A Marion County circuit court judge’s March 24 ruling temporarily stopping Gov. Tina Kotek’s executive order on state construction projects from proceeding any further was a big win for NFIB and its coalition partners, the Associated Builders and Contractors, Associated General Contractors, and the Northwest Utility Contractors Association.

On December 18, 2024, Gov. Kotek issued Executive Order No. 24-31 directing, “All state agencies awarding any contract … shall require every contractor and/or subcontractor engaged in the construction of the project to agree, for that project, to negotiate or become a party to a project labor agreement with one or more appropriate labor organizations.” On February 21, NFIB and its coalition partners filed their lawsuit.

Anthony Smith, state director for NFIB in Oregon, praised Judge Thomas M. Hart’s injunction Monday (March 24) against Gov. Kotek’s executive order. “NFIB’s small business members welcome today’s decision. They’re looking forward to continuing to bid on public projects – and get them built. There are limits to executive power and we’re grateful to the court for this acknowledgment.”

The Oregonian, Oregon Public Broadcasting, Willamette Week, Oregon Catalyst, and the Oregon Business Report were a few of many media reporting on the judge’s decision.

According to a February 21 jointly issued news release announcing the legal challenge, “studies have shown that union-only PLAs needlessly increase construction costs by 13 to 20 percent, while not increasing wages or worker benefits. The Willamette Week newspaper uncovered an analysis by the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) that found that requiring PLAs on the agency’s projects would increase taxpayer costs 10-20%.

According to the 2024 NFIB Tax Survey, small-business-owning members in the construction industry accounted for the third most of the total membership (15.8%), just behind agricultural businesses (16.6%) and services (23.4%).