spent efficiently and benefit the communities in which they’re spent."
The finer print of EO 24-31 carves out exceptions for projects that are either short in duration or do not have the level of operational complexity which a PLA can usefully address. Additionally, ongoing developments will continue unhitched by the new mandate, alongside maintenance undertakings, emergency fixes, and the smaller scale adjustments made to existing facilities. By circumventing the potential delays and cost escalations that labor strife is known to induce, any PLA hatched under this new directive comes fortified against strikes or lockouts and will establish a framework to amicably settle labor disputes without derailing timelines.
Adding an equity lens to the construction scene, EO 24-31 mandates agencies to mind gender and racial disparities actively when contracting through PLAs. The executive order is shouldered by the 2023 State of Oregon Disparity Study which sets benchmarks for including firms certified by the Certification Office for Business Inclusion and Diversity (COBID). Holding to the governor's assertion, each PLA must maintain an open-door policy for non-union and local businesses, ensuring that the economic ripple of these projects is felt without bias or exclusion.
Intertwined with this strategic move is a promise of oversight. The Governor's Office declared its commitment to biannual reviews, intended to lay bare the data that will speak to the successes or failures Oregon is experiencing as it reaches for the goals set by EO 24-31. And so, Governor Kotek's signature, as much as it inscribes the directive into action, is also an overture—a call for a vigilant eye on efficacy and an invitation to hold the state accountable in continuous pursuit of improvement and rectification, should the need arise.
