Transparency is a beautiful thing.
It does not look like the Project Labor Agreement (PLA) controversy will fade away quietly. (For background, see “Games People PLA.”) Del. Robert G. Marshall, R-Manassas, has filed a bill to prohibit the use of state revenues for construction of Phase 2 of the Dulles Corridor Metrorail project unless the project meets three transparency standards.
The recently signed Memorandum of Agreement between the McDonnell administration, the Obama administration, the Washington Metropolitan Airports Authority (MWAA), Fairfax County and Loudoun County calls for a restructuring of the costs and financing of Phase 2 of the $2.8 billion Rail-to-Dulles project. The state will contribute an additional $150 million to the construction, contingent upon approval by the General Assembly. Marshall’s bill is the first indication that the legislature’s approval cannot be taken for granted.
House Bill No. 2 would prohibit the state from contributing any funds to Phase 2 if (1) the project is subject to a Project Labor Agreement, (2) the policies or bylaws of the MWAA governing public access to meetings and records are incompatible with Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act, or (3) phase 2 of the project and its finances will not be subject to audit by either the Virginia Department of Transportation or Auditor of Public Accounts.
MWAA’s board wants to use the PLA that Dulles Transit Partners voluntarily adopted for Phase 1 and as a model for phase 2 — but make it mandatory. Critics charge that such a requirement would effectively eliminate non-union company from competition, resulting in a higher bid. An agreement between the state and the MWAA clarified that any PLA had to be consistent with the state’s Right to Work law, which protects the right of workers not to join a union, but left it unclear whether the MWAA still could require the prime contractor to adhere to a PLA with other requirements, such as hiring all workers (union or non-union) through a union work hall and contributing to union retirement funds.
The financing for Phase 2, which will rely heavily upon toll revenue paid by commuters on the Dulles Toll Road, has been highly controversial in Fairfax and Loudoun counties. Without the state’s $150 million contribution, the deal brokered by U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood could well fall apart.
The McDonnell administration has made no public comment upon the bill. But Marshall wrote in an email distribution of his bill, “Del. Joe May [R-Leesburg] and the McDonnell administration do not appear initially supportive of my effort to secure more transparency and accountability for taxpayer funds as provided in HB 2.”
— JAB
