I grew up in Southern California, the son of a union leader and a garment worker. My parents taught me that a steady paycheck is the difference between a family getting by versus getting ahead. Over a decade at the Building Trades Council in Orange County has only proven them right.
When it comes to construction, a steady paycheck depends on one thing above all: projects that actually get built. Orange County has plenty of them waiting. The Norte fire burned homes and hundreds of acres in San Clemente, Tropical Storm Rachel wreaked havoc on beachside homes and the LA 2028 Olympic events are coming.
Meanwhile, the county that employers chose for its business-friendly climate, and families chose because a paycheck could still buy a home, is slipping away. The typical Orange County home costs about $1.18 million, roughly three times the national figure. The state wants 183,861 new homes here between 2021 and 2029, and we are nowhere close: Santa Ana is the only city over 100,000 residents on track, Fullerton has permitted fewer than 1,400 of its 13,209 required units, and a single affordable unit now costs $500,000 to $800,000 to build. Chapman University economists forecast virtually no job growth in the county.
The disasters raise the stakes. Families who lost homes in the Norte fire are learning that rebuilding starts with permits, not foundations, and those permits have not been issued. The Olympic venues are on a clock that will not slip. A county that cannot permit housing in good times cannot afford to stall on rebuilding in hard ones. And none of it works without power. Every rebuilt home and every venue needs a grid that delivers reliable electricity at a price families can afford. That grid is where California keeps getting stuck.
A new study commissioned by Next American Era and the Responsible Business Initiative explains why: no single villain, just a system under pressure. Federal agencies review projects one after another instead of simultaneously. Major projects can involve six or more agencies with no one in charge. Staffing is thin, interconnection queues are backed up, and lawsuits can outlast the project itself. Nationwide, 8,200 energy projects are waiting to connect to the grid, with a typical wait of more than five years.
I negotiate project labor agreements, which guarantee local hiring, fair wages, and apprenticeship slots on major projects. A PLA is a promise that a project will put your neighbors to work and train the next generation. But a PLA on a project that never breaks ground is a promise nobody can keep. Apprentices need thousands of on-the-job hours, and every month a project sits in review costs wages, health coverage, and training hours workers never get back. More than half a million construction jobs nationally are tied to building out the grid.
None of this means cutting corners, particularly on safety. California’s environmental protections exist for good reasons, and our members live in the communities these projects touch. But reform must mean reviews that run at the same time, one agency accountable for the decision, agencies staffed to do the work, and projects that break ground and finish on a reasonable timeline.
Congress has a real opening to help. The Senate’s Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act recognizes that permitting reform lies at the heart of this problem and demands comprehensive, bipartisan action. I urge Senators Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff, and California’s House delegation on both sides of the aisle, to support it. When lawmakers return after the election, they should finish the job in the lame-duck session rather than start over next year, giving state legislatures a head start on 2027.
Orange County can prove that when we treat building and rebuilding as urgency, we can move. Our members of the building trades are trained, organized, and ready. Washington should give them the green light so projects can start.
— Medrano is executive secretary of the Los Angeles/Orange Counties Building and Construction Trades Council