Aloha Oahu Republicans,    October 17, 2019

CALL TO ACTION

MAYOR CALDWELL
PHONE - (808) 768-4141
EMAIL - mayor@honolulu.com 

CONTACT MAYOR CALDWELL AND TELL HIM TO VETO BILL 37, OPPOSE RESTRICTIVE HIRING CONDITIONS ON COUNTY PROJECTS THAT WILL COST TAXPAYERS MORE!

Other ways to let Mayor Caldwell hear you...

 @mayorkirk

 @MayorKirkHNL

 mayorkirkhnl

 Honolulu County Mayor

As the quote from President Ronald Reagan says, "We must not look to government to solve our problems. Government is the problem." Now he may have referenced that at the national level, however, it sadly proves to be true at the local level as well, especially here in Hawaii.

With that in mind, who does Honolulu City Councilman MANAHAN, the author of Bill 37, represent? The unions or the Honolulu tax-payers? The same question should be addressed to the other six (6) that also supported Bill 37 (reluctantly or not) ANDERSON, FUKUNAGA, KOBAYASHI, MENOR, PINE, and WATERS, who do they represent the unions or their constituents?

Bill 37 amounts to a sweetheart deal for big union labor and will guarantee that the county will have to spend more on future infrastructure projects.

Remember these comments from the Grassroot Institute testimony on Bill 37:

"The Beacon Hill Institute, for example, found that PLAs increased construction costs per square foot of Ohio schools by 13%.[3] A National University System Institute for Policy Research study found similar results, 13-15%, for new school construction in California.[4]

West Virginia,[5] Massachusetts [6] and New Hampshire,[7,8] found that the removal of PLA requirements resulted in larger pools of bidders and lower final bids. In New Hampshire, a public project that removed its PLA requirements not only lowered its costs, but elicited lower bids from union contractors.[9]

In Hawaii, the state “encourages” PLAs for public projects worth at least $25 million,[10] a more rational threshold that nevertheless still increases the costs of government contracts across the board. Consider, for example, the cost overruns and delays on the Honolulu rail project or the delays that plagued the University of Hawaii at Hilo College of Pharmacy Building, both of which are PLA projects.

Though the rationale for this legislation is phrased in terms of promoting a skilled local workforce and achieving construction efficiency,[11] there is little evidence that it would have the desired effect. The experience with PLA requirements both in Hawaii and nationwide demonstrates that they are associated with rising costs and delays. Nothing in the experience of PLA projects in Hawaii suggests that they are superior in performance and efficiency than non-PLA projects.

On the contrary, instituting CWAs would guarantee that county projects would be subject to less competition among bidders and higher prices for taxpayers.

With other states abandoning CWAs and PLAs because of their association with uncompetitive bidding, cost overruns and delays, Bill 37 would be a step backward, a sign that Honolulu is moving in the wrong direction."

Help Mayor Caldwell make the right decision for the PEOPLE and for our KEIKI, contact him TODAY and tell him to put an end to this bill...TELL HIM TO VETO 37!