Existing law establishes the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) in state government as a means of resolving disputes and enforcing the statutory duties and rights of employers and employees under the Educational Employment Relations Act, the Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act, the Ralph C. Dills Act, and the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act. Existing law includes within PERBs jurisdiction resolving disputes alleging violation of rules and regulations adopted by a public agency, as defined, concerning unit determinations, representations, recognition, and elections, as specified.

Existing law requires bargaining unit determinations and representation elections to be determined and processed in accordance with rules adopted by a public agency, as specified. Existing law requires, in a representation election, a majority of the votes cast by the employees in the appropriate bargaining unit.

Existing law requires PERB to enforce and apply rules adopted by a public agency concerning unit determinations, representation, recognition, and elections. Existing law also requires specified complaints to be processed as an unfair practice charge by PERB.

Existing law does not apply the above provisions to persons who are peace officers, as defined.

This bill would expand the jurisdiction of PERB to include resolving disputes and statutory duties and rights of persons who are employed by public agencies, as defined, and are peace officers, as defined. The bill also would authorize a peace officer, or a recognized employee organization that represents any person who is a peace officer, as specified, to bring an action in superior court to seek injunctive and other relief pending a final determination by the board, as specified. The bill would except the employee relations commissions of the County of Los Angeles and the City of Los Angeles from the application of its provisions.

Existing law establishes the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) in state government as a means of resolving disputes and enforcing the statutory duties and rights of employers and employees under the Educational Employment Relations Act, the Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act, the Ralph C. Dills Act, and the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act. Existing law includes within PERBs jurisdiction resolving disputes alleging violation of rules and regulations adopted by a public agency, as defined, concerning unit determinations, representations, recognition, and elections, as specified.

Existing law requires bargaining unit determinations and representation elections to be determined and processed in accordance with rules adopted by a public agency, as specified. Existing law requires, in a representation election, a majority of the votes cast by the employees in the appropriate bargaining unit.

Existing law requires PERB to enforce and apply rules adopted by a public agency concerning unit determinations, representation, recognition, and elections. Existing law also requires specified complaints to be processed as an unfair practice charge by PERB.

Existing law does not apply the above provisions to persons who are peace officers, as defined.

This bill would expand the jurisdiction of PERB to include resolving disputes and statutory duties and rights of persons who are employed by public agencies, as defined, and are peace officers, as defined. The bill also would authorize a peace officer, or a recognized employee organization that represents any person who is a peace officer, as specified, to bring an action in superior court to seek injunctive and other relief pending a final determination by the board, as specified. The bill would except the employee relations commissions of the County of Los Angeles and the City of Los Angeles from the application of its provisions.

Existing law establishes the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) in state government as a means of resolving disputes and enforcing the statutory duties and rights of employers and employees under the Educational Employment Relations Act, the Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act, the Ralph C. Dills Act, and the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act. Existing law includes within PERBs jurisdiction resolving disputes alleging violation of rules and regulations adopted by a public agency, as defined, concerning unit determinations, representations, recognition, and elections, as specified.

Existing law requires bargaining unit determinations and representation elections to be determined and processed in accordance with rules adopted by a public agency, as specified. Existing law requires, in a representation election, a majority of the votes cast by the employees in the appropriate bargaining unit.

Existing law requires PERB to enforce and apply rules adopted by a public agency concerning unit determinations, representation, recognition, and elections. Existing law also requires specified complaints to be processed as an unfair practice charge by PERB.

Existing law does not apply the above provisions to persons who are peace officers, as defined.

This bill would expand the jurisdiction of PERB to include resolving disputes and statutory duties and rights of persons who are employed by public agencies, as defined, and are peace officers, as defined. The bill would except the employee relations commissions of the County of Los Angeles and the City of Los Angeles from the application of its provisions.

Existing law, the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act, authorizes local public employees, as defined, to form, join, and participate in the activities of employee organizations of their own choosing to represent themselves on matters of employer-employee relations. Existing law also grants these public employees the right to refuse to join or participate in those activities and to represent themselves individually in their employment relations.

This bill would make nonsubstantive changes to these provisions.

GOVERNOR'S VETO

GV Bill Id:AB 530

Author:(Cooper)

As Enrolled Ver:September 13, 2017

2/3 vote

Original Committee Reference: P.E.,R., & S.S.

SUMMARY: Expands the jurisdiction of the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) to include Penal Code Section 830 peace officers; authorizes a peace officer or labor union representing these peace officers to bring certain actions in court; and, excludes employers and employees of the City and County of Los Angeles from its provisions.

The Senate amendments:

1. Exclude employers and employees of the City and County of Los Angeles from its provisions.
2. Authorize a peace officer or recognized employee organization representing certain peace officers to bring an action in superior court to seek injunctive relief or writ of mandamus to preserve the status quo or prevent irreparable harm pending a final determination by the PERB on any issue that the court has not made a ruling.

EXISTING LAW:

1. Establishes the Educational Employment Relations Act, the Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act, the Ralph C. Dills Act, and the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act which are separate statutory frameworks that provide for public employer-employee relations for certain employees, and a reasonable method of resolving disputes regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment between public employers and recognized public employee organizations or their exclusive representatives.
2. Delegates jurisdiction over the public employer-employee relationship to the PERB and charges PERB with resolving disputes and enforcing the statutory duties and rights of state and local public agency employers and employee organizations, but provides the City and County of Los Angeles a local alternative to the PERB's oversight.
3. Excludes from the PERB's jurisdiction, applicability of certain provisions related to peace officers.

FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, this bill would result in unknown, potentially significant costs to the PERB to resolve additional local agency labor disputes. The PERB indicates that it would require about three new positions and $567,000 (General Fund) for every 60 additional disputes.

COMMENTS: Please see the policy committee analysis for a full discussion of this bill.

GOVERNOR'S VETO MESSAGE:

This bill authorizes peace officers to bring unfair practice charges to the Public Employment Relations Board while preserving their existing right to directly petition a superior court for injunctive relief.

No other group has both of these rights and I'm unconvinced that providing such a unique procedure is warranted.

Analysis Prepared by: Michael Bolden / P.E.,R., & S.S. / (916) 319-3957 FN: 0002468

CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS

CSA1 Bill Id:AB 530

Author:(Cooper)

As Amended Ver:July 3, 2017

Majority vote

Original Committee Reference: P.E.,R., & S.S.

SUMMARY: Expands the jurisdiction of the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) to include Penal Code Section 830 peace officers; authorizes a peace officer or labor union representing these peace officers to bring certain actions in court; and, excludes employers and employees of the City and County of Los Angeles from its provisions.

The Senate amendments:

1. Exclude employers and employees of the City and County of Los Angeles from its provisions.
2. Authorize a peace officer or recognized employee organization representing certain peace officers to bring an action in superior court to seek injunctive relief or writ of mandamus to preserve the status quo or prevent irreparable harm pending a final determination by the PERB on any issue that the court has not made a ruling.

EXISTING LAW:

1. Establishes the Educational Employment Relations Act, the Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act, the Ralph C. Dills Act, and the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act which are separate statutory frameworks that provide for public employer-employee relations for certain employees, and a reasonable method of resolving disputes regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment between public employers and recognized public employee organizations or their exclusive representatives.
2. Delegates jurisdiction over the public employer-employee relationship to the PERB and charges PERB with resolving disputes and enforcing the statutory duties and rights of state and local public agency employers and employee organizations, but provides the City and County of Los Angeles a local alternative to the PERB's oversight.
3. Excludes from the PERB's jurisdiction, applicability of certain provisions related to peace officers.

FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, this bill would result in unknown, potentially significant costs to the PERB to resolve additional local agency labor disputes. The PERB indicates that it would require about three new positions and $567,000 (General Fund) for every 60 additional disputes.

COMMENTS: Please see the policy committee analysis for a full discussion of this bill.

Analysis Prepared by: Michael Bolden / P.E.,R., & S.S. / (916) 319-3957 FN: 0001825

 THIRD READING  

Bill No: AB 530

Author:

:

Vote:

SENATE PUBLIC EMP. & RET. COMMITTEE: 3-1, 7/10/17

AYES: Pan, Leyva, Portantino

NOES: Morrell

NO VOTE RECORDED: Moorlach

SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 5-2, 9/1/17

AYES: Lara, Beall, Bradford, Hill, Wiener

NOES: Bates, Nielsen

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 56-15, 5/31/17 - See last page for vote

SUBJECT:

SOURCE: Fraternal Order of Police

DIGEST:

This bill expands the jurisdiction of the Public Employment Relations Board to include peace officers, as defined, and authorizes a peace officer or an employee organization representing peace officers to bring an action in superior court, as specified. Excludes from the provisions of this bill employers and employees in Los Angeles County and the City of Los Angeles.

ANALYSIS:

Existing law:

1. Governs, under the Myers-Milias-Brown Act (MMBA), collective bargaining between local public agencies and their employees.
2. Excludes peace officers from select MMBA provisions, as specified.
3. Charges the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) with administering the eight collective bargaining statutes covering employees in California’s public schools, colleges, and universities; employees of the State of California; employees of local public agencies; trial court employees and interpreters; and supervisory employees of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
4. Excludes from PERB’s jurisdiction certain provisions related to peace officers, as specified.

This bill:

1. Expands the jurisdiction of PERB to include peace officers, as defined by Section 830 of the Penal Code.
2. Authorizes a peace officer or recognized employee organization representing any person who is a peace officer to bring an action in superior court seeking injunctive relief or a writ of mandamus to preserve the status quo or prevent irreplaceable harm pending a final determination by PERB on any issue upon which a court has not made a ruling.
3. Excludes from the provisions of the bill employers and employees in Los Angeles County and the City of Los Angeles.

Background

PERB-Allegations of Unfair Practice

PERB is a quasi-judicial agency that oversees public sector collective bargaining in California. Its major functions involve the evaluation and adjudication of unfair practice charges filed, and the administration of the collective bargaining process through which employees select organizations to represent them in their labor relations with their employer.

Covered employees may file an unfair practice charge with PERB within six months of the alleged unfair practice. Once the unfair practice charge has been properly filed, a Board agent reviews the charge to determine if a complaint should be issued, or dismisses it if there is insufficient factual evidence. A dismissal may be appealed. If a complaint is filed, the case proceeds to an informal settlement conference, or may proceed to a formal hearing conducted by an administrative law judge if no settlement can be reached.

Los Angeles Labor Relations Entities

The County of Los Angeles and the City of Los Angeles are both currently exempted from PERB’s authority, as labor relations are conducted through the Los Angeles County Employee Relations Commission (ERCOM) and the City of Los Angeles Employee Relations Board (ERB).

ERCOM administers the County’s Employee Relations Ordinance. Its responsibilities include: determining employee representation units, arranging for elections in such units, determining the validity of claims of unfair practices filed against management and employee organizations, acting on request for mediation, and all unfair practices, with the ability to issue determinations and orders as deemed necessary.

The ERB administers the City’s Employee Relations Ordinance, which establishes policies and procedures for the administration of employer-employee relations in city government, formal recognition of employee organizations representing city employees, and establishes procedures for the resolution of disputes regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment.

Related/Prior Legislation

AB 83 (Santiago, 2017) establishes the Judicial Council Employer-Employee Relations Act and provides collective bargaining rights to Judicial Council employees, as specified. It, among other provisions, charges PERB with the responsibility to adjudicate disputes.

SB 548 (Atkins, 2017) authorizes PERB to grant expedited status for matters pending before the board, as specified.

FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: Fiscal Com.: Local:

According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, this bill would result in unknown, potentially significant costs to PERB, to resolve additional local agency labor disputes. PERB indicates that it would require about three new positions and $567,000 (General Fund) for every 60 additional disputes.

SUPPORT: (Verified 9/1/17)

Fraternal Order of Police (source)

Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs

California Statewide Law Enforcement Association

Long Beach Police Officers Association

Riverside Sheriffs’ Association

Sacramento County Deputy Sheriffs’ Association

OPPOSITION: (Verified 9/1/17)

None received

ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: According to the author’s office, “A Superior Court filing for a labor dispute can cost a peace officer recognized public employee organization thousands of dollars. It is not rare for these cases to incur costs upwards of $40,000 while a similar filing in PERB would generally be well under $5,000…This gives local government and management an unfair advantage, especially over smaller law enforcement unions.”

The Fraternal Order of Police further notes that “in many instances our members have opted out of sending labor claims, including unfair labor practices and breaches of contract, to court because of how cost prohibitive it can be on an officer. Allowing PERB to handle all labor disputes for peace officers also allows smaller peace officer unions the ability to defend themselves against bad faith bargaining.”

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 56-15, 5/31/17

AYES: Acosta, Aguiar-Curry, Arambula, Berman, Bloom, Bocanegra, Bonta, Burke, Caballero, Calderon, Cervantes, Chau, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Daly, Frazier, Friedman, Eduardo Garcia, Gipson, Gloria, Gomez, Gonzalez Fletcher, Gray, Grayson, Irwin, Jones-Sawyer, Kalra, Lackey, Levine, Limón, Low, Maienschein, McCarty, Medina, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, O'Donnell, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Reyes, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Rubio, Salas, Santiago, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Waldron, Weber, Wood, Rendon

NOES: Travis Allen, Baker, Brough, Chávez, Chen, Cunningham, Dahle, Gallagher, Harper, Mathis, Mayes, Obernolte, Patterson, Steinorth, Voepel

NO VOTE RECORDED: Bigelow, Choi, Eggman, Flora, Fong, Cristina Garcia, Holden, Kiley, Melendez

Prepared by:

9/3/17 18:11:08

**** END ****

SENATE COMMITTEE ON

Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair

2017 - 2018 Regular Session

AB 530 (Cooper) - Public employment: collective bargaining: peace officers

This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.

Bill Summary:

AB 530 would (1) expand the jurisdiction of the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) to include peace officers, as defined, and (2) authorize a peace officer or an employee organization representing peace officers to bring an action in superior court, as specified. The bill would exclude from its provisions employers and employees in Los Angeles County and the City of Los Angeles.

Fiscal Impact:

This bill would result in unknown, potentially significant costs to PERB, to resolve additional local agency labor disputes. PERB indicates that it would require about three new positions and $567,000 (General Fund) for every 60 additional disputes.

Background:

PERB is a quasi-judicial agency that oversees public sector collective bargaining in the State. Its major functions involve the evaluation and adjudication of unfair practice charges filed, and the administration of the collective bargaining process through which employees select organizations to represent them in their labor relations with their employer.

Covered employees may file an unfair practice charge with PERB within six months of the alleged unfair practice. Once the charge has been properly filed, a Board agent reviews it to determine if a complaint should be issued, or dismisses it if there is insufficient factual evidence. A dismissal may be appealed. If a complaint is filed, the case proceeds to an informal settlement conference, or may proceed to a formal hearing conducted by an administrative law judge if no settlement can be reached.

The County of Los Angeles and the City of Los Angeles are both currently exempted from PERB’s authority, as labor relations are conducted through the Los Angeles County Employee Relations Commission (ERCOM) and the City of Los Angeles Employee Relations Board (ERB).

Proposed Law:

This bill would do the following:

• Expand the jurisdiction of PERB to include peace officers, as defined by Section 830 of the Penal Code.
• Authorize a peace officer or recognized employee organization representing any person who is a peace officer to bring an action in superior court seeking injunctive relief or a writ of mandamus to preserve the status quo or prevent irreplaceable harm pending a final determination by PERB on any issue upon which a court has not made a ruling.
• Exclude from the provisions of the bill employers and employees in Los Angeles County and the City of Los Angeles.

Related Legislation:

• AB 83 (Santiago, 2017), would establish the Judicial Council Employer-Employee Relations Act and provide collective bargaining rights to Judicial Council employees, as specified. It would, among other provisions, charge PERB with the responsibility to adjudicate disputes. The bill is currently pending in this Committee.
• SB 548 (Atkins, 2017), would authorize PERB to grant expedited status for matters pending before the board, as specified. The bill is currently pending in the Assembly Judiciary Committee.

Staff Comments:

This bill would place over 450 law enforcement agencies across the State under the authority of PERB for settling labor disputes. Affected employees include peace officers in municipalities and special districts, county sheriffs, port wardens or port peace officers in the San Diego Unified Port District Harbor Police, and inspectors or investigators of county district attorneys’ offices.

The bill’s specific costs to PERB would depend on the number of additional disputes it would have to resolve. PERB indicates that for every 60 additional disputes, it would require one additional attorney and additional staff to process the charge, complaints, and appeals through PERB’s various divisions. If an additional 420 cases resulted from the bill, costs to PERB would be $4 million.

-- END --

SENATE COMMITTEE ON

PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT AND RETIREMENT

Dr. Richard Pan, Chair

2017 - 2018 Regular

Bill No: AB 530 Hearing Date: 7/10/17

Subject: Public employment: collective bargaining: peace officers

SOURCE: Fraternal Order of Police

ASSEMBLY VOTES:

DIGEST: This bill expands the jurisdiction of the Public Employment Relations Board to include peace officers, as defined, and authorizes a peace officer or an employee organization representing peace officers to bring an action in superior court, as specified. Excludes from the provisions of the bill employers and employees in Los Angeles County and the City of Los Angeles.

ANALYSIS:

Existing law:

1. Governs, under the Myers-Milias-Brown Act (MMBA), collective bargaining between local public agencies and their employees.
2. Excludes peace officers from select MMBA provisions, as specified.
3. Charges the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) with administering the eight collective bargaining statutes covering employees in California’s public schools, colleges, and universities; employees of the State of California; employees of local public agencies; trial court employees and interpreters; and supervisory employees of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
4. Excludes from PERB’s jurisdiction certain provisions related to peace officers, as specified.

This bill:

1. Expands the jurisdiction of PERB to include peace officers, as defined by Section 830 of the Penal Code.
2. Authorizes a peace officer or recognized employee organization representing any person who is a peace officer to bring an action in superior court seeking injunctive relief or a writ of mandamus to preserve the status quo or prevent irreplaceable harm pending a final determination by PERB on any issue upon which a court has not made a ruling.
3. Excludes from the provisions of the bill employers and employees in Los Angeles County and the City of Los Angeles.

Background

PERB-Allegations of Unfair Practice

PERB is a quasi-judicial agency that oversees public sector collective bargaining in California. Its major functions involve the evaluation and adjudication of unfair practice charges filed, and the administration of the collective bargaining process through which employees select organizations to represent them in their labor relations with their employer.

Covered employees may file an unfair practice charge with PERB within six months of the alleged unfair practice. Once the unfair practice charge has been properly filed, a Board agent reviews the charge to determine if a complaint should be issued, or dismisses it if there is insufficient factual evidence. A dismissal may be appealed. If a complaint is filed, the case proceeds to an informal settlement conference, or may proceed to a formal hearing conducted by an administrative law judge if no settlement can be reached.

Los Angeles Labor Relations Entities

The County of Los Angeles and the City of Los Angeles are both currently exempted from PERB’s authority, as labor relations are conducted through the Los Angeles County Employee Relations Commission (ERCOM) and the City of Los Angeles Employee Relations Board (ERB).

ERCOM administers the County’s Employee Relations Ordinance. Its responsibilities include: determining employee representation units, arranging for elections in such units, determining the validity of claims of unfair practices filed against management and employee organizations, acting on request for mediation, and all unfair practices, with the ability to issue determinations and orders as deemed necessary.

The ERB administers the City’s Employee Relations Ordinance, which establishes policies and procedures for the administration of employer-employee relations in city government, formal recognition of employee organizations representing city employees, and establishes procedures for the resolution of disputes regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment.

Related/Prior Legislation

AB 83 (Santiago, 2017), would establish the Judicial Council Employer-Employee Relations Act and provide collective bargaining rights to Judicial Council employees, as specified. It would, among other provisions, charge PERB with the responsibility to adjudicate disputes.

SB 548 (Atkins, 2017), would authorize PERB to grant expedited status for matters pending before the board, as specified.

FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: No

According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, this bill would result in “significant ongoing costs to PERB in the range of $265,000 to $1.2 million. The specific costs to PERB will depend on the number of disputes that will be subject to the jurisdiction of PERB. The primary cost drivers will be additional personnel years at the attorney, analyst, and administrative law judge level.”

SUPPORT:

Fraternal Order of Police (source)

Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs

California Statewide Law Enforcement Association

Long Beach Police Officers Association

Riverside Sheriffs’ Association

Sacramento County Deputy Sheriffs’ Association

OPPOSITION:

None received.

ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT:

According to the author’s office, “A Superior Court filing for a labor dispute can cost a peace officer recognized public employee organization thousands of dollars. It is not rare for these cases to incur costs upwards of $40,000 while a similar filing in PERB would generally be well under $5,000…This gives local government and management an unfair advantage, especially over smaller law enforcement unions.”

Peace officer organizations further note that “in many instances our members have opted out of sending labor claims, including unfair labor practices and breaches of contract, to court because of how cost prohibitive it can be on an officer. Allowing PERB to handle all labor disputes for peace officers also allows smaller peace officer unions the ability to defend themselves against bad faith bargaining.”

ASSEMBLY THIRD READING

ATR Bill Id:AB 530

Author:(Cooper)

As Amended Ver:April 4, 2017

Majority vote

SUMMARY: Expands the jurisdiction of the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) to include resolving disputes and statutory duties and rights of peace officers, as defined in Penal Code Section 830. Specifically, this bill:

1. Repeals changes made to the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act (MMBA) enacted during the 1999 – 2000 Regular Session of the Legislature which excluded peace officers, as defined in Penal Code Section 830.1, from the PERB's jurisdiction.
2. Provides that, notwithstanding any other law, on and after January 1, 2018, peace officers, as defined in Penal Code Section 830, will be subject to the jurisdiction of the PERB.

EXISTING LAW:

1. Establishes the MMBA, a statutory framework which provides for public employer-employee relations by providing a reasonable method of resolving disputes regarding wages, hours and other terms and conditions of employment between public employers and recognized public employee organizations or their exclusive representatives.
2. Delegates jurisdiction over the public employer-employee relationship to the PERB and charges PERB with resolving disputes and enforcing the statutory duties and rights of state and local public agency employers and employee organizations, but provides the City and County of Los Angeles a local alternative to the PERB's oversight.
3. Excludes peace officers, as defined in Penal Code Section 830.1, from the PERB's jurisdiction.

FISCAL EFEFCT: According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, this bill will have significant ongoing annual costs to the PERB in the range of $265,000 to $1.2 million. The specific costs to the PERB will depend on the number of disputes that will be subject to the jurisdiction of the PERB. The primary cost drivers will be additional personnel years at the attorney, analyst and administrative law judge levels.

COMMENTS: This bill will place over 450 law enforcement agencies across California under the authority of the PERB for settling labor disputes. Affected employees include peace officers in municipalities and special districts, county sheriffs, port wardens or port peace officers in the Harbor Department of the City of Los Angeles and San Diego Unified Port District Harbor Police, and inspectors or investigators of county district attorneys' offices.

The County of Los Angeles and the City of Los Angeles are exempted from the PERB's authority, and instead labor relations are conducted through the Los Angeles County Employee Relations Commission (ERCOM) and the City of Los Angeles Employee Relations Board (ERB). These commissions have the power and responsibility to take actions on recognition, unit determinations, elections, and all unfair practices, and to issue determinations and orders as deemed necessary. Currently, these entities are not included in the provisions of this bill.

According to the Assembly Public Employees, Retirement and Social Security Committee, the author has acknowledged the existence of these alternatives to the PERB for the City and County of Los Angeles and likely will amend the bill in the future.

Analysis Prepared by: Michael Bolden / P.E.,R., & S.S. / (916) 319-3957 FN: 0000508

Date of Hearing: May 10, 2017

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS

Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, Chair

ABPCA Bill Id:AB 530

Author:(Cooper) – As Amended Ver:April 4, 2017

Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: No Reimbursable: No

SUMMARY:

This bill extends the jurisdiction of the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) to include resolving disputes regarding the statutory duties and rights of peace officers.

FISCAL EFFECT:

Significant ongoing annual costs to PERB in the range of $265,000 to $1.2 million. The specific costs to PERB will depend on the number of disputes that will be subject to the jurisdiction of PERB. The primary cost drivers will be additional personnel years at the attorney, analyst, and administrative law judge level.

COMMENTS:

1. Purpose. According to the author, AB 530 will allow peace officer unions to use the expertise of PERB and give the smaller unions the ability to defend themselves against unfair labor practices. Supporters note that labor disputes involving a peace officer union go to the Superior Court, which can be costly and time-consuming.
2. Who is covered? AB 531 will place over 450 law enforcement agencies across California under the authority of PERB for settling labor disputes. Affected employees include peace officers in municipalities and special districts, county sheriffs, port wardens or port peace officers in the Harbor Department of the City of Los Angeles and San Diego Unified Port District Harbor Police, and inspectors or investigators of county district attorneys’ offices. 
3. Los Angeles. The County of Los Angeles and the City of Los Angeles are exempted from the PERB authority, and instead labor relations are conducted through the Los Angeles County Employee Relations Commission (ERCOM) and the City of Los Angeles Employee Relations Board (ERB). These commissions have the power and responsibility to take actions on recognition, unit determinations, elections, and all unfair practices, and to issue determinations and orders as deemed necessary. Currently, these entities are not included in the provisions of AB 530.

Analysis Prepared by: Luke Reidenbach / APPR. / (916) 319-2081