Agenda - Council Work Session - 07/14/2026

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THE IMPACT OF RESPONSIBLE BIDDER ORDINANCES ON UNION CONTRACTORS IN ILLINOIS AND INDIANA and living standards of construction workers without significantly raising costs for taxpayers" (Waddoups & May, 201.4). In April 2013, Kansas Governor Sam Brownback signed a bill into law that prohibited cities and counties from requiring contractors to pay locally prevailing wages "or offer an employee benefit other than those required by state or federal law," which included apprenticeship training contributions (IHB 2069, 2013). This state pre-emption law invalidated local construction policies in Sedgwick County and Wyandotte County. A 2016 report investigated more than 1,300 bids on school construction and non-residential projects in those counties between 2005 and 2016. While the author concluded that there was no statistical difference in the total cost of non-residential construction projects due to the repeal of the local construction policies, the data did reveal that school construction costs were $67 cheaper per square foot during the years when the policies were in place (Kelsay, 2016). The most recent research on RBOs reviewed more than 1,200 public projects in Illinois and Indiana (Manzo, .2020). The analysis found that RBOs encourage 8 percent more bid competition on taxpayer - funded projects and increase the market share of union contractors by between 9 percent and 12 percent —suggesting that nonunion contractors are less likely to contribute to apprenticeship training programs and less likely to comply with state, local, and federal laws. RBOs are also associated with more work for contractors who pay family -supporting wages, which helps attract and retain qualified workers. Because RBOs promote apprenticeship programs and produce skilled tradespeople, they have no statistical impact on total construction costs. Notably, when focusing on the nonunion segment of the construction industry, RBO-covered projects awarded to nonunion contractors were no more costly than nonunion projects that were not covered by RBOs (Manzo, 2020). In addition to keeping construction costs stable, RBOs promote better labor market outcomes. A 2018 case study of county -level RBOs in Indiana found that all the countywide RBOs in Indiana required both contractors and subcontractors bidding on public projects to participate in U.S. Department of Labor - approved apprenticeship training programs. As a result, worker turnover in the heavy and civil engineering construction sector —which includes the construction of roads, bridges, bike lanes, utility lines, and public parks —was 2 percent lower in the counties with RBOs. Construction workers also earned 8 percent more in the counties with RBOs. Because they incentivize apprenticeship training, RBOs are associated with stable employment and middle-class careers for skilled construction workers (Manzo & Manzo, 2018). RBOs ensure that reputable contractors with proven track records complete jobs efficiently. Contractors with workplace law violations are more than five times as likely to have a low performance rating as contractors with a clean record of workplace law compliance (Adller, 2003). By weeding out cut-rate contractors, RBOs ensure that public bodies get the quality they pay for and encourage successful projects that are on time and on budget. In fact, case studies from across the country have found that RBOs promote higher quality and more reliable services, increased competition among responsible contractors, and reduced back -end reconstruction and litigation costs (Sonn & Gebreselassie, 2010). Additionally, evidence suggests that 98 percent of construction owners using qualifications -based procurement models —like those in RBOs—report being satisfied with project quality (Kashiwagi et at, 2005) 2