Santa Cruz Supervisors approve a PLA pilot program
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (KION-TV) -- The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors passed the Project Labor Agreement (PLA) for Monterey and Santa Cruz counties Tuesday with a three-to-one vote.
The approval of this project will allow the counties a pilot program to create a Building and Construction Trades Council applying to ten capital projects valued at over $1 million, according to the Board of Supervisors.
The supervisors say that their hopes for the pilot program are "to explore the efficacy of project labor
agreements in enhancing local workforce development, ensuring fair labor practices, increasing local contractor participation, and use of skilled labor to save time, increase the safety of construction projects as well of the quality of completed work."
To execute this, the supervisors say that staff will collect performance data, project completion outcomes, cost implications and labor force utilization that will help to inform a potential expansion of PLA policies.
They expect the project's key provisions to include local workforce hiring preferences, apprenticeship requirements and support for small businesses with the goal of evaluating the benefits and challenges of PLAs in fostering equitable construction practices while aligning with county policy objectives.
The board made three modifications to language in the agenda item:
- Lowering the requirement from 20% to 10% for apprentice labor hours.
- Expanding language to include more small businesses in item D4.
- Making sure that the follow-up November 2025 data is current with hiring and up-to-date numbers.
