BOSTON – Gov. Charlie Baker’s budget office cautioned lawmakers on Tuesday that if they override the governor’s veto of a project labor agreement for the $400 million Holyoke Soldiers’ Home construction project they could be jeopardizing $260 million in federal reimbursement.
The warning from the Baker administration came Tuesday as state representatives were told by Speaker Ron Mariano’s office to be prepared to consider an override of the governor’s veto, which he issued in May, when they meet on Wednesday.
The project labor agreement (PLA), which would require contractors to use union labor on the project, passed both branches unanimously as part of a broader bill to finance construction of the Soldiers’ Home.
“Overriding the Governor’s veto will significantly increase project costs for the much-needed reconstruction of the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home and deliver a blow to supplier diversity by effectively blocking small minority, women, and veteran-owned Massachusetts-based businesses from bidding on the contract,” said Patrick Marvin, a spokesman for the Executive Office of Administration and Finance.
Marvin said the use of a project labor agreement would “threaten the Commonwealth’s ability to keep the project within $400 million and jeopardize our ability to receive the 65% reimbursement from the Federal Government.”
Rather than finance the Holyoke project, the Veterans’ Administration could choose to fund multiple other projects around the country at the same cost, the administration said.
Some lawmakers, like Rep. Danielle Gregoire, have contradicted Baker’s assessment of the impact a PLA could have on the project. Gregoire defended its use, saying PLAs have been used successfully in the past on public construction projects and she believes it will actually increase the diversity of contractors on the project.
If the House overrides the governor’s veto on Wednesday, the matter will move to the Senate where a vote has not yet been scheduled. Senate Ways and Means Chairman Michael Rodrigues this spring recommended a financing bill that did not include a PLA, only to see his colleagues insert the clause in the final bill that passed the chamber unanimously.
The Senate meets next on Thursday.