Modular Building Institute Protects Members Doing Business in New York

Early during the 2020 New York State Legislature session, two companion bills—S5420 and A2933—were introduced. These bills would require the use of New York City union labor for all buildings built in the city and potentially the state, regardless of where the buildings were built or manufactured.

The Modular Building Institute (MBI) took immediate action as Government Affairs Director Jon Hannah and Executive Director Tom Hardiman began vetting potential lobbying firms to represent the industry in combatting these bills. The Carnelian Group, led by experienced lobbyist Claudia Granados, was retained and began working immediately with the bill sponsors and leadership to educate them on the modular industry and to ask for their assistance to withdraw or defeat these bills.

“In many cases, MBI devotes a lot of time an effort to kill legislation that would be harmful to the commercial modular construction industry”, said Hardiman. “We have to maintain a strong defense of our industry’s interests.”

As the COVID-19 pandemic began to take center stage in March for the legislature, Granados and MBI continued to work behind the scenes with the bill sponsors as well as House and Senate leadership to continue to express our concerns with these bills and the negative impact it would have on our industry and for New York City and the state.

“My approach,” said Granados, “was to focus on the positive impacts provided by the modular construction industry: cost savings, faster completion, environmental friendliness while delivering quality construction. Our goal was to position the MBI model as that of an industry disruptor for the greener and greater social good.”

With the legislative session scheduled to end in June, the legislature decided to return for a Special Session in August to address bills related to COVID19 as well as a cap of 100 additional bills. On August 18, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced he was presenting a bill to the legislature that would force Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) which would require contractors working in the city to hire only certain restricted New York laborers for their work on any structure in the city. These agreements would have even stricter guidelines than the bills already presented.

Early during the 2020 New York State Legislature session, two companion bills—S5420 and A2933—were introduced. These bills would require the use of New York City union labor for all buildings built in the city and potentially the state, regardless of where the buildings were built or manufactured.