Agenda - Council Work Session - 07/14/2026

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THE IMPACT OF RESPONSIBLE BIDDER ORDINANCES ON UNION CONTRACTORS IN ILLINOIS AND INDIANA Another way to interpret the data is that the passage of RBOs has lifted the union market share so that it is generally in line with the rest of the region (Figure 4). Before they enacted the policies, the 11 jurisdictions had a union market share below 90 percent. After passage, union contractors were awarded nearly 98 percent of the total project value. In the rest of the regional construction market, the union market share was also just over 98 percent. The swing in market share due to the passage of responsible bidder ordinances has real -world effects on union contractors (Figure 5). In the 11 jurisdictions that enacted RBOs, a total of $56.2 million in value was awarded on post-RBO projects. Applying the 9.3 percent net change since RBOs have passed results in an estimated $5.2 million in value awarded to union contractors due to the passage of just these 11 RBOs. This also means that nonunion firms likely lost out on $5.2 million worth of construction projects because they did not participate in registered apprenticeship programs, did not have proof of insurance, or were otherwise not responsible. RBOs increase union market share. FIGURE 5: ESTIMATED CHANGE IN VALUE AWARDED TO UNION CONTRACTORS IN JUST THE 11 JURISDICTIONS THAT HAVE PASSED RBOS SINCE 2019, BASED ON POST-RBO DATA FROM JAN. 2018 THROUGH JUNE 2021 Column Estimating the Dollar Impact of the 11 Jurisdictions Passing RBOs Math A Total Value of Projects Awarded Since RBOs Passed Value $56,246,096.58 B RBO Impact on Union Market Share +9.3% C Estimated Value of Projects to Union Contractors Due to RBOs B + A +$5,230,886.98 Source: Authors' analysis of project bid data from the Indiana, Illinois, Iowa Foundation for Fair Contracting (Hi FFC, 2021). A Case Study. Municipal Projects Covered by RBOs in the Quad Cities In addition to the before -and -after analysis of 11 jurisdictions that passed RBOs in Illinois and Indiana, the dataset includes information on municipal projects awarded by the four Quad Cities: Rock Island and Moline in Illinois and Davenport and Bettendorf in Iowa. The Quad Cities region offers a unique opportunity for a local case study on the impacts of RBOs since these four cities are geographically close and within the same integrated economic area. The City of Rock Island, IL has had an RBO in effect since November 21, 2016 and the City of Moline, IL recently implemented an RBO on January 19, 2021. By contrast, Iowa has a state pre-emption law prohibiting local governments from passing RBOs or similar policies. Figure 6 presents the data. The full dataset for the Quad Cities case study —which also uses 42 months of project bid data from January 2018 through June 2021—contains 248 projects on city -owned projects, including 51 projects that were covered by RBOs and 197 projects that were not covered by RBOs. All projects involve the operating engineers craft. In the Quad Cities, municipal projects with operating engineers that are covered by RBOs have a union win rate of 86.3 percent and union contractors represent 67.1 percent of the total market. City -funded projects that are not covered by RBOs have a union win rate of just 46.7 percent and union contractors have a market share of only 54.0 percent. The difference is a 13.1 percent increase in union market share on projects covered by RBOs in this local metropolitan area. The projects covered by RBOs are all on the Illinois side of the border. Illinois has a state prevailing wage law, supports workers' collective bargaining rights, and 97 percent of all construction apprentices are enrolled in joint labor-management programs that are cooperatively administered by labor unions and their signatory contractors (Manzo & Bruno, 2020). Iowa, on the other hand, has never had a state 6