THE MERIT TIMES
WELCOME TO THE MERIT TIMES!
We are excited to introduce The Merit Times, ABC of California’s quarterly newsletter dedicated to keeping our members informed, engaged, and empowered. As the leading voice for merit shop contractors across the state, ABC of California is committed to advocating for fair and open competition, advancing workforce development, and providing the resources and support needed to help our members succeed in the construction industry.
With each issue, The Merit Times will bring you the latest updates on legislation and regulations impacting the industry, insights into workforce training and apprenticeship programs, best practices for job site safety, and success stories from ABC members. Our goal is to create a platform that not only informs but also strengthens our community by sharing knowledge and celebrating the achievements of those who drive California’s construction industry forward.
We invite you to engage with us by contributing articles, sharing your expertise, and staying connected with ABC of California. Together, we can continue to build a thriving, competitive industry that supports growth, innovation, and opportunity for all. Thank you for being a part of our mission—we look forward to bringing you valuable content in the issues ahead!
About ABC of California
MISSION: ABC of California exists to Protect, Promote, and Advance Free Enterprise, Fair and Open Competition and Workforce Development for all ABC Members in California.
Interested in Contributing?
We’re looking for industry insights, best practices, and updates for the next issue! If you’re interested in submitting an article, email info@abcofca.org and we’ll be in touch!
Support ABC of California
ABC of California welcomes and appreciates your support! Our advocacy efforts rely on the generosity of members like you. Help us continue to champion fair and open competition in the construction industry. Learn more and donate: www.abcofca.org/Policy-Impacts/PACDonation
ABC OF CALIFORNIA GOES TO SACRAMENTO!
On March 19, 2025, Associated Builders and Contractors of California (ABC of CA) brought members from all four regional chapters to the State Capitol for our annual Legislative Action Day. This impactful day of advocacy gave our members the opportunity to meet with key state legislators and champion policies that support the merit shop construction industry.
We kicked off the day with Assembly Member James Gallagher, the Assembly Minority Leader. Following Assembly Gallager, ABC of CA members sat through two legislative panels, one with the California Problem Solvers Caucus members and the final panel with members of the California New Democrats. Both groups shared their legislative and fiscal priorities, offering valuable perspectives on policy matters that impact our industry.
In addition to these insightful discussions, we were honored to have representatives from ABC National Resources join us. They provided key updates on critical
issues in Washington, D.C., and discussed how federal policies impact California’s construction industry. Their presence reinforced the importance of staying engaged at both the state and national levels to protect and promote merit shop values.
ADVOCATING FOR A STRONGER WORKFORCE
In the afternoon, ABC of CA members engaged in direct conversations with individual State Assembly Members and State Senators, advocating under our 2025 theme: “Remove Barriers to Employment.” Our discussions focused on educating lawmakers about the negative impacts of Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) on the merit shop community. To bring real-world perspectives to these conversations, our chapters included apprentices in their advocacy teams. These apprentices shared powerful, firsthand stories of how ABC member companies have transformed their lives through career opportunities, training, and mentorship.
Our advocacy efforts centered on three key legislative priorities for 2025:
1. Pushing back on the inclusion of PLAs in statewide policies; and
2. Supporting good workforce development policies; and
3. Encouraging positive legislation regarding apprenticeship programs.
JOIN
US NEXT YEAR!
ABC of California’s 2025 Legislative Action Day was an impactful event! We are grateful to all our members who participated and made their voices heard. If you are passionate about advocating for the construction industry and workforce development, we invite you to join us next year. Contact your Chapter President to learn more about how you can get involved!
ABC OF CALIFORNIA CONGRATULATES 2025 NATIONAL CRAFT CHAMPIONSHIPS WINNERS
ABC of California is excited to congratulate the outstanding winners from our chapters who shined at the 2025 National Craft Championships! These skilled professionals have demonstrated exceptional talent and dedication, and we’re proud to see them represent ABC of Southern California and ABC of San Diego at this prestigious event.
ELECTRICAL: COMMERCIAL-INDUSTRIAL
• Gold: Tristan Bell, Bergelectric, ABC Southern California
• Silver: Kyle Vantienen, Bergelectric, ABC Southern California
• Bronze: Anthony Bertussi, Laser Electric Inc., ABC San Diego
PLUMBING
• Gold: Seth James Streifel, JPI Development, ABC Southern California
ABC of California is proud to support our chapter members and celebrate their achievements, which continue to inspire and set the bar for the next generation of craft professionals. Congratulations to all the winners!
REBUILDING SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: STRENGTH, SPEED, SAFETY AND STRUCTURE.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
The Pacific Palisades and Eaton Wildfires already rank among the costliest natural disasters in U.S. history, with estimations putting the total negative economic impact at $50 billion+ and over 16,000 structures destroyed. Recovery from wildfire is a multifaceted process, requiring the disposal of toxic debris and innovative construction/ permitting guidelines. In the face of rising inflation, the relaxation of regulations and ordinances ensures that communities can be built back faster, stronger, and within budget.
KEY ISSUES:
• Rebuilding Homes, Businesses, and Public Services: With an estimated 16,000 destroyed, those who wish to rebuild and move back into their community not only have to secure new housing but will have to wait on the goods and services that are traditional to keep a community running to restart. While there is a strong emotional value placed on rebuilding homes and businesses, access to public services such as electricity, gas, water, and sewers are all impacted by wildfire.
• Ensuring that Community Spirit Stay Alive: Natural disasters wreak havoc on a community, losing one’s homes and belongings places an untold emotional strain on the residents. The faster that homes, businesses, schools, and daycares and more can be erected, how soon a sense of normalcy can be given back, begins the healing process for a community.
• Rising Costs and Insurance Troubles: The average house price of those destroyed in the two wildfires are 3.1 million for Pacific Palisades and 1.7 million for Altadena. With rising costs due to inflation, and the non-renewal of certain insurance policies, some residents fear that they may not be able to afford the reconstruction of their homes or businesses.
• Experts Waiting in the Wings: Union workers only make up approximately 14% of the available construction workforce. With about a million various construction-based employees based in California, perhaps 850,000 qualified, experienced, skilled, and trained workers could be left out when they are needed most.
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CONCLUSION:
Rebuilding communities that have been impacted by the Southern California wildfires, namely the Pacific Palisades and Eaton fires, is a response best served as an all-hands-on deck situation. The physical reconstruction of homes, businesses, schools, and public services is only a small slice of the work that needs to be done to restore those affected communities. As a community, as a state, creating a sense of solidarity for those whose lives were upended. Enabling the full swath of qualified professionals to be able to offer their services as needed would speed up the restoration of these communities.
INTRODUCTION:
Wildfire season is no longer just localized to the hottest months of the year, nor to the more rural communities that traditionally were most affected by wildfires but rather are now a natural disaster synonymous with the State of California as a whole. As wildfires continue to grow in size, strength, and reach; our ability as a community to repel and rebuild after these disasters comes to the forefront.
Current state regulations hamper our rebuilding progress and stunts new development in areas that are less prone to wildfires. Communities are many things; the people, their livelihoods, and the foundational businesses and landmarks which the community congregates around. Our rebuilding efforts, as a state, should match that need, a full-bodied response to make those communities whole once again.
Excessive regulations, in the face of the devastation that wildfires leave behind, hamper the healing efforts of a community. With the ever-increasing costs that come with disposal, restoration, and constructing new buildings after a natural disaster, community members of all sizes, public
and private, deserve the right to pick which construction company fits their needs the best.
1. The Scale of Rebuilding Efforts Grow with Each Year.
Since 2000, 18 of the 20 most destructive wildfires have occurred, with more and more structures being destroyed or irreparably damaged.1 In just the Pacific Palisades and Eaton fire this year, 16,000 structures have been affected, ranging from homes, businesses, to public services such as school and government buildings.2 As more and more Californians move into high-risk fire hazard zones, the likelihood of wildfires impacting communities rises, as well as the need for rebuilding efforts to extend themselves into the wildland-urban interface.
Rebuilding efforts do not stop just at the need for renewed housing. Schools, businesses, and more are all tied into the local community, and their disruptions not only hamper the progress of the students and employees involved but revoke the sense of normalcy and routine from a community already heavily impacted by natural disaster. The Pacific Palisades and Eaton fire are estimated to have already pulled nearly 600,000 students from their regularly attended school, with more delays and disruptions expected even as the fires become contained and rebuilding efforts started.3 Schools are large-scale construction projects, oftentimes very expensive, and built to last. To compare the level of rebuilding that is needed after a massive wildfire, Paradise, California which was affected by the notorious Camp Fire in 2018, is still amid their reconstruction six years later.4 While a larger, more rural fire, the comparison in structures destroyed is clear, as the Camp Fire destroyed an estimated 19,000 structures, showcasing just how long construction can take.
Residential homes and utilities make up close to 70% of the buildings destroyed by the fires. With the consistent housing issues that plague the state of California, getting housing up, and people back into their communities become an even more pressing issue.
2. Natural Disasters Can Fracture Communities Irreparably.
Communities are more than just the area in which someone resides, they are the unspoken bonds of neighborhoods, a sense of belonging, and the shared experience for many of California’s oldest enclaves. When disaster strikes, communities are uprooted, cast adrift, and reconstruction offers communities a chance to come back together.
Not all communities are affected equally. Even in some of the most expensive parts of the state, there are still strong, historical communities of families who have lived in those areas for generations. California has a duty to protect these historical communities, oftentimes lower income than the surrounding area, by eschewing any barriers to rebuilding their family homes, which at the core comes down to pricing. Pacific Palisades, with a high median home value, is also home to thousands of individuals and families whose income is at or below the average wage of California. Rebuilding their homes, in their original locations, can easily price out those families.
Los Angeles is a focal point not just of the local communities, or the State of California, but a global hub that has spawned countless memories for dreamers all over the world. Rebuilding Southern California, especially in time for the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup and 2028 Summer Olympics, is the light at the end of the tunnel, a chance for the entire region
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1 Most Destructive Wildfires in California History. ABC Los Angeles, 2025. https://abc7.com/ post/biggest-most-destructive-fires-californiahistory/15787046/
2 The LA County fires devastated homes in the wildland urban interface. Here’s what that is. CalMatters, 2025. https://calmatters.org/ environment/wildfires/2025/01/la-county-fireswildland-urban-interface/
3 More than half a million students were out of school because of LA fire this week. NPR, 2025. https://www.npr.org/2025/01/10/nx-s1-5254509/ fires-la-school-students#:~:text=More%20than%20 half%20a%20million,of%20LA%20fires%20this%20 week&text=More%20than%20600%2C000%20 students%20in,closures%20on%20Tuesday%20 and%20Wednesday
4 A California town wiped off the map by wildfire is still recovering 5 years on. NPR, 2025. https://www. npr.org/2023/11/08/1209471739/a-california-townwiped-off-the-map-by-wildfire-is-still-recovering-fiveyears-o
5 L.A. fires are tearing through some of its wealthiest neighborhoods. How costly could they become? San Francsico Chronicle, 2025. https://www. sfchronicle.com/california-wildfires/article/la-firehome-cost-20023098.php
to come back together and be proud of the state that they call home.
3. Inflationary Prices on Materials, Labor, and Insurance.
To address housing needs, LA embarked on a housing effort under a $1.2 billion bond through Proposition HHH that included a PLA requirement. A RAND study found this led to a significant decrease in available housing units compared to what could have been achieved without the PLA requirement, increasing unit construction costs by 21%.6 Projects with PLA’s also take longer, with an average of 8 extra months of construction in comparison to projects of similar sizes with non-PLA crews. The evidence is there locally on the problems created by PLA requirements and the effects on costs and efficiency and subsequently resulting production, with the RAND study signifying that for every 5 units of affordable housing constructed with a PLA, 6 units would be complete at the same time and cost for a non-PLA crew. This must be avoided when embarking on this rebuild. California already has prevailing wages, so justifying the use of PLAs or other limiting policy by arguing they’ll ensure fair wages are moot. The state can be sure that nonunion contractors will be paying at or above market rates due to the conditions of the labor market and value placed on highly skilled workers, and as mentioned, prevailing wage sets rates for any public work. Labor shortage is also a major concern for rebuilding efforts –nationally it stands at 439,000.7 The state and LA residents will need all available contractors. Removing barriers like PLAs will make sure the process is as wide reaching and inclusive of all contractors as possible. There are emergency clauses in PLA-related policy for this reason. A shortterm demand boom could likely create pricing issues for the supply chain. Ensuring
competition is open will ensure efficiency and cost control where possible.
Ensuring permitting and all related coordination are streamlined will help jobs get from start to finish as quickly as possible, controlling costs, allowing labor to be available in a predictable fashion, and material distribution to be efficient. Timelines are critical to cost control and predictability in timeline management and project bandwidth will support that effort. Set goals are tantamount to the affected communities, giving strong, physical markers to how close their homes and business are to being fully revived, and providing spread out communities’ common areas for them and their families to convene at.
4. Workers and Companies are Eager and Available.
Rebuilding Los Angeles will be a unified effort with city and county leaders crafting recovery plans for their communities. The State of California is rallying its resources and removing red tape. And recently, Governor Newsom and other LA leaders launched LA Rises. This initiative will gather resources through private companies, along with federal and state support, to speed up the recovery process. Rebuilding LA is a “all hands-on deck” situation.
Reconstruction will take every available contractor, subcontractor, painter, welder, concrete layer, builder – an army of construction workers are needed to help communities build back faster and stronger. It should not matter if professionals are union members or not, this emergency response calls for dropping labels and picking up tools. Working together to rebuild LA, not just a select few but with the combined forces of all.
Non-union and union workers have no difference in qualifications, experience,
or skills. In fact, non-union workers face less workplace injuries on average, and oftentimes complete jobs at a faster speed than union workers, with only 8.2% of nonunion workers reporting a workplace injury. California already has overreaching, strong regulations on construction worker training, safety, and wages, which all non-union shops strictly follow. There are 800,000 non-union construction workers up and down the state of California. These are folks who not only pursue construction work for their career but also have friends and family who have been affected by the Southern California fires and are more than ready to step up and work for those communities.
5. Conclusion
We ask our state and local elected officials to be innovative in their response to rebuilding Los Angeles and include all qualified contractors and construction workers in their rebuilding plans. The rebuilding process of Southern California represents one of the largest, hands-on natural disaster relief projects in United States history, and it does not make sense to contain your available workforce to only 20% of the available workers.
The communities affected, the communities destroyed, deserve the right to be able to rebuild and restore their lives in the quickest, safest, and most economically feasible way that is available. Placing a moratorium on PLAs during the rebuilding process not only offers the economic benefits of safe, quicker, cheaper, and strong construction, but also brings about an emotional benefit, that the communities involved in these disasters can return to their lives as soon as possible.
The fires have been devastating, but they offer us a choice, a choice to come together as a community, as a singular unit and show how strongly we can respond to such a disaster.
6 Project Labor Agreements and Affordable Housing Production Costs in Los Angeles. Jason M. Ward, RAND, 2024. https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_ reports/RRA1362-2.html
7 Project Labor Agreements and Affordable Housing Production Costs in Los Angeles. Jason M. Ward, RAND, 2024. https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_ reports/RRA1362-2.html
