UPDATE: Senate Bill 825 was pulled from the committee meeting agenda. It was not considered today.

Today (June 19, 2018) the California State Assembly Public Safety Committee will consider Senate Bill 825, a bill to give unions monopoly control of pre-apprenticeship training for the construction trades in state prisons. It also requires construction companies to sign a Project Labor Agreement for certain prison construction projects.

The summary of SB 825 from the committee’s legislative analyst says the bill “requires the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to develop guidelines for inmate preapprenticeship training programs.” But the bill includes this language mandating Project Labor Agreements:

Notwithstanding any other law, the department may award contracts for construction projects over five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) using the design-build contracting process or construction manager at-risk contracts if, on or before September 30, 2019, the department has entered into a community workforce agreement with the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California that applies to all construction contracts over five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000)…The community workforce agreement shall be for a term of 10 years and may be renewed or modified for additional five-year terms upon approval of the secretary. If the secretary approves the renewal or modification of the community workforce agreement for an additional term, the secretary may award contracts in accordance with this section during an additional term…The community workforce agreement shall comply with Section 2500 of the Public Contract Code.

Here’s the letter of opposition that the Coalition for Fair Employment in Construction sent to the committee, to be ignored, of course:

Coalition for Fair Employment in Construction - Opposition to Senate Bill 825 (2018)