Van Tran coauthors bill that punishes non-union contractors

This post is going to be a painful read for fans of Republican Assemblyman Van Tran. It turns out that he, along with his northern California ally, Assemblymember Rick Keene, is coauthoring a very bad bill that has been drafted by State Senator Lou Correa – a Democrat from Anaheim.

The bill in question is SB 645. Here is what O.C. Register columnist Steven Greenhut had to say about it in a post on the Orange Punch blog, “The Register’s Brian Joseph reported today on a bill, introduced by Sen. Lou Correa, D-Anaheim, that would allow the Orange County Sanitation District to save money by using the design-build method of construction, whereby one firm can do all the design and construction work rather than breaking the process down into two separate contracts. That’s a fine idea, but the proposed legislation includes a horrendous measure that would, in essence, lock out nonunion contractors from this work.”

Register watchdog Brian Joseph “asked Douglas Chappell, business manager of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local Union 441 in Orange, about the criticisms of the bill and the side deal. He characterized it as a safety issue, saying the sanitation district wants well-trained workers. When I pointed out that there are more union apprenticeship programs than non-union ones, he responded, “That’s their problem” and said non-union shops should open more of their own.”

Joseph added, “That’s not as easy as it sounds. The Associated Builders and Contractors say until recently the state has hindered many of their attempts to start programs. Nutting, the government affairs director, said before a 1992 court ruling it was difficult if not impossible for non-union shops to start programs. Now, she said, non-union shops have to show a need for new programs, which is hard in a market already saturated with union programs.”

So why is Tran involving himself in such an awful and unfair bill? Here’s what a Register editorial published on June 4 had to say about it, “ Supporters of this language argue that, given current political realities (i.e., Democratic/union dominance of the Legislature), such a requirement is necessary to get the bill passed. But the question, which will be addressed in the Assembly on June 12, is whether the cost savings of design-build are worth the downside of reducing competition and implementing a decidedly unfair and discriminatory law.”

So far the question has not been answered in a positive fashion. You can read the amended language at this link.

To complicate matters, Tran and his allies are receiving support for this bill from OC GOP Chairman Scott Baugh, in his guise as a lawyer/lobbyist for a Democrat run company called “Platinum Advisors,” according to my sources.

Tran and company have been attacking O.C. Supervisor Janet Nguyen since last year for being young and inexperienced. But I can tell you this about Supervisor Nguyen – she would NEVER support SB 645. That said, don’t expect Tran’s buddy, Total Buzz blogger Martin Wisckol, to ask him why he is coauthoring this bill. Wisckol is too busy running nonsense polls designed to put Nguyen down.

It is up to us to put pressure on Tran! Be sure to email Tran and let him know how disappointed you are that he is coauthoring SB 645.

Last word – Tran’s predecessor, Ken Maddox, was ousted from politics when it was revealed that he supported the Orange County PLA (project labor agreement) which banned non-union contractors from bidding on Orange County public works projects. Will Tran meet with the same fate now that he is carrying water for the unions? Time will tell.