Union carpenters deliver quality craftsmanship on job sites governed by project labor agreements.
State Policy Since 2023. A Findings Standard. A Template Local Governments Can Borrow.
Project labor agreements in Maryland moved from occasional practice to state policy in November 2023, when Gov. Wes Moore signed an executive order directing state agencies to consider project labor agreements on every large-scale public work contract. The order was reissued with detailed procurement guidelines in May 2024. Maryland now has one of the clearest frameworks in the region for when and how a PLA belongs on a public project. Here is how it works.
The Executive Order
Executive Order 01.01.2024.18 applies to every executive branch unit under the governor’s control. It authorizes those units to consider requiring a PLA, or to use one as an evaluation factor, on any large-scale public work contract, defined as a project where the state’s total commitment, including direct funding, bonds and tax increment financing, is $20 million or more. A single project can qualify through any combination of those funding sources, which is why the threshold reaches beyond direct state construction to bond-financed and tax-increment-financed work. Agencies may also consider PLAs on smaller projects. The order does not mandate a PLA on any project, and it states that it does not promote the selection of any union, trade council or labor organization.
The Findings Agencies Must Make
Before requiring a PLA, a state unit must determine that the agreement will advance the state’s interests in:
- Cost-effectiveness and efficiency
- Quality, health and safety
- Timeliness
- Employing a skilled labor force
- Labor stability
The order also requires agencies to weigh the impact on the state’s socioeconomic policies, including the ability of women and minority-owned businesses to compete. When a PLA is required, the agency must consider pairing it with a community benefit agreement that delivers local workforce training and community hiring. The result is a two-part test: the PLA must serve the project, and it must serve the state’s broader goals for who gets the work.
Apprenticeship and Community Hiring
The governor announced the order at the Maryland Transit Administration’s Eastern Bus Division in Baltimore alongside the secretaries of transportation, labor and general services, and framed it as a workforce development measure. Beyond PLAs, it directs agencies to consider requiring contractors that participate in registered apprenticeship programs and can demonstrate a reliable labor staffing plan. The combination is deliberate: a PLA sets the terms, apprenticeship supplies the workers and community hiring provisions decide where they come from.
PLAs Already Built Maryland’s Biggest Projects
The order formalized what Maryland’s largest projects already knew. The Purple Line light rail was built under a PLA with its original contractor, and when the project changed hands in 2022, Maryland’s congressional delegation urged the new contractor to reach a new PLA, noting that the state’s transportation secretary had described the original as a standard agreement any replacement contractor could adopt. Stadiums, hospitals and transit facilities across the state have been built under similar terms by the Baltimore-Washington building trades, including members of the Eastern Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters, 42,000 strong across the region. The lesson of the Purple Line is that a PLA is portable. Its terms survived a change of contractor because they were written for the project, not for the firm building it.
What Local Governments Can Do
The executive order binds state agencies, but Maryland counties, cities and school systems set their own procurement rules and may adopt PLAs on their own projects. The state order gives them a tested template: a dollar threshold, a findings requirement, an open-bidding guarantee and an apprenticeship commitment. Because the order applies at the $20 million state-funding level, a county project that draws that much state money may already fall within it, which makes early coordination between state and local procurement staff worthwhile. The research supports the approach. The ICERES research review compiles decades of peer-reviewed studies, and this site’s answer to do PLAs increase costs walks through the largest of them. For a county executive or school board weighing a PLA, Maryland’s own order is the place to start.
READ MORE: Local Hiring on PLAs Keeps Jobs and Dollars in the Community
Frequently Asked Questions
Are project labor agreements legal in Maryland?
Yes. State agencies operate under Executive Order 01.01.2024.18, and local governments may adopt PLAs under their own procurement authority.
What is the Maryland PLA threshold?
$20 million or more in total state commitment, including direct funding, bonds and tax increment financing.
Does the executive order require PLAs?
No. It authorizes agencies to consider requiring a PLA or using one as an evaluation factor after making the required findings.
What findings must a Maryland agency make?
That the PLA will advance cost-effectiveness, efficiency, quality, health, safety, timeliness, a skilled labor force and labor stability.
Does the order favor a particular union?
No. The order states that it does not promote the selection of any union, trade council or labor organization.
Can non-union contractors bid on Maryland PLA projects?
Yes. PLAs bind every contractor to the same terms for the project but do not restrict who may bid.
What is a community benefit agreement?
A contract between community associations and a labor organization providing local workforce training, hiring and other benefits. The order asks agencies to consider pairing one with a PLA.
Has Maryland used PLAs before the order?
Yes. The Purple Line and other major projects were built under PLAs.
Do PLAs raise costs in Maryland?
No. Peer-reviewed research on more than 1,000 public projects finds no statistically significant cost increase.
