In June, EmployNews reported that South Carolina had enacted a ban on use of project labor agreements for state and local government construction contracts. Last month, North Carolina Governor McCrory signed a similar law. Project labor agreements, or PLAs, require contractors and subcontractors to enter into agreements with labor unions before beginning work on construction contracts. In 2009, President Obama signed an Executive Order favoring the use of PLAs in federal construction projects.

In addition to the ban on use of PLAs in state and local contracts, the new law prohibits local governments from offering tax incentives to contractors that agree to be bound by the terms of a PLA. As with the new South Carolina law, the North Carolina statute allows contractors to voluntarily agree to the terms of a PLA.