AB 1: Collective bargaining: Legislature.
- Session Year: 2023-2024
- House: Assembly
- Latest Version Date: 2023-10-07
Current Status:
Passed
(2023-10-07: Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 313, Statutes of 2023.)
Introduced
In Committee
First Chamber
In Committee
Second Chamber
Enacted
What does this bill do?
The bill creates a new law letting most employees who work for the Assembly and Senate form or join employee organizations and be represented when bargaining and negotiating over wages, hours, and working conditions, while excluding legislators, top officers, chiefs of staff, confidential and other designated excluded employees. It gives the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) authority over unit decisions and unfair-practice complaints but bars PERB from ordering anything that would interfere with the Legislature’s core lawmaking functions or from placing Assembly and Senate employees in the same bargaining unit. It also carves out certain internal legislative deliberative records from public disclosure and makes willfully obstructing PERB agents a misdemeanor.
The summary is provided by generative AI which can make mistakes. For original language, please view the details in the table below.
Existing law, the Ralph C. Dills Act (Dills Act), governs collective bargaining between the state and recognized state public employee organizations. Existing law excludes certain employees from coverage under the Dills Act, including, among others, managerial employees, supervisory employees, and confidential employees, as defined. Existing law creates the Public Employment Relations Board and authorizes it, among other things, to determine appropriate state employee bargaining units, as specified.
This bill would enact the Legislature Employer-Employee Relations Act, to provide employees of the Legislature, except certain specified categories of excluded employees, the right to form, join, and participate in the activities of employee organizations of their own choosing for the purpose of representation on all matters of employer-employee relations. The bill would prescribe rights, duties, and prohibitions in this context that parallel those in the Dills Act. For the purposes of bargaining or meeting and conferring in good faith, the bill would define employer to mean the Assembly Committee on Rules or the Senate Committee on Rules. The bill would require the employer to meet and confer with representatives of recognized employee organizations regarding matters within the scope of representation. The bill would exclude certain matters from the scope of representation, as specified. The bill would grant exclusive jurisdiction to the Public Employment Relations Board to make an initial determination as to whether charges of unfair practices are justified, and, if so, the necessary remedy, as specified. However, the bill would prohibit the board from issuing a decision or order that intrudes upon or interferes with the Legislatures core function of efficient and effective lawmaking or the essential operation of the Legislature. The bill would require the board to determine appropriate bargaining units, and would prohibit the board from including employees in a bargaining unit that includes employees other than those of the employer. The bill would prohibit the board from including within a bargaining unit employees from both the Assembly and Senate.
This bill would make it a misdemeanor for any person to willfully resist, prevent, impede, or interfere with any member of the board, or any of its agents, in the performance of duties pursuant to its provisions. By expanding the definition of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would provide that the provisions of the Legislature Employer-Employee Relations Act are severable. The bill would become operative on July 1, 2026.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
This bill would additionally exempt from public inspection records related to activities governed by the Legislature Employer-Employee Relations Act that reveal the employers deliberative processes, impressions, evaluations, opinions, recommendations, meeting minutes, research, work product, theories, or strategy, or that provide instruction, advice, or training to employees who do not have full collective bargaining and representation rights under the Legislature Employer-Employee Relations Act.
Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest.
This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.
Existing law, the Ralph C. Dills Act (Dills Act), governs collective bargaining between the state and recognized state public employee organizations. Existing law excludes certain employees from coverage under the Dills Act, including, among others, managerial employees, supervisory employees, and confidential employees, as defined. Existing law creates the Public Employment Relations Board and authorizes it, among other things, to determine appropriate state employee bargaining units, as specified.
This bill would enact the Legislature Employer-Employee Relations Act, to provide employees of the Legislature, except certain specified categories of excluded employees, the right to form, join, and participate in the activities of employee organizations of their own choosing for the purpose of representation on all matters of employer-employee relations. The bill would prescribe rights, duties, and prohibitions in this context that parallel those in the Dills Act. For the purposes of bargaining or meeting and conferring in good faith, the bill would define employer to mean the Assembly Committee on Rules or the Senate Committee on Rules. The bill would require the employer to meet and confer with representatives of recognized employee organizations regarding matters within the scope of representation. The bill would exclude certain matters from the scope of representation, as specified. The bill would grant exclusive jurisdiction to the Public Employment Relations Board to make an initial determination as to whether charges of unfair practices are justified, and, if so, the necessary remedy, as specified. However, the bill would prohibit the board from issuing a decision or order that intrudes upon or interferes with the Legislatures core function of efficient and effective lawmaking or the essential operation of the Legislature. The bill would require the board to determine appropriate bargaining units, and would prohibit the board from including employees in a bargaining unit that includes employees other than those of the employer. The bill would prohibit the board from including within a bargaining unit employees from both the Assembly and Senate.
This bill would make it a misdemeanor for any person to willfully resist, prevent, impede, or interfere with any member of the board, or any of its agents, in the performance of duties pursuant to its provisions. By expanding the definition of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would provide that the provisions of the Legislature Employer-Employee Relations Act are severable. The bill would become operative on July 1, 2026.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
This bill would additionally exempt from public inspection records related to activities governed by the Legislature Employer-Employee Relations Act that reveal the employers deliberative processes, impressions, evaluations, opinions, recommendations, meeting minutes, research, work product, theories, or strategy, or that provide instruction, advice, or training to employees who do not have full collective bargaining and representation rights under the Legislature Employer-Employee Relations Act.
Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest.
This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.
Existing law, the Ralph C. Dills Act (Dills Act), governs collective bargaining between the state and recognized state public employee organizations. Existing law excludes certain employees from coverage under the Dills Act, including, among others, managerial employees, supervisory employees, and confidential employees, as defined. Existing law creates the Public Employment Relations Board and authorizes it, among other things, to determine appropriate state employee bargaining units, as specified.
This bill would enact the Legislature Employer-Employee Relations Act, to provide employees of the Legislature, except certain specified categories of excluded employees, the right to form, join, and participate in the activities of employee organizations of their own choosing for the purpose of representation on all matters of employer-employee relations. The bill would prescribe rights, duties, and prohibitions in this context that parallel those in the Dills Act. For the purposes of bargaining or meeting and conferring in good faith, the bill would define employer to mean the Assembly Committee on Rules or the Senate Committee on Rules. The bill would require the employer to meet and confer with representatives of recognized employee organizations regarding matters within the scope of representation. The bill would exclude certain matters from the scope of representation, as specified. The bill would grant exclusive jurisdiction to the Public Employment Relations Board to make an initial determination as to whether charges of unfair practices are justified, and, if so, the necessary remedy, as specified. However, the bill would prohibit the board from issuing a decision or order that intrudes upon or interferes with the Legislatures core function of efficient and effective lawmaking or the essential operation of the Legislature. The bill would require the board to determine appropriate bargaining units, and would prohibit the board from including employees in a bargaining unit that includes employees other than those of the employer. The bill would prohibit the board from including within a bargaining unit employees from both the Assembly and Senate.
This bill would make it a misdemeanor for any person to willfully resist, prevent, impede, or interfere with any member of the board, or any of its agents, in the performance of duties pursuant to its provisions. By expanding the definition of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would provide that the provisions of the Legislature Employer-Employee Relations Act are severable. The bill would become operative on July 1, 2026.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
This bill would additionally exempt from public inspection records related to activities governed by the Legislature Employer-Employee Relations Act that reveal the employers deliberative processes, impressions, evaluations, opinions, recommendations, meeting minutes, research, work product, theories, or strategy, or that provide instruction, advice, or training to employees who do not have full collective bargaining and representation rights under the Legislature Employer-Employee Relations Act.
Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest.
This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.
Existing law, the Ralph C. Dills Act (Dills Act), governs collective bargaining between the state and recognized state public employee organizations. Existing law excludes certain employees from coverage under the Dills Act, including, among others, managerial employees, supervisory employees, and confidential employees, as defined. Existing law creates the Public Employment Relations Board and authorizes it, among other things, to determine appropriate state employee bargaining units, as specified.
This bill would enact the Legislature Employer-Employee Relations Act, to provide employees of the Legislature Legislature, except certain specified categories of excluded employees, the right to form, join, and participate in the activities of employee organizations of their own choosing for the purpose of representation on all matters of employer-employee relations. The bill would prescribe rights, duties, and prohibitions in this context that parallel those in the Dills Act. For the purposes of bargaining or meeting and conferring in good faith, the bill would define employer to mean the Assembly Committee on Rules or the Senate Committee on Rules. The bill would require the Legislature employer to meet and confer with representatives of recognized employee organizations regarding matters within the scope of representation. The bill would exclude certain matters from the scope of representation, as specified. The bill would prohibit grant exclusive jurisdiction to the Public Employment Relations Board to make an initial determination as to whether charges of unfair practices are justified, and, if so, the necessary remedy, as specified. However, the bill would prohibit the board from issuing a decision or order that intrudes upon or interferes with the Legislatures core function of efficient and effective lawmaking or the essential operation of the Legislature. The bill would require the board to determine appropriate bargaining units, and would prohibit the board from including employees of the Legislature in a bargaining unit that includes employees other than those of the Legislature. The employer. The bill would prohibit the board from including within a bargaining unit employees from both the Assembly and Senate.
This bill would make it a misdemeanor for any person to willfully resist, prevent, impede, or interfere with any member of the board, or any of its agents, in the performance of duties pursuant to its provisions. By expanding the definition of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would provide that the provisions of the Legislature Employer-Employee Relations Act are severable. The bill would become operative on July 1, 2026.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
This bill would additionally exempt from public inspection records related to activities governed by the Legislature Employer-Employee Relations Act that reveal the employers deliberative processes, impressions, evaluations, opinions, recommendations, meeting minutes, research, work product, theories, or strategy, or that provide instruction, advice, or training to employees who do not have full collective bargaining and representation rights under the Legislature Employer-Employee Relations Act.
Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest.
This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.
Existing law, the Ralph C. Dills Act (Dills Act), governs collective bargaining between the state and recognized state public employee organizations. Existing law excludes certain employees from coverage under the Dills Act, including, among others, managerial employees, supervisory employees, and confidential employees, as defined. Existing law creates the Public Employment Relations Board and authorizes it, among other things, to determine appropriate state employee bargaining units, as specified.
This bill would enact the Legislature Employer-Employee Relations Act, to provide employees of the Legislature the right to form, join, and participate in the activities of employee organizations of their own choosing for the purpose of representation on all matters of employer-employee relations. The bill would prescribe rights, duties, and prohibitions in this context that parallel those in the Dills Act. The bill would require the Legislature to meet and confer with representatives of recognized employee organizations regarding matters within the scope of representation. The bill would exclude certain matters from the scope of representation, as specified. The bill would prohibit the Public Employment Relations Board from including employees of the Legislature in a bargaining unit that includes employees other than those of the Legislature. The bill would make it a misdemeanor for any person to willfully resist, prevent, impede, or interfere with any member of the board, or any of its agents, in the performance of duties pursuant to its provisions. By expanding the definition of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would provide that the provisions of the Legislature Employer-Employee Relations Act are severable. The bill would become operative on July 1, 2024. 2026.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Existing law, the Ralph C. Dills Act (Dills Act), governs collective bargaining between the state and recognized state public employee organizations. Existing law excludes certain employees from coverage under the Dills Act, including, among others, managerial employees, supervisory employees, and confidential employees, as defined. Existing law creates the Public Employment Relations Board and authorizes it, among other things, to determine appropriate state employee bargaining units, as specified.
This bill would enact the Legislature Employer-Employee Relations Act, to provide employees of the Legislature the right to form, join, and participate in the activities of employee organizations of their own choosing for the purpose of representation on all matters of employer-employee relations. The bill would prescribe rights, duties, and prohibitions in this context that parallel those in the Dills Act. The bill would prohibit the Public Employment Relations Board from including employees of the Legislature in a bargaining unit that includes employees other than those of the Legislature. The bill would make it a misdemeanor for any person to willfully resist, prevent, impede, or interfere with any member of the board, or any of its agents, in the performance of duties pursuant to its provisions. By expanding the definition of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would provide that the provisions of the Legislature Employer-Employee Relations Act are severable. The bill would become operative on July 1, 2024.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Existing law, the Ralph C. Dills Act (Dills Act), governs collective bargaining between the state and recognized state public employee organizations. Existing law excludes certain employees from coverage under the Dills Act, including, among others, managerial employees, supervisory employees, and confidential employees, as defined. Existing law creates the Public Employment Relations Board and authorizes it, among other things, to determine appropriate state employee bargaining units, as specified.
This bill would enact the Legislature Employer-Employee Relations Act, to provide employees of the Legislature the right to form, join, and participate in the activities of employee organizations of their own choosing for the purpose of representation on all matters of employer-employee relations. The bill would prescribe rights, duties, and prohibitions in this context that parallel those in the Dills Act. The bill would prohibit the Public Employment Relations Board from including employees of the Legislature in a bargaining unit that includes employees other than those of the Legislature. The bill would make it a misdemeanor for any person to willfully resist, prevent, impede, or interfere with any member of the board, or any of its agents, in the performance of duties pursuant to its provisions. By expanding the definition of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would provide that the provisions of the Legislature Employer-Employee Relations Act are severable. The bill would become operative on July 1, 2024.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Existing law, the Ralph C. Dills Act (Dills Act), governs collective bargaining between the state and recognized state public employee organizations. Existing law excludes certain employees from coverage under the Dills Act, including, among others, managerial employees, supervisory employees, and confidential employees, as defined. Existing law creates the Public Employment Relations Board and authorizes it, among other things, to determine appropriate state employee bargaining units, as specified.
This bill would enact the Legislature Employer-Employee Relations Act, to provide employees of the Legislature the right to form, join, and participate in the activities of employee organizations of their own choosing for the purpose of representation on all matters of employer-employee relations. The bill would prescribe rights, duties, and prohibitions in this context that parallel those in the Dills Act. The bill would prohibit the Public Employment Relations Board from including employees of the Legislature in a bargaining unit that includes employees other than those of the Legislature. The bill would make it a misdemeanor for any person to willfully resist, prevent, impede, or interfere with any member of the board, or any of its agents, in the performance of duties pursuant to its provisions. By expanding the definition of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would provide that the provisions of the Legislature Employer-Employee Relations Act are severable. The bill would become operative on July 1, 2024.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
This chapter shall be known, and may be cited, as the Legislature Employer-Employee Relations Act.
3599.51.The Legislature finds and declares that it is the purpose of this chapter to promote full communication between each employer and its employees by providing a reasonable method of resolving disputes regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment between the employer and public employee organizations. It is also the purpose of this chapter to promote the improvement of personnel management and employer-employee relations within the employer by providing a uniform basis for recognizing the right of its employees to join organizations of their own choosing and be represented by those organizations in their employment relations with their employer. It is further the purpose of this chapter, in order to foster peaceful employer-employee relations, to allow the employees to select one employee organization as the exclusive representative of the employees in an appropriate unit and to permit the exclusive representative to receive financial support from those employees who receive the benefits of this representation.
3599.52.For purposes of this chapter:
(a)Board means the Public Employment Relations Board. The powers and duties of the board described in Section 3541.3 also apply, as appropriate, to this chapter, except as otherwise provided in this chapter. Notwithstanding this chapter or any other law, the board shall not intrude upon or interfere with the Legislatures core function of efficient and effective lawmaking or the essential operation of the Legislature.
(b)(1)Employee means any employee respectively of either house of the Legislature, except all of the following:
(A)Members of the Legislature.
(B)Appointed officers of the Legislature, such as the Secretary of the Senate and the Chief Clerk of the Assembly.
(C)Department or office leaders, such as chiefs-of-staff, staff directors, and chief consultants. Department or office leader means any supervisory employee having authority, in the interest of the employer, to hire, transfer, suspend, lay off, recall, promote, discharge, assign, reward, or discipline other employees, or responsibility to direct them, or effectively to recommend this action, if, in connection with the foregoing, the exercise of any authority is not of a merely routine or clerical nature, but requires the use of independent judgment.
(D)Confidential employees. Confidential employee means any employee who is required to develop or present management positions with respect to employer-employee relations or whose duties normally require access to confidential information contributing significantly to the development of management positions.
(E)Excluded employees.
(2)Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, the employer shall have the sole and exclusive authority to designate employees as department or office leaders, confidential employees, or excluded employees, as specified in subparagraphs (C) to (E), inclusive, of paragraph (1), except that department or office leaders, confidential employees, and excluded employees shall not, collectively, exceed one-third of the total employee positions authorized by the employer.
(c)Employee organization means any organization that includes employees and that has as one of its primary purposes representing these employees in their relations with the employer.
(d)Employer means the Assembly Committee on Rules or the Senate Committee on Rules. For the purposes of bargaining or meeting and conferring in good faith, employer means the Assembly Committee on Rules or the Senate Committee on Rules, or their designated representatives, acting with the authorization of their respective houses.
(e)Maintenance of membership means that all employees who voluntarily are, or who voluntarily become, members of a recognized employee organization shall remain members of that employee organization in good standing for a period as agreed to by the parties pursuant to a memorandum of understanding, commencing with the effective date of the memorandum of understanding. A maintenance of membership provision does not apply to any employee who within 30 days prior to the expiration of the memorandum of understanding withdraws from the employee organization by sending a signed withdrawal letter to the employee organization and a copy to the Controllers office.
(f)Mediation means effort by an impartial third party to assist in reconciling a dispute regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment between representatives of the employer and the recognized employee organization or recognized employee organizations through interpretation, suggestion, and advice.
(g)Recognized employee organization means an employee organization that has been recognized by the employer as the exclusive representative of the employees in an appropriate unit.
3599.54.Any person who willfully resists, prevents, impedes, or interferes with any member of the board, or any of its agents, in the performance of duties pursuant to this chapter, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be sentenced to pay a fine of not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000).
3599.55.The initial determination as to whether charges of unfair practices are justified, and, if so, what remedy is necessary to effectuate the purposes of this chapter, is a matter within the exclusive jurisdiction of the board, except that, in an action to recover damages due to an unlawful strike, the board shall not award strike-preparation expenses as damages, and shall not award damages for costs, expenses, or revenue losses incurred during, or as a consequence of, an unlawful strike. Procedures for investigating, hearing, and deciding these cases shall be devised and promulgated by the board and shall include all of the following:
(a)Any employee or employee organization, or the employer, has the right to file an unfair practice charge, except that the board shall not do either of the following:
(1)Issue a complaint respecting a charge based upon an alleged unfair practice that occurred more than six months prior to the filing of the charge.
(2)Issue a complaint respecting conduct also prohibited by the provisions of the agreement between the parties until the grievance machinery of the agreement, if it exists and covers the matter at issue, has been exhausted, either by settlement or binding arbitration. However, when the charging party demonstrates that resort to contract grievance procedures would be futile, their exhaustion is not necessary. The board has discretionary jurisdiction to review a settlement or arbitration award reached pursuant to the grievance machinery solely for the purpose of determining whether it is repugnant to the purposes of this chapter. If the board finds that the settlement or arbitration award is repugnant to the purposes of this chapter, it shall issue a complaint on the basis of a timely filed charge, and hear and decide the case on the merits; otherwise, it shall dismiss the charge. The board shall, in determining whether the charge was timely filed, consider the six-month limitation set forth in paragraph (1) to have been tolled during the time it took the charging party to exhaust the grievance machinery.
(b)The board shall not enforce agreements between the parties or issue a complaint on any charge based on an alleged violation of an agreement that would not also constitute an unfair practice under this chapter.
(c)The board may issue a decision and order directing an offending party to cease and desist from the unfair practice and to take such affirmative action, including, but not limited to, the reinstatement of employees with or without backpay, as will effectuate the policies of this chapter, except that the board shall not issue any decision or order that intrudes upon or interferes with the Legislatures core function of efficient and effective lawmaking or the essential operation of the Legislature.
3599.56.Employees have the right to form, join, and participate in the activities of employee organizations of their own choosing for the purpose of representation on all matters of employer-employee relations. Employees also have the right to refuse to join or participate in the activities of employee organizations, except that the parties are not precluded from agreeing to a maintenance of membership provision pursuant to a memorandum of understanding. In any event, employees have the right to represent themselves individually in their employment relations with the employer.
3599.57.Employee organizations have the right to represent their members in their employment relations with the employer, except that once an employee organization is recognized as the exclusive representative of an appropriate unit, the recognized employee organization is the only organization that may represent that unit in employment relations with the employer. Employee organizations may establish reasonable restrictions regarding who may join and may make reasonable provisions for the dismissal of individuals from membership. This section does not prohibit any employee from appearing on the employees own behalf in the employees employment relations with the employer.
3599.58.All employee organizations have the right to have membership dues, initiation fees, membership benefit programs, and general assessments deducted pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 1152 and Section 1153 until an employee organization is recognized as the exclusive representative for employees in an appropriate unit, and then any deductions as to any employee in the negotiating unit are not permissible except to the exclusive representative.
3599.59.(a)Once an employee organization is recognized as the exclusive representative of an appropriate unit, it may enter into an agreement with the employer providing for organizational security in the form of a maintenance of membership deduction.
(b)The employer shall furnish the recognized employee organization with sufficient employment data to allow the organization to calculate membership fees, and shall deduct the amount specified by the recognized employee organization from the salary or wages of every employee for the membership fee. These fees shall be remitted monthly to the recognized employee organization along with an adequate itemized record of the deductions, including, if required by the recognized employee organization, machine readable data.
3599.60.(a)The scope of representation is limited to wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment, except that the scope of representation does not include consideration of the merits, necessity, or organization of any service or activity provided by law.
(b)In view of the powers and responsibilities vested in the Legislature pursuant to the California Constitution, decisions regarding the following matters shall not be included within the scope of representation:
(1)Any matter relating to the qualifications and elections of Members of the Legislature, or the holding of office of Members of the Legislature.
(2)Any matter relating to the Legislature or each house thereof choosing its officers, adopting rules for its proceedings, selecting committees necessary for the conduct of its business, considering and enacting legislation, or otherwise exercising the legislative power of this state.
(3)Any matter relating to legislative calendars, schedules, and deadlines of the Legislature.
(4)Laws, rules, policies, or procedures regarding ethics or conflicts of interest.
3599.61.(a)Except in cases of emergency as provided in subdivision (b), the employer shall give reasonable written notice to each recognized employee organization affected by any policy or procedure directly relating to matters within the scope of representation proposed to be adopted by the employer, and shall give such recognized employee organizations the opportunity to meet and confer with the employer.
(b)In cases of emergency when the employer determines that a policy or procedure must be adopted immediately without prior notice or meeting with a recognized employee organization, the employer shall provide notice and opportunity to meet and confer in good faith at the earliest practical time following the adoption of the policy or procedure.
3599.62.(a)The employer shall meet and confer in good faith regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment with representatives of recognized employee organizations, and shall consider fully such presentations as are made by the employee organization on behalf of its members prior to arriving at a determination of policy or course of action. For purposes of this section, the term meet and confer in good faith means that the employer and representatives of recognized employee organizations have the mutual obligation to personally meet and confer promptly upon request by either party and continue to meet and confer for a reasonable period of time in order to exchange freely information, opinions, and proposals, and to endeavor to reach agreement on matters within the scope of representation prior to the adoption by the state of its final budget for the ensuing year. The process should include adequate time for the resolution of impasses.
(b)The employer shall freely provide to representatives of recognized employee organizations nonconfidential information that is necessary and relevant to their scope of representation. However, this chapter does not require the employer to provide confidential information to representatives of recognized employee organizations. For purposes of this subdivision, confidential information means any information contained in records that are exempt from public disclosure under federal or state law. Confidential information does not include the name, job title, office, workplace location, work telephone number and email address, and home or personal telephone number and email address, if on file with the employer, for employees in the bargaining unit of the recognized employee organization.
3599.63.If an agreement is reached between the employer and the recognized employee organization, the parties shall jointly prepare a written memorandum of understanding reflecting the terms of the agreement, which shall be presented, when appropriate, to the employer for adoption as a resolution.
3599.64.A side letter, appendix, or other addendum to a properly ratified memorandum of understanding shall be expressly identified by the parties if that side letter, appendix, or other addendum is to be incorporated in a subsequent memorandum of understanding submitted to the employer for adoption as a resolution.
3599.65.If the employer does not fully fund any provision of the memorandum of understanding that requires the expenditure of funds, either party may reopen negotiations on all or part of the memorandum of understanding. The parties are not precluded from agreeing to and effecting those provisions of the memorandum of understanding that do not require legislative adoption of a resolution.
3599.66.(a)If a memorandum of understanding has expired, and the employer and the recognized employee organization have not agreed to a new memorandum of understanding and have not reached an impasse in negotiations, subject to subdivision (b), the parties to the agreement shall continue to give effect to the provisions of the expired memorandum of understanding, including provisions that supersede existing law, arbitration provisions, no-strike provisions, and agreements regarding matters covered in the federal Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. Sec. 201 et seq.).
(b)If the employer and the recognized employee organization reach an impasse in negotiations for a new memorandum of understanding, the employer may implement any or all of its last, best, and final offer through adoption of a resolution. Implementation of the last, best, and final offer does not relieve the parties of the obligation to bargain in good faith and reach an agreement on a memorandum of understanding if circumstances change, and does not result in a waiver of rights that the recognized employee organization has under this chapter.
3599.67.If, after a reasonable period of time, the employer and the recognized employee organization fail to reach an agreement, the employer and the recognized employee organization may agree upon the appointment of a mediator mutually agreeable to the parties, or either party may request the board to appoint a mediator. When both parties mutually agree upon a mediator, the costs of mediation shall be divided one-half to the employer and one-half to the recognized employee organization. If the board appoints the mediator, the costs of mediation shall be paid by the board.
3599.68.A reasonable number of employee representatives of recognized employee organizations shall be granted reasonable time off without loss of compensation or other benefits when formally meeting and conferring with the employer on matters within the scope of representation. This section applies only to employees, as defined by Section 3599.52, and only for periods when a memorandum of understanding is not in effect.
3599.69.It is unlawful for the employer to do any of the following:
(a)Impose or threaten to impose reprisals on employees, discriminate or threaten to discriminate against employees, or otherwise interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees because of their exercise of rights guaranteed by this chapter. For purposes of this subdivision, employee includes an applicant for employment or reemployment.
(b)Deny to employee organizations rights guaranteed to them by this chapter.
(c)Refuse or fail to meet and confer in good faith with a recognized employee organization.
(d)Dominate or interfere with the formation or administration of any employee organization, or contribute financial or other support to it, or in any way encourage employees to join any organization in preference to another.
(e)Refuse to participate in good faith in the mediation procedure set forth in Section 3599.67.
3599.70.It is unlawful for an employee organization to do any of the following:
(a)Cause or attempt to cause the employer to violate Section 3599.69.
(b)Impose or threaten to impose reprisals on employees, discriminate or threaten to discriminate against employees, or otherwise interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees because of their exercise of rights guaranteed by this chapter.
(c)Refuse or fail to meet and confer in good faith with the Legislature in relation to the employees for whom it is the recognized employee organization.
(d)Refuse to participate in good faith in the mediation procedure set forth in Section 3599.67.
3599.71.(a)Judicial review of a unit determination is allowed only under either of the following circumstances:
(1)When the board, in response to a petition from the employer or an employee organization, agrees that the case is one of special importance and joins in the request for review.
(2)When the issue is raised as a defense to an unfair practice complaint. A board order directing an election shall not be stayed pending judicial review.
(b)Upon receipt of a board order joining in a request for judicial review, a party to the case may petition for a writ of extraordinary relief from the unit determination decision or order.
(c)Any charging party, respondent, or intervenor aggrieved by a final decision or order of the board in an unfair practice case, except a decision of the board not to issue a complaint in such a case, may petition for a writ of extraordinary relief from the decision or order.
(d)The petition shall be filed in the district court of appeal in the appellate district where the unit determination or unfair practice dispute occurred. The petition shall be filed within 30 days after issuance of the boards final order, order denying reconsideration, or order joining in the request for judicial review, as applicable. Upon the filing of the petition, the court shall cause notice to be served upon the board and thereupon shall have jurisdiction of the proceeding. The board shall file in the court the record of the proceeding, certified by the board, within 10 days after the clerks notice unless the time is extended by the court for good cause shown. The court has jurisdiction to grant to the board any temporary relief or restraining order it deems just and proper and in like manner to make and enter a decree enforcing, modifying, or setting aside the order of the board. The findings of the board with respect to questions of fact, including ultimate facts, if supported by substantial evidence on the record considered as a whole, are conclusive. The provisions of Title 1 (commencing with Section 1067) of Part 3 of the Code of Civil Procedure relating to writs, except where specifically superseded herein, apply to proceedings pursuant to this section.
(e)If the time to petition for extraordinary relief from a board decision has expired, the board may seek enforcement of any final decision or order in a district court of appeal or a superior court in the district where the unit determination or unfair practice case occurred. If, after a hearing, the court determines that the order was issued pursuant to procedures established by the board and that the person or entity refuses to comply with the order, the court shall enforce the order by writ of mandamus. The court shall not review the merits of the order.
3599.72.(a)The employer shall grant exclusive recognition to employee organizations designated or selected pursuant to rules established by the board for employees or an appropriate unit thereof, subject to the right of an employee to self-represent.
(b)The board shall establish reasonable procedures for petitions and for holding elections and determining appropriate units pursuant to subdivision (a).
(c)The board, as it determines appropriate bargaining units, shall not include employees in a bargaining unit that includes employees other than those of the employer. The board shall not include within a bargaining unit employees from both the Assembly and Senate. The board shall not separate employees into bargaining units solely based on political affiliation.
(d)The board shall establish procedures whereby recognition of employee organizations formally recognized as exclusive representatives pursuant to a vote of the employees may be revoked by a majority vote of the employees only after a period of not less than 12 months following the date of such recognition.
3599.73.The employer shall adopt reasonable rules for all of the following:
(a)Registering employee organizations, as defined by subdivision (c) of Section 3599.52.
(b)Determining the status of organizations as employee organizations.
(c)Identifying the officers and representatives who officially represent employee organizations.
3599.74.Notwithstanding any other law, if a decision by an administrative law judge regarding the recognition or certification of an employee organization is appealed, the decision is the final order of the board if the board does not issue a ruling that supersedes the decision on or before 180 days after the appeal is filed.
3599.75.(a)In determining an appropriate unit, the board is governed by the criteria in subdivision (b). However, the board shall not direct an election in a unit unless one or more of the employee organizations involved in the proceeding seeks or agrees to an election in the unit.
(b)In determining an appropriate unit, the board shall take into consideration all of the following criteria:
(1)The internal and occupational community of interest among the employees, including, but not limited to, all of the following:
(A)The extent to which they perform functionally related services or work toward established common goals.
(B)The history of employee representation in state government and in similar employment.
(C)The extent to which the employees have common skills, working conditions, job duties, or similar educational or training requirements.
(2)The effect that the projected unit will have on the meet and confer relationships, emphasizing the availability and authority of the employers representatives to deal effectively with employee organizations representing the unit, and taking into account such factors as work location, the numerical size of the unit, the relationship of the unit to organizational patterns of the employer, and the effect on the existing classification structure or existing classification schematic of dividing a single class or single classification schematic among two or more units.
(3)The effect of the proposed unit on efficient operations of the employer and the compatibility of the unit with the responsibility of the employer and its employees to serve the public.
(4)The number of employees and classifications in a proposed unit and its effect on the operations of the employer, on the objectives of providing the employees the right to effective representation, and on the meet and confer relationship.
(5)The impact on the meet and confer relationship created by fragmentation of employees or any proliferation of units among employees.
(c)Political affiliation shall not constitute a community of interest for purposes of determining an appropriate unit.
3599.76.(a)(1)All initial meet and confer proposals of recognized employee organizations shall be presented to the employer at a public meeting, and those proposals thereafter are a public record.
(2)All initial meet and confer proposals or counterproposals of the employer shall be presented to the recognized employee organization at a public meeting, and those proposals or counterproposals thereafter are a public record.
(b)Except in cases of emergency as provided in subdivision (d), meeting and conferring shall not take place on any proposal subject to subdivision (a) until not less than seven consecutive days have elapsed to enable the public to become informed, and to publicly express itself regarding the proposals, as well as regarding other possible subjects of meeting and conferring, and thereafter, the employer shall, in an open meeting, hear public comment on all matters related to the meet and confer proposals.
(c)Forty-eight hours after any proposal that includes any substantive subject that has not first been presented in proposals for public reaction pursuant to this section is offered during any meeting and conferring session, the proposal and the position, if any, taken by the representatives of the employer are a public record.
(d)Subdivision (b) does not apply when the employer determines that, due to an act of God, natural disaster, or other emergency or calamity affecting the state, and that is beyond the control of the employer or recognized employee organization, it must meet and confer and take action upon a proposal immediately and without sufficient time for the public to become informed and to publicly express itself. In those cases, the results of the meeting and conferring shall be made public as soon as reasonably possible.
(e)This section does not affect the authority of each house of the Legislature and the committees thereof to hold closed meetings pursuant to paragraphs (3) and (4) of subdivision (c) of Section 7 of Article IV of the California Constitution and Article 2.2 (commencing with Section 9027) of Chapter 1.5 of Part 1 of Division 2 of Title 2.
3599.77.This chapter does not apply Section 923 of the Labor Code to employees.
3599.78.This chapter does not modify or eliminate any existing wages, hours, or terms and conditions of employment for employees. All existing wages, hours, and terms and conditions of employment for employees shall remain in effect unless and until changed in accordance with the employers procedures or pursuant to a memorandum of understanding or agreement between the employer and a recognized employee organization.
3599.79.If any provision of this chapter, or the application thereof to any person or circumstances, is held invalid, the invalidity shall not affect any other provision or application of this chapter that can be given effect without the invalid provision or application and, to this end, the provisions of this chapter are severable.
3599.80.Expenses incurred by the employer in relation to a properly ratified memorandum of understanding pursuant to this chapter are subject to Section 7.5 of Article IV of the California Constitution.
3599.81.Notwithstanding any other law, the expression of any views, arguments, or opinions, or the dissemination thereof in any form, by a Member of the Legislature or an employee, including any employee specified in subparagraphs (B) to (E), inclusive, of paragraph (1) of subdivision (b) of Section 3599.52, related to this chapter or to matters within the scope of representation, shall not constitute, or be evidence of, an unfair labor practice, unless the employer authorized the individual to express that view, argument, or opinion on behalf of, or authorized the individual to represent, the employer as an employer.
3599.82.Notwithstanding Article 3.5 (commencing with Section 9070) of Chapter 1.5 of Part 1 of Division 2 of Title 2, or any other law, the employer is not required to disclose legislative records related to activities governed by this chapter, that reveal the employers deliberative processes, impressions, evaluations, opinions, recommendations, meeting minutes, research, work product, theories, or strategy, or that provide instruction, advice, or training to employees who do not have full collective bargaining and representation rights under this chapter.
3599.83.Employees of the Legislature are exempt from civil service under the California Constitution. A memorandum of understanding entered into between an employer and a recognized employee organization shall not prohibit the employer from separating an employee if the Member of the Legislature to whom the employee is assigned is not reelected, resigns, or otherwise departs from the employer. The employer shall provide a transition period for an employee if the Member of the Legislature to whom the employee is assigned is not reelected, resigns, or otherwise departs from the employer. The terms of the transition period, which may include, but are not limited to, length of time or opportunities to apply for vacancies with the employer, are within the scope of representation and are subject to collective bargaining.
3599.84.This chapter shall become operative on July 1, 2026.
SEC. 2.No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIIIB of the California Constitution because the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIIIB of the California Constitution.
SEC. 3.The Legislature finds and declares that Section 1 of this act, which adds Section 3599.82 to the Government Code, imposes a limitation on the publics right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies within the meaning of Section 3 of Article I of the California Constitution. Pursuant to that constitutional provision, the Legislature makes the following findings to demonstrate the interest protected by this limitation and the need for protecting that interest:
In order to fulfill the purpose of this act to promote full communication between the Legislature and its employees by providing a reasonable method of resolving disputes regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions and to allow the Legislature, in its role as employer, the opportunity to develop responsible and meaningful bargaining positions to present to employee representatives pursuant to this act and respond to the positions put forth by the same, it is necessary that this act limit the publics access to that information.
This chapter shall be known, and may be cited, as the Legislature Employer-Employee Relations Act.
3599.51.The Legislature finds and declares that it is the purpose of this chapter to promote full communication between each employer and its employees by providing a reasonable method of resolving disputes regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment between the employer and public employee organizations. It is also the purpose of this chapter to promote the improvement of personnel management and employer-employee relations within the employer by providing a uniform basis for recognizing the right of its employees to join organizations of their own choosing and be represented by those organizations in their employment relations with their employer. It is further the purpose of this chapter, in order to foster peaceful employer-employee relations, to allow the employees to select one employee organization as the exclusive representative of the employees in an appropriate unit and to permit the exclusive representative to receive financial support from those employees who receive the benefits of this representation.
3599.52.For purposes of this chapter:
(a)Board means the Public Employment Relations Board. The powers and duties of the board described in Section 3541.3 also apply, as appropriate, to this chapter, except as otherwise provided in this chapter. Notwithstanding this chapter or any other law, the board shall not intrude upon or interfere with the Legislatures core function of efficient and effective lawmaking or the essential operation of the Legislature.
(b)(1)Employee means any employee respectively of either house of the Legislature, except all of the following:
(A)Members of the Legislature.
(B)Appointed officers of the Legislature, such as the Secretary of the Senate and the Chief Clerk of the Assembly.
(C)Department or office leaders, such as chiefs-of-staff, staff directors, and chief consultants. Department or office leader means any supervisory employee having authority, in the interest of the employer, to hire, transfer, suspend, lay off, recall, promote, discharge, assign, reward, or discipline other employees, or responsibility to direct them, or effectively to recommend this action, if, in connection with the foregoing, the exercise of any authority is not of a merely routine or clerical nature, but requires the use of independent judgment.
(D)Confidential employees. Confidential employee means any employee who is required to develop or present management positions with respect to employer-employee relations or whose duties normally require access to confidential information contributing significantly to the development of management positions.
(E)Excluded employees.
(2)Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, the employer shall have the sole and exclusive authority to designate employees as department or office leaders, confidential employees, or excluded employees, as specified in subparagraphs (C) to (E), inclusive, of paragraph (1), except that department or office leaders, confidential employees, and excluded employees shall not, collectively, exceed one-third of the total employee positions authorized by the employer.
(c)Employee organization means any organization that includes employees and that has as one of its primary purposes representing these employees in their relations with the employer.
(d)Employer means the Assembly Committee on Rules or the Senate Committee on Rules. For the purposes of bargaining or meeting and conferring in good faith, employer means the Assembly Committee on Rules or the Senate Committee on Rules, or their designated representatives, acting with the authorization of their respective houses.
(e)Maintenance of membership means that all employees who voluntarily are, or who voluntarily become, members of a recognized employee organization shall remain members of that employee organization in good standing for a period as agreed to by the parties pursuant to a memorandum of understanding, commencing with the effective date of the memorandum of understanding. A maintenance of membership provision does not apply to any employee who within 30 days prior to the expiration of the memorandum of understanding withdraws from the employee organization by sending a signed withdrawal letter to the employee organization and a copy to the Controllers office.
(f)Mediation means effort by an impartial third party to assist in reconciling a dispute regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment between representatives of the employer and the recognized employee organization or recognized employee organizations through interpretation, suggestion, and advice.
(g)Recognized employee organization means an employee organization that has been recognized by the employer as the exclusive representative of the employees in an appropriate unit.
3599.54.Any person who willfully resists, prevents, impedes, or interferes with any member of the board, or any of its agents, in the performance of duties pursuant to this chapter, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be sentenced to pay a fine of not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000).
3599.55.The initial determination as to whether charges of unfair practices are justified, and, if so, what remedy is necessary to effectuate the purposes of this chapter, is a matter within the exclusive jurisdiction of the board, except that, in an action to recover damages due to an unlawful strike, the board shall not award strike-preparation expenses as damages, and shall not award damages for costs, expenses, or revenue losses incurred during, or as a consequence of, an unlawful strike. Procedures for investigating, hearing, and deciding these cases shall be devised and promulgated by the board and shall include all of the following:
(a)Any employee or employee organization, or the employer, has the right to file an unfair practice charge, except that the board shall not do either of the following:
(1)Issue a complaint respecting a charge based upon an alleged unfair practice that occurred more than six months prior to the filing of the charge.
(2)Issue a complaint respecting conduct also prohibited by the provisions of the agreement between the parties until the grievance machinery of the agreement, if it exists and covers the matter at issue, has been exhausted, either by settlement or binding arbitration. However, when the charging party demonstrates that resort to contract grievance procedures would be futile, their exhaustion is not necessary. The board has discretionary jurisdiction to review a settlement or arbitration award reached pursuant to the grievance machinery solely for the purpose of determining whether it is repugnant to the purposes of this chapter. If the board finds that the settlement or arbitration award is repugnant to the purposes of this chapter, it shall issue a complaint on the basis of a timely filed charge, and hear and decide the case on the merits; otherwise, it shall dismiss the charge. The board shall, in determining whether the charge was timely filed, consider the six-month limitation set forth in paragraph (1) to have been tolled during the time it took the charging party to exhaust the grievance machinery.
(b)The board shall not enforce agreements between the parties or issue a complaint on any charge based on an alleged violation of an agreement that would not also constitute an unfair practice under this chapter.
(c)The board may issue a decision and order directing an offending party to cease and desist from the unfair practice and to take such affirmative action, including, but not limited to, the reinstatement of employees with or without backpay, as will effectuate the policies of this chapter, except that the board shall not issue any decision or order that intrudes upon or interferes with the Legislatures core function of efficient and effective lawmaking or the essential operation of the Legislature.
3599.56.Employees have the right to form, join, and participate in the activities of employee organizations of their own choosing for the purpose of representation on all matters of employer-employee relations. Employees also have the right to refuse to join or participate in the activities of employee organizations, except that the parties are not precluded from agreeing to a maintenance of membership provision pursuant to a memorandum of understanding. In any event, employees have the right to represent themselves individually in their employment relations with the employer.
3599.57.Employee organizations have the right to represent their members in their employment relations with the employer, except that once an employee organization is recognized as the exclusive representative of an appropriate unit, the recognized employee organization is the only organization that may represent that unit in employment relations with the employer. Employee organizations may establish reasonable restrictions regarding who may join and may make reasonable provisions for the dismissal of individuals from membership. This section does not prohibit any employee from appearing on the employees own behalf in the employees employment relations with the employer.
3599.58.All employee organizations have the right to have membership dues, initiation fees, membership benefit programs, and general assessments deducted pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 1152 and Section 1153 until an employee organization is recognized as the exclusive representative for employees in an appropriate unit, and then any deductions as to any employee in the negotiating unit are not permissible except to the exclusive representative.
3599.59.(a)Once an employee organization is recognized as the exclusive representative of an appropriate unit, it may enter into an agreement with the employer providing for organizational security in the form of a maintenance of membership deduction.
(b)The employer shall furnish the recognized employee organization with sufficient employment data to allow the organization to calculate membership fees, and shall deduct the amount specified by the recognized employee organization from the salary or wages of every employee for the membership fee. These fees shall be remitted monthly to the recognized employee organization along with an adequate itemized record of the deductions, including, if required by the recognized employee organization, machine readable data.
3599.60.(a)The scope of representation is limited to wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment, except that the scope of representation does not include consideration of the merits, necessity, or organization of any service or activity provided by law.
(b)In view of the powers and responsibilities vested in the Legislature pursuant to the California Constitution, decisions regarding the following matters shall not be included within the scope of representation:
(1)Any matter relating to the qualifications and elections of Members of the Legislature, or the holding of office of Members of the Legislature.
(2)Any matter relating to the Legislature or each house thereof choosing its officers, adopting rules for its proceedings, selecting committees necessary for the conduct of its business, considering and enacting legislation, or otherwise exercising the legislative power of this state.
(3)Any matter relating to legislative calendars, schedules, and deadlines of the Legislature.
(4)Laws, rules, policies, or procedures regarding ethics or conflicts of interest.
3599.61.(a)Except in cases of emergency as provided in subdivision (b), the employer shall give reasonable written notice to each recognized employee organization affected by any policy or procedure directly relating to matters within the scope of representation proposed to be adopted by the employer, and shall give such recognized employee organizations the opportunity to meet and confer with the employer.
(b)In cases of emergency when the employer determines that a policy or procedure must be adopted immediately without prior notice or meeting with a recognized employee organization, the employer shall provide notice and opportunity to meet and confer in good faith at the earliest practical time following the adoption of the policy or procedure.
3599.62.(a)The employer shall meet and confer in good faith regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment with representatives of recognized employee organizations, and shall consider fully such presentations as are made by the employee organization on behalf of its members prior to arriving at a determination of policy or course of action. For purposes of this section, the term meet and confer in good faith means that the employer and representatives of recognized employee organizations have the mutual obligation to personally meet and confer promptly upon request by either party and continue to meet and confer for a reasonable period of time in order to exchange freely information, opinions, and proposals, and to endeavor to reach agreement on matters within the scope of representation prior to the adoption by the state of its final budget for the ensuing year. The process should include adequate time for the resolution of impasses.
(b)The employer shall freely provide to representatives of recognized employee organizations nonconfidential information that is necessary and relevant to their scope of representation. However, this chapter does not require the employer to provide confidential information to representatives of recognized employee organizations. For purposes of this subdivision, confidential information means any information contained in records that are exempt from public disclosure under federal or state law. Confidential information does not include the name, job title, office, workplace location, work telephone number and email address, and home or personal telephone number and email address, if on file with the employer, for employees in the bargaining unit of the recognized employee organization.
3599.63.If an agreement is reached between the employer and the recognized employee organization, the parties shall jointly prepare a written memorandum of understanding reflecting the terms of the agreement, which shall be presented, when appropriate, to the employer for adoption as a resolution.
3599.64.A side letter, appendix, or other addendum to a properly ratified memorandum of understanding shall be expressly identified by the parties if that side letter, appendix, or other addendum is to be incorporated in a subsequent memorandum of understanding submitted to the employer for adoption as a resolution.
3599.65.If the employer does not fully fund any provision of the memorandum of understanding that requires the expenditure of funds, either party may reopen negotiations on all or part of the memorandum of understanding. The parties are not precluded from agreeing to and effecting those provisions of the memorandum of understanding that do not require legislative adoption of a resolution.
3599.66.(a)If a memorandum of understanding has expired, and the employer and the recognized employee organization have not agreed to a new memorandum of understanding and have not reached an impasse in negotiations, subject to subdivision (b), the parties to the agreement shall continue to give effect to the provisions of the expired memorandum of understanding, including provisions that supersede existing law, arbitration provisions, no-strike provisions, and agreements regarding matters covered in the federal Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. Sec. 201 et seq.).
(b)If the employer and the recognized employee organization reach an impasse in negotiations for a new memorandum of understanding, the employer may implement any or all of its last, best, and final offer through adoption of a resolution. Implementation of the last, best, and final offer does not relieve the parties of the obligation to bargain in good faith and reach an agreement on a memorandum of understanding if circumstances change, and does not result in a waiver of rights that the recognized employee organization has under this chapter.
3599.67.If, after a reasonable period of time, the employer and the recognized employee organization fail to reach an agreement, the employer and the recognized employee organization may agree upon the appointment of a mediator mutually agreeable to the parties, or either party may request the board to appoint a mediator. When both parties mutually agree upon a mediator, the costs of mediation shall be divided one-half to the employer and one-half to the recognized employee organization. If the board appoints the mediator, the costs of mediation shall be paid by the board.
3599.68.A reasonable number of employee representatives of recognized employee organizations shall be granted reasonable time off without loss of compensation or other benefits when formally meeting and conferring with the employer on matters within the scope of representation. This section applies only to employees, as defined by Section 3599.52, and only for periods when a memorandum of understanding is not in effect.
3599.69.It is unlawful for the employer to do any of the following:
(a)Impose or threaten to impose reprisals on employees, discriminate or threaten to discriminate against employees, or otherwise interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees because of their exercise of rights guaranteed by this chapter. For purposes of this subdivision, employee includes an applicant for employment or reemployment.
(b)Deny to employee organizations rights guaranteed to them by this chapter.
(c)Refuse or fail to meet and confer in good faith with a recognized employee organization.
(d)Dominate or interfere with the formation or administration of any employee organization, or contribute financial or other support to it, or in any way encourage employees to join any organization in preference to another.
(e)Refuse to participate in good faith in the mediation procedure set forth in Section 3599.67.
3599.70.It is unlawful for an employee organization to do any of the following:
(a)Cause or attempt to cause the employer to violate Section 3599.69.
(b)Impose or threaten to impose reprisals on employees, discriminate or threaten to discriminate against employees, or otherwise interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees because of their exercise of rights guaranteed by this chapter.
(c)Refuse or fail to meet and confer in good faith with the Legislature in relation to the employees for whom it is the recognized employee organization.
(d)Refuse to participate in good faith in the mediation procedure set forth in Section 3599.67.
3599.71.(a)Judicial review of a unit determination is allowed only under either of the following circumstances:
(1)When the board, in response to a petition from the employer or an employee organization, agrees that the case is one of special importance and joins in the request for review.
(2)When the issue is raised as a defense to an unfair practice complaint. A board order directing an election shall not be stayed pending judicial review.
(b)Upon receipt of a board order joining in a request for judicial review, a party to the case may petition for a writ of extraordinary relief from the unit determination decision or order.
(c)Any charging party, respondent, or intervenor aggrieved by a final decision or order of the board in an unfair practice case, except a decision of the board not to issue a complaint in such a case, may petition for a writ of extraordinary relief from the decision or order.
(d)The petition shall be filed in the district court of appeal in the appellate district where the unit determination or unfair practice dispute occurred. The petition shall be filed within 30 days after issuance of the boards final order, order denying reconsideration, or order joining in the request for judicial review, as applicable. Upon the filing of the petition, the court shall cause notice to be served upon the board and thereupon shall have jurisdiction of the proceeding. The board shall file in the court the record of the proceeding, certified by the board, within 10 days after the clerks notice unless the time is extended by the court for good cause shown. The court has jurisdiction to grant to the board any temporary relief or restraining order it deems just and proper and in like manner to make and enter a decree enforcing, modifying, or setting aside the order of the board. The findings of the board with respect to questions of fact, including ultimate facts, if supported by substantial evidence on the record considered as a whole, are conclusive. The provisions of Title 1 (commencing with Section 1067) of Part 3 of the Code of Civil Procedure relating to writs, except where specifically superseded herein, apply to proceedings pursuant to this section.
(e)If the time to petition for extraordinary relief from a board decision has expired, the board may seek enforcement of any final decision or order in a district court of appeal or a superior court in the district where the unit determination or unfair practice case occurred. If, after a hearing, the court determines that the order was issued pursuant to procedures established by the board and that the person or entity refuses to comply with the order, the court shall enforce the order by writ of mandamus. The court shall not review the merits of the order.
3599.72.(a)The employer shall grant exclusive recognition to employee organizations designated or selected pursuant to rules established by the board for employees or an appropriate unit thereof, subject to the right of an employee to self-represent.
(b)The board shall establish reasonable procedures for petitions and for holding elections and determining appropriate units pursuant to subdivision (a).
(c)The board, as it determines appropriate bargaining units, shall not include employees in a bargaining unit that includes employees other than those of the employer. The board shall not include within a bargaining unit employees from both the Assembly and Senate. The board shall not separate employees into bargaining units solely based on political affiliation.
(d)The board shall establish procedures whereby recognition of employee organizations formally recognized as exclusive representatives pursuant to a vote of the employees may be revoked by a majority vote of the employees only after a period of not less than 12 months following the date of such recognition.
3599.73.The employer shall adopt reasonable rules for all of the following:
(a)Registering employee organizations, as defined by subdivision (c) of Section 3599.52.
(b)Determining the status of organizations as employee organizations.
(c)Identifying the officers and representatives who officially represent employee organizations.
3599.74.Notwithstanding any other law, if a decision by an administrative law judge regarding the recognition or certification of an employee organization is appealed, the decision is the final order of the board if the board does not issue a ruling that supersedes the decision on or before 180 days after the appeal is filed.
3599.75.(a)In determining an appropriate unit, the board is governed by the criteria in subdivision (b). However, the board shall not direct an election in a unit unless one or more of the employee organizations involved in the proceeding seeks or agrees to an election in the unit.
(b)In determining an appropriate unit, the board shall take into consideration all of the following criteria:
(1)The internal and occupational community of interest among the employees, including, but not limited to, all of the following:
(A)The extent to which they perform functionally related services or work toward established common goals.
(B)The history of employee representation in state government and in similar employment.
(C)The extent to which the employees have common skills, working conditions, job duties, or similar educational or training requirements.
(2)The effect that the projected unit will have on the meet and confer relationships, emphasizing the availability and authority of the employers representatives to deal effectively with employee organizations representing the unit, and taking into account such factors as work location, the numerical size of the unit, the relationship of the unit to organizational patterns of the employer, and the effect on the existing classification structure or existing classification schematic of dividing a single class or single classification schematic among two or more units.
(3)The effect of the proposed unit on efficient operations of the employer and the compatibility of the unit with the responsibility of the employer and its employees to serve the public.
(4)The number of employees and classifications in a proposed unit and its effect on the operations of the employer, on the objectives of providing the employees the right to effective representation, and on the meet and confer relationship.
(5)The impact on the meet and confer relationship created by fragmentation of employees or any proliferation of units among employees.
(c)Political affiliation shall not constitute a community of interest for purposes of determining an appropriate unit.
3599.76.(a)(1)All initial meet and confer proposals of recognized employee organizations shall be presented to the employer at a public meeting, and those proposals thereafter are a public record.
(2)All initial meet and confer proposals or counterproposals of the employer shall be presented to the recognized employee organization at a public meeting, and those proposals or counterproposals thereafter are a public record.
(b)Except in cases of emergency as provided in subdivision (d), meeting and conferring shall not take place on any proposal subject to subdivision (a) until not less than seven consecutive days have elapsed to enable the public to become informed, and to publicly express itself regarding the proposals, as well as regarding other possible subjects of meeting and conferring, and thereafter, the employer shall, in an open meeting, hear public comment on all matters related to the meet and confer proposals.
(c)Forty-eight hours after any proposal that includes any substantive subject that has not first been presented in proposals for public reaction pursuant to this section is offered during any meeting and conferring session, the proposal and the position, if any, taken by the representatives of the employer are a public record.
(d)Subdivision (b) does not apply when the employer determines that, due to an act of God, natural disaster, or other emergency or calamity affecting the state, and that is beyond the control of the employer or recognized employee organization, it must meet and confer and take action upon a proposal immediately and without sufficient time for the public to become informed and to publicly express itself. In those cases, the results of the meeting and conferring shall be made public as soon as reasonably possible.
(e)This section does not affect the authority of each house of the Legislature and the committees thereof to hold closed meetings pursuant to paragraphs (3) and (4) of subdivision (c) of Section 7 of Article IV of the California Constitution and Article 2.2 (commencing with Section 9027) of Chapter 1.5 of Part 1 of Division 2 of Title 2.
3599.77.This chapter does not apply Section 923 of the Labor Code to employees.
3599.78.This chapter does not modify or eliminate any existing wages, hours, or terms and conditions of employment for employees. All existing wages, hours, and terms and conditions of employment for employees shall remain in effect unless and until changed in accordance with the employers procedures or pursuant to a memorandum of understanding or agreement between the employer and a recognized employee organization.
3599.79.If any provision of this chapter, or the application thereof to any person or circumstances, is held invalid, the invalidity shall not affect any other provision or application of this chapter that can be given effect without the invalid provision or application and, to this end, the provisions of this chapter are severable.
3599.80.Expenses incurred by the employer in relation to a properly ratified memorandum of understanding pursuant to this chapter are subject to Section 7.5 of Article IV of the California Constitution.
3599.81.Notwithstanding any other law, the expression of any views, arguments, or opinions, or the dissemination thereof in any form, by a Member of the Legislature or an employee, including any employee specified in subparagraphs (B) to (E), inclusive, of paragraph (1) of subdivision (b) of Section 3599.52, related to this chapter or to matters within the scope of representation, shall not constitute, or be evidence of, an unfair labor practice, unless the employer authorized the individual to express that view, argument, or opinion on behalf of, or authorized the individual to represent, the employer as an employer.
3599.82.Notwithstanding Article 3.5 (commencing with Section 9070) of Chapter 1.5 of Part 1 of Division 2 of Title 2, or any other law, the employer is not required to disclose legislative records related to activities governed by this chapter, that reveal the employers deliberative processes, impressions, evaluations, opinions, recommendations, meeting minutes, research, work product, theories, or strategy, or that provide instruction, advice, or training to employees who do not have full collective bargaining and representation rights under this chapter.
3599.83.Employees of the Legislature are exempt from civil service under the California Constitution. A memorandum of understanding entered into between an employer and a recognized employee organization shall not prohibit the employer from separating an employee if the Member of the Legislature to whom the employee is assigned is not reelected, resigns, or otherwise departs from the employer. The employer shall provide a transition period for an employee if the Member of the Legislature to whom the employee is assigned is not reelected, resigns, or otherwise departs from the employer. The terms of the transition period, which may include, but are not limited to, length of time or opportunities to apply for vacancies with the employer, are within the scope of representation and are subject to collective bargaining.
3599.84.This chapter shall become operative on July 1, 2026.
SEC. 2.No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIIIB of the California Constitution because the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIIIB of the California Constitution.
SEC. 3.The Legislature finds and declares that Section 1 of this act, which adds Section 3599.82 to the Government Code, imposes a limitation on the publics right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies within the meaning of Section 3 of Article I of the California Constitution. Pursuant to that constitutional provision, the Legislature makes the following findings to demonstrate the interest protected by this limitation and the need for protecting that interest:
In order to fulfill the purpose of this act to promote full communication between the Legislature and its employees by providing a reasonable method of resolving disputes regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions and to allow the Legislature, in its role as employer, the opportunity to develop responsible and meaningful bargaining positions to present to employee representatives pursuant to this act and respond to the positions put forth by the same, it is necessary that this act limit the publics access to that information.
This chapter shall be known, and may be cited, as the Legislature Employer-Employee Relations Act.
3599.51.The Legislature finds and declares that it is the purpose of this chapter to promote full communication between each employer and its employees by providing a reasonable method of resolving disputes regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment between the employer and public employee organizations. It is also the purpose of this chapter to promote the improvement of personnel management and employer-employee relations within the employer by providing a uniform basis for recognizing the right of its employees to join organizations of their own choosing and be represented by those organizations in their employment relations with their employer. It is further the purpose of this chapter, in order to foster peaceful employer-employee relations, to allow the employees to select one employee organization as the exclusive representative of the employees in an appropriate unit and to permit the exclusive representative to receive financial support from those employees who receive the benefits of this representation.
3599.52.For purposes of this chapter:
(a)Board means the Public Employment Relations Board. The powers and duties of the board described in Section 3541.3 also apply, as appropriate, to this chapter, except as otherwise provided in this chapter. Notwithstanding this chapter or any other law, the board shall not intrude upon or interfere with the Legislatures core function of efficient and effective lawmaking or the essential operation of the Legislature.
(b)(1)Employee means any employee respectively of either house of the Legislature, except all of the following:
(A)Members of the Legislature.
(B)Appointed officers of the Legislature, such as the Secretary of the Senate and the Chief Clerk of the Assembly.
(C)Department or office leaders, such as chiefs-of-staff, staff directors, and chief consultants. Department or office leader means any supervisory employee having authority, in the interest of the employer, to hire, transfer, suspend, lay off, recall, promote, discharge, assign, reward, or discipline other employees, or responsibility to direct them, or effectively to recommend this action, if, in connection with the foregoing, the exercise of any authority is not of a merely routine or clerical nature, but requires the use of independent judgment.
(D)Confidential employees. Confidential employee means any employee who is required to develop or present management positions with respect to employer-employee relations or whose duties normally require access to confidential information contributing significantly to the development of management positions.
(E)Excluded employees.
(2)Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, the employer shall have the sole and exclusive authority to designate employees as department or office leaders, confidential employees, or excluded employees, as specified in subparagraphs (C) to (E), inclusive, of paragraph (1), except that department or office leaders, confidential employees, and excluded employees shall not, collectively, exceed one-third of the total employee positions authorized by the employer.
(c)Employee organization means any organization that includes employees and that has as one of its primary purposes representing these employees in their relations with the employer.
(d)Employer means the Assembly Committee on Rules or the Senate Committee on Rules. For the purposes of bargaining or meeting and conferring in good faith, employer means the Assembly Committee on Rules or the Senate Committee on Rules, or their designated representatives, acting with the authorization of their respective houses.
(e)Maintenance of membership means that all employees who voluntarily are, or who voluntarily become, members of a recognized employee organization shall remain members of that employee organization in good standing for a period as agreed to by the parties pursuant to a memorandum of understanding, commencing with the effective date of the memorandum of understanding. A maintenance of membership provision does not apply to any employee who within 30 days prior to the expiration of the memorandum of understanding withdraws from the employee organization by sending a signed withdrawal letter to the employee organization and a copy to the Controllers office.
(f)Mediation means effort by an impartial third party to assist in reconciling a dispute regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment between representatives of the employer and the recognized employee organization or recognized employee organizations through interpretation, suggestion, and advice.
(g)Recognized employee organization means an employee organization that has been recognized by the employer as the exclusive representative of the employees in an appropriate unit.
3599.54.Any person who willfully resists, prevents, impedes, or interferes with any member of the board, or any of its agents, in the performance of duties pursuant to this chapter, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be sentenced to pay a fine of not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000).
3599.55.The initial determination as to whether charges of unfair practices are justified, and, if so, what remedy is necessary to effectuate the purposes of this chapter, is a matter within the exclusive jurisdiction of the board, except that, in an action to recover damages due to an unlawful strike, the board shall not award strike-preparation expenses as damages, and shall not award damages for costs, expenses, or revenue losses incurred during, or as a consequence of, an unlawful strike. Procedures for investigating, hearing, and deciding these cases shall be devised and promulgated by the board and shall include all of the following:
(a)Any employee or employee organization, or the employer, has the right to file an unfair practice charge, except that the board shall not do either of the following:
(1)Issue a complaint respecting a charge based upon an alleged unfair practice that occurred more than six months prior to the filing of the charge.
(2)Issue a complaint respecting conduct also prohibited by the provisions of the agreement between the parties until the grievance machinery of the agreement, if it exists and covers the matter at issue, has been exhausted, either by settlement or binding arbitration. However, when the charging party demonstrates that resort to contract grievance procedures would be futile, their exhaustion is not necessary. The board has discretionary jurisdiction to review a settlement or arbitration award reached pursuant to the grievance machinery solely for the purpose of determining whether it is repugnant to the purposes of this chapter. If the board finds that the settlement or arbitration award is repugnant to the purposes of this chapter, it shall issue a complaint on the basis of a timely filed charge, and hear and decide the case on the merits; otherwise, it shall dismiss the charge. The board shall, in determining whether the charge was timely filed, consider the six-month limitation set forth in paragraph (1) to have been tolled during the time it took the charging party to exhaust the grievance machinery.
(b)The board shall not enforce agreements between the parties or issue a complaint on any charge based on an alleged violation of an agreement that would not also constitute an unfair practice under this chapter.
(c)The board may issue a decision and order directing an offending party to cease and desist from the unfair practice and to take such affirmative action, including, but not limited to, the reinstatement of employees with or without backpay, as will effectuate the policies of this chapter, except that the board shall not issue any decision or order that intrudes upon or interferes with the Legislatures core function of efficient and effective lawmaking or the essential operation of the Legislature.
3599.56.Employees have the right to form, join, and participate in the activities of employee organizations of their own choosing for the purpose of representation on all matters of employer-employee relations. Employees also have the right to refuse to join or participate in the activities of employee organizations, except that the parties are not precluded from agreeing to a maintenance of membership provision pursuant to a memorandum of understanding. In any event, employees have the right to represent themselves individually in their employment relations with the employer.
3599.57.Employee organizations have the right to represent their members in their employment relations with the employer, except that once an employee organization is recognized as the exclusive representative of an appropriate unit, the recognized employee organization is the only organization that may represent that unit in employment relations with the employer. Employee organizations may establish reasonable restrictions regarding who may join and may make reasonable provisions for the dismissal of individuals from membership. This section does not prohibit any employee from appearing on the employees own behalf in the employees employment relations with the employer.
3599.58.All employee organizations have the right to have membership dues, initiation fees, membership benefit programs, and general assessments deducted pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 1152 and Section 1153 until an employee organization is recognized as the exclusive representative for employees in an appropriate unit, and then any deductions as to any employee in the negotiating unit are not permissible except to the exclusive representative.
3599.59.(a)Once an employee organization is recognized as the exclusive representative of an appropriate unit, it may enter into an agreement with the employer providing for organizational security in the form of a maintenance of membership deduction.
(b)The employer shall furnish the recognized employee organization with sufficient employment data to allow the organization to calculate membership fees, and shall deduct the amount specified by the recognized employee organization from the salary or wages of every employee for the membership fee. These fees shall be remitted monthly to the recognized employee organization along with an adequate itemized record of the deductions, including, if required by the recognized employee organization, machine readable data.
3599.60.(a)The scope of representation is limited to wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment, except that the scope of representation does not include consideration of the merits, necessity, or organization of any service or activity provided by law.
(b)In view of the powers and responsibilities vested in the Legislature pursuant to the California Constitution, decisions regarding the following matters shall not be included within the scope of representation:
(1)Any matter relating to the qualifications and elections of Members of the Legislature, or the holding of office of Members of the Legislature.
(2)Any matter relating to the Legislature or each house thereof choosing its officers, adopting rules for its proceedings, selecting committees necessary for the conduct of its business, considering and enacting legislation, or otherwise exercising the legislative power of this state.
(3)Any matter relating to legislative calendars, schedules, and deadlines of the Legislature.
(4)Laws, rules, policies, or procedures regarding ethics or conflicts of interest.
3599.61.(a)Except in cases of emergency as provided in subdivision (b), the employer shall give reasonable written notice to each recognized employee organization affected by any policy or procedure directly relating to matters within the scope of representation proposed to be adopted by the employer, and shall give such recognized employee organizations the opportunity to meet and confer with the employer.
(b)In cases of emergency when the employer determines that a policy or procedure must be adopted immediately without prior notice or meeting with a recognized employee organization, the employer shall provide notice and opportunity to meet and confer in good faith at the earliest practical time following the adoption of the policy or procedure.
3599.62.(a)The employer shall meet and confer in good faith regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment with representatives of recognized employee organizations, and shall consider fully such presentations as are made by the employee organization on behalf of its members prior to arriving at a determination of policy or course of action. For purposes of this section, the term meet and confer in good faith means that the employer and representatives of recognized employee organizations have the mutual obligation to personally meet and confer promptly upon request by either party and continue to meet and confer for a reasonable period of time in order to exchange freely information, opinions, and proposals, and to endeavor to reach agreement on matters within the scope of representation prior to the adoption by the state of its final budget for the ensuing year. The process should include adequate time for the resolution of impasses.
(b)The employer shall freely provide to representatives of recognized employee organizations nonconfidential information that is necessary and relevant to their scope of representation. However, this chapter does not require the employer to provide confidential information to representatives of recognized employee organizations. For purposes of this subdivision, confidential information means any information contained in records that are exempt from public disclosure under federal or state law. Confidential information does not include the name, job title, office, workplace location, work telephone number and email address, and home or personal telephone number and email address, if on file with the employer, for employees in the bargaining unit of the recognized employee organization.
3599.63.If an agreement is reached between the employer and the recognized employee organization, the parties shall jointly prepare a written memorandum of understanding reflecting the terms of the agreement, which shall be presented, when appropriate, to the employer for adoption as a resolution.
3599.64.A side letter, appendix, or other addendum to a properly ratified memorandum of understanding shall be expressly identified by the parties if that side letter, appendix, or other addendum is to be incorporated in a subsequent memorandum of understanding submitted to the employer for adoption as a resolution.
3599.65.If the employer does not fully fund any provision of the memorandum of understanding that requires the expenditure of funds, either party may reopen negotiations on all or part of the memorandum of understanding. The parties are not precluded from agreeing to and effecting those provisions of the memorandum of understanding that do not require legislative adoption of a resolution.
3599.66.(a)If a memorandum of understanding has expired, and the employer and the recognized employee organization have not agreed to a new memorandum of understanding and have not reached an impasse in negotiations, subject to subdivision (b), the parties to the agreement shall continue to give effect to the provisions of the expired memorandum of understanding, including provisions that supersede existing law, arbitration provisions, no-strike provisions, and agreements regarding matters covered in the federal Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. Sec. 201 et seq.).
(b)If the employer and the recognized employee organization reach an impasse in negotiations for a new memorandum of understanding, the employer may implement any or all of its last, best, and final offer through adoption of a resolution. Implementation of the last, best, and final offer does not relieve the parties of the obligation to bargain in good faith and reach an agreement on a memorandum of understanding if circumstances change, and does not result in a waiver of rights that the recognized employee organization has under this chapter.
3599.67.If, after a reasonable period of time, the employer and the recognized employee organization fail to reach an agreement, the employer and the recognized employee organization may agree upon the appointment of a mediator mutually agreeable to the parties, or either party may request the board to appoint a mediator. When both parties mutually agree upon a mediator, the costs of mediation shall be divided one-half to the employer and one-half to the recognized employee organization. If the board appoints the mediator, the costs of mediation shall be paid by the board.
3599.68.A reasonable number of employee representatives of recognized employee organizations shall be granted reasonable time off without loss of compensation or other benefits when formally meeting and conferring with the employer on matters within the scope of representation. This section applies only to employees, as defined by Section 3599.52, and only for periods when a memorandum of understanding is not in effect.
3599.69.It is unlawful for the employer to do any of the following:
(a)Impose or threaten to impose reprisals on employees, discriminate or threaten to discriminate against employees, or otherwise interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees because of their exercise of rights guaranteed by this chapter. For purposes of this subdivision, employee includes an applicant for employment or reemployment.
(b)Deny to employee organizations rights guaranteed to them by this chapter.
(c)Refuse or fail to meet and confer in good faith with a recognized employee organization.
(d)Dominate or interfere with the formation or administration of any employee organization, or contribute financial or other support to it, or in any way encourage employees to join any organization in preference to another.
(e)Refuse to participate in good faith in the mediation procedure set forth in Section 3599.67.
3599.70.It is unlawful for an employee organization to do any of the following:
(a)Cause or attempt to cause the employer to violate Section 3599.69.
(b)Impose or threaten to impose reprisals on employees, discriminate or threaten to discriminate against employees, or otherwise interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees because of their exercise of rights guaranteed by this chapter.
(c)Refuse or fail to meet and confer in good faith with the Legislature in relation to the employees for whom it is the recognized employee organization.
(d)Refuse to participate in good faith in the mediation procedure set forth in Section 3599.67.
3599.71.(a)Judicial review of a unit determination is allowed only under either of the following circumstances:
(1)When the board, in response to a petition from the employer or an employee organization, agrees that the case is one of special importance and joins in the request for review.
(2)When the issue is raised as a defense to an unfair practice complaint. A board order directing an election shall not be stayed pending judicial review.
(b)Upon receipt of a board order joining in a request for judicial review, a party to the case may petition for a writ of extraordinary relief from the unit determination decision or order.
(c)Any charging party, respondent, or intervenor aggrieved by a final decision or order of the board in an unfair practice case, except a decision of the board not to issue a complaint in such a case, may petition for a writ of extraordinary relief from the decision or order.
(d)The petition shall be filed in the district court of appeal in the appellate district where the unit determination or unfair practice dispute occurred. The petition shall be filed within 30 days after issuance of the boards final order, order denying reconsideration, or order joining in the request for judicial review, as applicable. Upon the filing of the petition, the court shall cause notice to be served upon the board and thereupon shall have jurisdiction of the proceeding. The board shall file in the court the record of the proceeding, certified by the board, within 10 days after the clerks notice unless the time is extended by the court for good cause shown. The court has jurisdiction to grant to the board any temporary relief or restraining order it deems just and proper and in like manner to make and enter a decree enforcing, modifying, or setting aside the order of the board. The findings of the board with respect to questions of fact, including ultimate facts, if supported by substantial evidence on the record considered as a whole, are conclusive. The provisions of Title 1 (commencing with Section 1067) of Part 3 of the Code of Civil Procedure relating to writs, except where specifically superseded herein, apply to proceedings pursuant to this section.
(e)If the time to petition for extraordinary relief from a board decision has expired, the board may seek enforcement of any final decision or order in a district court of appeal or a superior court in the district where the unit determination or unfair practice case occurred. If, after a hearing, the court determines that the order was issued pursuant to procedures established by the board and that the person or entity refuses to comply with the order, the court shall enforce the order by writ of mandamus. The court shall not review the merits of the order.
3599.72.(a)The employer shall grant exclusive recognition to employee organizations designated or selected pursuant to rules established by the board for employees or an appropriate unit thereof, subject to the right of an employee to self-represent.
(b)The board shall establish reasonable procedures for petitions and for holding elections and determining appropriate units pursuant to subdivision (a).
(c)The board, as it determines appropriate bargaining units, shall not include employees in a bargaining unit that includes employees other than those of the employer. The board shall not include within a bargaining unit employees from both the Assembly and Senate. The board shall not separate employees into bargaining units solely based on political affiliation.
(d)The board shall establish procedures whereby recognition of employee organizations formally recognized as exclusive representatives pursuant to a vote of the employees may be revoked by a majority vote of the employees only after a period of not less than 12 months following the date of such recognition.
3599.73.The employer shall adopt reasonable rules for all of the following:
(a)Registering employee organizations, as defined by subdivision (c) of Section 3599.52.
(b)Determining the status of organizations as employee organizations.
(c)Identifying the officers and representatives who officially represent employee organizations.
3599.74.Notwithstanding any other law, if a decision by an administrative law judge regarding the recognition or certification of an employee organization is appealed, the decision is the final order of the board if the board does not issue a ruling that supersedes the decision on or before 180 days after the appeal is filed.
3599.75.(a)In determining an appropriate unit, the board is governed by the criteria in subdivision (b). However, the board shall not direct an election in a unit unless one or more of the employee organizations involved in the proceeding seeks or agrees to an election in the unit.
(b)In determining an appropriate unit, the board shall take into consideration all of the following criteria:
(1)The internal and occupational community of interest among the employees, including, but not limited to, all of the following:
(A)The extent to which they perform functionally related services or work toward established common goals.
(B)The history of employee representation in state government and in similar employment.
(C)The extent to which the employees have common skills, working conditions, job duties, or similar educational or training requirements.
(2)The effect that the projected unit will have on the meet and confer relationships, emphasizing the availability and authority of the employers representatives to deal effectively with employee organizations representing the unit, and taking into account such factors as work location, the numerical size of the unit, the relationship of the unit to organizational patterns of the employer, and the effect on the existing classification structure or existing classification schematic of dividing a single class or single classification schematic among two or more units.
(3)The effect of the proposed unit on efficient operations of the employer and the compatibility of the unit with the responsibility of the employer and its employees to serve the public.
(4)The number of employees and classifications in a proposed unit and its effect on the operations of the employer, on the objectives of providing the employees the right to effective representation, and on the meet and confer relationship.
(5)The impact on the meet and confer relationship created by fragmentation of employees or any proliferation of units among employees.
(c)Political affiliation shall not constitute a community of interest for purposes of determining an appropriate unit.
3599.76.(a)(1)All initial meet and confer proposals of recognized employee organizations shall be presented to the employer at a public meeting, and those proposals thereafter are a public record.
(2)All initial meet and confer proposals or counterproposals of the employer shall be presented to the recognized employee organization at a public meeting, and those proposals or counterproposals thereafter are a public record.
(b)Except in cases of emergency as provided in subdivision (d), meeting and conferring shall not take place on any proposal subject to subdivision (a) until not less than seven consecutive days have elapsed to enable the public to become informed, and to publicly express itself regarding the proposals, as well as regarding other possible subjects of meeting and conferring, and thereafter, the employer shall, in an open meeting, hear public comment on all matters related to the meet and confer proposals.
(c)Forty-eight hours after any proposal that includes any substantive subject that has not first been presented in proposals for public reaction pursuant to this section is offered during any meeting and conferring session, the proposal and the position, if any, taken by the representatives of the employer are a public record.
(d)Subdivision (b) does not apply when the employer determines that, due to an act of God, natural disaster, or other emergency or calamity affecting the state, and that is beyond the control of the employer or recognized employee organization, it must meet and confer and take action upon a proposal immediately and without sufficient time for the public to become informed and to publicly express itself. In those cases, the results of the meeting and conferring shall be made public as soon as reasonably possible.
(e)This section does not affect the authority of each house of the Legislature and the committees thereof to hold closed meetings pursuant to paragraphs (3) and (4) of subdivision (c) of Section 7 of Article IV of the California Constitution and Article 2.2 (commencing with Section 9027) of Chapter 1.5 of Part 1 of Division 2 of Title 2.
3599.77.This chapter does not apply Section 923 of the Labor Code to employees.
3599.78.This chapter does not modify or eliminate any existing wages, hours, or terms and conditions of employment for employees. All existing wages, hours, and terms and conditions of employment for employees shall remain in effect unless and until changed in accordance with the employers procedures or pursuant to a memorandum of understanding or agreement between the employer and a recognized employee organization.
3599.79.If any provision of this chapter, or the application thereof to any person or circumstances, is held invalid, the invalidity shall not affect any other provision or application of this chapter that can be given effect without the invalid provision or application and, to this end, the provisions of this chapter are severable.
3599.80.Expenses incurred by the employer in relation to a properly ratified memorandum of understanding pursuant to this chapter are subject to Section 7.5 of Article IV of the California Constitution.
3599.81.Notwithstanding any other law, the expression of any views, arguments, or opinions, or the dissemination thereof in any form, by a Member of the Legislature or an employee, including any employee specified in subparagraphs (B) to (E), inclusive, of paragraph (1) of subdivision (b) of Section 3599.52, related to this chapter or to matters within the scope of representation, shall not constitute, or be evidence of, an unfair labor practice, unless the employer authorized the individual to express that view, argument, or opinion on behalf of, or authorized the individual to represent, the employer as an employer.
3599.82.Notwithstanding Article 3.5 (commencing with Section 9070) of Chapter 1.5 of Part 1 of Division 2 of Title 2, or any other law, the employer is not required to disclose legislative records related to activities governed by this chapter, that reveal the employers deliberative processes, impressions, evaluations, opinions, recommendations, meeting minutes, research, work product, theories, or strategy, or that provide instruction, advice, or training to employees who do not have full collective bargaining and representation rights under this chapter.
3599.83.Employees of the Legislature are exempt from civil service under the California Constitution. A memorandum of understanding entered into between an employer and a recognized employee organization shall not prohibit the employer from separating an employee if the Member of the Legislature to whom the employee is assigned is not reelected, resigns, or otherwise departs from the employer. The employer shall provide a transition period for an employee if the Member of the Legislature to whom the employee is assigned is not reelected, resigns, or otherwise departs from the employer. The terms of the transition period, which may include, but are not limited to, length of time or opportunities to apply for vacancies with the employer, are within the scope of representation and are subject to collective bargaining.
3599.83.3599.84.This chapter shall become operative on July 1, 2026.
SEC. 2.No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIIIB of the California Constitution because the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIIIB of the California Constitution.
SEC. 3.The Legislature finds and declares that Section 1 of this act, which adds Section 3599.82 to the Government Code, imposes a limitation on the publics right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies within the meaning of Section 3 of Article I of the California Constitution. Pursuant to that constitutional provision, the Legislature makes the following findings to demonstrate the interest protected by this limitation and the need for protecting that interest:
In order to fulfill the purpose of this act to promote full communication between the Legislature and its employees by providing a reasonable method of resolving disputes regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions and to allow the Legislature, in its role as employer, the opportunity to develop responsible and meaningful bargaining positions to present to employee representatives pursuant to this act and respond to the positions put forth by the same, it is necessary that this act limit the publics access to that information.
This chapter shall be known, and may be cited, as the Legislature Employer-Employee Relations Act.
3599.51.The Legislature finds and declares that it is the purpose of this chapter to promote full communication between the Legislature each employer and its employees by providing a reasonable method of resolving disputes regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment between the Legislature employer and public employee organizations. It is also the purpose of this chapter to promote the improvement of personnel management and employer-employee relations within the Legislature employer by providing a uniform basis for recognizing the right of its employees of the Legislature to join organizations of their own choosing and be represented by those organizations in their employment relations with the Legislature. their employer. It is further the purpose of this chapter, in order to foster peaceful employer-employee relations, to allow the employees of the Legislature to select one employee organization as the exclusive representative of the employees in an appropriate unit and to permit the exclusive representative to receive financial support from those employees who receive the benefits of this representation.
3599.52.For purposes of this chapter:
(a)Board means the Public Employment Relations Board. The powers and duties of the board described in Section 3541.3 also apply, as appropriate, to this chapter. chapter, except as otherwise provided in this chapter. Notwithstanding this chapter or any other law, the board shall not intrude upon or interfere with the Legislatures core function of efficient and effective lawmaking or the essential operation of the Legislature.
(b)Employee of the Legislature or employee (1)Employee means any employee respectively of either house of the Legislature, except all of the following:
(1)(A)Members of the Legislature.
(2)(B)Appointed officers of the Legislature, such as the Secretary of the Senate and the Chief Clerk of the Assembly.
(3)(C)Department or office leaders, such as chiefs-of-staff, staff directors, and chief consultants. Department or office leader means any supervisory employee having authority, in the interest of the employer, to hire, transfer, suspend, lay off, recall, promote, discharge, assign, reward, or discipline other employees, or responsibility to direct them, or effectively to recommend this action, if, in connection with the foregoing, the exercise of any authority is not of a merely routine or clerical nature, but requires the use of independent judgment.
(4)(D)Confidential employees. Confidential employee means any employee who is required to develop or present management positions with respect to employer-employee relations or whose duties normally require access to confidential information contributing significantly to the development of management positions.
(E)Excluded employees.
(2)Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, the employer shall have the sole and exclusive authority to designate employees as department or office leaders, confidential employees, or excluded employees, as specified in subparagraphs (C) to (E), inclusive, of paragraph (1), except that department or office leaders, confidential employees, and excluded employees shall not, collectively, exceed one-third of the total employee positions authorized by the employer.
(c)Employee organization means any organization that includes employees of the Legislature and that has as one of its primary purposes representing these employees in their relations with the Legislature. employer.
(d)Legislature means Employer means the Assembly Committee on Rules or the Senate Committee on Rules. For the purposes of bargaining or meeting and conferring in good faith, Legislature employer means the Assembly Committee on Rules or the Senate Committee on Rules, or their designated representatives, acting with the authorization of their respective houses.
(e)Maintenance of membership means that all employees who voluntarily are, or who voluntarily become, members of a recognized employee organization shall remain members of that employee organization in good standing for a period as agreed to by the parties pursuant to a memorandum of understanding, commencing with the effective date of the memorandum of understanding. A maintenance of membership provision does not apply to any employee who within 30 days prior to the expiration of the memorandum of understanding withdraws from the employee organization by sending a signed withdrawal letter to the employee organization and a copy to the Controllers office.
(f)Mediation means effort by an impartial third party to assist in reconciling a dispute regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment between representatives of the Legislature employer and the recognized employee organization or recognized employee organizations through interpretation, suggestion, and advice.
(g)Recognized employee organization means an employee organization that has been recognized by the Legislature employer as the exclusive representative of the employees in an appropriate unit.
3599.54.Any person who willfully resists, prevents, impedes, or interferes with any member of the board, or any of its agents, in the performance of duties pursuant to this chapter, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be sentenced to pay a fine of not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000).
3599.55.The initial determination as to whether charges of unfair practices are justified, and, if so, what remedy is necessary to effectuate the purposes of this chapter, is a matter within the exclusive jurisdiction of the board, except that, in an action to recover damages due to an unlawful strike, the board shall not award strike-preparation expenses as damages, and shall not award damages for costs, expenses, or revenue losses incurred during, or as a consequence of, an unlawful strike. Procedures for investigating, hearing, and deciding these cases shall be devised and promulgated by the board and shall include all of the following:
(a)Any employee or employee organization, or the Legislature, employer, has the right to file an unfair practice charge, except that the board shall not do either of the following:
(1)Issue a complaint respecting a charge based upon an alleged unfair practice that occurred more than six months prior to the filing of the charge.
(2)Issue a complaint respecting conduct also prohibited by the provisions of the agreement between the parties until the grievance machinery of the agreement, if it exists and covers the matter at issue, has been exhausted, either by settlement or binding arbitration. However, when the charging party demonstrates that resort to contract grievance procedures would be futile, their exhaustion is not necessary. The board has discretionary jurisdiction to review a settlement or arbitration award reached pursuant to the grievance machinery solely for the purpose of determining whether it is repugnant to the purposes of this chapter. If the board finds that the settlement or arbitration award is repugnant to the purposes of this chapter, it shall issue a complaint on the basis of a timely filed charge, and hear and decide the case on the merits; otherwise, it shall dismiss the charge. The board shall, in determining whether the charge was timely filed, consider the six-month limitation set forth in paragraph (1) to have been tolled during the time it took the charging party to exhaust the grievance machinery.
(b)The board shall not enforce agreements between the parties or issue a complaint on any charge based on an alleged violation of an agreement that would not also constitute an unfair practice under this chapter.
(c)The board may issue a decision and order directing an offending party to cease and desist from the unfair practice and to take such affirmative action, including, but not limited to, the reinstatement of employees with or without backpay, as will effectuate the policies of this chapter. chapter, except that the board shall not issue any decision or order that intrudes upon or interferes with the Legislatures core function of efficient and effective lawmaking or the essential operation of the Legislature.
3599.56.Employees of the Legislature have the right to form, join, and participate in the activities of employee organizations of their own choosing for the purpose of representation on all matters of employer-employee relations. Employees of the Legislature also have the right to refuse to join or participate in the activities of employee organizations, except that the parties are not precluded from agreeing to a maintenance of membership provision pursuant to a memorandum of understanding. In any event, employees of the Legislature have the right to represent themselves individually in their employment relations with the Legislature. employer.
3599.57.Employee organizations have the right to represent their members in their employment relations with the Legislature, employer, except that once an employee organization is recognized as the exclusive representative of an appropriate unit, the recognized employee organization is the only organization that may represent that unit in employment relations with the Legislature. employer. Employee organizations may establish reasonable restrictions regarding who may join and may make reasonable provisions for the dismissal of individuals from membership. This section does not prohibit any employee from appearing on the employees own behalf in the employees employment relations with the Legislature. employer.
3599.58.All employee organizations have the right to have membership dues, initiation fees, membership benefit programs, and general assessments deducted pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 1152 and Section 1153 until an employee organization is recognized as the exclusive representative for employees in an appropriate unit, and then any deductions as to any employee in the negotiating unit are not permissible except to the exclusive representative.
3599.59.(a)Once an employee organization is recognized as the exclusive representative of an appropriate unit, it may enter into an agreement with the Legislature employer providing for organizational security in the form of a maintenance of membership deduction.
(b)The Legislature employer shall furnish the recognized employee organization with sufficient employment data to allow the organization to calculate membership fees, and shall deduct the amount specified by the recognized employee organization from the salary or wages of every employee for the membership fee. These fees shall be remitted monthly to the recognized employee organization along with an adequate itemized record of the deductions, including, if required by the recognized employee organization, machine readable data.
3599.60.(a)The scope of representation is limited to wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment, except that the scope of representation does not include consideration of the merits, necessity, or organization of any service or activity provided by law.
(b)In view of the powers and responsibilities vested in the Legislature pursuant to the California Constitution, decisions regarding the following matters shall not be included within the scope of representation:
(1)Any matter relating to the qualifications and elections of Members of the Legislature, or the holding of office of Members of the Legislature.
(2)Any matter relating to the Legislature or each house thereof choosing its officers, adopting rules for its proceedings, selecting committees necessary for the conduct of its business, considering and enacting legislation, or otherwise exercising the legislative power of this state.
(3)Any matter relating to legislative calendars, schedules, and deadlines of the Legislature.
(4)Laws, rules, policies, or procedures regarding ethics or conflicts of interest.
3599.61.(a)Except in cases of emergency as provided in subdivision (b), the Legislature employer shall give reasonable written notice to each recognized employee organization affected by any law, rule, or resolution policy or procedure directly relating to matters within the scope of representation proposed to be adopted by the Legislature, employer, and shall give such recognized employee organizations the opportunity to meet and confer with the Legislature. employer.
(b)In cases of emergency when the Legislature employer determines that a law, rule, or resolution policy or procedure must be adopted immediately without prior notice or meeting with a recognized employee organization, the Legislature employer shall provide notice and opportunity to meet and confer in good faith at the earliest practical time following the adoption of the law, rule, or resolution. policy or procedure.
3599.62.(a)The Legislature employer shall meet and confer in good faith regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment with representatives of recognized employee organizations, and shall consider fully such presentations as are made by the employee organization on behalf of its members prior to arriving at a determination of policy or course of action. For purposes of this section, the term meet and confer in good faith means that the Legislature employer and representatives of recognized employee organizations have the mutual obligation to personally meet and confer promptly upon request by either party and continue to meet and confer for a reasonable period of time in order to exchange freely information, opinions, and proposals, and to endeavor to reach agreement on matters within the scope of representation prior to the adoption by the state of its final budget for the ensuing year. The process should include adequate time for the resolution of impasses.
(b)The Legislature employer shall freely provide to representatives of recognized employee organizations nonconfidential information that is necessary and relevant to their scope of representation. However, this chapter does not require the Legislature employer to provide confidential information to representatives of recognized employee organizations. For purposes of this subdivision, confidential information means any information contained in records that are exempt from public disclosure under federal or state law. Confidential information does not include the name, job title, office, workplace location, work telephone number and email address, and home or personal telephone number and email address, if on file with the Legislature, employer, for employees in the bargaining unit of the recognized employee organization.
3599.63.If an agreement is reached between the Legislature employer and the recognized employee organization, the parties shall jointly prepare a written memorandum of understanding reflecting the terms of the agreement, which shall be presented, when appropriate, to the Legislature employer for adoption as a resolution.
3599.64.A side letter, appendix, or other addendum to a properly ratified memorandum of understanding shall be expressly identified by the parties if that side letter, appendix, or other addendum is to be incorporated in a subsequent memorandum of understanding submitted to the Legislature employer for adoption as a resolution.
3599.65.If the Legislature employer does not fully fund any provision of the memorandum of understanding that requires the expenditure of funds, either party may reopen negotiations on all or part of the memorandum of understanding. The parties are not precluded from agreeing to and effecting those provisions of the memorandum of understanding that do not require legislative action for passage adoption of a statute. resolution.
3599.66.(a)If a memorandum of understanding has expired, and the Legislature employer and the recognized employee organization have not agreed to a new memorandum of understanding and have not reached an impasse in negotiations, subject to subdivision (b), the parties to the agreement shall continue to give effect to the provisions of the expired memorandum of understanding, including provisions that supersede existing law, arbitration provisions, no-strike provisions, and agreements regarding matters covered in the federal Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. Sec. 201 et seq.).
(b)If the Legislature employer and the recognized employee organization reach an impasse in negotiations for a new memorandum of understanding, the Legislature employer may implement any or all of its last, best, and final offer through adoption of a resolution. Implementation of the last, best, and final offer does not relieve the parties of the obligation to bargain in good faith and reach an agreement on a memorandum of understanding if circumstances change, and does not result in a waiver of rights that the recognized employee organization has under this chapter.
3599.67.If, after a reasonable period of time, the Legislature employer and the recognized employee organization fail to reach an agreement, the Legislature employer and the recognized employee organization may agree upon the appointment of a mediator mutually agreeable to the parties, or either party may request the board to appoint a mediator. When both parties mutually agree upon a mediator, the costs of mediation shall be divided one-half to the Legislature employer and one-half to the recognized employee organization. If the board appoints the mediator, the costs of mediation shall be paid by the board.
3599.68.A reasonable number of employee representatives of recognized employee organizations shall be granted reasonable time off without loss of compensation or other benefits when formally meeting and conferring with the Legislature employer on matters within the scope of representation. This section applies only to employees, as defined by Section 3599.52, and only for periods when a memorandum of understanding is not in effect.
3599.69.It is unlawful for the Legislature employer to do any of the following:
(a)Impose or threaten to impose reprisals on employees, discriminate or threaten to discriminate against employees, or otherwise interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees because of their exercise of rights guaranteed by this chapter. For purposes of this subdivision, employee includes an applicant for employment or reemployment.
(b)Deny to employee organizations rights guaranteed to them by this chapter.
(c)Refuse or fail to meet and confer in good faith with a recognized employee organization.
(d)Dominate or interfere with the formation or administration of any employee organization, or contribute financial or other support to it, or in any way encourage employees to join any organization in preference to another.
(e)Refuse to participate in good faith in the mediation procedure set forth in Section 3599.67.
3599.70.It is unlawful for an employee organization to do any of the following:
(a)Cause or attempt to cause the Legislature employer to violate Section 3599.69.
(b)Impose or threaten to impose reprisals on employees, discriminate or threaten to discriminate against employees, or otherwise interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees because of their exercise of rights guaranteed by this chapter.
(c)Refuse or fail to meet and confer in good faith with the Legislature in relation to the employees for whom it is the recognized employee organization.
(d)Refuse to participate in good faith in the mediation procedure set forth in Section 3599.67.
3599.71.(a)Judicial review of a unit determination is allowed only under either of the following circumstances:
(1)When the board, in response to a petition from the Legislature employer or an employee organization, agrees that the case is one of special importance and joins in the request for review.
(2)When the issue is raised as a defense to an unfair practice complaint. A board order directing an election shall not be stayed pending judicial review.
(b)Upon receipt of a board order joining in a request for judicial review, a party to the case may petition for a writ of extraordinary relief from the unit determination decision or order.
(c)Any charging party, respondent, or intervenor aggrieved by a final decision or order of the board in an unfair practice case, except a decision of the board not to issue a complaint in such a case, may petition for a writ of extraordinary relief from the decision or order.
(d)The petition shall be filed in the district court of appeal in the appellate district where the unit determination or unfair practice dispute occurred. The petition shall be filed within 30 days after issuance of the boards final order, order denying reconsideration, or order joining in the request for judicial review, as applicable. Upon the filing of the petition, the court shall cause notice to be served upon the board and thereupon shall have jurisdiction of the proceeding. The board shall file in the court the record of the proceeding, certified by the board, within 10 days after the clerks notice unless the time is extended by the court for good cause shown. The court has jurisdiction to grant to the board any temporary relief or restraining order it deems just and proper and in like manner to make and enter a decree enforcing, modifying, or setting aside the order of the board. The findings of the board with respect to questions of fact, including ultimate facts, if supported by substantial evidence on the record considered as a whole, are conclusive. The provisions of Title 1 (commencing with Section 1067) of Part 3 of the Code of Civil Procedure relating to writs, except where specifically superseded herein, apply to proceedings pursuant to this section.
(e)If the time to petition for extraordinary relief from a board decision has expired, the board may seek enforcement of any final decision or order in a district court of appeal or a superior court in the district where the unit determination or unfair practice case occurred. If, after a hearing, the court determines that the order was issued pursuant to procedures established by the board and that the person or entity refuses to comply with the order, the court shall enforce the order by writ of mandamus. The court shall not review the merits of the order.
3599.72.(a)The Legislature employer shall grant exclusive recognition to employee organizations designated or selected pursuant to rules established by the board for employees of the Legislature or an appropriate unit thereof, subject to the right of an employee to self-represent.
(b)The board shall establish reasonable procedures for petitions and for holding elections and determining appropriate units pursuant to subdivision (a).
(c)The board, as it determines appropriate bargaining units, shall not include employees of the Legislature in a bargaining unit that includes employees other than those of the Legislature. employer. The board shall not include within a bargaining unit employees from both the Assembly and Senate. The board shall not separate employees into bargaining units solely based on political affiliation.
(d)The board shall establish procedures whereby recognition of employee organizations formally recognized as exclusive representatives pursuant to a vote of the employees may be revoked by a majority vote of the employees only after a period of not less than 12 months following the date of such recognition.
3599.73.The Legislature employer shall adopt reasonable rules for all of the following:
(a)Registering employee organizations, as defined by subdivision (c) of Section 3599.52.
(b)Determining the status of organizations as employee organizations.
(c)Identifying the officers and representatives who officially represent employee organizations.
3599.74.Notwithstanding any other law, if a decision by an administrative law judge regarding the recognition or certification of an employee organization is appealed, the decision is the final order of the board if the board does not issue a ruling that supersedes the decision on or before 180 days after the appeal is filed.
3599.75.(a)In determining an appropriate unit, the board is governed by the criteria in subdivision (b). However, the board shall not direct an election in a unit unless one or more of the employee organizations involved in the proceeding seeks or agrees to an election in the unit.
(b)In determining an appropriate unit, the board shall take into consideration all of the following criteria:
(1)The internal and occupational community of interest among the employees, including, but not limited to, all of the following:
(A)The extent to which they perform functionally related services or work toward established common goals.
(B)The history of employee representation in state government and in similar employment.
(C)The extent to which the employees have common skills, working conditions, job duties, or similar educational or training requirements.
(2)The effect that the projected unit will have on the meet and confer relationships, emphasizing the availability and authority of the Legislatures employers representatives to deal effectively with employee organizations representing the unit, and taking into account such factors as work location, the numerical size of the unit, the relationship of the unit to organizational patterns of the Legislature, employer, and the effect on the existing classification structure or existing classification schematic of dividing a single class or single classification schematic among two or more units.
(3)The effect of the proposed unit on efficient operations of the Legislature employer and the compatibility of the unit with the responsibility of the Legislature employer and its employees to serve the public.
(4)The number of employees and classifications in a proposed unit and its effect on the operations of the Legislature, employer, on the objectives of providing the employees the right to effective representation, and on the meet and confer relationship.
(5)The impact on the meet and confer relationship created by fragmentation of employees or any proliferation of units among the employees of the Legislature. employees.
(c)Political affiliation shall not constitute a community of interest for purposes of determining an appropriate unit.
3599.76.(a)(1)All initial meet and confer proposals of recognized employee organizations shall be presented to the Legislature employer at a public meeting, and those proposals thereafter are a public record.
(2)All initial meet and confer proposals or counterproposals of the Legislature employer shall be presented to the recognized employee organization at a public meeting, and those proposals or counterproposals thereafter are a public record.
(b)Except in cases of emergency as provided in subdivision (d), meeting and conferring shall not take place on any proposal subject to subdivision (a) until not less than seven consecutive days have elapsed to enable the public to become informed, and to publicly express itself regarding the proposals, as well as regarding other possible subjects of meeting and conferring, and thereafter, the Legislature employer shall, in an open meeting, hear public comment on all matters related to the meet and confer proposals.
(c)Forty-eight hours after any proposal that includes any substantive subject that has not first been presented in proposals for public reaction pursuant to this section is offered during any meeting and conferring session, the proposal and the position, if any, taken by the representatives of the Legislature employer are a public record.
(d)Subdivision (b) does not apply when the Legislature employer determines that, due to an act of God, natural disaster, or other emergency or calamity affecting the state, and that is beyond the control of the Legislature employer or recognized employee organization, it must meet and confer and take action upon a proposal immediately and without sufficient time for the public to become informed and to publicly express itself. In those cases, the results of the meeting and conferring shall be made public as soon as reasonably possible.
(e)This section does not affect the authority of each house of the Legislature and the committees thereof to hold closed meetings pursuant to paragraphs (3) and (4) of subdivision (c) of Section 7 of Article IV of the California Constitution and Article 2.2 (commencing with Section 9027) of Chapter 1.5 of Part 1 of Division 2 of Title 2.
3599.77.This chapter does not apply Section 923 of the Labor Code to employees of the Legislature. employees.
3599.78.This chapter does not modify or eliminate any existing wages, hours, or terms and conditions of employment for employees of the Legislature. employees. All existing wages, hours, and terms and conditions of employment for employees of the Legislature shall remain in effect unless and until changed in accordance with the Legislatures employers procedures or pursuant to a memorandum of understanding or agreement between the Legislature employer and a recognized employee organization.
3599.79.If any provision of this chapter, or the application thereof to any person or circumstances, is held invalid, the invalidity shall not affect any other provision or application of this chapter that can be given effect without the invalid provision or application and, to this end, the provisions of this chapter are severable.
3599.80.Expenses incurred by the Legislature employer in relation to a properly ratified memorandum of understanding pursuant to this chapter are subject to Section 7.5 of Article IV of the California Constitution.
3599.81.Notwithstanding any other law, the expression of any views, arguments, or opinions, or the dissemination thereof in any form, by a Member of the Legislature or an employee, including any employee specified in subparagraphs (B) to (E), inclusive, of paragraph (1) of subdivision (b) of Section 3599.52, related to this chapter or to matters within the scope of representation, shall not constitute, or be evidence of, an unfair labor practice, unless the employer authorized the individual to express that view, argument, or opinion on behalf of, or authorized the individual to represent, the employer as an employer.
3599.82.Notwithstanding Article 3.5 (commencing with Section 9070) of Chapter 1.5 of Part 1 of Division 2 of Title 2, or any other law, the employer is not required to disclose legislative records related to activities governed by this chapter, that reveal the employers deliberative processes, impressions, evaluations, opinions, recommendations, meeting minutes, research, work product, theories, or strategy, or that provide instruction, advice, or training to employees who do not have full collective bargaining and representation rights under this chapter.
3599.81.3599.83.This chapter shall become operative on July 1, 2026.
SEC. 2.SEC. 2.No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIIIB of the California Constitution because the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIIIB of the California Constitution.
SEC. 3.The Legislature finds and declares that Section 1 of this act, which adds Section 3599.82 to the Government Code, imposes a limitation on the publics right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies within the meaning of Section 3 of Article I of the California Constitution. Pursuant to that constitutional provision, the Legislature makes the following findings to demonstrate the interest protected by this limitation and the need for protecting that interest:
In order to fulfill the purpose of this act to promote full communication between the Legislature and its employees by providing a reasonable method of resolving disputes regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions and to allow the Legislature, in its role as employer, the opportunity to develop responsible and meaningful bargaining positions to present to employee representatives pursuant to this act and respond to the positions put forth by the same, it is necessary that this act limit the publics access to that information.
This chapter shall be known, and may be cited, as the Legislature Employer-Employee Relations Act.
3599.51.The Legislature finds and declares that it is the purpose of this chapter to promote full communication between the Legislature and its employees by providing a reasonable method of resolving disputes regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment between the Legislature and public employee organizations. It is also the purpose of this chapter to promote the improvement of personnel management and employer-employee relations within the Legislature by providing a uniform basis for recognizing the right of employees of the Legislature to join organizations of their own choosing and be represented by those organizations in their employment relations with the Legislature. It is further the purpose of this chapter, in order to foster peaceful employer-employee relations, to allow employees of the Legislature to select one employee organization as the exclusive representative of the employees in an appropriate unit and to permit the exclusive representative to receive financial support from those employees who receive the benefits of this representation.
3599.52.For purposes of this chapter:
(a)Board means the Public Employment Relations Board. The powers and duties of the board described in Section 3541.3 also apply, as appropriate, to this chapter.
(b)Employee of the Legislature or employee means any employee of either house of the Legislature, except all of the following:
(1)Members of the Legislature.
(2)Appointed officers of the Legislature, such as the Secretary of the Senate and the Chief Clerk of the Assembly.
(3)Department or office leaders, such as chiefs-of-staff, staff directors, and chief consultants. Department or office leader means any supervisory employee having authority, in the interest of the employer, to hire, transfer, suspend, lay off, recall, promote, discharge, assign, reward, or discipline other employees, or responsibility to direct them, or effectively to recommend this action, if, in connection with the foregoing, the exercise of any authority is not of a merely routine or clerical nature, but requires the use of independent judgment.
(4)Confidential employees. Confidential employee means any employee who is required to develop or present management positions with respect to employer-employee relations or whose duties normally require access to confidential information contributing significantly to the development of management positions.
(c)Employee organization means any organization that includes employees of the Legislature and that has as one of its primary purposes representing these employees in their relations with the Legislature.
(d)Legislature means the Assembly Committee on Rules or the Senate Committee on Rules. For the purposes of bargaining or meeting and conferring in good faith, Legislature means the Assembly Committee on Rules or the Senate Committee on Rules, or their designated representatives, acting with the authorization of their respective houses.
(e)Maintenance of membership means that all employees who voluntarily are, or who voluntarily become, members of a recognized employee organization shall remain members of that employee organization in good standing for a period as agreed to by the parties pursuant to a memorandum of understanding, commencing with the effective date of the memorandum of understanding. A maintenance of membership provision does not apply to any employee who within 30 days prior to the expiration of the memorandum of understanding withdraws from the employee organization by sending a signed withdrawal letter to the employee organization and a copy to the Controllers office.
(f)Mediation means effort by an impartial third party to assist in reconciling a dispute regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment between representatives of the Legislature and the recognized employee organization or recognized employee organizations through interpretation, suggestion, and advice.
(g)Recognized employee organization means an employee organization that has been recognized by the Legislature as the exclusive representative of the employees in an appropriate unit.
3599.54.Any person who willfully resists, prevents, impedes, or interferes with any member of the board, or any of its agents, in the performance of duties pursuant to this chapter, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be sentenced to pay a fine of not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000).
3599.55.The initial determination as to whether charges of unfair practices are justified, and, if so, what remedy is necessary to effectuate the purposes of this chapter, is a matter within the exclusive jurisdiction of the board, except that, in an action to recover damages due to an unlawful strike, the board shall not award strike-preparation expenses as damages, and shall not award damages for costs, expenses, or revenue losses incurred during, or as a consequence of, an unlawful strike. Procedures for investigating, hearing, and deciding these cases shall be devised and promulgated by the board and shall include all of the following:
(a)Any employee or employee organization, or the Legislature, has the right to file an unfair practice charge, except that the board shall not do either of the following:
(1)Issue a complaint respecting a charge based upon an alleged unfair practice that occurred more than six months prior to the filing of the charge.
(2)Issue a complaint respecting conduct also prohibited by the provisions of the agreement between the parties until the grievance machinery of the agreement, if it exists and covers the matter at issue, has been exhausted, either by settlement or binding arbitration. However, when the charging party demonstrates that resort to contract grievance procedures would be futile, their exhaustion is not necessary. The board has discretionary jurisdiction to review a settlement or arbitration award reached pursuant to the grievance machinery solely for the purpose of determining whether it is repugnant to the purposes of this chapter. If the board finds that the settlement or arbitration award is repugnant to the purposes of this chapter, it shall issue a complaint on the basis of a timely filed charge, and hear and decide the case on the merits; otherwise, it shall dismiss the charge. The board shall, in determining whether the charge was timely filed, consider the six-month limitation set forth in paragraph (1) to have been tolled during the time it took the charging party to exhaust the grievance machinery.
(b)The board shall not enforce agreements between the parties or issue a complaint on any charge based on an alleged violation of an agreement that would not also constitute an unfair practice under this chapter.
(c)The board may issue a decision and order directing an offending party to cease and desist from the unfair practice and to take such affirmative action, including, but not limited to, the reinstatement of employees with or without backpay, as will effectuate the policies of this chapter.
3599.56.Employees of the Legislature have the right to form, join, and participate in the activities of employee organizations of their own choosing for the purpose of representation on all matters of employer-employee relations. Employees of the Legislature also have the right to refuse to join or participate in the activities of employee organizations, except that the parties are not precluded from agreeing to a maintenance of membership provision pursuant to a memorandum of understanding. In any event, employees of the Legislature have the right to represent themselves individually in their employment relations with the Legislature.
3599.57.Employee organizations have the right to represent their members in their employment relations with the Legislature, except that once an employee organization is recognized as the exclusive representative of an appropriate unit, the recognized employee organization is the only organization that may represent that unit in employment relations with the Legislature. Employee organizations may establish reasonable restrictions regarding who may join and may make reasonable provisions for the dismissal of individuals from membership. This section does not prohibit any employee from appearing on the employees own behalf in the employees employment relations with the Legislature.
3599.58.All employee organizations have the right to have membership dues, initiation fees, membership benefit programs, and general assessments deducted pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 1152 and Section 1153 until an employee organization is recognized as the exclusive representative for employees in an appropriate unit, and then any deductions as to any employee in the negotiating unit are not permissible except to the exclusive representative.
3599.59.(a)Once an employee organization is recognized as the exclusive representative of an appropriate unit, it may enter into an agreement with the Legislature providing for organizational security in the form of a maintenance of membership deduction.
(b)The Legislature shall furnish the recognized employee organization with sufficient employment data to allow the organization to calculate membership fees, and shall deduct the amount specified by the recognized employee organization from the salary or wages of every employee for the membership fee. These fees shall be remitted monthly to the recognized employee organization along with an adequate itemized record of the deductions, including, if required by the recognized employee organization, machine readable data.
3599.60.(a)The scope of representation is limited to wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment, except that the scope of representation does not include consideration of the merits, necessity, or organization of any service or activity provided by law.
(b)In view of the powers and responsibilities vested in the Legislature pursuant to the Constitution, decisions regarding the following matters shall not be included within the scope of representation:
(1)Any matter relating to the qualifications and elections of Members of the Legislature, or the holding of office of Members of the Legislature.
(2)Any matter relating to the Legislature or each house thereof choosing its officers, adopting rules for its proceedings, selecting committees necessary for the conduct of its business, considering and enacting legislation, or otherwise exercising the legislative power of this state.
(3)Any matter relating to legislative calendars, schedules, and deadlines of the Legislature.
(4)Laws, rules, policies, or procedures regarding ethics or conflicts of interest.
3599.61.(a)Except in cases of emergency as provided in subdivision (b), the Legislature shall give reasonable written notice to each recognized employee organization affected by any law, rule, or resolution directly relating to matters within the scope of representation proposed to be adopted by the Legislature, and shall give such recognized employee organizations the opportunity to meet and confer with the Legislature.
(b)In cases of emergency when the Legislature determines that a law, rule, or resolution must be adopted immediately without prior notice or meeting with a recognized employee organization, the Legislature shall provide notice and opportunity to meet and confer in good faith at the earliest practical time following the adoption of the law, rule, or resolution.
3599.62.(a)The Legislature shall meet and confer in good faith regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment with representatives of recognized employee organizations, and shall consider fully such presentations as are made by the employee organization on behalf of its members prior to arriving at a determination of policy or course of action. For purposes of this section, the term meet and confer in good faith means that the Legislature and representatives of recognized employee organizations have the mutual obligation to personally meet and confer promptly upon request by either party and continue to meet and confer for a reasonable period of time in order to exchange freely information, opinions, and proposals, and to endeavor to reach agreement on matters within the scope of representation prior to the adoption by the state of its final budget for the ensuing year. The process should include adequate time for the resolution of impasses.
(b)The Legislature shall freely provide to representatives of recognized employee organizations nonconfidential information that is necessary and relevant to their scope of representation. However, this chapter does not require the Legislature to provide confidential information to representatives of recognized employee organizations. For purposes of this subdivision, confidential information means any information contained in records that are exempt from public disclosure under federal or state law. Confidential information does not include the name, job title, office, workplace location, work telephone number and email address, and home or personal telephone number and email address, if on file with the Legislature, for employees in the bargaining unit of the recognized employee organization.
3599.63.If an agreement is reached between the Legislature and the recognized employee organization, the parties shall jointly prepare a written memorandum of understanding reflecting the terms of the agreement, which shall be presented, when appropriate, to the Legislature for adoption as a resolution.
3599.64.A side letter, appendix, or other addendum to a properly ratified memorandum of understanding shall be expressly identified by the parties if that side letter, appendix, or other addendum is to be incorporated in a subsequent memorandum of understanding submitted to the Legislature for adoption as a resolution.
3599.65.If the Legislature does not fully fund any provision of the memorandum of understanding that requires the expenditure of funds, either party may reopen negotiations on all or part of the memorandum of understanding. The parties are not precluded from agreeing to and effecting those provisions of the memorandum of understanding that do not require legislative action for passage of a statute.
3599.66.(a)If a memorandum of understanding has expired, and the Legislature and the recognized employee organization have not agreed to a new memorandum of understanding and have not reached an impasse in negotiations, subject to subdivision (b), the parties to the agreement shall continue to give effect to the provisions of the expired memorandum of understanding, including provisions that supersede existing law, arbitration provisions, no-strike provisions, and agreements regarding matters covered in the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. Sec. 201 et seq.).
(b)If the Legislature and the recognized employee organization reach an impasse in negotiations for a new memorandum of understanding, the Legislature may implement any or all of its last, best, and final offer through adoption of a resolution. Implementation of the last, best, and final offer does not relieve the parties of the obligation to bargain in good faith and reach an agreement on a memorandum of understanding if circumstances change, and does not result in a waiver of rights that the recognized employee organization has under this chapter.
3599.67.If, after a reasonable period of time, the Legislature and the recognized employee organization fail to reach an agreement, the Legislature and the recognized employee organization may agree upon the appointment of a mediator mutually agreeable to the parties, or either party may request the board to appoint a mediator. When both parties mutually agree upon a mediator, the costs of mediation shall be divided one-half to the Legislature and one-half to the recognized employee organization. If the board appoints the mediator, the costs of mediation shall be paid by the board.
3599.68.A reasonable number of employee representatives of recognized employee organizations shall be granted reasonable time off without loss of compensation or other benefits when formally meeting and conferring with the Legislature on matters within the scope of representation. This section applies only to employees, as defined by Section 3599.52, and only for periods when a memorandum of understanding is not in effect.
3599.69.It is unlawful for the Legislature to do any of the following:
(a)Impose or threaten to impose reprisals on employees, discriminate or threaten to discriminate against employees, or otherwise interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees because of their exercise of rights guaranteed by this chapter. For purposes of this subdivision, employee includes an applicant for employment or reemployment.
(b)Deny to employee organizations rights guaranteed to them by this chapter.
(c)Refuse or fail to meet and confer in good faith with a recognized employee organization.
(d)Dominate or interfere with the formation or administration of any employee organization, or contribute financial or other support to it, or in any way encourage employees to join any organization in preference to another.
(e)Refuse to participate in good faith in the mediation procedure set forth in Section 3599.67.
3599.70.It is unlawful for an employee organization to do any of the following:
(a)Cause or attempt to cause the Legislature to violate Section 3599.69.
(b)Impose or threaten to impose reprisals on employees, discriminate or threaten to discriminate against employees, or otherwise interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees because of their exercise of rights guaranteed by this chapter.
(c)Refuse or fail to meet and confer in good faith with the Legislature in relation to the employees for whom it is the recognized employee organization.
(d)Refuse to participate in good faith in the mediation procedure set forth in Section 3599.67.
3599.71.(a)Judicial review of a unit determination is allowed only under either of the following circumstances:
(1)When the board, in response to a petition from the Legislature or an employee organization, agrees that the case is one of special importance and joins in the request for review.
(2)When the issue is raised as a defense to an unfair practice complaint. A board order directing an election shall not be stayed pending judicial review.
(b)Upon receipt of a board order joining in a request for judicial review, a party to the case may petition for a writ of extraordinary relief from the unit determination decision or order.
(c)Any charging party, respondent, or intervenor aggrieved by a final decision or order of the board in an unfair practice case, except a decision of the board not to issue a complaint in such a case, may petition for a writ of extraordinary relief from the decision or order.
(d)The petition shall be filed in the district court of appeal in the appellate district where the unit determination or unfair practice dispute occurred. The petition shall be filed within 30 days after issuance of the boards final order, order denying reconsideration, or order joining in the request for judicial review, as applicable. Upon the filing of the petition, the court shall cause notice to be served upon the board and thereupon shall have jurisdiction of the proceeding. The board shall file in the court the record of the proceeding, certified by the board, within 10 days after the clerks notice unless the time is extended by the court for good cause shown. The court has jurisdiction to grant to the board any temporary relief or restraining order it deems just and proper and in like manner to make and enter a decree enforcing, modifying, or setting aside the order of the board. The findings of the board with respect to questions of fact, including ultimate facts, if supported by substantial evidence on the record considered as a whole, are conclusive. The provisions of Title 1 (commencing with Section 1067) of Part 3 of the Code of Civil Procedure relating to writs, except where specifically superseded herein, apply to proceedings pursuant to this section.
(e)If the time to petition for extraordinary relief from a board decision has expired, the board may seek enforcement of any final decision or order in a district court of appeal or a superior court in the district where the unit determination or unfair practice case occurred. If, after a hearing, the court determines that the order was issued pursuant to procedures established by the board and that the person or entity refuses to comply with the order, the court shall enforce the order by writ of mandamus. The court shall not review the merits of the order.
3599.72.(a)The Legislature shall grant exclusive recognition to employee organizations designated or selected pursuant to rules established by the board for employees of the Legislature or an appropriate unit thereof, subject to the right of an employee to self-represent.
(b)The board shall establish reasonable procedures for petitions and for holding elections and determining appropriate units pursuant to subdivision (a).
(c)The board, as it determines appropriate bargaining units, shall not include employees of the Legislature in a bargaining unit that includes employees other than those of the Legislature. The board shall not include within a bargaining unit employees from both the Assembly and Senate. The board shall not separate employees into bargaining units solely based on political affiliation.
(d)The board shall establish procedures whereby recognition of employee organizations formally recognized as exclusive representatives pursuant to a vote of the employees may be revoked by a majority vote of the employees only after a period of not less than 12 months following the date of such recognition.
3599.73.The Legislature shall adopt reasonable rules for all of the following:
(a)Registering employee organizations, as defined by subdivision (c) of Section 3599.52.
(b)Determining the status of organizations as employee organizations.
(c)Identifying the officers and representatives who officially represent employee organizations.
3599.74.Notwithstanding any other law, if a decision by an administrative law judge regarding the recognition or certification of an employee organization is appealed, the decision is the final order of the board if the board does not issue a ruling that supersedes the decision on or before 180 days after the appeal is filed.
3599.75.(a)In determining an appropriate unit, the board is governed by the criteria in subdivision (b). However, the board shall not direct an election in a unit unless one or more of the employee organizations involved in the proceeding seeks or agrees to an election in the unit.
(b)In determining an appropriate unit, the board shall take into consideration all of the following criteria:
(1)The internal and occupational community of interest among the employees, including, but not limited to, all of the following:
(A)The extent to which they perform functionally related services or work toward established common goals.
(B)The history of employee representation in state government and in similar employment.
(C)The extent to which the employees have common skills, working conditions, job duties, or similar educational or training requirements.
(2)The effect that the projected unit will have on the meet and confer relationships, emphasizing the availability and authority of the Legislatures representatives to deal effectively with employee organizations representing the unit, and taking into account such factors as work location, the numerical size of the unit, the relationship of the unit to organizational patterns of the Legislature, and the effect on the existing classification structure or existing classification schematic of dividing a single class or single classification schematic among two or more units.
(3)The effect of the proposed unit on efficient operations of the Legislature and the compatibility of the unit with the responsibility of the Legislature and its employees to serve the public.
(4)The number of employees and classifications in a proposed unit and its effect on the operations of the Legislature, on the objectives of providing the employees the right to effective representation, and on the meet and confer relationship.
(5)The impact on the meet and confer relationship created by fragmentation of employees or any proliferation of units among the employees of the Legislature.
(c)Political affiliation shall not constitute a community of interest for purposes of determining an appropriate unit.
3599.76.(a)(1)All initial meet and confer proposals of recognized employee organizations shall be presented to the Legislature at a public meeting, and those proposals thereafter are a public record.
(2)All initial meet and confer proposals or counterproposals of the Legislature shall be presented to the recognized employee organization at a public meeting, and those proposals or counterproposals thereafter are a public record.
(b)Except in cases of emergency as provided in subdivision (d), meeting and conferring shall not take place on any proposal subject to subdivision (a) until not less than seven consecutive days have elapsed to enable the public to become informed, and to publicly express itself regarding the proposals, as well as regarding other possible subjects of meeting and conferring, and thereafter, the Legislature shall, in an open meeting, hear public comment on all matters related to the meet and confer proposals.
(c)Forty-eight hours after any proposal that includes any substantive subject that has not first been presented in proposals for public reaction pursuant to this section is offered during any meeting and conferring session, the proposal and the position, if any, taken by the representatives of the Legislature are a public record.
(d)Subdivision (b) does not apply when the Legislature determines that, due to an act of God, natural disaster, or other emergency or calamity affecting the state, and that is beyond the control of the Legislature or recognized employee organization, it must meet and confer and take action upon a proposal immediately and without sufficient time for the public to become informed and to publicly express itself. In those cases, the results of the meeting and conferring shall be made public as soon as reasonably possible.
3599.77.This chapter does not apply Section 923 of the Labor Code to employees of the Legislature.
3599.78.This chapter does not modify or eliminate any existing wages, hours, or terms and conditions of employment for employees of the Legislature. All existing wages, hours, and terms and conditions of employment for employees of the Legislature shall remain in effect unless and until changed in accordance with the Legislatures procedures or pursuant to a memorandum of understanding or agreement between the Legislature and a recognized employee organization.
3599.79.If any provision of this chapter, or the application thereof to any person or circumstances, is held invalid, the invalidity shall not affect any other provision or application of this chapter that can be given effect without the invalid provision or application and, to this end, the provisions of this chapter are severable.
3599.80.Expenses incurred by the Legislature in relation to a properly ratified memorandum of understanding pursuant to this chapter are subject to Section 7.5 of Article IV of the California Constitution.
3599.81.This chapter shall become operative on July 1, 2024. 2026.
SEC. 2.No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIIIB of the California Constitution because the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIIIB of the California Constitution.
This chapter shall be known, and may be cited, as the Legislature Employer-Employee Relations Act.
3599.51.The Legislature finds and declares that it is the purpose of this chapter to promote full communication between the Legislature and its employees by providing a reasonable method of resolving disputes regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment between the Legislature and public employee organizations. It is also the purpose of this chapter to promote the improvement of personnel management and employer-employee relations within the Legislature by providing a uniform basis for recognizing the right of employees of the Legislature to join organizations of their own choosing and be represented by those organizations in their employment relations with the Legislature. It is further the purpose of this chapter, in order to foster peaceful employer-employee relations, to allow employees of the Legislature to select one employee organization as the exclusive representative of the employees in an appropriate unit and to permit the exclusive representative to receive financial support from those employees who receive the benefits of this representation.
3599.52.For purposes of this chapter:
(a)Board means the Public Employment Relations Board. The powers and duties of the board described in Section 3541.3 also apply, as appropriate, to this chapter.
(b)Employee of the Legislature or employee means any employee of either house of the Legislature, except all of the following:
(1)Members of the Legislature.
(2)Appointed officers of the Legislature, such as the Secretary of the Senate and the Chief Clerk of the Assembly.
(3)Department or office leaders, such as chiefs-of-staff, staff directors, and chief consultants. Department or office leader means any supervisory employee having authority, in the interest of the employer, to hire, transfer, suspend, lay off, recall, promote, discharge, assign, reward, or discipline other employees, or responsibility to direct them, or effectively to recommend this action, if, in connection with the foregoing, the exercise of any authority is not of a merely routine or clerical nature, but requires the use of independent judgment.
(4)Confidential employees. Confidential employee means any employee who is required to develop or present management positions with respect to employer-employee relations or whose duties normally require access to confidential information contributing significantly to the development of management positions.
(c)Employee organization means any organization that includes employees of the Legislature and that has as one of its primary purposes representing these employees in their relations with the Legislature.
(d)Legislature means the Assembly Committee on Rules or the Senate Committee on Rules. For the purposes of bargaining or meeting and conferring in good faith, Legislature means the Assembly Committee on Rules or the Senate Committee on Rules, or their designated representatives, acting with the authorization of their respective houses.
(e)Maintenance of membership means that all employees who voluntarily are, or who voluntarily become, members of a recognized employee organization shall remain members of that employee organization in good standing for a period as agreed to by the parties pursuant to a memorandum of understanding, commencing with the effective date of the memorandum of understanding. A maintenance of membership provision does not apply to any employee who within 30 days prior to the expiration of the memorandum of understanding withdraws from the employee organization by sending a signed withdrawal letter to the employee organization and a copy to the Controllers office.
(f)Mediation means effort by an impartial third party to assist in reconciling a dispute regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment between representatives of the Legislature and the recognized employee organization or recognized employee organizations through interpretation, suggestion, and advice.
(g)Recognized employee organization means an employee organization that has been recognized by the Legislature as the exclusive representative of the employees in an appropriate unit.
3599.54.Any person who willfully resists, prevents, impedes, or interferes with any member of the board, or any of its agents, in the performance of duties pursuant to this chapter, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be sentenced to pay a fine of not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000).
3599.55.The initial determination as to whether charges of unfair practices are justified, and, if so, what remedy is necessary to effectuate the purposes of this chapter, is a matter within the exclusive jurisdiction of the board, except that, in an action to recover damages due to an unlawful strike, the board shall not award strike-preparation expenses as damages, and shall not award damages for costs, expenses, or revenue losses incurred during, or as a consequence of, an unlawful strike. Procedures for investigating, hearing, and deciding these cases shall be devised and promulgated by the board and shall include all of the following:
(a)Any employee or employee organization, or the Legislature, has the right to file an unfair practice charge, except that the board shall not do either of the following:
(1)Issue a complaint respecting a charge based upon an alleged unfair practice that occurred more than six months prior to the filing of the charge.
(2)Issue a complaint respecting conduct also prohibited by the provisions of the agreement between the parties until the grievance machinery of the agreement, if it exists and covers the matter at issue, has been exhausted, either by settlement or binding arbitration. However, when the charging party demonstrates that resort to contract grievance procedures would be futile, their exhaustion is not necessary. The board has discretionary jurisdiction to review a settlement or arbitration award reached pursuant to the grievance machinery solely for the purpose of determining whether it is repugnant to the purposes of this chapter. If the board finds that the settlement or arbitration award is repugnant to the purposes of this chapter, it shall issue a complaint on the basis of a timely filed charge, and hear and decide the case on the merits; otherwise, it shall dismiss the charge. The board shall, in determining whether the charge was timely filed, consider the six-month limitation set forth in paragraph (1) to have been tolled during the time it took the charging party to exhaust the grievance machinery.
(b)The board shall not enforce agreements between the parties or issue a complaint on any charge based on an alleged violation of an agreement that would not also constitute an unfair practice under this chapter.
(c)The board may issue a decision and order directing an offending party to cease and desist from the unfair practice and to take such affirmative action, including, but not limited to, the reinstatement of employees with or without backpay, as will effectuate the policies of this chapter.
3599.56.Employees of the Legislature have the right to form, join, and participate in the activities of employee organizations of their own choosing for the purpose of representation on all matters of employer-employee relations. Employees of the Legislature also have the right to refuse to join or participate in the activities of employee organizations, except that the parties are not precluded from agreeing to a maintenance of membership provision pursuant to a memorandum of understanding. In any event, employees of the Legislature have the right to represent themselves individually in their employment relations with the Legislature.
3599.57.Employee organizations have the right to represent their members in their employment relations with the Legislature, except that once an employee organization is recognized as the exclusive representative of an appropriate unit, the recognized employee organization is the only organization that may represent that unit in employment relations with the Legislature. Employee organizations may establish reasonable restrictions regarding who may join and may make reasonable provisions for the dismissal of individuals from membership. This section does not prohibit any employee from appearing on the employees own behalf in the employees employment relations with the Legislature.
3599.58.All employee organizations have the right to have membership dues, initiation fees, membership benefit programs, and general assessments deducted pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 1152 and Section 1153 until an employee organization is recognized as the exclusive representative for employees in an appropriate unit, and then any deductions as to any employee in the negotiating unit are not permissible except to the exclusive representative.
3599.59.(a)Once an employee organization is recognized as the exclusive representative of an appropriate unit, it may enter into an agreement with the Legislature providing for organizational security in the form of a maintenance of membership deduction.
(b)The Legislature shall furnish the recognized employee organization with sufficient employment data to allow the organization to calculate membership fees, and shall deduct the amount specified by the recognized employee organization from the salary or wages of every employee for the membership fee. These fees shall be remitted monthly to the recognized employee organization along with an adequate itemized record of the deductions, including, if required by the recognized employee organization, machine readable data.
3599.60.The scope of representation is limited to wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment, except that the scope of representation does not include consideration of the merits, necessity, or organization of any service or activity provided by law.
3599.61.(a)Except in cases of emergency as provided in subdivision (b), the Legislature shall give reasonable written notice to each recognized employee organization affected by any law, rule, or resolution directly relating to matters within the scope of representation proposed to be adopted by the Legislature, and shall give such recognized employee organizations the opportunity to meet and confer with the Legislature.
(b)In cases of emergency when the Legislature determines that a law, rule, or resolution must be adopted immediately without prior notice or meeting with a recognized employee organization, the Legislature shall provide notice and opportunity to meet and confer in good faith at the earliest practical time following the adoption of the law, rule, or resolution.
3599.62.(a)The Legislature shall meet and confer in good faith regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment with representatives of recognized employee organizations, and shall consider fully such presentations as are made by the employee organization on behalf of its members prior to arriving at a determination of policy or course of action. For purposes of this section, the term meet and confer in good faith means that the Legislature and representatives of recognized employee organizations have the mutual obligation to personally meet and confer promptly upon request by either party and continue to meet and confer for a reasonable period of time in order to exchange freely information, opinions, and proposals, and to endeavor to reach agreement on matters within the scope of representation prior to the adoption by the state of its final budget for the ensuing year. The process should include adequate time for the resolution of impasses.
(b)The Legislature shall freely provide to representatives of recognized employee organizations nonconfidential information that is necessary and relevant to their scope of representation. However, this chapter does not require the Legislature to provide confidential information to representatives of recognized employee organizations. For purposes of this subdivision, confidential information means any information contained in records that are exempt from public disclosure under federal or state law. Confidential information does not include the name, job title, office, workplace location, work telephone number and email address, and home or personal telephone number and email address, if on file with the Legislature, for employees in the bargaining unit of the recognized employee organization.
3599.63.If an agreement is reached between the Legislature and the recognized employee organization, the parties shall jointly prepare a written memorandum of understanding reflecting the terms of the agreement, which shall be presented, when appropriate, to the Legislature for adoption as a resolution.
3599.64.A side letter, appendix, or other addendum to a properly ratified memorandum of understanding shall be expressly identified by the parties if that side letter, appendix, or other addendum is to be incorporated in a subsequent memorandum of understanding submitted to the Legislature for adoption as a resolution.
3599.65.If the Legislature does not fully fund any provision of the memorandum of understanding that requires the expenditure of funds, either party may reopen negotiations on all or part of the memorandum of understanding. The parties are not precluded from agreeing to and effecting those provisions of the memorandum of understanding that do not require legislative action for passage of a statute.
3599.66.(a)If a memorandum of understanding has expired, and the Legislature and the recognized employee organization have not agreed to a new memorandum of understanding and have not reached an impasse in negotiations, subject to subdivision (b), the parties to the agreement shall continue to give effect to the provisions of the expired memorandum of understanding, including provisions that supersede existing law, arbitration provisions, no-strike provisions, and agreements regarding matters covered in the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. Sec. 201 et seq.).
(b)If the Legislature and the recognized employee organization reach an impasse in negotiations for a new memorandum of understanding, the Legislature may implement any or all of its last, best, and final offer through adoption of a resolution. Implementation of the last, best, and final offer does not relieve the parties of the obligation to bargain in good faith and reach an agreement on a memorandum of understanding if circumstances change, and does not result in a waiver of rights that the recognized employee organization has under this chapter.
3599.67.If, after a reasonable period of time, the Legislature and the recognized employee organization fail to reach an agreement, the Legislature and the recognized employee organization may agree upon the appointment of a mediator mutually agreeable to the parties, or either party may request the board to appoint a mediator. When both parties mutually agree upon a mediator, the costs of mediation shall be divided one-half to the Legislature and one-half to the recognized employee organization. If the board appoints the mediator, the costs of mediation shall be paid by the board.
3599.68.A reasonable number of employee representatives of recognized employee organizations shall be granted reasonable time off without loss of compensation or other benefits when formally meeting and conferring with the Legislature on matters within the scope of representation. This section applies only to employees, as defined by Section 3599.52, and only for periods when a memorandum of understanding is not in effect.
3599.69.It is unlawful for the Legislature to do any of the following:
(a)Impose or threaten to impose reprisals on employees, discriminate or threaten to discriminate against employees, or otherwise interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees because of their exercise of rights guaranteed by this chapter. For purposes of this subdivision, employee includes an applicant for employment or reemployment.
(b)Deny to employee organizations rights guaranteed to them by this chapter.
(c)Refuse or fail to meet and confer in good faith with a recognized employee organization.
(d)Dominate or interfere with the formation or administration of any employee organization, or contribute financial or other support to it, or in any way encourage employees to join any organization in preference to another.
(e)Refuse to participate in good faith in the mediation procedure set forth in Section 3599.67.
3599.70.It is unlawful for an employee organization to do any of the following:
(a)Cause or attempt to cause the Legislature to violate Section 3599.69.
(b)Impose or threaten to impose reprisals on employees, discriminate or threaten to discriminate against employees, or otherwise interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees because of their exercise of rights guaranteed by this chapter.
(c)Refuse or fail to meet and confer in good faith with the Legislature in relation to the employees for whom it is the recognized employee organization.
(d)Refuse to participate in good faith in the mediation procedure set forth in Section 3599.67.
3599.71.(a)Judicial review of a unit determination is allowed only under either of the following circumstances:
(1)When the board, in response to a petition from the Legislature or an employee organization, agrees that the case is one of special importance and joins in the request for review.
(2)When the issue is raised as a defense to an unfair practice complaint. A board order directing an election shall not be stayed pending judicial review.
(b)Upon receipt of a board order joining in a request for judicial review, a party to the case may petition for a writ of extraordinary relief from the unit determination decision or order.
(c)Any charging party, respondent, or intervenor aggrieved by a final decision or order of the board in an unfair practice case, except a decision of the board not to issue a complaint in such a case, may petition for a writ of extraordinary relief from the decision or order.
(d)The petition shall be filed in the district court of appeal in the appellate district where the unit determination or unfair practice dispute occurred. The petition shall be filed within 30 days after issuance of the boards final order, order denying reconsideration, or order joining in the request for judicial review, as applicable. Upon the filing of the petition, the court shall cause notice to be served upon the board and thereupon shall have jurisdiction of the proceeding. The board shall file in the court the record of the proceeding, certified by the board, within 10 days after the clerks notice unless the time is extended by the court for good cause shown. The court has jurisdiction to grant to the board any temporary relief or restraining order it deems just and proper and in like manner to make and enter a decree enforcing, modifying, or setting aside the order of the board. The findings of the board with respect to questions of fact, including ultimate facts, if supported by substantial evidence on the record considered as a whole, are conclusive. The provisions of Title 1 (commencing with Section 1067) of Part 3 of the Code of Civil Procedure relating to writs, except where specifically superseded herein, apply to proceedings pursuant to this section.
(e)If the time to petition for extraordinary relief from a board decision has expired, the board may seek enforcement of any final decision or order in a district court of appeal or a superior court in the district where the unit determination or unfair practice case occurred. If, after a hearing, the court determines that the order was issued pursuant to procedures established by the board and that the person or entity refuses to comply with the order, the court shall enforce the order by writ of mandamus. The court shall not review the merits of the order.
3599.72.(a)The Legislature shall grant exclusive recognition to employee organizations designated or selected pursuant to rules established by the board for employees of the Legislature or an appropriate unit thereof, subject to the right of an employee to self-represent.
(b)The board shall establish reasonable procedures for petitions and for holding elections and determining appropriate units pursuant to subdivision (a).
(c)The board, as it determines appropriate bargaining units, shall not include employees of the Legislature in a bargaining unit that includes employees other than those of the Legislature. The board shall not include within a bargaining unit employees from both the Assembly and Senate. The board shall not separate employees into bargaining units solely based on political affiliation.
(d)The board shall establish procedures whereby recognition of employee organizations formally recognized as exclusive representatives pursuant to a vote of the employees may be revoked by a majority vote of the employees only after a period of not less than 12 months following the date of such recognition.
3599.73.The Legislature shall adopt reasonable rules for all of the following:
(a)Registering employee organizations, as defined by subdivision (c) of Section 3599.52.
(b)Determining the status of organizations as employee organizations.
(c)Identifying the officers and representatives who officially represent employee organizations.
3599.74.Notwithstanding any other law, if a decision by an administrative law judge regarding the recognition or certification of an employee organization is appealed, the decision is the final order of the board if the board does not issue a ruling that supersedes the decision on or before 180 days after the appeal is filed.
3599.75.(a)In determining an appropriate unit, the board is governed by the criteria in subdivision (b). However, the board shall not direct an election in a unit unless one or more of the employee organizations involved in the proceeding seeks or agrees to an election in the unit.
(b)In determining an appropriate unit, the board shall take into consideration all of the following criteria:
(1)The internal and occupational community of interest among the employees, including, but not limited to, all of the following:
(A)The extent to which they perform functionally related services or work toward established common goals.
(B)The history of employee representation in state government and in similar employment.
(C)The extent to which the employees have common skills, working conditions, job duties, or similar educational or training requirements.
(2)The effect that the projected unit will have on the meet and confer relationships, emphasizing the availability and authority of the Legislatures representatives to deal effectively with employee organizations representing the unit, and taking into account such factors as work location, the numerical size of the unit, the relationship of the unit to organizational patterns of the Legislature, and the effect on the existing classification structure or existing classification schematic of dividing a single class or single classification schematic among two or more units.
(3)The effect of the proposed unit on efficient operations of the Legislature and the compatibility of the unit with the responsibility of the Legislature and its employees to serve the public.
(4)The number of employees and classifications in a proposed unit and its effect on the operations of the Legislature, on the objectives of providing the employees the right to effective representation, and on the meet and confer relationship.
(5)The impact on the meet and confer relationship created by fragmentation of employees or any proliferation of units among the employees of the Legislature.
(c)Political affiliation shall not constitute a community of interest for purposes of determining an appropriate unit.
3599.76.(a)(1)All initial meet and confer proposals of recognized employee organizations shall be presented to the Legislature at a public meeting, and those proposals thereafter are a public record.
(2)All initial meet and confer proposals or counterproposals of the Legislature shall be presented to the recognized employee organization at a public meeting, and those proposals or counterproposals thereafter are a public record.
(b)Except in cases of emergency as provided in subdivision (d), meeting and conferring shall not take place on any proposal subject to subdivision (a) until not less than seven consecutive days have elapsed to enable the public to become informed, and to publicly express itself regarding the proposals, as well as regarding other possible subjects of meeting and conferring, and thereafter, the Legislature shall, in an open meeting, hear public comment on all matters related to the meet and confer proposals.
(c)Forty-eight hours after any proposal that includes any substantive subject that has not first been presented in proposals for public reaction pursuant to this section is offered during any meeting and conferring session, the proposal and the position, if any, taken by the representatives of the Legislature are a public record.
(d)Subdivision (b) does not apply when the Legislature determines that, due to an act of God, natural disaster, or other emergency or calamity affecting the state, and that is beyond the control of the Legislature or recognized employee organization, it must meet and confer and take action upon a proposal immediately and without sufficient time for the public to become informed and to publicly express itself. In those cases, the results of the meeting and conferring shall be made public as soon as reasonably possible.
3599.77.This chapter does not apply Section 923 of the Labor Code to employees of the Legislature.
3599.78.This chapter does not modify or eliminate any existing wages, hours, or terms and conditions of employment for employees of the Legislature. All existing wages, hours, and terms and conditions of employment for employees of the Legislature shall remain in effect unless and until changed in accordance with the Legislatures procedures or pursuant to a memorandum of understanding or agreement between the Legislature and a recognized employee organization.
3599.79.If any provision of this chapter, or the application thereof to any person or circumstances, is held invalid, the invalidity shall not affect any other provision or application of this chapter that can be given effect without the invalid provision or application and, to this end, the provisions of this chapter are severable.
3599.80.Expenses incurred by the Legislature in relation to a properly ratified memorandum of understanding pursuant to this chapter are subject to Section 7.5 of Article IV of the California Constitution.
3599.81.This chapter shall become operative on July 1, 2024.
SEC. 2.No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIIIB of the California Constitution because the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIIIB of the California Constitution.
This chapter shall be known, and may be cited, as the Legislature Employer-Employee Relations Act.
3599.51.The Legislature finds and declares that it is the purpose of this chapter to promote full communication between the Legislature and its employees by providing a reasonable method of resolving disputes regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment between the Legislature and public employee organizations. It is also the purpose of this chapter to promote the improvement of personnel management and employer-employee relations within the Legislature by providing a uniform basis for recognizing the right of employees of the Legislature to join organizations of their own choosing and be represented by those organizations in their employment relations with the Legislature. It is further the purpose of this chapter, in order to foster peaceful employer-employee relations, to allow employees of the Legislature to select one employee organization as the exclusive representative of the employees in an appropriate unit and to permit the exclusive representative to receive financial support from those employees who receive the benefits of this representation.
3599.52.For purposes of this chapter:
(a)Board means the Public Employment Relations Board. The powers and duties of the board described in Section 3541.3 also apply, as appropriate, to this chapter.
(b)Employee of the Legislature or employee means any employee of either house of the Legislature, except all of the following:
(1)Members of the Legislature.
(2)Appointed officers of the Legislature, such as the Secretary of the Senate and the Chief Clerk of the Assembly.
(3)Department or office leaders, such as chiefs-of-staff, staff directors, and chief consultants. Department or office leader means any supervisory employee having authority, in the interest of the employer, to hire, transfer, suspend, lay off, recall, promote, discharge, assign, reward, or discipline other employees, or responsibility to direct them, or effectively to recommend this action, if, in connection with the foregoing, the exercise of any authority is not of a merely routine or clerical nature, but requires the use of independent judgment.
(4)Confidential employees. Confidential employee means any employee who is required to develop or present management positions with respect to employer-employee relations or whose duties normally require access to confidential information contributing significantly to the development of management positions.
(c)Employee organization means any organization that includes employees of the Legislature and that has as one of its primary purposes representing these employees in their relations with the Legislature.
(d)Legislature means the Assembly Committee on Rules or the Senate Committee on Rules. For the purposes of bargaining or meeting and conferring in good faith, Legislature means the the Assembly Committee on Rules or the Senate Committee on Rules, or their designated representatives, acting with the authorization of their respective houses.
(e)Maintenance of membership means that all employees who voluntarily are, or who voluntarily become, members of a recognized employee organization shall remain members of that employee organization in good standing for a period as agreed to by the parties pursuant to a memorandum of understanding, commencing with the effective date of the memorandum of understanding. A maintenance of membership provision does not apply to any employee who within 30 days prior to the expiration of the memorandum of understanding withdraws from the employee organization by sending a signed withdrawal letter to the employee organization and a copy to the Controllers office.
(f)Mediation means effort by an impartial third party to assist in reconciling a dispute regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment between representatives of the Legislature and the recognized employee organization or recognized employee organizations through interpretation, suggestion, and advice.
(g)Recognized employee organization means an employee organization that has been recognized by the Legislature as the exclusive representative of the employees in an appropriate unit.
3599.54.Any person who willfully resists, prevents, impedes, or interferes with any member of the board, or any of its agents, in the performance of duties pursuant to this chapter, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be sentenced to pay a fine of not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000).
3599.55.The initial determination as to whether charges of unfair practices are justified, and, if so, what remedy is necessary to effectuate the purposes of this chapter, is a matter within the exclusive jurisdiction of the board, except that, in an action to recover damages due to an unlawful strike, the board shall not award strike-preparation expenses as damages, and shall not award damages for costs, expenses, or revenue losses incurred during, or as a consequence of, an unlawful strike. Procedures for investigating, hearing, and deciding these cases shall be devised and promulgated by the board and shall include all of the following:
(a)Any employee or employee organization, or the Legislature, has the right to file an unfair practice charge, except that the board shall not do either of the following:
(1)Issue a complaint respecting a charge based upon an alleged unfair practice that occurred more than six months prior to the filing of the charge.
(2)Issue a complaint respecting conduct also prohibited by the provisions of the agreement between the parties until the grievance machinery of the agreement, if it exists and covers the matter at issue, has been exhausted, either by settlement or binding arbitration. However, when the charging party demonstrates that resort to contract grievance procedures would be futile, their exhaustion is not necessary. The board has discretionary jurisdiction to review a settlement or arbitration award reached pursuant to the grievance machinery solely for the purpose of determining whether it is repugnant to the purposes of this chapter. If the board finds that the settlement or arbitration award is repugnant to the purposes of this chapter, it shall issue a complaint on the basis of a timely filed charge, and hear and decide the case on the merits; otherwise, it shall dismiss the charge. The board shall, in determining whether the charge was timely filed, consider the six-month limitation set forth in paragraph (1) to have been tolled during the time it took the charging party to exhaust the grievance machinery.
(b)The board shall not enforce agreements between the parties or issue a complaint on any charge based on an alleged violation of an agreement that would not also constitute an unfair practice under this chapter.
(c)The board may issue a decision and order directing an offending party to cease and desist from the unfair practice and to take such affirmative action, including, but not limited to, the reinstatement of employees with or without backpay, as will effectuate the policies of this chapter.
3599.56.Employees of the Legislature have the right to form, join, and participate in the activities of employee organizations of their own choosing for the purpose of representation on all matters of employer-employee relations. Employees of the Legislature also have the right to refuse to join or participate in the activities of employee organizations, except that the parties are not precluded from agreeing to a maintenance of membership provision pursuant to a memorandum of understanding. In any event, employees of the Legislature have the right to represent themselves individually in their employment relations with the Legislature.
3599.57.Employee organizations have the right to represent their members in their employment relations with the Legislature, except that once an employee organization is recognized as the exclusive representative of an appropriate unit, the recognized employee organization is the only organization that may represent that unit in employment relations with the Legislature. Employee organizations may establish reasonable restrictions regarding who may join and may make reasonable provisions for the dismissal of individuals from membership. This section does not prohibit any employee from appearing on the employees own behalf in the employees employment relations with the Legislature.
3599.58.All employee organizations have the right to have membership dues, initiation fees, membership benefit programs, and general assessments deducted pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 1152 and Section 1153 until an employee organization is recognized as the exclusive representative for employees in an appropriate unit, and then any deductions as to any employee in the negotiating unit are not permissible except to the exclusive representative.
3599.59.(a)Once an employee organization is recognized as the exclusive representative of an appropriate unit, it may enter into an agreement with the Legislature providing for organizational security in the form of a maintenance of membership deduction.
(b)The Legislature shall furnish the recognized employee organization with sufficient employment data to allow the organization to calculate membership fees, and shall deduct the amount specified by the recognized employee organization from the salary or wages of every employee for the membership fee. These fees shall be remitted monthly to the recognized employee organization along with an adequate itemized record of the deductions, including, if required by the recognized employee organization, machine readable data.
3599.60.The scope of representation is limited to wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment, except that the scope of representation does not include consideration of the merits, necessity, or organization of any service or activity provided by law.
3599.61.(a)Except in cases of emergency as provided in subdivision (b), the Legislature shall give reasonable written notice to each recognized employee organization affected by any law, rule, or resolution directly relating to matters within the scope of representation proposed to be adopted by the Legislature, and shall give such recognized employee organizations the opportunity to meet and confer with the Legislature.
(b)In cases of emergency when the Legislature determines that a law, rule, or resolution must be adopted immediately without prior notice or meeting with a recognized employee organization, the Legislature shall provide notice and opportunity to meet and confer in good faith at the earliest practical time following the adoption of the law, rule, or resolution.
3599.62.(a)The Legislature shall meet and confer in good faith regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment with representatives of recognized employee organizations, and shall consider fully such presentations as are made by the employee organization on behalf of its members prior to arriving at a determination of policy or course of action. For purposes of this section, the term meet and confer in good faith means that the Legislature and representatives of recognized employee organizations have the mutual obligation to personally meet and confer promptly upon request by either party and continue to meet and confer for a reasonable period of time in order to exchange freely information, opinions, and proposals, and to endeavor to reach agreement on matters within the scope of representation prior to the adoption by the state of its final budget for the ensuing year. The process should include adequate time for the resolution of impasses.
(b)The Legislature shall freely provide to representatives of recognized employee organizations nonconfidential information that is necessary and relevant to their scope of representation. However, this chapter does not require the Legislature to provide confidential information to representatives of recognized employee organizations. For purposes of this subdivision, confidential information means any information contained in records that are exempt from public disclosure under federal or state law. Confidential information does not include the name, job title, office, workplace location, work telephone number and email address, and home or personal telephone number and email address, if on file with the Legislature, for employees in the bargaining unit of the recognized employee organization.
3599.63.If an agreement is reached between the Legislature and the recognized employee organization, the parties shall jointly prepare a written memorandum of understanding reflecting the terms of the agreement, which shall be presented, when appropriate, to the Legislature for adoption as a resolution.
3599.64.A side letter, appendix, or other addendum to a properly ratified memorandum of understanding shall be expressly identified by the parties if that side letter, appendix, or other addendum is to be incorporated in a subsequent memorandum of understanding submitted to the Legislature for adoption as a resolution.
3599.65.If the Legislature does not fully fund any provision of the memorandum of understanding that requires the expenditure of funds, either party may reopen negotiations on all or part of the memorandum of understanding. The parties are not precluded from agreeing to and effecting those provisions of the memorandum of understanding that do not require legislative action for passage of a statute.
3599.66.(a)If a memorandum of understanding has expired, and the Legislature and the recognized employee organization have not agreed to a new memorandum of understanding and have not reached an impasse in negotiations, subject to subdivision (b), the parties to the agreement shall continue to give effect to the provisions of the expired memorandum of understanding, including provisions that supersede existing law, arbitration provisions, no-strike provisions, and agreements regarding matters covered in the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. Sec. 201 et seq.).
(b)If the Legislature and the recognized employee organization reach an impasse in negotiations for a new memorandum of understanding, the Legislature may implement any or all of its last, best, and final offer through adoption of a resolution. Implementation of the last, best, and final offer does not relieve the parties of the obligation to bargain in good faith and reach an agreement on a memorandum of understanding if circumstances change, and does not result in a waiver of rights that the recognized employee organization has under this chapter.
3599.67.If, after a reasonable period of time, the Legislature and the recognized employee organization fail to reach an agreement, the Legislature and the recognized employee organization may agree upon the appointment of a mediator mutually agreeable to the parties, or either party may request the board to appoint a mediator. When both parties mutually agree upon a mediator, the costs of mediation shall be divided one-half to the Legislature and one-half to the recognized employee organization. If the board appoints the mediator, the costs of mediation shall be paid by the board.
3599.68.A reasonable number of employee representatives of recognized employee organizations shall be granted reasonable time off without loss of compensation or other benefits when formally meeting and conferring with the Legislature on matters within the scope of representation. This section applies only to employees, as defined by Section 3599.52, and only for periods when a memorandum of understanding is not in effect.
3599.69.It is unlawful for the Legislature to do any of the following:
(a)Impose or threaten to impose reprisals on employees, discriminate or threaten to discriminate against employees, or otherwise interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees because of their exercise of rights guaranteed by this chapter. For purposes of this subdivision, employee includes an applicant for employment or reemployment.
(b)Deny to employee organizations rights guaranteed to them by this chapter.
(c)Refuse or fail to meet and confer in good faith with a recognized employee organization.
(d)Dominate or interfere with the formation or administration of any employee organization, or contribute financial or other support to it, or in any way encourage employees to join any organization in preference to another.
(e)Refuse to participate in good faith in the mediation procedure set forth in Section 3599.67.
3599.70.It is unlawful for an employee organization to do any of the following:
(a)Cause or attempt to cause the Legislature to violate Section 3599.69.
(b)Impose or threaten to impose reprisals on employees, discriminate or threaten to discriminate against employees, or otherwise interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees because of their exercise of rights guaranteed by this chapter.
(c)Refuse or fail to meet and confer in good faith with the Legislature in relation to the employees for whom it is the recognized employee organization.
(d)Refuse to participate in good faith in the mediation procedure set forth in Section 3599.67.
3599.71.(a)Judicial review of a unit determination is allowed only under either of the following circumstances:
(1)When the board, in response to a petition from the Legislature or an employee organization, agrees that the case is one of special importance and joins in the request for review.
(2)When the issue is raised as a defense to an unfair practice complaint. A board order directing an election shall not be stayed pending judicial review.
(b)Upon receipt of a board order joining in a request for judicial review, a party to the case may petition for a writ of extraordinary relief from the unit determination decision or order.
(c)Any charging party, respondent, or intervenor aggrieved by a final decision or order of the board in an unfair practice case, except a decision of the board not to issue a complaint in such a case, may petition for a writ of extraordinary relief from the decision or order.
(d)The petition shall be filed in the district court of appeal in the appellate district where the unit determination or unfair practice dispute occurred. The petition shall be filed within 30 days after issuance of the boards final order, order denying reconsideration, or order joining in the request for judicial review, as applicable. Upon the filing of the petition, the court shall cause notice to be served upon the board and thereupon shall have jurisdiction of the proceeding. The board shall file in the court the record of the proceeding, certified by the board, within 10 days after the clerks notice unless the time is extended by the court for good cause shown. The court has jurisdiction to grant to the board any temporary relief or restraining order it deems just and proper and in like manner to make and enter a decree enforcing, modifying, or setting aside the order of the board. The findings of the board with respect to questions of fact, including ultimate facts, if supported by substantial evidence on the record considered as a whole, are conclusive. The provisions of Title 1 (commencing with Section 1067) of Part 3 of the Code of Civil Procedure relating to writs, except where specifically superseded herein, apply to proceedings pursuant to this section.
(e)If the time to petition for extraordinary relief from a board decision has expired, the board may seek enforcement of any final decision or order in a district court of appeal or a superior court in the district where the unit determination or unfair practice case occurred. If, after a hearing, the court determines that the order was issued pursuant to procedures established by the board and that the person or entity refuses to comply with the order, the court shall enforce the order by writ of mandamus. The court shall not review the merits of the order.
3599.72.(a)The Legislature shall grant exclusive recognition to employee organizations designated or selected pursuant to rules established by the board for employees of the Legislature or an appropriate unit thereof, subject to the right of an employee to self-represent.
(b)The board shall establish reasonable procedures for petitions and for holding elections and determining appropriate units pursuant to subdivision (a).
(c)The board, as it determines appropriate bargaining units, shall not include employees of the Legislature in a bargaining unit that includes employees other than those of the Legislature. The board shall not include within a bargaining unit employees from both the Assembly and Senate.
(d)The board shall establish procedures whereby recognition of employee organizations formally recognized as exclusive representatives pursuant to a vote of the employees may be revoked by a majority vote of the employees only after a period of not less than 12 months following the date of such recognition.
3599.73.The Legislature shall adopt reasonable rules for all of the following:
(a)Registering employee organizations, as defined by subdivision (c) of Section 3599.52.
(b)Determining the status of organizations as employee organizations.
(c)Identifying the officers and representatives who officially represent employee organizations.
3599.74.Notwithstanding any other law, if a decision by an administrative law judge regarding the recognition or certification of an employee organization is appealed, the decision is the final order of the board if the board does not issue a ruling that supersedes the decision on or before 180 days after the appeal is filed.
3599.75.(a)In determining an appropriate unit, the board is governed by the criteria in subdivision (b). However, the board shall not direct an election in a unit unless one or more of the employee organizations involved in the proceeding seeks or agrees to an election in the unit.
(b)In determining an appropriate unit, the board shall take into consideration all of the following criteria:
(1)The internal and occupational community of interest among the employees, including, but not limited to, all of the following:
(A)The extent to which they perform functionally related services or work toward established common goals.
(B)The history of employee representation in state government and in similar employment.
(C)The extent to which the employees have common skills, working conditions, job duties, or similar educational or training requirements.
(2)The effect that the projected unit will have on the meet and confer relationships, emphasizing the availability and authority of the Legislatures representatives to deal effectively with employee organizations representing the unit, and taking into account such factors as work location, the numerical size of the unit, the relationship of the unit to organizational patterns of the Legislature, and the effect on the existing classification structure or existing classification schematic of dividing a single class or single classification schematic among two or more units.
(3)The effect of the proposed unit on efficient operations of the Legislature and the compatibility of the unit with the responsibility of the Legislature and its employees to serve the public.
(4)The number of employees and classifications in a proposed unit and its effect on the operations of the Legislature, on the objectives of providing the employees the right to effective representation, and on the meet and confer relationship.
(5)The impact on the meet and confer relationship created by fragmentation of employees or any proliferation of units among the employees of the Legislature.
3599.76.(a)(1)All initial meet and confer proposals of recognized employee organizations shall be presented to the Legislature at a public meeting, and those proposals thereafter are a public record.
(2)All initial meet and confer proposals or counterproposals of the Legislature shall be presented to the recognized employee organization at a public meeting, and those proposals or counterproposals thereafter are a public record.
(b)Except in cases of emergency as provided in subdivision (d), meeting and conferring shall not take place on any proposal subject to subdivision (a) until not less than seven consecutive days have elapsed to enable the public to become informed, and to publicly express itself regarding the proposals, as well as regarding other possible subjects of meeting and conferring, and thereafter, the Legislature shall, in an open meeting, hear public comment on all matters related to the meet and confer proposals.
(c)Forty-eight hours after any proposal that includes any substantive subject that has not first been presented in proposals for public reaction pursuant to this section is offered during any meeting and conferring session, the proposal and the position, if any, taken by the representatives of the Legislature are a public record.
(d)Subdivision (b) does not apply when the Legislature determines that, due to an act of God, natural disaster, or other emergency or calamity affecting the state, and that is beyond the control of the Legislature or recognized employee organization, it must meet and confer and take action upon a proposal immediately and without sufficient time for the public to become informed and to publicly express itself. In those cases, the results of the meeting and conferring shall be made public as soon as reasonably possible.
3599.77.This chapter does not apply Section 923 of the Labor Code to employees of the Legislature.
3599.78.This chapter does not modify or eliminate any existing wages, hours, or terms and conditions of employment for employees of the Legislature. All existing wages, hours, and terms and conditions of employment for employees of the Legislature shall remain in effect unless and until changed in accordance with the Legislatures procedures or pursuant to a memorandum of understanding or agreement between the Legislature and a recognized employee organization.
3599.79.If any provision of this chapter, or the application thereof to any person or circumstances, is held invalid, the invalidity shall not affect any other provision or application of this chapter that can be given effect without the invalid provision or application and, to this end, the provisions of this chapter are severable.
3599.80.Expenses incurred by the Legislature in relation to a properly ratified memorandum of understanding pursuant to this chapter are subject to Section 7.5 of Article IV of the California Constitution.
3599.81.This chapter shall become operative on July 1, 2024.
SEC. 2.No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIIIB of the California Constitution because the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIIIB of the California Constitution.
CORRECTIONS: HeadingLine 3.This chapter shall be known, and may be cited, as the Legislature Employer-Employee Relations Act.
3599.51.The Legislature finds and declares that it is the purpose of this chapter to promote full communication between the Legislature and its employees by providing a reasonable method of resolving disputes regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment between the Legislature and public employee organizations. It is also the purpose of this chapter to promote the improvement of personnel management and employer-employee relations within the Legislature by providing a uniform basis for recognizing the right of employees of the Legislature to join organizations of their own choosing and be represented by those organizations in their employment relations with the Legislature. It is further the purpose of this chapter, in order to foster peaceful employer-employee relations, to allow employees of the Legislature to select one employee organization as the exclusive representative of the employees in an appropriate unit and to permit the exclusive representative to receive financial support from those employees who receive the benefits of this representation.
3599.52.For purposes of this chapter:
(a)Board means the Public Employment Relations Board. The powers and duties of the board described in Section 3541.3 also apply, as appropriate, to this chapter.
(b)Employee of the Legislature or employee means any employee of either house of the Legislature, except all of the following:
(1)Members of the Legislature.
(2)Appointed officers of the Legislature, such as the Secretary of the Senate and the Chief Clerk of the Assembly.
(3)Department or office leaders, such as chiefs-of-staff, staff directors, and chief consultants. Department or office leader means any supervisory employee having authority, in the interest of the employer, to hire, transfer, suspend, lay off, recall, promote, discharge, assign, reward, or discipline other employees, or responsibility to direct them, or effectively to recommend this action, if, in connection with the foregoing, the exercise of any authority is not of a merely routine or clerical nature, but requires the use of independent judgment.
(4)Confidential employees. Confidential employee means any employee who is required to develop or present management positions with respect to employer-employee relations or whose duties normally require access to confidential information contributing significantly to the development of management positions.
(c)Employee organization means any organization that includes employees of the Legislature and that has as one of its primary purposes representing these employees in their relations with the Legislature.
(d)Legislature means the Assembly Committee on Rules or the Senate Committee on Rules. For the purposes of bargaining or meeting and conferring in good faith, Legislature means the the Assembly Committee on Rules or the Senate Committee on Rules, or their designated representatives, acting with the authorization of their respective houses.
(e)Maintenance of membership means that all employees who voluntarily are, or who voluntarily become, members of a recognized employee organization shall remain members of that employee organization in good standing for a period as agreed to by the parties pursuant to a memorandum of understanding, commencing with the effective date of the memorandum of understanding. A maintenance of membership provision does not apply to any employee who within 30 days prior to the expiration of the memorandum of understanding withdraws from the employee organization by sending a signed withdrawal letter to the employee organization and a copy to the Controllers office.
(f)Mediation means effort by an impartial third party to assist in reconciling a dispute regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment between representatives of the Legislature and the recognized employee organization or recognized employee organizations through interpretation, suggestion, and advice.
(g)Recognized employee organization means an employee organization that has been recognized by the Legislature as the exclusive representative of the employees in an appropriate unit.
3599.54.Any person who willfully resists, prevents, impedes, or interferes with any member of the board, or any of its agents, in the performance of duties pursuant to this chapter, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be sentenced to pay a fine of not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000).
3599.55.The initial determination as to whether charges of unfair practices are justified, and, if so, what remedy is necessary to effectuate the purposes of this chapter, is a matter within the exclusive jurisdiction of the board, except that, in an action to recover damages due to an unlawful strike, the board shall not award strike-preparation expenses as damages, and shall not award damages for costs, expenses, or revenue losses incurred during, or as a consequence of, an unlawful strike. Procedures for investigating, hearing, and deciding these cases shall be devised and promulgated by the board and shall include all of the following:
(a)Any employee or employee organization, or the Legislature, has the right to file an unfair practice charge, except that the board shall not do either of the following:
(1)Issue a complaint respecting a charge based upon an alleged unfair practice that occurred more than six months prior to the filing of the charge.
(2)Issue a complaint respecting conduct also prohibited by the provisions of the agreement between the parties until the grievance machinery of the agreement, if it exists and covers the matter at issue, has been exhausted, either by settlement or binding arbitration. However, when the charging party demonstrates that resort to contract grievance procedures would be futile, their exhaustion is not necessary. The board has discretionary jurisdiction to review a settlement or arbitration award reached pursuant to the grievance machinery solely for the purpose of determining whether it is repugnant to the purposes of this chapter. If the board finds that the settlement or arbitration award is repugnant to the purposes of this chapter, it shall issue a complaint on the basis of a timely filed charge, and hear and decide the case on the merits; otherwise, it shall dismiss the charge. The board shall, in determining whether the charge was timely filed, consider the six-month limitation set forth in paragraph (1) to have been tolled during the time it took the charging party to exhaust the grievance machinery.
(b)The board shall not enforce agreements between the parties or issue a complaint on any charge based on an alleged violation of an agreement that would not also constitute an unfair practice under this chapter.
(c)The board may issue a decision and order directing an offending party to cease and desist from the unfair practice and to take such affirmative action, including, but not limited to, the reinstatement of employees with or without backpay, as will effectuate the policies of this chapter.
3599.56.Employees of the Legislature have the right to form, join, and participate in the activities of employee organizations of their own choosing for the purpose of representation on all matters of employer-employee relations. Employees of the Legislature also have the right to refuse to join or participate in the activities of employee organizations, except that the parties are not precluded from agreeing to a maintenance of membership provision pursuant to a memorandum of understanding. In any event, employees of the Legislature have the right to represent themselves individually in their employment relations with the Legislature.
3599.57.Employee organizations have the right to represent their members in their employment relations with the Legislature, except that once an employee organization is recognized as the exclusive representative of an appropriate unit, the recognized employee organization is the only organization that may represent that unit in employment relations with the Legislature. Employee organizations may establish reasonable restrictions regarding who may join and may make reasonable provisions for the dismissal of individuals from membership. This section does not prohibit any employee from appearing on the employees own behalf in the employees employment relations with the Legislature.
3599.58.All employee organizations have the right to have membership dues, initiation fees, membership benefit programs, and general assessments deducted pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 1152 and Section 1153 until an employee organization is recognized as the exclusive representative for employees in an appropriate unit, and then any deductions as to any employee in the negotiating unit are not permissible except to the exclusive representative.
3599.59.(a)Once an employee organization is recognized as the exclusive representative of an appropriate unit, it may enter into an agreement with the Legislature providing for organizational security in the form of a maintenance of membership deduction.
(b)The Legislature shall furnish the recognized employee organization with sufficient employment data to allow the organization to calculate membership fees, and shall deduct the amount specified by the recognized employee organization from the salary or wages of every employee for the membership fee. These fees shall be remitted monthly to the recognized employee organization along with an adequate itemized record of the deductions, including, if required by the recognized employee organization, machine readable data.
3599.60.The scope of representation is limited to wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment, except that the scope of representation does not include consideration of the merits, necessity, or organization of any service or activity provided by law.
3599.61.(a)Except in cases of emergency as provided in subdivision (b), the Legislature shall give reasonable written notice to each recognized employee organization affected by any law, rule, or resolution directly relating to matters within the scope of representation proposed to be adopted by the Legislature, and shall give such recognized employee organizations the opportunity to meet and confer with the Legislature.
(b)In cases of emergency when the Legislature determines that a law, rule, or resolution must be adopted immediately without prior notice or meeting with a recognized employee organization, the Legislature shall provide notice and opportunity to meet and confer in good faith at the earliest practical time following the adoption of the law, rule, or resolution.
3599.62.(a)The Legislature shall meet and confer in good faith regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment with representatives of recognized employee organizations, and shall consider fully such presentations as are made by the employee organization on behalf of its members prior to arriving at a determination of policy or course of action. For purposes of this section, the term meet and confer in good faith means that the Legislature and representatives of recognized employee organizations have the mutual obligation to personally meet and confer promptly upon request by either party and continue to meet and confer for a reasonable period of time in order to exchange freely information, opinions, and proposals, and to endeavor to reach agreement on matters within the scope of representation prior to the adoption by the state of its final budget for the ensuing year. The process should include adequate time for the resolution of impasses.
(b)The Legislature shall freely provide to representatives of recognized employee organizations nonconfidential information that is necessary and relevant to their scope of representation. However, this chapter does not require the Legislature to provide confidential information to representatives of recognized employee organizations. For purposes of this subdivision, confidential information means any information contained in records that are exempt from public disclosure under federal or state law. Confidential information does not include the name, job title, office, workplace location, work telephone number and email address, and home or personal telephone number and email address, if on file with the Legislature, for employees in the bargaining unit of the recognized employee organization.
3599.63.If an agreement is reached between the Legislature and the recognized employee organization, the parties shall jointly prepare a written memorandum of understanding reflecting the terms of the agreement, which shall be presented, when appropriate, to the Legislature for adoption as a resolution.
3599.64.A side letter, appendix, or other addendum to a properly ratified memorandum of understanding shall be expressly identified by the parties if that side letter, appendix, or other addendum is to be incorporated in a subsequent memorandum of understanding submitted to the Legislature for adoption as a resolution.
3599.65.If the Legislature does not fully fund any provision of the memorandum of understanding that requires the expenditure of funds, either party may reopen negotiations on all or part of the memorandum of understanding. The parties are not precluded from agreeing to and effecting those provisions of the memorandum of understanding that do not require legislative action for passage of a statute.
3599.66.(a)If a memorandum of understanding has expired, and the Legislature and the recognized employee organization have not agreed to a new memorandum of understanding and have not reached an impasse in negotiations, subject to subdivision (b), the parties to the agreement shall continue to give effect to the provisions of the expired memorandum of understanding, including provisions that supersede existing law, arbitration provisions, no-strike provisions, and agreements regarding matters covered in the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. Sec. 201 et seq.).
(b)If the Legislature and the recognized employee organization reach an impasse in negotiations for a new memorandum of understanding, the Legislature may implement any or all of its last, best, and final offer through adoption of a resolution. Implementation of the last, best, and final offer does not relieve the parties of the obligation to bargain in good faith and reach an agreement on a memorandum of understanding if circumstances change, and does not result in a waiver of rights that the recognized employee organization has under this chapter.
3599.67.If, after a reasonable period of time, the Legislature and the recognized employee organization fail to reach an agreement, the Legislature and the recognized employee organization may agree upon the appointment of a mediator mutually agreeable to the parties, or either party may request the board to appoint a mediator. When both parties mutually agree upon a mediator, the costs of mediation shall be divided one-half to the Legislature and one-half to the recognized employee organization. If the board appoints the mediator, the costs of mediation shall be paid by the board.
3599.68.A reasonable number of employee representatives of recognized employee organizations shall be granted reasonable time off without loss of compensation or other benefits when formally meeting and conferring with the Legislature on matters within the scope of representation. This section applies only to employees, as defined by Section 3599.52, and only for periods when a memorandum of understanding is not in effect.
3599.69.It is unlawful for the Legislature to do any of the following:
(a)Impose or threaten to impose reprisals on employees, discriminate or threaten to discriminate against employees, or otherwise interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees because of their exercise of rights guaranteed by this chapter. For purposes of this subdivision, employee includes an applicant for employment or reemployment.
(b)Deny to employee organizations rights guaranteed to them by this chapter.
(c)Refuse or fail to meet and confer in good faith with a recognized employee organization.
(d)Dominate or interfere with the formation or administration of any employee organization, or contribute financial or other support to it, or in any way encourage employees to join any organization in preference to another.
(e)Refuse to participate in good faith in the mediation procedure set forth in Section 3599.67.
3599.70.It is unlawful for an employee organization to do any of the following:
(a)Cause or attempt to cause the Legislature to violate Section 3599.69.
(b)Impose or threaten to impose reprisals on employees, discriminate or threaten to discriminate against employees, or otherwise interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees because of their exercise of rights guaranteed by this chapter.
(c)Refuse or fail to meet and confer in good faith with the Legislature in relation to the employees for whom it is the recognized employee organization.
(d)Refuse to participate in good faith in the mediation procedure set forth in Section 3599.67.
3599.71.(a)Judicial review of a unit determination is allowed only under either of the following circumstances:
(1)When the board, in response to a petition from the Legislature or an employee organization, agrees that the case is one of special importance and joins in the request for review.
(2)When the issue is raised as a defense to an unfair practice complaint. A board order directing an election shall not be stayed pending judicial review.
(b)Upon receipt of a board order joining in a request for judicial review, a party to the case may petition for a writ of extraordinary relief from the unit determination decision or order.
(c)Any charging party, respondent, or intervenor aggrieved by a final decision or order of the board in an unfair practice case, except a decision of the board not to issue a complaint in such a case, may petition for a writ of extraordinary relief from the decision or order.
(d)The petition shall be filed in the district court of appeal in the appellate district where the unit determination or unfair practice dispute occurred. The petition shall be filed within 30 days after issuance of the boards final order, order denying reconsideration, or order joining in the request for judicial review, as applicable. Upon the filing of the petition, the court shall cause notice to be served upon the board and thereupon shall have jurisdiction of the proceeding. The board shall file in the court the record of the proceeding, certified by the board, within 10 days after the clerks notice unless the time is extended by the court for good cause shown. The court has jurisdiction to grant to the board any temporary relief or restraining order it deems just and proper and in like manner to make and enter a decree enforcing, modifying, or setting aside the order of the board. The findings of the board with respect to questions of fact, including ultimate facts, if supported by substantial evidence on the record considered as a whole, are conclusive. The provisions of Title 1 (commencing with Section 1067) of Part 3 of the Code of Civil Procedure relating to writs, except where specifically superseded herein, apply to proceedings pursuant to this section.
(e)If the time to petition for extraordinary relief from a board decision has expired, the board may seek enforcement of any final decision or order in a district court of appeal or a superior court in the district where the unit determination or unfair practice case occurred. If, after a hearing, the court determines that the order was issued pursuant to procedures established by the board and that the person or entity refuses to comply with the order, the court shall enforce the order by writ of mandamus. The court shall not review the merits of the order.
3599.72.(a)The Legislature shall grant exclusive recognition to employee organizations designated or selected pursuant to rules established by the board for employees of the Legislature or an appropriate unit thereof, subject to the right of an employee to self-represent.
(b)The board shall establish reasonable procedures for petitions and for holding elections and determining appropriate units pursuant to subdivision (a).
(c)The board, as it determines appropriate bargaining units, shall not include employees of the Legislature in a bargaining unit that includes employees other than those of the Legislature. The board shall not include within a bargaining unit employees from both the Assembly and Senate.
(d)The board shall establish procedures whereby recognition of employee organizations formally recognized as exclusive representatives pursuant to a vote of the employees may be revoked by a majority vote of the employees only after a period of not less than 12 months following the date of such recognition.
3599.73.The Legislature shall adopt reasonable rules for all of the following:
(a)Registering employee organizations, as defined by subdivision (c) of Section 3599.52.
(b)Determining the status of organizations as employee organizations.
(c)Identifying the officers and representatives who officially represent employee organizations.
3599.74.Notwithstanding any other law, if a decision by an administrative law judge regarding the recognition or certification of an employee organization is appealed, the decision is the final order of the board if the board does not issue a ruling that supersedes the decision on or before 180 days after the appeal is filed.
3599.75.(a)In determining an appropriate unit, the board is governed by the criteria in subdivision (b). However, the board shall not direct an election in a unit unless one or more of the employee organizations involved in the proceeding seeks or agrees to an election in the unit.
(b)In determining an appropriate unit, the board shall take into consideration all of the following criteria:
(1)The internal and occupational community of interest among the employees, including, but not limited to, all of the following:
(A)The extent to which they perform functionally related services or work toward established common goals.
(B)The history of employee representation in state government and in similar employment.
(C)The extent to which the employees have common skills, working conditions, job duties, or similar educational or training requirements.
(2)The effect that the projected unit will have on the meet and confer relationships, emphasizing the availability and authority of the Legislatures representatives to deal effectively with employee organizations representing the unit, and taking into account such factors as work location, the numerical size of the unit, the relationship of the unit to organizational patterns of the Legislature, and the effect on the existing classification structure or existing classification schematic of dividing a single class or single classification schematic among two or more units.
(3)The effect of the proposed unit on efficient operations of the Legislature and the compatibility of the unit with the responsibility of the Legislature and its employees to serve the public.
(4)The number of employees and classifications in a proposed unit and its effect on the operations of the Legislature, on the objectives of providing the employees the right to effective representation, and on the meet and confer relationship.
(5)The impact on the meet and confer relationship created by fragmentation of employees or any proliferation of units among the employees of the Legislature.
3599.76.(a)(1)All initial meet and confer proposals of recognized employee organizations shall be presented to the Legislature at a public meeting, and those proposals thereafter are a public record.
(2)All initial meet and confer proposals or counterproposals of the Legislature shall be presented to the recognized employee organization at a public meeting, and those proposals or counterproposals thereafter are a public record.
(b)Except in cases of emergency as provided in subdivision (d), meeting and conferring shall not take place on any proposal subject to subdivision (a) until not less than seven consecutive days have elapsed to enable the public to become informed, and to publicly express itself regarding the proposals, as well as regarding other possible subjects of meeting and conferring, and thereafter, the Legislature shall, in an open meeting, hear public comment on all matters related to the meet and confer proposals.
(c)Forty-eight hours after any proposal that includes any substantive subject that has not first been presented in proposals for public reaction pursuant to this section is offered during any meeting and conferring session, the proposal and the position, if any, taken by the representatives of the Legislature are a public record.
(d)Subdivision (b) does not apply when the Legislature determines that, due to an act of God, natural disaster, or other emergency or calamity affecting the state, and that is beyond the control of the Legislature or recognized employee organization, it must meet and confer and take action upon a proposal immediately and without sufficient time for the public to become informed and to publicly express itself. In those cases, the results of the meeting and conferring shall be made public as soon as reasonably possible.
3599.77.This chapter does not apply Section 923 of the Labor Code to employees of the Legislature.
3599.78.This chapter does not modify or eliminate any existing wages, hours, or terms and conditions of employment for employees of the Legislature. All existing wages, hours, and terms and conditions of employment for employees of the Legislature shall remain in effect unless and until changed in accordance with the Legislatures procedures or pursuant to a memorandum of understanding or agreement between the Legislature and a recognized employee organization.
3599.79.If any provision of this chapter, or the application thereof to any person or circumstances, is held invalid, the invalidity shall not affect any other provision or application of this chapter that can be given effect without the invalid provision or application and, to this end, the provisions of this chapter are severable.
3599.80.Expenses incurred by the Legislature in relation to a properly ratified memorandum of understanding pursuant to this chapter are subject to Section 7.5 of Article IV of the California Constitution.
3599.81.This chapter shall become operative on July 1, 2024.
SEC. 2.No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIIIB of the California Constitution because the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIIIB of the California Constitution.
|
Date
|
Status
|
|---|---|
| Oct 7, 2023 | Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 313, Statutes of 2023. |
| Oct 7, 2023 | Approved by the Governor. |
| Sep 20, 2023 | Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4 p.m. |
| Sep 13, 2023 | Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 71. Noes 5. Page 3428.). |
| Sep 12, 2023 | In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. |
| Sep 12, 2023 | Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 30. Noes 3. Page 2650.). |
| Sep 11, 2023 | Read second time. Ordered to third reading. |
| Sep 8, 2023 | Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. |
| Sep 5, 2023 | Read second time. Ordered to third reading. |
| Sep 1, 2023 | From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 5. Noes 2.) (September 1). |
| Aug 28, 2023 | In committee: Referred to APPR suspense file. |
| Aug 2, 2023 | In committee: Hearing postponed by committee. |
| Jul 13, 2023 | Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. |
| Jul 13, 2023 | From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 9. Noes 1.) (July 11). |
| Jul 3, 2023 | From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on JUD. |
| Jun 28, 2023 | From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on JUD. (Ayes 4. Noes 0.) (June 28). Re-referred to Com. on JUD. |
| Jun 14, 2023 | Referred to Coms. on L., P.E. & R. and JUD. |
| May 26, 2023 | In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. |
| May 25, 2023 | Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 68. Noes 5. Page 1786.) |
| May 22, 2023 | Read second time. Ordered to third reading. |
| May 18, 2023 | Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading. |
| May 18, 2023 | From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 12. Noes 3.) (May 18). |
| May 10, 2023 | In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file. |
| Apr 26, 2023 | From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 6. Noes 1.) (April 26). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. |
| Apr 20, 2023 | Measure version as amended on April 17 corrected. |
| Apr 18, 2023 | Re-referred to Com. on P.E. & R. |
| Apr 17, 2023 | From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on P.E. & R. Read second time and amended. |
| Jan 26, 2023 | Referred to Com. on P.E. & R. |
| Dec 6, 2022 | From printer. May be heard in committee January 5. |
| Dec 5, 2022 | Read first time. To print. |
|
Date
|
Description
|
Location
|
Votes
|
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 13, 2023 | AB 1 McKinnor Concurrence in Senate Amendments | Assembly Floor |
Passed |
|
| Sep 12, 2023 | Assembly 3rd Reading AB1 McKinnor et al. By Durazo | Senate Floor |
Passed |
|
| Sep 1, 2023 | Do pass | Senate Standing Committee on Appropriations |
Passed |
|
| Aug 28, 2023 | Placed on suspense file | Senate Standing Committee on Appropriations |
Passed |
|
| Jul 11, 2023 | Do pass as amended, but first amend, and re-refer to the Committee on [Appropriations] | Senate Standing Committee on Judiciary |
Passed |
|
| Jun 28, 2023 | Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Judiciary] | Senate Standing Committee on Labor, Public Employment and Retirement |
Passed |
|
| May 25, 2023 | AB 1 McKinnor Assembly Third Reading | Assembly Floor |
Passed |
|
| May 18, 2023 | Do pass as amended. | Assembly Standing Committee on Appropriations |
Passed |
|
| Apr 26, 2023 | Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] | Assembly Standing Committee on Public Employment and Retirement |
Passed |
This list shows positions taken on this bill by organizations on the date displayed, which is linked to the original source.
Positions by individuals are not included.
|
Organization
|
Position
|
Date
|
|---|---|---|
| Aaron Reed and Associates | ** Support | Jul 11, 2023 |
| American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, California | ** Support | |
| Assembly Staffer | * Support | Jul 11, 2023 |
| California Alliance For Retired Americans | ** Support | |
| California Association Of Professional Scientists | * Support | Jul 11, 2023 |
| California Association Of Psychiatric Technicians | ** Support | |
| California Civil Liberties Advocacy | ** Support | |
| California Coalition For Worker Power | * Support | Apr 26, 2023 |
| California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls | * Support | Jul 11, 2023 |
| California Conference Board Of The Amalgamated Transit Union | ** Support | |
| California Conference Of Machinists | ** Support | |
| California Democratic Party | ** Support | |
| California Environmental Voters | ** Support | |
| California Faculty Association | ** Support | |
| California Federation Of Teachers | ** Support | |
| California Iatse Council | ** Support | |
| California Labor Federation | ** Support | |
| California Low-Income Consumer Coalition | ** Support | |
| California Nurses Association | ** Support | |
| California Professional Firefighters | ** Support | |
| California School Employees Association | ** Support | |
| California State Council Of Laborers | ** Support | |
| California Teachers Association | ** Support | |
| California Teamsters Public Affairs Council | ** Support | |
| Centinela Valley Union High School District | * Support | Apr 26, 2023 |
| City of Gridley | * Support | Jul 11, 2023 |
| City of Gridley | * Support | Jun 28, 2023 |
| City of Pasadena | * Support | Jun 28, 2023 |
| City Of Pinole | ** Support | |
| Ella Baker Center For Human Rights | ** Support | |
| Engineers & Scientists of California, Local 20, IFPTE | ** Support | |
| Faculty Association Of California Community Colleges | ** Support | |
| Fund Her | ** Support | |
| Helping Empowered Individuals Reach Success PAC | * Support | Apr 26, 2023 |
| Helping Empowered Individuals Reach Success PAC | * Support | Apr 26, 2023 |
| Inglewood School Board | * Support | Apr 26, 2023 |
| International Association of Machinists | * Support | Jun 28, 2023 |
| International Union of Elevator Constructors | * Support | Jun 28, 2023 |
| L.A. Voices | * Support | Apr 26, 2023 |
| L.A. Voices | * Support | Apr 26, 2023 |
| Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area | ** Support | |
| Local 3930 | ** Support | |
| Los Angeles African American Women's Public Policy Institute | * Support | Apr 26, 2023 |
| Los Angeles African American Women's Public Policy Institute | * Support | Apr 26, 2023 |
| Los Angeles County Federation of Labor | ** Support | |
| Los Angeles Unified School District | * Support | Apr 26, 2023 |
| Lyles, Wiesmann, Pizzotti & Associates | ** Support | |
| Management Business Services | * Support | Apr 26, 2023 |
| McCarty Church | * Support | Apr 26, 2023 |
| National Association of Social Workers California Chapter | * Support | Jun 28, 2023 |
| National Political Caucus | * Support | Apr 26, 2023 |
| National Union Of Healthcare Workers | ** Support | |
| Northern California District Council of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union | ** Support | |
| Orange County Labor Federation | * Support | Jul 11, 2023 |
| Professional & Technical Engineers, Local 21, IFPTE | ** Support | |
| Service Employees International Union, California State Council | ** Support | |
| Service Employees International Union, Local 1000 | ** Support | |
| Sierra Club California | * Support | Apr 26, 2023 |
| SMART Transportation Division | * Support | Jun 28, 2023 |
| Solano County Democratic Central Committee | ** Support | |
| State Building & Construction Trades Council Of California | ** Support | |
| The California State Legislative Board of the Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers – Transportation Division | ** Support | |
| The Western Center on Law and Poverty | * Support | Jul 11, 2023 |
| Transport Workers Union of America | ** Support | |
| Unite Here | ** Support | |
| UNITE HERE Local 11 | ** Support | |
| United Auto Workers Local 2865 | ** Support | |
| United Auto Workers, Local 5810 | ** Support | |
| united domestic workers local 3930 | ** Support | |
| United Food And Commercial Workers, Western States Council | ** Support | |
| Utility Workers Union of America | ** Support | |
| Veteran Caucus | * Support | Apr 26, 2023 |
| We Said Enough | * Support | Apr 26, 2023 |
| Westchester-Playa Democratic Club | * Support | Apr 26, 2023 |
| Westchester-Playa Democratic Club | * Support | Apr 26, 2023 |
| Westchester-Playa Democratic Club | * Support | Jun 28, 2023 |
| Westchester-Playa Democratic Club | * Support | Apr 26, 2023 |
| Westchester-Playa Democratic Club | * Support | Apr 26, 2023 |
| Westchester-Playa Democratic Club | * Support | Apr 26, 2023 |
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
CSA1 Bill Id:AB 1
Author:(McKinnor, et al.)
As Amended Ver:September 8, 2023
Majority vote
SUMMARY
Establishes the Legislature Employer-Employee Relations Act (LEERA) for the purpose of promoting full communication between employees of the Assembly and Senate, respectively, and their employers by providing a reasonable method of resolving disputes regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment through a prescribed process for representation and collective bargaining, among other provisions.
Senate Amendments
- Clarify the powers, duties, and limitations of the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) administering the LEERA by prohibiting the PERB from intruding upon or interfering with the Legislature's core function of efficient and effective lawmaking, or the essential operation of the Legislature, including when issuing any decision or order that intrudes upon the Legislature's core function.
- Exclude the following matters from the scope of representation, thereby making them not subject to collective bargaining:
- Those relating to the qualifications, elections, or the holding of office, of Members of the Legislature;
- Those relating to the Legislature or each house thereof choosing its officers, adopting rules for its proceedings, selecting committees necessary to conduct its business, considering or enacting legislation, or otherwise exercising the legislative power of the state;
- Those relating to legislative calendars, schedules, and deadlines; and,
- Those relating to laws, rules, policies, or procedures regarding ethics or conflicts of interest.
- Clarify by making applicable changes to use of the terms "employee," employer," or "Legislature," where appropriate.
- Add that the employer has sole and exclusive authority to designate employees as department or office leaders, confidential employees, or employees whom are excluded from LEERA coverage (i.e., "excluded employees"); except however, such employees must not collectively exceed one-third of the total employee positions authorized by the employer.
- Expressly establish that the LEERA does not affect the authority of each house of the Legislature and its committees to hold closed meetings consistent with existing law, as provided.
- Exempt speech and deliberations from unfair labor practice claims, as provided.
- Exempt from public inspection, records relating to LEERA-governed activities that reveal the employer's deliberative processes, impressions, evaluations, opinions, recommendations, meeting minutes, research, work product, theories, strategies, or that provide instruction, advice or training to employees who do not have full collective bargaining and representation rights under the LEERA.
- Maintain by expressly providing that employees of the Legislature are exempt from the state civil service pursuant to the California Constitution, and add that a memorandum of understanding entered into between an employer and recognized employee organization must not prohibit the employer from separating an employee if the Member to whom the employee is assigned is not reelected, resigns, or otherwise departs from the employer.
Further, provisions added require the employer to provide a transition period for an employee if the Member departs or otherwise does not return to the Legislature, as provided; that the terms of the transition period may include, but are not limited to, length of time or opportunities to apply for vacancies with the employer, and that such matters are within the scope of representation subject to collective bargaining.
- Add a legislative finding and declaration regarding public access to meetings of public bodies and their writings and the need to protect the purposes and interests served by the LEERA.
- Make this bill operative on July 1, 2026, among other changes for these purposes.
COMMENTS
Please see each of the various policy and fiscal committee analyses for a full discussion of this bill, and the Assembly Concurrence in Senate Amendments analysis of Assembly Bill 504 (Reyes, 2023), as amended in the Senate on September 7, 2023.
According to the Author
"Our staff aren't looking for special treatment. They are looking for the same dignity and respect afforded to all workers. It is hypocritical as legislators that we ask our employees to staff committees and write legislation that often expands collective bargaining rights for other workers in California, but we intentionally prohibit our own workers from that same right."
Arguments in Support
Generally, supporters of this bill state, among other things, that "[i]n any workplace, an imbalance of power leaves workers with little to no recourse to make their voice heard. In recent years, various events, including the #MeToo Movement and the COVID-19 pandemic, have shed a spotlight on legislative employees' fear of retribution for voicing workplace concerns and their lack of tangible workplace protections in statute due to their at-will status. [This bill] will grant employees of the Legislature agency over the decision to form and join a union without fear of retaliation, and have a collective voice over their working conditions and protections in the workplace."
Arguments in Opposition
None.
FISCAL COMMENTS
The Senate Appropriations Committee states that this bill would result in the following:
- Administrative costs to the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) for the current version of the bill have yet to be identified (General Fund).
- This bill would result in annual costs to the Legislature to establish and maintain labor and employee relations functions (General Fund). Additionally, to the extent that the bill results in salary or benefits increases resulting from collective bargaining, it could lead to increased ongoing employment costs. However, under the Constitution, the Legislature's annual spending is capped; consequently, the costs resulting from this bill could not be accommodated through budgetary increases relative to current law, and thus would likely displace existing workload and spending.
Additional comments by the Senate Appropriations Committee state that, "[t]his bill would impose new spending requirements on the Legislature resulting from collective bargaining, including (1) negotiating the MOUs, (2) administering the contracts, (3) ensuring the Legislature remains in compliance, (4) training Members and management, and (5) responding to grievances. Specific costs resulting from the bill would, among other factors, depend on the number of bargaining units formed.
"Unlike other state departments whose budgets increase annually (subject to the budget process) in response to rising caseloads and additional workload, the Legislature's ability to spend is constrained. Specifically, Proposition 140 (1990), among other things, set an annual cap on the amount of money that may be spent to support the Legislature's operations (for example, legislator and staff salaries, travel, and communications). This cap changes annually based on growth in the State's economy and population, and is completely outside the Legislature's control. Thus, this bill would impose new spending requirements on the Legislature, but not provide new resources to accommodate the additional spending. Any local government costs resulting from the mandate in this measure are not state-reimbursable because the mandate only involves the definition of a crime or the penalty for conviction of a crime."
VOTES:
ASM PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT AND RETIREMENT: 6-1-0
YES: McKinnor, Lackey, Addis, Haney, Stephanie Nguyen, Schiavo
NO: Vince Fong
ASM APPROPRIATIONS: 12-3-1
YES: Holden, Bryan, Calderon, Wendy Carrillo, Mike Fong, Hart, Lowenthal, Mathis, Papan, Pellerin, Weber, Ortega
NO: Megan Dahle, Dixon, Sanchez
ABS, ABST OR NV: Robert Rivas
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 68-5-7
YES: Addis, Alanis, Alvarez, Arambula, Bains, Bauer-Kahan, Bennett, Berman, Boerner, Bonta, Bryan, Calderon, Juan Carrillo, Wendy Carrillo, Cervantes, Chen, Connolly, Davies, Flora, Mike Fong, Friedman, Gabriel, Garcia, Gipson, Grayson, Haney, Hart, Holden, Hoover, Irwin, Jackson, Jones-Sawyer, Kalra, Lackey, Lee, Low, Lowenthal, Maienschein, McCarty, McKinnor, Muratsuchi, Stephanie Nguyen, Ortega, Pacheco, Joe Patterson, Pellerin, Petrie-Norris, Quirk-Silva, Ramos, Reyes, Luz Rivas, Robert Rivas, Rodriguez, Blanca Rubio, Santiago, Schiavo, Soria, Ting, Valencia, Villapudua, Waldron, Ward, Weber, Wicks, Wilson, Wood, Zbur, Rendon
NO: Megan Dahle, Dixon, Vince Fong, Gallagher, Sanchez
ABS, ABST OR NV: Aguiar-Curry, Essayli, Mathis, Papan, Jim Patterson, Ta, Wallis
UPDATED
VERSION: September 8, 2023
CONSULTANT: Michael Bolden / P. E. & R. / (916) 319-3957 FN: 0002416
SENATE RULES COMMITTEE Office of Senate Floor Analyses (916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) 327-4478 | AB 1 |
THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1
Author: McKinnor (D), Bryan (D), Wendy Carrillo (D), Haney (D), Kalra (D), Lee (D), McCarty (D), Ortega (D) and Reyes (D), et al.
Amended: 9/8/23 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE LABOR, PUB. EMP. & RET. COMMITTEE: 4-0, 6/28/23
AYES: Cortese, Durazo, Laird, Smallwood-Cuevas
NO VOTE RECORDED: Wilk
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: 9-1, 7/11/23
AYES: Umberg, Allen, Ashby, Caballero, Durazo, Laird, Min, Stern, Wiener
NOES: Niello
NO VOTE RECORDED: Wilk
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 5-2, 9/1/23
AYES: Portantino, Ashby, Bradford, Wahab, Wiener
NOES: Jones, Seyarto
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 68-5, 5/25/23 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT: Collective bargaining: Legislature
SOURCE: California Labor Federation
DIGEST:
This bill provides collective bargaining rights to legislative employees, as specified, by establishing the Legislature Employer-Employee Relations Act (LEERA).
Senate Floor Amendments of 9/8/23 (1) declare that legislative employees are exempt from civil service under the California constitution; (2) provide that a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the parties shall not prohibit the employer from separating employees assigned to a Member of the Legislature who is not reelected, resigns, or otherwise departs from the employer; and (3) require the employer to provide a transition period for such employees and make the terms of the transition period within the scope of representation and subject to collective bargaining.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
- Governs collective bargaining in the private sector under the federal National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) but leaves to the states the regulation of collective bargaining in their respective public sectors. While the NLRA and the decisions of its National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) often provide persuasive precedent in interpreting state collective bargaining law, public employees generally have no collective bargaining rights absent specific statutory authority establishing those rights (29 United State Code § 151 et seq.).
- Provides several statutory frameworks under California law to provide public employees collective bargaining rights, govern public employer-employee relations, and limit labor strife and economic disruption in the public sector through 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. These include the Dills Act, which provides collective bargaining for state employees of the executive branch and establishes a process for determining wages, hours, and terms and conditions of employment for represented employees. The Act excludes managers and confidential employees from bargaining rights. (Government Code § 3512 et seq.)
- Requires the Governor and the recognized state employee organizations to meet and confer in good faith regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment and, if they reach an agreement, to jointly prepare a written memorandum of understanding (MOU), which the Governor shall present, when appropriate, to the Legislature for determination. (GC § 3517 et seq.)
- Establishes a civil service that includes every officer and employee of the State except as otherwise provided in the Constitution and requires that the State make permanent appointment and promotion in the civil service under a general system based on merit ascertained by competitive examination. (Cal. Const., art. VII, § 1.)
- Defines the powers of state government as legislative, executive, and judicial and prohibits persons charged with the exercise of one power from exercising either of the others except as permitted by the Constitution. (Cal. Const., art. III, § 3.)
- Establishes the California Legislature which consists of the Senate and Assembly and in which the people, through the state constitution, have vested the state’s legislative power. (Cal. Const., art. IV, § 1.)
- Exempts officers and employees appointed or employed by the Legislature, either house, or legislative committees from the state civil service. (Cal. Const., art. VII, § 4, subd. (a))
- Limits for the Legislature, state-financed incumbent staff and support services, among other things, in order to counter the unfair incumbent advantages that discourage qualified candidates from seeking public office and create a class of career politicians, instead of the citizen representatives envisioned by the Founding Fathers. (Cal. Const., art. IV, § 1.5.)
- Prohibits the total aggregate expenditures of the Legislature for the compensation of members and employees of, and the operating expenses and equipment for, the Legislature from exceeding an amount equal in 1991 to $950,000 per member for that fiscal year or 80 percent of the amount of money expended for those purposes in the preceding fiscal year and for each fiscal year thereafter, an amount equal to that expended for those purposes in the preceding fiscal year, adjusted and compounded by an amount equal to the percentage increase in the appropriations limit for the State established pursuant to Article XIII B of the Constitution. (Cal. Const., art. IV, § 7.5.)
- Establishes the Judicial Council Employer-Employee Relations Act (JCEERA), which provides collective bargaining rights to Judicial Council employees, as specified. (GC § 3524.50 et seq.)
- Requires the Administrative Director of the Courts, or his or her designated representatives, acting with the authorization of the Chairperson of the Judicial Council, to meet and confer in good faith regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment with representatives of recognized employee organizations, and to consider fully such presentations as are made by the employee organization on behalf of its members prior to arriving at a determination of policy or course of action. (GC § 3524.63 et seq.)
- Requires the Administrative Director of the Courts and the recognized employee organization, if they reach an agreement, to jointly prepare a written memorandum of the agreement, which the Administrative Director of the Courts shall present, when appropriate, to the Legislature for appropriation of funding and amendment of any related statutes. (GC § 3524.63 et seq.)
- Establishes the Public Employee Relations Board (PERB), a quasi-judicial administrative agency, to administer the collective bargaining statutes covering public employees including school, college, state, local agency, and trial court employees. PERB consists of five members appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Senate. Existing law tasks PERB with administering several public employee labor relations statutes that provide collective bargaining to California public employees, including the Dills Act and JCEERA, and adjudicating unfair labor practice claims under the respective acts. (GC § 3541 et seq.)
This bill establishes LEERA to provide collective bargaining rights to employees of the Assembly Rules Committee and the Senate Rules Committee, respectively, commonly referred to as legislative employees.
[NOTE: For a detailed description of this bill’s provisions, please see the Senate Labor, Public Employee and Retirement Committee’s policy analysis, incorporated herein by reference, of the May 18, 2023, version of AB 1.]
Amendments to AB 1 since the May 18, 2023 version do the following:
- Replace references to the “Legislature” with the term “employer” and define “employer” as the respective chambers’ Rules Committees to reflect the Legislature’s actual employer-employee relationships.
- Modify the definition of “employee” to except an additional category of persons from LEERA (besides Members, Appointed Officers, Department or Office Leaders, and Confidential employees). This additional category is denominated “Excluded employees”.
- Grant the employer the sole and exclusive authority to designate employees as department or office leaders, confidential employees, or excluded employees (i.e., employee not subject to LEERA).
- Limit the total number of the respective employers’ employees who are not subject to LEERA to one-third of the total employee positions authorized by the employer.
- Clarify that PERB shall not issue any decision or order that intrudes upon or interferes with the Legislature’s core function of efficient and effective lawmaking or the essential operation of the Legislature.
- Exclude decisions regarding the following matters from the scope of representation:
- Any matter relating to the qualifications and elections of Members of the Legislature, or the holding of office of Members of the Legislature.
- Any matter relating to the Legislature or each house thereof choosing its officers, adopting rules for its proceedings, selecting committees necessary for the conduct of its business, considering and enacting legislation, or otherwise exercising the legislative power of this state.
- Any matter relating to legislative calendars, schedules, and deadlines of the Legislature.
- Laws, rules, policies, or procedures regarding ethics or conflicts of interest.
- Replace references to the terms “law, rule, or resolution” with the term “policy or procedure” to reflect the distinction between the Legislature’s law-making function and its function as an employer, to which LEERA applies only to the latter. The amendments thereby also help ensure that unions have no greater access to legislative lawmaking deliberations than the general public or other stakeholders.
- Clarify that LEERA does not affect the constitutional and statutory authority of each house of the Legislature and the committees thereof to hold closed meetings.
- Protect the expression of any views, arguments, or opinions related to LEERA or to matters within the scope of representation, or the dissemination thereof in any form, by a Member of the Legislature or an employee, including any LEERA-exempt employee, from constituting, or being evidence of, an unfair labor practice, unless the employer authorized the individual to express that view, argument, or opinion on behalf of, or authorized the individual to represent, the employer as an employer.
- Provide that LEERA nor any other law requires the employer to disclose legislative records related to activities governed by LEERA, that reveal the employer’s deliberative processes, impressions, evaluations, opinions, recommendations, meeting minutes, research, work product, theories, or strategy, or that provide instruction, advice, or training to employees who do not have full collective bargaining and representation rights under LEERA.
- Declare that legislative employees are exempt from civil service under the California constitution.
- Provide that an MOU between the parties shall not prohibit the employer from separating employees assigned to a Member of the Legislature who is not reelected, resigns, or otherwise departs from the employer.
- Require the employer to provide a transition period for such employees and make the terms of the transition period within the scope of representation and subject to collective bargaining.
- Change the operative date of the bill from July 1, 2024, to July 1, 2026.
- Make findings and declarations related to the Public Records Act that it is necessary that this bill limit the public’s access to information in order to fulfill the purpose to promote full communication between the Legislature and its employees by providing a reasonable method of resolving disputes regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions and to allow the Legislature, in its role as employer, the opportunity to develop responsible and meaningful bargaining positions to present to employee representatives pursuant to this act and respond to the positions put forth by the same.
Comments
Continuing Concerns: Although this bill’s amendments address many important considerations identified in previous analyses, several issues remain that create uncertainty regarding the constitutionality and functionality of the bill, a sample of which are briefly presented below:
- This bill may well generate substantial litigation given its novelty and potential impact on the operation of the Legislature and the constitutional issues raised surrounding its provisions. Designation for venue of any litigation regarding LEERA to the Third District Court of Appeal (a common feature of state governmental litigation) would avoid inconsistent decisions around the state in the development and application of LEERA and avoid any race to venue shop “pro-labor” or “pro-business” courts depending on the interested parties’ strategies and objectives.
- This bill’s continued silence on strikes, mediation, or arbitration provisions provides ample ground for future litigation. An explicit guarantee of limited strikes designed not to interfere with the core constitutional functions of the Legislature combined with a fair mediation process would provide an important cornerstone for this bill’s constitutional firmness.
- PERB’s continued dominant role in the implementation and adjudication of LEERA implicates a continued constitutional infirmity of this bill as reviewed in previous legislative policy analyses. Practically speaking, the ability of the Legislature to defund PERB may serve as a shield from these constitutional concerns.
- While other issues remain, it is also true that very few legislative projects pass in perfect form. The need for ongoing clarification and improvement would not be unique to this bill.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: Yes
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
- Administrative costs to PERB for the current version of the bill have yet to be identified (General Fund).
- This bill would result in annual costs to the Legislature to establish and maintain labor and employee relations functions (General Fund). Additionally, to the extent that this bill results in salary or benefits increases resulting from collective bargaining, it could lead to increased ongoing employment costs. However, under the Constitution, the Legislature’s annual spending is capped; consequently, the costs resulting from this bill could not be accommodated through budgetary increases relative to current law, and thus would likely displace existing workload and spending.
- This bill could result in minor additional penalty revenue to the State.
SUPPORT: (Verified 9/11/23)
California Labor Federation (source)
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees California
California Alliance for Retired Americans
California Association of Psychiatric Technicians
California Civil Liberties Advocacy
California Conference Board of the Amalgamated Transit Union
California Conference of Machinists
California Democratic Party
California Environmental Voters
California Faculty Association
California Federation of Teachers
California IATSE Council
California Low-Income Consumer Coalition
California Nurses Association
California Professional Firefighters
California School Employees Association
California State Council of Laborers
California State Legislative Board of the Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers - Transportation Division
California Teachers Association
California Teamsters Public Affairs Council
City of Pinole
Ella Baker Center for Human Rights
Engineers & Scientists of California, Local 20, IFPTE
Faculty Association of California Community Colleges
Fund Her
Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area
Los Angeles County Federation of Labor
Lyles, Wiesmann, Pizzotti & Associates
National Union of Healthcare Workers
Northern California District Council of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union
Professional & Technical Engineers, Local 21, IFPTE
Service Employees International Union, California State Council
Service Employees International Union, Local 1000
Solano County Democratic Central Committee
State Building & Construction Trades Council of California
Transport Workers Union of America
Unite Here
Unite Here Local 11
United Auto Workers Local 2865
United Auto Workers Local 5810
United Domestic Workers, Local 3930
United Food and Commercial Workers, Western States Council
Utility Workers Union of America
OPPOSITION: (Verified 9/11/23)
None received
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: According to the author, “Our staff aren’t looking for special treatment. They are looking for the same dignity and respect afforded to all workers. It is hypocritical as legislators that we ask our employees to staff committees and write legislation that often expands collective bargaining rights for other workers in California, but we intentionally prohibit our own workers from that same right.”
According to the California Labor Federation and a coalition of multiple employee organizations, “In any workplace, an imbalance of power leaves workers with little to no recourse to make their voice heard. In recent years, various events, including the #MeToo Movement and the COVID-19 pandemic, have shed a spotlight on legislative employees’ fear of retribution for voicing workplace concerns and their lack of tangible workplace protections in statute due to their at-will status. AB 1 will grant employees of the Legislature agency over the decision to form and join a union, without fear of retaliation, and have a collective voice over their working conditions and protections in the workplace.”
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 68-5, 5/25/23
AYES: Addis, Alanis, Alvarez, Arambula, Bains, Bauer-Kahan, Bennett, Berman, Boerner, Bonta, Bryan, Calderon, Juan Carrillo, Wendy Carrillo, Cervantes, Chen, Connolly, Davies, Flora, Mike Fong, Friedman, Gabriel, Garcia, Gipson, Grayson, Haney, Hart, Holden, Hoover, Irwin, Jackson, Jones-Sawyer, Kalra, Lackey, Lee, Low, Lowenthal, Maienschein, McCarty, McKinnor, Muratsuchi, Stephanie Nguyen, Ortega, Pacheco, Joe Patterson, Pellerin, Petrie-Norris, Quirk-Silva, Ramos, Reyes, Luz Rivas, Robert Rivas, Rodriguez, Blanca Rubio, Santiago, Schiavo, Soria, Ting, Valencia, Villapudua, Waldron, Ward, Weber, Wicks, Wilson, Wood, Zbur, Rendon
NOES: Megan Dahle, Dixon, Vince Fong, Gallagher, Sanchez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Aguiar-Curry, Essayli, Mathis, Papan, Jim Patterson, Ta, Wallis
Prepared by: Glenn Miles / L., P.E. & R. / (916) 651-1556
9/11/23 12:54:17
**** END ****
SENATE RULES COMMITTEE Office of Senate Floor Analyses (916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) 327-4478 | AB 1 |
THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1
Author: McKinnor (D), Bryan (D), Wendy Carrillo (D), Haney (D), Kalra (D), Lee (D), McCarty (D), Ortega (D) and Reyes (D), et al.
Amended: 7/13/23 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE LABOR, PUB. EMP. & RET. COMMITTEE: 4-0, 6/28/23
AYES: Cortese, Durazo, Laird, Smallwood-Cuevas
NO VOTE RECORDED: Wilk
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: 9-1, 7/11/23
AYES: Umberg, Allen, Ashby, Caballero, Durazo, Laird, Min, Stern, Wiener
NOES: Niello
NO VOTE RECORDED: Wilk
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 5-2, 9/1/23
AYES: Portantino, Ashby, Bradford, Wahab, Wiener
NOES: Jones, Seyarto
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 68-5, 5/25/23 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT: Collective bargaining: Legislature
SOURCE: California Labor Federation
DIGEST:
This bill provides collective bargaining rights to legislative employees, as specified, by establishing the Legislature Employer-Employee Relations Act (LEERA).
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
- Governs collective bargaining in the private sector under the federal National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) but leaves to the states the regulation of collective bargaining in their respective public sectors. While the NLRA and the decisions of its National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) often provide persuasive precedent in interpreting state collective bargaining law, public employees generally have no collective bargaining rights absent specific statutory authority establishing those rights (29 United State Code § 151 et seq.).
- Provides several statutory frameworks under California law to provide public employees collective bargaining rights, govern public employer-employee relations, and limit labor strife and economic disruption in the public sector through 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. These include the Dills Act, which provides collective bargaining for state employees of the executive branch and establishes a process for determining wages, hours, and terms and conditions of employment for represented employees. The Act excludes managers and confidential employees from bargaining rights. (Government Code § 3512 et seq.)
- Requires the Governor and the recognized state employee organizations to meet and confer in good faith regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment and, if they reach an agreement, to jointly prepare a written memorandum of understanding (MOU), which the Governor shall present, when appropriate, to the Legislature for determination. (GC § 3517 et seq.)
- Establishes a civil service that includes every officer and employee of the State except as otherwise provided in the Constitution and requires that the State make permanent appointment and promotion in the civil service under a general system based on merit ascertained by competitive examination. (Cal. Const., art. VII, § 1.)
- Defines the powers of state government as legislative, executive, and judicial and prohibits persons charged with the exercise of one power from exercising either of the others except as permitted by the Constitution. (Cal. Const., art. III, § 3.)
- Establishes the California Legislature which consists of the Senate and Assembly and in which the people, through the state constitution, have vested the state’s legislative power. (Cal. Const., art. IV, § 1.)
- Exempts officers and employees appointed or employed by the Legislature, either house, or legislative committees from the state civil service. (Cal. Const., art. VII, § 4, subd. (a))
- Limits for the Legislature, state-financed incumbent staff and support services, among other things, in order to counter the unfair incumbent advantages that discourage qualified candidates from seeking public office and create a class of career politicians, instead of the citizen representatives envisioned by the Founding Fathers. (Cal. Const., art. IV, § 1.5.)
- Prohibits the total aggregate expenditures of the Legislature for the compensation of members and employees of, and the operating expenses and equipment for, the Legislature from exceeding an amount equal in 1991 to $950,000 per member for that fiscal year or 80 percent of the amount of money expended for those purposes in the preceding fiscal year and for each fiscal year thereafter, an amount equal to that expended for those purposes in the preceding fiscal year, adjusted and compounded by an amount equal to the percentage increase in the appropriations limit for the State established pursuant to Article XIII B of the Constitution. (Cal. Const., art. IV, § 7.5.)
- Establishes the Judicial Council Employer-Employee Relations Act (JCEERA), which provides collective bargaining rights to Judicial Council employees, as specified. (GC § 3524.50 et seq.)
- Requires the Administrative Director of the Courts, or his or her designated representatives, acting with the authorization of the Chairperson of the Judicial Council, to meet and confer in good faith regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment with representatives of recognized employee organizations, and to consider fully such presentations as are made by the employee organization on behalf of its members prior to arriving at a determination of policy or course of action. (GC § 3524.63 et seq.)
- Requires the Administrative Director of the Courts and the recognized employee organization, if they reach an agreement, to jointly prepare a written memorandum of the agreement, which the Administrative Director of the Courts shall present, when appropriate, to the Legislature for appropriation of funding and amendment of any related statutes. (GC § 3524.63 et seq.)
- Establishes the Public Employee Relations Board (PERB), a quasi-judicial administrative agency, to administer the collective bargaining statutes covering public employees including school, college, state, local agency, and trial court employees. PERB consists of five members appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Senate. Existing law tasks PERB with administering several public employee labor relations statutes that provide collective bargaining to California public employees, including the Dills Act and JCEERA, and adjudicating unfair labor practice claims under the respective acts. (GC § 3541 et seq.)
This bill establishes the Legislature Employer-Employee Relations Act (LEERA) to provide collective bargaining rights to employees of the Assembly Committee on Rules and the Senate Committee on Rules, respectively, commonly referred to as legislative employees.
For a detailed description of the bill’s provisions please see the Senate Labor, Public Employee and Retirement Committee’s policy analysis, incorporated herein by reference, of the May 18, 2023, version of AB 1.
Amendments to AB 1 since the May 18, 2023, version do the following:
- Replace references to the “Legislature” with the term “employer” and define “employer” as the respective chambers’ Rules Committees to reflect the Legislature’s actual employer-employee relationships.
- Modify the definition of “employee” to except an additional category of persons from LEERA (besides Members, Appointed Officers, Department or Office Leaders, and Confidential employees). This additional category is denominated “Excluded employees”.
- Grant the employer the sole and exclusive authority to designate employees as department or office leaders, confidential employees, or excluded employees (i.e., employee not subject to LEERA).
- Limit the total number of the respective employers’ employees who are not subject to LEERA to one-third of the total employee positions authorized by the employer.
- Clarify that PERB shall not issue any decision or order that intrudes upon or interferes with the Legislature’s core function of efficient and effective lawmaking or the essential operation of the Legislature.
- Exclude decisions regarding the following matters from the scope of representation:
- Any matter relating to the qualifications and elections of Members of the Legislature, or the holding of office of Members of the Legislature.
- Any matter relating to the Legislature or each house thereof choosing its officers, adopting rules for its proceedings, selecting committees necessary for the conduct of its business, considering and enacting legislation, or otherwise exercising the legislative power of this state.
- Any matter relating to legislative calendars, schedules, and deadlines of the Legislature.
- Laws, rules, policies, or procedures regarding ethics or conflicts of interest.
- Replace references to the terms “law, rule, or resolution” with the term “policy or procedure” to reflect the distinction between the Legislature’s law-making function and its function as an employer, to which LEERA applies only to the latter. The amendments thereby also help ensure that unions have no greater access to legislative lawmaking deliberations than the general public or other stakeholders.
- Clarify that LEERA does not affect the constitutional and statutory authority of each house of the Legislature and the committees thereof to hold closed meetings.
- Protect the expression of any views, arguments, or opinions related to LEERA or to matters within the scope of representation, or the dissemination thereof in any form, by a Member of the Legislature or an employee, including any LEERA-exempt employee, from constituting, or being evidence of, an unfair labor practice, unless the employer authorized the individual to express that view, argument, or opinion on behalf of, or authorized the individual to represent, the employer as an employer.
- Provide that LEERA nor any other law requires the employer to disclose legislative records related to activities governed by LEERA, that reveal the employer’s deliberative processes, impressions, evaluations, opinions, recommendations, meeting minutes, research, work product, theories, or strategy, or that provide instruction, advice, or training to employees who do not have full collective bargaining and representation rights under LEERA.
- Change the operative date of the bill from July 1, 2024, to July 1, 2026.
- Make findings and declarations related to the Public Records Act that it is necessary that the bill limit the public’s access to information in order to fulfill the purpose to promote full communication between the Legislature and its employees by providing a reasonable method of resolving disputes regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions and to allow the Legislature, in its role as employer, the opportunity to develop responsible and meaningful bargaining positions to present to employee representatives pursuant to this act and respond to the positions put forth by the same.
Comments
Continuing Concerns: Although the bill’s amendments address many important considerations identified in previous analyses, several issues remain that create uncertainty regarding the constitutionality and functionality of the measure, a sample of which are briefly presented below:
- The bill may well generate substantial litigation given its novelty and potential impact on the operation of the Legislature and the constitutional issues raised surrounding its provisions. Designation for venue of any litigation regarding LEERA to the Third District Court of Appeal (a common feature of state governmental litigation) would avoid inconsistent decisions around the state in the development and application of LEERA and avoid any race to venue shop “pro-labor” or “pro-business” courts depending on the interested parties’ strategies and objectives.
- The bill’s continued silence on strikes, mediation, or arbitration provisions provides ample ground for future litigation. An explicit guarantee of limited strikes designed not to interfere with the core constitutional functions of the Legislature combined with a fair mediation process would provide an important cornerstone for the bill’s constitutional firmness.
- PERB’s continued dominant role in the implementation and adjudication of LEERA implicates a continued constitutional infirmity of the bill as reviewed in previous legislative policy analyses. Practically speaking, the ability of the Legislature to defund PERB may serve as a shield from these constitutional concerns.
- While other issues remain, it is also true that very few legislative projects pass in perfect form. The need for ongoing clarification and improvement would not be unique to this bill.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: Yes
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
- Administrative costs to the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) for the current version of the bill have yet to be identified (General Fund).
- This bill would result in annual costs to the Legislature to establish and maintain labor and employee relations functions (General Fund). Additionally, to the extent that the bill results in salary or benefits increases resulting from collective bargaining, it could lead to increased ongoing employment costs. However, under the Constitution, the Legislature’s annual spending is capped; consequently, the costs resulting from this bill could not be accommodated through budgetary increases relative to current law, and thus would likely displace existing workload and spending. (See Staff Comments).
- The bill could result in minor additional penalty revenue to the State.
SUPPORT: (Verified 9/2/23)
California Labor Federation (source)
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees California
California Alliance for Retired Americans
California Association of Psychiatric Technicians
California Civil Liberties Advocacy
California Conference Board of the Amalgamated Transit Union
California Conference of Machinists
California Democratic Party
California Environmental Voters
California Faculty Association
California Federation of Teachers
California IATSE Council
California Low-income Consumer Coalition
California Nurses Association
California Professional Firefighters
California School Employees Association
California State Council of Laborers
California State Legislative Board of the Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers - Transportation Division
California Teachers Association
California Teamsters Public Affairs Council
City of Pinole
Ella Baker Center for Human Rights
Engineers & Scientists of California, Local 20, IFPTE
Faculty Association of California Community Colleges
Fund Her
Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area
Los Angeles County Federation of Labor
Lyles, Wiesmann, Pizzotti & Associates
National Union of Healthcare Workers
Northern California District Council of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union
Professional & Technical Engineers, Local 21, IFPTE
Service Employees International Union, California State Council
Service Employees International Union, Local 1000
Solano County Democratic Central Committee
State Building & Construction Trades Council of California
Transport Workers Union of America
United Auto Workers Local 2865
United Auto Workers Local 5810
United Domestic Workers, Local 3930
United Food and Commercial Workers, Western States Council
Unite Here Local 11
Unite Here
Utility Workers Union of America
OPPOSITION: (Verified 9/2/23)
None received
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: According to the author,
“Our staff aren’t looking for special treatment. They are looking for the same dignity and respect afforded to all workers. It is hypocritical as legislators that we ask our employees to staff committees and write legislation that often expands collective bargaining rights for other workers in California, but we intentionally prohibit our own workers from that same right.”
“According to the California Labor Federation and a coalition of multiple employee organizations,
“In any workplace, an imbalance of power leaves workers with little to no recourse to make their voice heard. In recent years, various events, including the #MeToo Movement and the COVID-19 pandemic, have shed a spotlight on legislative employees’ fear of retribution for voicing workplace concerns and their lack of tangible workplace protections in statute due to their at-will status. AB 1 will grant employees of the Legislature agency over the decision to form and join a union, without fear of retaliation, and have a collective voice over their working conditions and protections in the workplace.”
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 68-5, 5/25/23
AYES: Addis, Alanis, Alvarez, Arambula, Bains, Bauer-Kahan, Bennett, Berman, Boerner, Bonta, Bryan, Calderon, Juan Carrillo, Wendy Carrillo, Cervantes, Chen, Connolly, Davies, Flora, Mike Fong, Friedman, Gabriel, Garcia, Gipson, Grayson, Haney, Hart, Holden, Hoover, Irwin, Jackson, Jones-Sawyer, Kalra, Lackey, Lee, Low, Lowenthal, Maienschein, McCarty, McKinnor, Muratsuchi, Stephanie Nguyen, Ortega, Pacheco, Joe Patterson, Pellerin, Petrie-Norris, Quirk-Silva, Ramos, Reyes, Luz Rivas, Robert Rivas, Rodriguez, Blanca Rubio, Santiago, Schiavo, Soria, Ting, Valencia, Villapudua, Waldron, Ward, Weber, Wicks, Wilson, Wood, Zbur, Rendon
NOES: Megan Dahle, Dixon, Vince Fong, Gallagher, Sanchez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Aguiar-Curry, Essayli, Mathis, Papan, Jim Patterson, Ta, Wallis
Prepared by: Glenn Miles / L., P.E. & R. / (916) 651-1556
9/4/23 8:53:03
**** END ****
SENATE COMMITTEE ON
Senator Anthony Portantino, Chair
2023 - 2024 Regular Session
AB 1 (McKinnor) - Collective bargaining: Legislature
Version: | Policy Vote: |
Urgency: | Mandate: |
Hearing Date: | Consultant: |
AB 1 would provide employees of the California Legislature with collective bargaining rights, as specified.
Fiscal Impact:
- Administrative costs to the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) for the current version of the bill have yet to be identified (General Fund).
- This bill would result in annual costs to the Legislature to establish and maintain labor and employee relations functions (General Fund). Additionally, to the extent that the bill results in salary or benefits increases resulting from collective bargaining, it could lead to increased ongoing employment costs. However, under the Constitution, the Legislature’s annual spending is capped; consequently, the costs resulting from this bill could not be accommodated through budgetary increases relative to current law, and thus would likely displace existing workload and spending. (See Staff Comments).
- The bill could result in minor additional penalty revenue to the State.
Background:
The California Constitution designates most state employees as members of civil service. However, legislative employees are excluded under the Constitution from civil service and instead are “at will” employees, meaning that their employment may be terminated at any time for any lawful reason without any required explanation.
Current law, the Ralph C. Dills Act (Dills Act), governs collective bargaining between the state and recognized state public employee organizations. Existing law excludes certain employees from coverage under the Dills Act, including, among others, managerial employees, supervisory employees, and confidential employees, as defined.
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 labor 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.
Proposed Law:
This bill would, among other things, do the following effective July 1, 2026:
- Enact the Legislature Employer-Employee Relations Act (LEERA), to provide employees of the Legislature, except certain specified categories of excluded employees, the right to form, join, and participate in the activities of employee organizations of their own choosing for the purpose of representation on all matters of employer-employee relations. The bill would prescribe rights, duties, and prohibitions in this context that parallel those in the Dills Act.
- Define, for the purposes of bargaining or meeting and conferring in good faith, “employer” to mean the Assembly Committee on Rules or the Senate Committee on Rules.
- Provide that any person who willfully resists, prevents, impedes, or interferes with any member of PERB, or any of its agents, in the performance of duties pursuant to LEERA, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof, shall be sentenced to pay a fine of not more than $1,000.
- Require the employer to meet and confer with representatives of recognized employee organizations regarding matters within the scope of representation.
- Exclude certain matters from the scope of representation, as specified.
- Grant exclusive jurisdiction to PERB to make an initial determination as to whether charges of unfair practices are justified, and, if so, the necessary remedy, as specified. However, the bill would prohibit PERB from issuing a decision or order that intrudes upon or interferes with the Legislature’s core function of efficient and effective lawmaking or the essential operation of the Legislature.
- Require PERB to determine appropriate bargaining units, and would prohibit it from including employees in a bargaining unit that includes employees other than those of the employer.
- Prohibit PERB from including within a bargaining unit employees from both the Assembly and Senate.
- Provide that the provisions of LEERA would be severable.
- Exempt from public inspection records related to activities governed by the LEERA that reveal the employer’s deliberative processes, impressions, evaluations, opinions, recommendations, meeting minutes, research, work product, theories, or strategy, or that provide instruction, advice, or training to employees who do not have full collective bargaining and representation rights under LEERA.
Related Legislation:
- AB 1577 (Stone) would have established a LEERA that is substantially similar to this bill. The bill died on a 2-3 concurrence vote in the Assembly Public Employment and Retirement Committee.
- AB 314 (Lorena Gonzalez) would have established a LEERA that is substantially similar to this bill. The bill died at the Assembly Desk.
- AB 969 (Lorena Gonzalez, 2019) would have established a LEERA that is substantially similar to this bill. The bill died in the Assembly Public Employment and Retirement Committee.
- AB 2048 (Gonzalez, 2018) would have established a LEERA that is substantially similar to this bill. The bill died in the Assembly Public Employment, Retirement, and Social Security Committee.
- AB 83 (Santiago, Chapter 835, Statutes of 2017) established JCEERA which allows certain employees of the Judicial Council to form collective bargaining agreements and is substantially similar to this bill.
- AB 2350 (Floyd, 2000) would have included nonsupervisory employees of the Legislature as “state employees” for purposes of the Dills Act. The bill failed passage in the Assembly Committee on Public Employees, Retirement, and Social Security.
Staff Comments:
This bill would impose new spending requirements on the Legislature resulting from collective bargaining, including (1) negotiating the MOUs, (2) administering the contracts, (3) ensuring the Legislature remains in compliance, (4) training Members and management, and (5) responding to grievances. Specific costs resulting from the bill would, among other factors, depend on the number of bargaining units formed.
Unlike other state departments whose budgets increase annually (subject to the budget process) in response to rising caseloads and additional workload, the Legislature’s ability to spend is constrained. Specifically, Proposition 140 (1990), among other things, set an annual cap on the amount of money that may be spent to support the Legislature’s operations (for example, legislator and staff salaries, travel, and communications). This cap changes annually based on growth in the State’s economy and population, and is completely outside the Legislature’s control. Thus, this bill would impose new spending requirements on the Legislature, but not provide new resources to accommodate the additional spending.
Any local government costs resulting from the mandate in this measure are not state-reimbursable because the mandate only involves the definition of a crime or the penalty for conviction of a crime.
-- END --
Senator Thomas Umberg, Chair
2023-2024 Regular Session
Bill No: AB 1 (Author:McKinnor)
Version: July 3, 2023
Hearing Date: July 11, 2023
Fiscal: Yes
Urgency: No
Consultant: ME[1]
SUBJECT
Collective bargaining: Legislature
DIGEST
This bill establishes the Legislature Employer-Employee Relations Act (LEERA), which provides employees of the California Legislature, with certain exceptions, with collective bargaining rights.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Though they are state workers, the employees of the California Legislature are not constitutionally permitted to be part of the civil service and lack a statutory basis on which they can form a union. They are “at will,” meaning that their employment may be terminated at any time for any lawful reason without any required explanation. The proponents of this bill point out that this status is at odds with the Legislature’s general support for collective bargaining rights. They also contend that, in the absence of the sorts of improved working conditions and heightened workplace protections that can often be obtained through collective bargaining, legislative employees have limited avenues for addressing arbitrary, unfair, and occasionally even abusive employment practices, to the detriment of both legislative employees and the integrity of the institution as a whole.
This Committee considered the question of whether to authorize a Legislative employee union last year. AB 1577 (Stone, 2022) was a gut-and-amend and would have enacted a version of LEERA similar to the one presented in this bill. This Committee passed AB 1577 and, after amendments on the Senate floor, the bill returned to the Assembly, where it died in the Assembly Public Employment and Retirement Committee on a 2 to 3 vote.
AB 1 brings LEERA back. Like AB 1577, the bill provides a statutory framework that would enable legislative employees to form a union and bargain collectively, should they elect to do so. Leadership and managerial staff would be excluded, as is typically the case with collective bargaining units. AB 1 also makes improvements on, and clarifications to, AB 1577, including requiring memoranda of understanding adopted between the Legislature and unions to be adopted by resolution (rather than statute), and clarifying that collective bargaining units may not be based on political affiliation. AB 1 would become operative on July 1, 2026.
This bill is sponsored by the California Labor Federation. There is no known opposition. The Senate Labor, Public Employment and Retirement Committee passed this bill with a vote of 4 to 0.
PROPOSED CHANGES TO THE LAW
Existing law:
- Governs collective bargaining in the private sector under the federal National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) but leaves to the states the regulation of collective bargaining in their respective public sectors. While the NLRA and the decisions of its National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) often provide persuasive precedent in interpreting state collective bargaining law, public employees generally have no collective bargaining rights absent specific statutory authority establishing those rights. (29 U.S.C. §§ 151 et seq.)
- Defines the powers of state government as legislative, executive, and judicial and prohibits persons charged with the exercise of one power from exercising either of the others except as permitted by the Constitution. (Cal. Const., art. III, § 3.)
- Establishes the California Legislature which consists of the Senate and Assembly and in which the people, through the state constitution, have vested the state’s legislative power. (Cal. Const., art. IV, § 1.)
- Places a limit on the total expenditures of the Legislature for compensation of members and employees, and for operating expenses and equipment, calculated per member.
- The total aggregate expenditures for the year may not exceed the amount equal to the expenditure for the prior year, adjusted and compounded by an amount equal to the percentage increase in the appropriations limit for the state established in Article XIIIB of the California Constitution.
- The starting point for the calculation in 4)(a) was a per-member expenditure of $950,000 in the 1991 budget or 80 percent of the prior year’s expenditure for the purpose, whichever was lower. (Cal. Const., art. IV, § 7.5.)
- Establishes a civil service that includes every officer and employee of the State except as otherwise provided in the Constitution and requires that the State make permanent appointment and promotion in the civil service under a general system based on merit ascertained by competitive examination. (Cal. Const., art. VII, § 1.)
- Exempts officers and employees appointed or employed by the Legislature, in either house, or legislative committees from the state civil service. (Cal. Const., art. VII, § 4(a).)
- Establishes limitations on state appropriations, including a requirement that the total annual appropriations subject to limitation of the state and of each local government shall not exceed the appropriations limit of the entity of government for the prior year adjusted for the change in the cost of living and the change in population, except as specified. (Cal. Const., art. XIIIB.)
- Provides several statutory frameworks under California law to provide public employees collective bargaining rights, govern public employer-employee relations, and limit labor strife and economic disruption in the public sector through 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. These include the Dills Act, which provides collective bargaining for state employees of the executive branch and establishes a process for determining wages, hours, and terms and conditions of employment for represented employees. The Dills Act excludes managers and confidential employees from bargaining rights. (Gov. Code, §§ 3512 et seq.)
- Requires the Governor and the recognized state employee organizations to meet and confer in good faith regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment and, if they reach an agreement, to jointly prepare a written memorandum of understanding (MOU), which the Governor shall present, when appropriate, to the Legislature for determination. (Gov. Code, §§ 3517 et seq.)
- Establishes the Judicial Council Employer-Employee Relations Act (JCEERA) which provides collective bargaining rights to Judicial Council employees, as specified. (Gov. Code, §§ 3524.50 et seq.)
- Establishes the Public Employee Relations Board (PERB), a quasi-judicial administrative agency, to administer the collective bargaining statutes covering public employees including school, college, state, local agency, and trial court employees. PERB consists of five members appointed by the Governor and with the advice and consent of the Senate. Existing law tasks PERB with administering several public employee labor relations statutes that provide collective bargaining to California public employees, including the Dills Act and JCEERA, and adjudicating unfair labor practice claims under the respective acts. (Gov. Code, §§ 3541 et seq.)
- Provides that it is the public policy of the state that negotiation of terms and conditions of labor should result from voluntary agreement between employer and employees; that governmental authority has permitted and encouraged employers to organize in the corporate and other forms of capital control; and that it is necessary that the individual worker have full freedom of association, self-organization, and designation of representatives of their own choosing, to negotiate the terms and conditions of their employment, and to be free from the interference, restraint, or coercion of employers of labor, or their agents, in the designation of such representatives or in self-organization or in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection. (Lab. Code, § 923.)
This bill:
- Enacts LEERA, which will become operative on July 1, 2026.
- Makes findings and declarations regarding the purpose of LEERA, including to promote the improvement of personnel management and employer-employee relations within the Legislature by providing a uniform basis for recognizing the right of employees of the Legislature to join organizations of their own choosing and be represented by those organizations in their employment relations with the Legislature.
- Defines the following relevant terms:
- “Employee of the Legislature” or “employee” means any employee of either house of the Legislature and excludes:
- Members of the Legislature.
- Appointed officers of the Legislature such as the Secretary of the Senate and Chief Clerk of the Assembly.
- Department or office leaders such as chiefs of staff, staff directors, and chief consultants; “department or office leader” means any supervisory employee having authority, in the interest of the employer, to hire, transfer, suspend, lay off, recall, promote, discharge, assign, reward, or discipline other employees, or responsibility to direct them, or effectively to recommend this action, if, in connection with the foregoing, the exercise of any authority is not of a merely routine or clerical nature, but requires the use of independent judgment.
- Confidential employees, who are employees who are required to develop or present management positions with respect to employer-employee relations or whose duties normally require access to confidential information contributing significantly to the development of management positions.
- “Employee organization” is any organization that includes employees of the Legislature and that has as one of its primary purposes representing these employees in their relations with the Legislature.
- “Legislature” means the Assembly Committee on Rules or the Senate Committee on Rules. For the purposes of bargaining or meeting and conferring in good faith, “Legislature” means the Assembly Committee on Rules or the Senate Committee on Rules, or their designated representatives acting with the authorization of their respective houses.
- “Employee of the Legislature” or “employee” means any employee of either house of the Legislature and excludes:
- Provides that any person who willfully resists, prevents, impedes, or interferes with any member of PERB, or any of its agents, in the performance of duties pursuant to LEERA, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof, shall be sentenced to pay a fine of not more than $1,000.
- Provides the PERB’s authority, as follows:
- PERB has exclusive jurisdiction over the initial determination as to whether charges of unfair practices are justified, and if so, what remedy is necessary to effectuate the purposes of LEERA; but prohibits PERB from awarding strike-preparation expenses as damages or damages for costs, expenses, or revenue losses incurred during, or as a consequence of, an unlawful strike.
- PERB shall promulgate procedures for investigating, hearing, and deciding cases under (a), which must include provisions for any employee, employee organization, or the Legislature to file an unfair practice charge, except that PERB shall not issue a complaint for a charge based on an event that occurred more than six months before the complaint was filed or respecting conduct for which the parties have not exhausted the grievance machinery of their agreement, if any.
- PERB shall not enforce agreements between the parties or issue a complaint on any charge based on an alleged violation of an agreement that would not also constitute an unfair practice under LEERA.
- PERB may issue a decision and order directing an offending party to cease and desist from the unfair practice and to take such affirmative action, including, but not limited to, the reinstatement of employees with or without backpay, as will effectuate the policies of LEERA.
- Grants employees of the Legislature the right to collectively organize as follows:
- Employees of the Legislature may form, join, and participate in, or to refuse to join or participate in, the activities of employee organizations of their own choosing for the purpose of representation on all matters of employer-employee relations; however, nothing shall preclude the parties from agreeing to a maintenance of membership provision pursuant to a memorandum of understanding.
- Employees of the Legislature retain the right to represent themselves individually in their employment relations with the Legislature and to appear on their own behalf in the employee’s employment relations with the Legislature.
- Establishes the representation rights and limitations of employee organizations, as follows:
- Employee organizations have the right to represent their members in their employment relations with the Legislature until an employee organization is recognized as the exclusive representative of an appropriate unit.
- Once an employee organization is recognized as the exclusive representative of an appropriate unit, the recognized employee organization is the only organization that may represent that unit in employment relations with the Legislature
- An employee organization may establish reasonable restrictions regarding who may join and to make reasonable provisions for the dismissal of individuals from membership.
- An employee organization has the right to have membership dues, initial fees, membership benefit programs, and general assessments deducted, as specified, until it is recognized as the exclusive unit for employees in an appropriate unit, and then any deductions as to any employee in the negotiating unit are not permissible except as to the exclusive representative.
- Once an employee is recognized as the exclusive representative of an appropriate unit, it may enter into an agreement with the Legislature providing for organizational security in the form of a maintenance of membership deduction. The Legislature shall furnish the recognized employee information with specified information and deduct the fees as provided.
- The scope of representation is limited to wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment, except that the scope of representation does not include consideration of the merits, necessity, or organization of any service or activity provided by law; the scope of representation excludes, consistent with the powers and responsibilities vested in the Legislature pursuant to the Constitution:
- Any matter relating to the qualifications and elections of members of the Legislature, or the holding of office of members of the Legislature.
- Any matter relating to the Legislature or each house thereof choosing its officers, adopting rules for its proceedings, selecting committees necessary for the conduct of its business, considering and enacting legislation, or otherwise exercising the legislative power of the State.
- Any matters relating to legislative calendars, schedules, and deadlines of the Legislature.
- Laws, rules, policies, or procedures regarding ethics or conflict of interest.
- Requires the Legislature, except in cases of emergency, to give reasonable written notice to each recognized employee organization affected by any law, rule, or resolution directly relating to matters within the scope of representation proposed to be adopted by the Legislature, and to give such recognized employee organizations the opportunity to meet and confer with the Legislature, and that in cases of emergency when the Legislature determines that a law, rule, or resolution must be adopted immediately without prior notice or meeting with the recognized employee organization, the Legislature must provide notice and an opportunity to meet and confer in good faith at the earliest practical time following adoption of the law, rule, or resolution.
- Establishes the following requirements with respect to the “meet and confer” process:
- The Legislature must meet and confer in good faith regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment with representatives of recognized employee organizations, and to consider fully such presentations as are made by the employee organization on behalf of its members prior to arriving at a determination of policy or course of action.
- “Meet and confer in good faith” means that the Legislature and representatives of recognized employee organizations have the mutual obligation to personally meet and confer promptly upon request by either party and continue to meet and confer for a reasonable period of time in to exchange freely information, opinions, and proposals, and to endeavor to reach agreement on matters within the scope of representation prior to the adoption by the state of its final budget for the ensuing year, and in which the process should include adequate time for the resolution of impasses.
- The Legislature must freely provide to representatives of recognized employee organizations nonconfidential information that is necessary and relevant to their scope of representation; the Legislature need not provide confidential information, which includes information contained in records that are exempt from public disclosure under federal or state law, but does not include any information contained in records that are exempt from public disclosure under federal or state law. “Confidential information” does not include the name, job title, office, workplace location, work telephone number and email address, and home or personal telephone number and email address, if on file with the Legislature, for employees in the bargaining unit of the recognized employee organization.
- Establishes procedures for the adoption of an employment agreement as follows:
- If an agreement is reached between the Legislature and the recognized employee organization, the parties must jointly prepare a written memorandum of understanding (MOU) reflecting terms of the agreement, which must be presented, when appropriate, to the Legislature for adoption as a resolution.
- A side letter, appendix, or other addendum to a properly ratified MOU must be expressly identified by the parties if such addenda is to be incorporated in a subsequent MOU submitted to the Legislature for adoption as a resolution.
- If the Legislature does not fully fund any provision of the MOU that requires the expenditure of funds, either party may reopen negotiations on all or part of the MOU; but the parties are not precluded from agreeing to and effecting those provisions of the MOU that do not require legislative action for passage of a statute.
- Provides the following regarding the effect of an expired MOU and impasse procedures:
- If a MOU has expired, and the Legislature and a recognized employee organization have not agreed to a new MOU and have not reached an impasse in negotiations, as defined, the parties must continue to give effect to the expired MOU provisions, including, but not limited to, all provisions that supersede existing law, any arbitration provisions, any no-strike provisions, and any agreements regarding matters covered in the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. §§ 201 et seq.).
- If the Legislature and a recognized employee organization reach an impasse in negotiations for a new MOU, the Legislature may implement its last, best, and final officer (LBFO) through adoption of a resolution, except that, implementation of the LBFO does not relieve the parties of the obligation to bargain in good faith and reach agreement on a MOU if circumstances change and does not result in a waiver of rights that the recognized employee organization has pursuant to other provisions established by the LEERA.
- If, after a reasonable period of time, the Legislature and a recognized employee organization fail to reach an agreement, the Legislature and recognized employee organization may agree upon the appointment of a mediator mutually agreeable to the parties, or either party may request the PERB to appoint a mediator, with costs to be paid as specified.
- Requires a reasonable number of the recognized employee organizations’ employee representatives to be granted reasonable time off without loss of compensation or other benefits when formally meeting and conferring with the Legislature on matters within the scope of representation, during periods when an MOU is not in effect.
- Provides that it is unlawful for the Legislature to:
- Impose or threaten to impose reprisals on employees, to discriminate or threaten to discriminate against employees, or otherwise to interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees because of their exercise of rights guaranteed by this chapter. For purposes of this subdivision, “employee” includes an applicant for employment or reemployment.
- Deny to employee organizations rights guaranteed to them by LEERA.
- Refuse or fail to meet and confer in good faith with a recognized employee organization.
- Dominate or interfere with the formation or administration of any employee organization, or contribute financial or other support to it, or in any way encourage employees to join any organization in preference to another.
- Refuse to participate in good faith in the mediation procedure set forth in 11).
- Provides that it is unlawful for an employee organization to:
- Cause or attempt to cause the Legislature to do an act prohibited in 13).
- Impose or threaten to impose reprisals on employees, to discriminate or threaten to discriminate against employees, or otherwise to interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees because of their exercise of rights guaranteed by this chapter.
- Refuse or fail to meet and confer in good faith with the Legislature in relation to the employees for whom it is the recognized employee organization.
- Refuse to participate in good faith in the mediation procedure set forth in 11).
- Provides the following processes for judicial review:
- Judicial review of a unit determination to either (1) when PERB, in response to a petition from the Legislature or an employee organization, agrees that the case is one of special importance and joins in the request for the review; or (2) when a party raises the issue as a defense to an unfair practice complaint.
- A reviewing court shall not stay a PERB order directing an election pending judicial review.
- A party to the case may petition for a writ of extraordinary relief from the unit determination decision or order upon receipt of a PERB order joining in the request for judicial review.
- Any charging party, respondent, or intervenor aggrieved by a PERB final decision or order in an unfair practice case may petition for a writ of extraordinary relief from such decision or order, except a PERB decision not to issue a complaint in such a case. The petition shall be filed within 30 days after the issuance of the order, pursuant to specified procedures, and PERB shall file a certified record of the proceeding within 10 days of the clerk’s notice. The court has jurisdiction to grant to the board any temporary relief or restraining order it deems just and proper and in like manner to make and enter a decree enforcing, modifying, or setting aside the order of the board. The findings of the board with respect to questions of fact, including ultimate facts, if supported by substantial evidence on the record considered as a whole, are conclusive, and the proceeding shall be governed by the Code of Civil Procedure’s provisions relating to writs, except where specifically superseded.
- If the time to petition for extraordinary relief from a PERB decision has expired, the PERB may seek enforcement of any final decision or order in a district court of appeal or a superior court in the district where the unit determination or unfair practice case occurred. If, after a hearing, the court determines that the order was issued pursuant to procedures established by the PERB and that the person or entity refuses to comply with the order, the court shall enforce the order by writ of mandamus. The court shall not review the merits of the order.
- Establishes the following requirements for granting exclusive recognition to employee organizations:
- The Legislature must grant exclusive recognition to employee organizations designated or selected pursuant to PERB-established rules for employees of the Legislature or an appropriate unit of the Legislature, subject to the right of an employee to self-represent, and the PERB must establish reasonable procedures for petitions, holding elections, and determining appropriate units, as specified.
- The PERB, as it determines appropriate bargaining units, may not include employees of the Legislature in a bargaining unit that includes employees other than those of the Legislature, and may not comingle employees from both the Assembly and Senate within the same bargaining unit.
- The PERB must establish procedures whereby a majority vote of the employees are authorized to revoke recognition of employee organizations formally recognized as exclusive representatives pursuant to a vote of the employees only after a period of not less than 12 months following the date of such recognition.
- Requires the Legislature to adopt reasonable rules for registering employee organizations, as defined; determining the status of organizations as employee organizations; and, identifying the officers and representatives who officially represent employee organizations.
- Provides that, if a decision by an administrative law judge regarding the recognition or certification of an employee organization is appealed, the decision is the final order of the PERB, if the PERB does not issue a ruling that supersedes the decision on or before 180 days after the appeal is filed.
- Establishes criteria relating to the PERB determining an appropriate unit and a prohibition on PERB directing an election, including:
- The PERB shall not direct an election in a unit unless one or more of the employee organizations involved in the proceeding seeks or agrees to an election in the unit.
- In determining an appropriate unit, the PERB shall take into consideration all of the following criteria:
- The internal and occupational community of interest among the employees, including the extent to which they form functionally related services or work toward established common goals, the history of employee representation in state government and in similar employment, and the extent to which the employees have common skills, working conditions, job duties, or similar educational or training requirements.
- The effect that the protected unit will have on meet-and-confer relationships, emphasizing the availability of the Legislature’s representatives to deal effectively with employee organizations representing the unit, and taking into account specified factors relating to the effect on the existing classification structure.
- The effect of the proposed unit on efficient operations of the Legislature and the compatibility of the unit with the responsibility of the Legislature and its employees to serve the public.
- The number of employees and classifications in a proposed unit and its effect on the operations of the Legislature, on the objectives of providing the employees the right to effective representation, and on the meet-and-confer relationship.
- The impact on the meet-and-confer relationship created by fragmentation of employees or any proliferation of units among the employees of the Legislature.
- Political affiliation shall not constitute a community of interest for purposes of determining an appropriate unit.
- Establishes the following procedures for the meet-and-confer process:
- All initial meet-and-confer proposals of the recognized employee organizations, and all meet-and-confer proposals or counterproposals of the Legislature must be presented to the other at a public meeting and become a public record.
- Except in cases of emergency as provided, no meeting and conferring may take place on any proposal, subject to (a) until no fewer than seven consecutive days have elapsed, to enable the public to become informed and to publicly express itself regarding the proposals, as well as regarding other possible subjects of meeting and conferring; thereafter, the Legislature must hear public comment on all matters related to the meet and confer proposals in an open meeting.
- Forty-eight hours after any proposal that includes any substantive subject that has not been presented in proposals for public reaction, as specified, is offered during any meeting and conferring session, the proposal and the position, if any, taken by representatives of the Legislature become a public record.
- Specifies that LEERA does not apply section 923 of the Labor Code to employees of the Legislature.
- Provides that nothing in LEERA modifies or eliminates any existing wages, hours, or terms and conditions of employment for employees of the Legislature, and that all existing wages, hours, and terms and conditions of employment for employees of the Legislature must remain in effect unless and until changed in accordance with the Legislature’s procedures, or pursuant to a MOU between the Legislature and a recognized employee organization.
- Includes a severability clause.
COMMENTS
- Author’s comment
According to the author:
Our staff aren’t looking for special treatment. They are looking for the same dignity and respect afforded to all workers. It is hypocritical as legislators that we ask our employees to staff committees and write legislation that often expands collective bargaining rights for other workers in California, but we intentionally prohibit our own workers from that same right.
2. LEERA redux
Last year, this Committee passed AB 1577 (Stone, 2022), a bill that would have enacted a version of LEERA substantially similar to the one in this bill. After being amended by the Senate Appropriations Committee, the bill passed on the Senate Floor and returned to the Assembly for a concurrence vote. AB 1577 then died in the Assembly Public Employment and Retirement Committee on a vote of 2 to 3. As a result, employees of the California Legislature are still an outlier in terms of lacking legal permission to unionize.[2]
The benefits, pros, and cons of unionization listed in the Committee’s analysis of AB 1577 remain the same; that analysis is incorporated herein by reference. In brief, there is power in a union. Other legislation this session has called out the frequency with which Legislative staff are leaving public employment for the private sector, but proposed to fix the problem by restricting employees’ choices. Collective bargaining, by contrast, could benefit employees and the State by making it easier for talented and capable people to remain in the Legislature.
The landscape for legislative unions writ large has changed, however. The attempt to unionize legislative employees in Congress has hit a roadblock: the Rules for the House of Representatives adopted by the new Republican-controlled House purport to nullify the regulations authorizing legislative unionization for the duration of the 118th Congress.[3] On the other hand, pending legislation here in California would ask the voters to approve a constitutional amendment giving all Californians the right to join a union.[4] If adopted, this amendment would presumably supersede lack of statutory authorization for a legislative employee union, albeit without the guidance provided by this bill.
AB 1 authorizes employees of the Legislature to collectively bargain without the delay of a ballot measure. This bill implements LEERA in largely the same form as AB 1577 when it was heard by this Committee, with a few key changes:
- AB 1 clarifies that the two houses of the Legislature would be required to form separate bargaining units. This clarification is consistent with the fact that the houses operate separately in employment matters.
- AB 1 defines who is a “department or office leader” excluded from the definition of employees who may unionize. The definition includes supervisory employees who have the authority to, among other things, hire, transfer, suspend, lay off, recall, promote, discharge, assign, reward, or discipline other employees.
- AB 1 clarifies that confidential employees (e.g., workers in human resources positions) are not included within the definition of legislative employees who may unionize. This is consistent with existing labor laws.[5]
- AB 1 requires that the Legislature freely provide to representatives of recognized employee organizations specified nonconfidential information necessary to the scope of the representation, for purposes of the meeting and conferring process.
- AB 1 deletes a requirement from AB 1577 that any side letter or other addendum to a ratified MOU that requires an expenditure of $250,000 or more, if certain conditions are met, be reviewed by the Joint Legislative Budget Committee.
- AB 1 requires MOUs and addenda to MOUs to be adopted by a resolution, rather than by statute.
- AB 1 clarifies that PERB may not separate employees into bargaining units solely based on political affiliation and that political affiliation shall not constitute a community of interest for purposes of determining an appropriate unit.
- AB 1 will become operative on July 1, 2026.
3. Policy considerations
The overall policy questions presented by this bill are unchanged from those at issue in AB 1577. This analysis raises areas specific to this Committee’s jurisdiction, including matters that have been resolved in AB 1 as well as matters that the author and sponsor may wish to consider going forward.
a. Separation of powers issues
The California Constitution establishes the powers of state government as legislative, executive, and judicial powers and prohibits a person charged with one power from exercising the others, except where expressly provided for in the Constitution.[6]
When heard by this Committee, AB 1577 required the Legislature to adopt MOUs and addenda through statute. This gave rise to a potential separation of powers concern, because statutes have to be signed by the Governor, giving the Governor literal veto power over the Legislature’s internal employment decisions. AB 1 has eliminated that concern by requiring MOUs and related agreements to be adopted by resolution rather than statute.
A second separation of powers question remains, however. AB 1 grants the PERB—an executive agency—the exclusive jurisdiction to adjudicate LEERA unfair practice claims. While PERB would not be actually exercising legislative power by ruling on the Legislature’s labor disputes, giving the executive branch such significant control over the Legislature’s internal administration does seem to violate the separation of powers clause’s prohibition of one branch “improperly interfering with the essential operations of either of the other two branches.”[7] The unique nature of this bill means that the availability of judicial review (or lack thereof) does not ease the constitutional conundrum, because the judicial branch is likewise constitutionally prohibited from excessively interfering with the Legislature’s operations.[8] Thus, while PERB is the logical choice to adjudicate labor disputes from the perspective of function and expertise, the author may wish to consider whether adjudication should be performed by an independent or intra-Legislative body instead.
b. Legislative business issues
As currently in print, AB 1 requires the Legislature, in case of emergency, give reasonable written notice to each recognized employee organization affected by any law, rule, or resolution directly relating to matters within the scope of representation proposed to be adopted by the Legislature, and shall give such recognized employee organizations the opportunity to meet and confer with the Legislature. Not only is the term “directly” potentially vague, but this provision appears to grant special access to Legislative unions not available to any other stakeholders. The Committee may wish to amend the bill to strike out “law, rule, or resolution” and replace those words with “policy or procedure” so that the provision would read as follows:
Amendment
3599.61.
(a) Except in cases of emergency as provided in subdivision (b), the Legislature employer shall give reasonable written notice to each recognized employee organization affected by any law, rule, or resolution policy or procedure directly relating to matters within the scope of representation proposed to be adopted by the Legislature employer, and shall give such recognized employee organizations the opportunity to meet and confer with the Legislature employer.
(b) In cases of emergency when the Legislature employer determines that a law, rule, or resolution policy or procedure must be adopted immediately without prior notice or meeting with a recognized employee organization, the Legislature employer shall provide notice and opportunity to meet and confer in good faith at the earliest practical time following the adoption of the law, rule, or resolution policy or procedure.
AB 1 is also silent on the right of Legislative employees to strike. Under the existing statutes authorizing public employees to unionize, public sector employees may generally strike unless doing so would “result in imminent danger to public health and safety.”[9] The determination of whether the basic public interest overrides the right to strike is determined on a case-by-case basis.[10] Certain jobs, however—such as firefighters—are expressly prohibited from striking.[11] To be sure, most Legislative employees do not face the same imminent life-or-death scenarios as firefighters. But because the Legislature has certain constitutionally mandated deadlines,[12] strikes at certain times could cause significant harm that would be felt across the state.
Both Oregon and Washington State authorized collective bargaining for legislative employees in 2022. Washington bars strikes, work stoppages and refusing to perform official duties during session. A December 2022 report from the Director of the Office of State Legislative Labor Relations cites Washington’s provision on strikes: “During a legislative session or committee assembly days, nothing contained in this chapter permits or grants to any legislative employee the right to strike, participate in a work stoppage, or refuse to perform their official duties.” (RCW 44.90.060.) The Oregon statute, which grants legislative staff the right to collective bargaining (SB 759, Statutes of 2021), does not bar the right to strike for legislative employees.[13] Legislative employees have a right to strike in Oregon. The Oregon Employment Relation’s Board FAQ webpage describes the bargaining process for strike permitted employees and is available at: Employment Relations Board : Dispute resolution process : State of Oregon
Legislative employees in Oregon are permitted to strike but cannot do so until more than 200 days after direct bargaining begins. Steps that must be followed before the legislative union may strike include engaging in direct bargaining for a minimum of 150 days and then engaging in mediation for a minimum of 15 days, among other things. There must also be a 30 day cooling off period.
The Committee may wish to consider whether the bill should set forth limitations on strikes.
Amendment
3599.81.
(a) Employees shall not have the right to strike during times when the Legislature is in session, or to recognize a picket line of an employee organization while in the course of the performance of their official duties.
(b) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), an essential employee shall not have the right to strike at any time. For purposes of this subdivision, “essential employee” means an employee whose duties are essential to maintaining public health or safety, including an employee whose absence would impair the ability of the employer to meet its constitutional obligations. The employer shall have the sole and exclusive authority to determine who is an essential employee.
Finally, the Committee may wish to consider whether the list of excluded employees is overbroad with respect to employees who perform assignment- and direction-related tasks. Constitutional strictures on the Legislature’s schedule and other factors mean that even individuals in jobs with some discretion over employee assignments and similar functions may not be free to exercise the type of discretion typically associated with management positions. An overly narrow definition of “employee” could, perversely, result in employees declining promotions if accepting meant losing union membership. The Committee may wish to reexamine the categories of excluded employees. On the other hand, the list of included employees may include employees that should be excluded to ensure the Legislature is capable of discharging their Constitutional and statutory obligations. The Committee may wish to follow the model of the Judicial Council Employer-Employee Relations Act whereby the employer, in this case Senate Committee on Rules and Assembly Committee on Rules, have the right to determine who are excluded employees with specified limitations. Specifically, Government Code section 3524.53, with respect to Judicial Council Employees, provides: “The Judicial Council shall have the sole authority and discretion to designate Judicial Council state employee positions as excluded positions, provided that managerial, supervisory, confidential, and excluded positions not included in bargaining units under this chapter shall not exceed one-third of the total authorized Judicial Council positions as stated in the Department of Finance Salaries and Wages Supplement. Designation of the excluded positions under this section shall not be subject to review by the board.”
The Committee may wish to include a similar provision in the bill.
Amendment
3599.52.
For purposes of this chapter:
(a) “Board” means the Public Employment Relations Board. The powers and duties of the board described in Section 3541.3 also apply, as appropriate, to this chapter, except as otherwise provided in this chapter. Notwithstanding this chapter or any other law, the board shall not intrude on the Legislature’s core function of efficient and effective lawmaking.
(b) (1) “Employee of the Legislature” or “employee” means any employee of either house of the Legislature, except all of the following:
(1A) Members of the Legislature.
(2B) Appointed officers of the Legislature, such as the Secretary of the Senate and the Chief Clerk of the Assembly.
(3C) Department or office leaders, such as chiefs-of-staff, staff directors, and chief consultants. “Department or office leader” means any supervisory employee having authority, in the interest of the employer, to hire, transfer, suspend, lay off, recall, promote, discharge, assign, reward, or discipline other employees, or responsibility to direct them, or effectively to recommend this action, if, in connection with the foregoing, the exercise of any authority is not of a merely routine or clerical nature, but requires the use of independent judgment.
(4D) Confidential employees. “Confidential employee” means any employee who is required to develop or present management positions with respect to employer-employee relations or whose duties normally require access to confidential information contributing significantly to the development of management positions.
(2) For purposes of this subdivision, the employer shall have the sole and exclusive authority to determine and designate employees or positions as excluded employees or positions.
(3) Notwithstanding any provisions in this Chapter the employer shall have the sole authority and discretion to designate employee positions as excluded positions, provided that confidential employees, department or office leader, and excluded positions not included in bargaining units under this Chapter shall not exceed one-third of the total authorized employer positions. Designation of the excluded positions under this section shall not be subject to review by the board.
(c) “Employee organization” means any organization that includes employees of the Legislature employees and that has as one of its primary purposes representing these employees in their relations with the Legislature employer.
(d) “LegislatureEmployer” means the Assembly Committee on Rules or the Senate Committee on Rules. For the purposes of bargaining or meeting and conferring in good faith, “Legislatureemployer” means the Assembly Committee on Rules or the Senate Committee on Rules, or their designated representatives, acting with the authorization of their respective houses.
(e) “Maintenance of membership” means that all employees who voluntarily are, or who voluntarily become, members of a recognized employee organization shall remain members of that employee organization in good standing for a period as agreed to by the parties pursuant to a memorandum of understanding, commencing with the effective date of the memorandum of understanding. A maintenance of membership provision does not apply to any employee who within 30 days prior to the expiration of the memorandum of understanding withdraws from the employee organization by sending a signed withdrawal letter to the employee organization and a copy to the Controller’s office.
(f) “Mediation” means effort by an impartial third party to assist in reconciling a dispute regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment between representatives of the Legislature employer and the recognized employee organization or recognized employee organizations through interpretation, suggestion, and advice.
(g) “Recognized employee organization” means an employee organization that has been recognized by the Legislature employer as the exclusive representative of the employees in an appropriate unit.
4. Arguments in support
According to the California Labor Federation, the sponsor of the bill:
The Legislature stands as the only branch of California government whose employees cannot reap the benefits and protections that come with the right to collective bargaining. Legislative employees are also exempt from civil service rules, can be hired and fired at will, and lack many of the workplace protection laws that cover employees in private and other public employment settings. This imbalance of power leaves legislative employees little to no opportunity to shape their workplace conditions or address their concerns in a meaningful way…
In any workplace, an imbalance of power leaves workers with little to no recourse to make their voices heard. In recent years, various events, including the #MeToo Movement and the COVID-19 pandemic, have shed a spotlight on legislative employees’ fear of retribution for voicing workplace concerns and their lack of tangible workplace protections in statute due to their at-will status. AB 1 will grant employees of the Legislature agency over the decision to form and join a union, without fear of retaliation, and have a collective voice over their working conditions and protections in the workplace.
5. Senate Labor, Public Employment and Retirement Committee suggested amendments in their analysis[14]
The Senate Labor, Public Employment and Retirement Committee analysis suggested the following amendments to AB 1:
- To Ensure Noninterference with the Legislature’s Core Functions
- Adjustments to the Balance Between PERB’s Role and the Legislature’s Role
Prior analyses both of this bill and of its predecessors have detailed the problematic aspect of PERB administering and adjudicating LEERA. The essential issue remains a question of constitutional separation of powers. This committee recommended in past versions potential solutions including establishing a Legislative Employee Relations Board, an appeal process from PERB to the Legislature or its representatives, or binding arbitration. All seem to find little support, being either disfavored by proponents or other parties or seen as unnecessarily repetitive of PERB’s expertise. Nevertheless, application of PERB’s full powers to the Legislature pose a direct challenge to the Legislature’s core functions by interfering with the Legislature’s ability to organize as it deems necessary to complete its constitutionally mandated mission.
In order to avoid a constitutional conflict, we recommend that the author take amendments that do the following:
- Specify that PERB shall not intrude on the Legislature’s core function of efficient and effective lawmaking.
- Clarify that each house’s Rules Committee (“the employer”) shall have the sole and exclusive authority to determine and designate excluded positions.
- Grant to the respective Rules Committees the sole and exclusive authority to determine bargaining units pursuant to LEERA or pursuant to reasonable rules adopted by the respective houses to implement LEERA. However, the amendment should also provide that such determinations are appealable to PERB.
- Expressly authorize the employer to reject or decline to implement a PERB decision or remedy that the employer determines in good faith intrudes on the Legislature’s core function. [ . . . ]
- Expressly acknowledge the Legislature’s continued right to meet in closed session for specified matters as determined in the constitution.
- Seasonal Limitations on the Right to Strike
The Legislature is constitutionally obligated to address the peoples’ concerns, deliberate thereon, and act to address them in a well-defined, if little understood process. As enunciated in past analyses of this proposal, the right to strike – universally understood to be employees’ most powerful tool in negotiating with intransigent employers - can hinder if not completely shut down this core function. Some might reflexively retort that is exactly the point. However, courts are unlikely to treat a strike in the public sector the same way as in the private, particularly one involving the Legislature, due to the responsibility of public employers to provide services to ensure the public welfare. To the extent that current case law, intending to support public sector collective bargaining, still requires a case-by-case analysis whether a strike imperils public welfare, one should expect a more careful examination from courts when a strike might impede the Legislature’s core functions.
- To preemptively defend LEERA from such scrutiny and potential frustration, the author ought to amend the bill to provide that strikes shall be prohibited during the period beginning with the bill introduction deadline to the last day for each house to pass bills, inclusive. Such an amendment would allow the Legislature to fulfill its core function of revising and passing laws and still permit employees to strike when the Legislature is present and during other periods still filled with substantial administrative, executive, constituent, and research work where employees may apply appropriate pressure in pursuit of their legitimate objectives.
- For similar reasons the [Senate Labor, Public Employees and Retirement] committee recommends prohibiting essential employees, defined as those necessary to maintain public health and safety, from striking at any time to ensure the Legislature can continue its core functions without interruption.
- Also, to ensure the effective operation of the Legislature, the bill should grant each house sole and exclusive authority to determine respectively who is an essential employee.
- To Exempt Certain Speech and Deliberations from Unfair Labor Practice Claims
It is common in other public sector statutory schemes to protect employees’ rights to be free of interference from their employer whose speech or communication on matters related to collective bargaining may unlawfully influence employees’ exclusive decision whether to unionize. In contrast, the constitution designs the Legislature to be a deliberative body. Members and staff as well as witnesses and constituents may provide choice words for and opinions on a number of topics, including collective bargaining.
- The bill should be amended to specifically exempt speech, opinions, arguments, etc. by members, employees, and other persons from ULP claims unless the employer has specifically authorized the person to speak for the employer on employer-employee relations matters pursuant to LEERA.
- To Clarify the Terms “employer”, “house”, and “Legislature” Pursuant to Each Term’s Respective Function
- The bill refers throughout its provisions to the Legislature, sometimes in its role as an employer to whom LEERA’s requirements to negotiate with its employees clearly and appropriately apply and in other instances to its role as lawmaker who has the power to make changes to existing law or introduce and pass new law so that the parties can implement the agreements they negotiate under LEERA. The latter bears directly on the Legislature’s core function and this bill’s provisions cannot command or restrain it without imperiling the legislation.
Additionally, the current bill uses the term “Legislature” at different times to refer to 1) each house’s Rules committee, 2) each house separately, or 3) both houses together. Although the proponents have made progress in delineating the institution’s dual nature as both employer and lawmaker and its bicameral nature of two discrete houses and one unified lawmaker, the author ought to amend the bill to better distinguish when the bill intends the respective Rules Committees to act as employer, when the respective houses must act, and when the bill seeks to task the Legislature in its function as lawmaker.
- The committee recommends that the bill use the term “employer” when referring to the former function and “Legislature” for the latter. More specifically, “employer” should refer to each house’s respective Rules Committee; “house” should refer to an action by the respective chamber through resolution, and “Legislature” should designate when both houses act together to make or amend law though statute or joint declarations through joint resolutions.
- Other Operational and Administrative Amendments
- Limitation on the Disclosure of Legislative Records
- To protect the Legislature’s deliberative process and the ability of members and staff to provide forthright assessments to develop the Legislature’s positions on matters regulated by LEERA, the committee recommends amendments that specifically exempt certain specified legislative records.
- [ . . . ]
6. Mock-up of Senate Labor, Public Employment and Retirement Committee’s suggested amendments and issues raised in this Senate Judiciary Committee analysis
The attached mock-up reflects the amendments suggested in the Senate Labor, Public Employment and Retirement Committee analysis and issues raised in this Committee’s analysis.
SUPPORT
California Labor Federation (sponsor)
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), California, AFL-CIO
California Alliance for Retired Americans (CARA)
California Association of Psychiatric Technicians
California Civil Liberties Advocacy
California Conference Board of The Amalgamated Transit Union
California Conference of Machinists
California Faculty Association
California Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO
California IATSE Council
California Low-income Consumer Coalition
California Nurses Association
California Professional Firefighters
California School Employees Association
California State Council of Laborers
California State Legislative Board of The Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers - Transportation Division (SMART-TD)
California Teachers Association
California Teamsters Public Affairs Council
Ella Baker Center for Human Rights
Engineers & Scientists of California, Local 20, IFPTE, AFL-CIO
Faculty Association of California Community Colleges
Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of The San Francisco Bay Area
Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO
Northern California District Council of The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU)
Professional & Technical Engineers, Local 21, IFPTE, AFL-CIO
Service Employees International Union California State Council
Service Employees International Union, Local 1000
Solano County Democratic Central Committee
State Building & Construction Trades Council of California
State Building and Construction Trades Council of Ca
Transport Workers Union of America, AFL-CIO
United Auto Workers, Local 2865
United Auto Workers, Local 5810
United Domestic Workers/AFSCME, Local 3930
United Food & Commercial Workers Western States Council Utility Workers Union of America
UNITE-HERE, Local 11
UNITE HERE, AFL-CIO
Utility Workers Union of America, AFL-CIO
One individual
OPPOSITION
None known
RELATED LEGISLATION
Pending Legislation: SCA 7 (Umberg, 2023) amends the California Constitution to provide that all Californians have the right to join a union and to negotiate with their employers, as specified, and that on or after January 1, 2023, no ordinance or statute shall be passed, enacted, or adopted that interferes with, negates, or diminishes the right of employees to organize and bargain collectively over specified matters. SCA 7 is pending before the Senate Elections and Constitutional Amendments Committee.
Prior Legislation:
AB 1577 (Stone, 2022) was substantially similar to this bill. AB 1577 died on a 2-3 concurrence vote in the Assembly Public Employment and Retirement Committee.
AB 314 (Lorena Gonzalez, 2021) would have enacted a LEERA that was similar to the one enacted in this bill. AB 314 was never referred to a policy Committee.
AB 969 (Lorena Gonzalez, 2019) would have enacted a LEERA that was similar to the one enacted in this bill. AB 969 was never heard in the Assembly Public Employment and Retirement Committee.
AB 2048 (Gonzalez, 2018) would have enacted a LEERA that was similar to the one enacted in this bill. AB 2048 died in the Assembly Public Employment, Retirement, and Social Security Committee.
AB 83 (Santiago, Ch. 835, Stats. 2017) established JCEERA which allows certain employees of the Judicial Council to form collective bargaining agreements and is substantially similar to this bill.
AB 2350 (Floyd, 2000) would have included nonsupervisory employees of the Legislature as “state employees” for purposes of the Dills Act. This measure failed passage in the Assembly Committee on Public Employees, Retirement, and Social Security.
PRIOR VOTES:
Senate Labor, Public Employment and Retirement Committee (Ayes 4, Noes 0)
Assembly Floor (Ayes 68, Noes 5)
Assembly Appropriations Committee (Ayes 12, Noes 3)
Assembly Public Employment and Retirement Committee (Ayes 6, Noes 1)
**************
MOCK-UP OF AMENDMENTS TO AB 1 REFLECTING ISSUES RAISED IN THE SENATE COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY AND SENATE COMMITTEE ON LABOR, PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT AND RETIREMENT COMMITTEE ANALYSES:
SECTION 1.
Chapter 12.5 (commencing with Section 3599.50) is added to Division 4 of Title 1 of the Government Code, to read:
CHAPTER 12.5. Legislature Employer-Employee Relations
3599.50.
This chapter shall be known, and may be cited, as the Legislature Employer-Employee Relations Act.
3599.51.
The Legislature finds and declares that it is the purpose of this chapter to promote full communication between the Legislature each employer and its employees by providing a reasonable method of resolving disputes regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment between the Legislature employer and public employee organizations. It is also the purpose of this chapter to promote the improvement of personnel management and employer-employee relations within the Legislature employer by providing a uniform basis for recognizing the right of its employees of the Legislature to join organizations of their own choosing and be represented by those organizations in their employment relations with the Legislature their employer. It is further the purpose of this chapter, in order to foster peaceful employer-employee relations, to allow the employees of the Legislature to select one employee organization as the exclusive representative of the employees in an appropriate unit and to permit the exclusive representative to receive financial support from those employees who receive the benefits of this representation.
3599.52.
For purposes of this chapter:
(a) “Board” means the Public Employment Relations Board. The powers and duties of the board described in Section 3541.3 also apply, as appropriate, to this chapter, except as otherwise provided in this chapter. Notwithstanding this chapter or any other law, the board shall not intrude on the Legislature’s core function of efficient and effective lawmaking.
(b) (1) “Employee of the Legislature” or “employee” means any employee of either house of the Legislature, except all of the following:
(1A) Members of the Legislature.
(2B) Appointed officers of the Legislature, such as the Secretary of the Senate and the Chief Clerk of the Assembly.
(3C) Department or office leaders, such as chiefs-of-staff, staff directors, and chief consultants. “Department or office leader” means any supervisory employee having authority, in the interest of the employer, to hire, transfer, suspend, lay off, recall, promote, discharge, assign, reward, or discipline other employees, or responsibility to direct them, or effectively to recommend this action, if, in connection with the foregoing, the exercise of any authority is not of a merely routine or clerical nature, but requires the use of independent judgment.
(4D) Confidential employees. “Confidential employee” means any employee who is required to develop or present management positions with respect to employer-employee relations or whose duties normally require access to confidential information contributing significantly to the development of management positions.
(2) For purposes of this subdivision, the employer shall have the sole and exclusive authority to determine and designate employees or positions as excluded employees or positions.
(3) Notwithstanding any provisions in this Chapter the employer shall have the sole authority and discretion to designate employee positions as excluded positions, provided that confidential employees, department or office leader, and excluded positions not included in bargaining units under this Chapter shall not exceed one-third of the total authorized employer positions. Designation of the excluded positions under this section shall not be subject to review by the board.
(c) “Employee organization” means any organization that includes employees of the Legislature employees and that has as one of its primary purposes representing these employees in their relations with the Legislature employer.
(d) “LegislatureEmployer” means the Assembly Committee on Rules or the Senate Committee on Rules. For the purposes of bargaining or meeting and conferring in good faith, “Legislatureemployer” means the Assembly Committee on Rules or the Senate Committee on Rules, or their designated representatives, acting with the authorization of their respective houses.
(e) “Maintenance of membership” means that all employees who voluntarily are, or who voluntarily become, members of a recognized employee organization shall remain members of that employee organization in good standing for a period as agreed to by the parties pursuant to a memorandum of understanding, commencing with the effective date of the memorandum of understanding. A maintenance of membership provision does not apply to any employee who within 30 days prior to the expiration of the memorandum of understanding withdraws from the employee organization by sending a signed withdrawal letter to the employee organization and a copy to the Controller’s office.
(f) “Mediation” means effort by an impartial third party to assist in reconciling a dispute regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment between representatives of the Legislature employer and the recognized employee organization or recognized employee organizations through interpretation, suggestion, and advice.
(g) “Recognized employee organization” means an employee organization that has been recognized by the Legislature employer as the exclusive representative of the employees in an appropriate unit.
3599.54.
Any person who willfully resists, prevents, impedes, or interferes with any member of the board, or any of its agents, in the performance of duties pursuant to this chapter, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be sentenced to pay a fine of not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000).
3599.55.
The initial determination as to whether charges of unfair practices are justified, and, if so, what remedy is necessary to effectuate the purposes of this chapter, is a matter within the exclusive jurisdiction of the board, except that, in an action to recover damages due to an unlawful strike, the board shall not award strike-preparation expenses as damages, and shall not award damages for costs, expenses, or revenue losses incurred during, or as a consequence of, an unlawful strike. The employer is expressly authorized to reject or decline to implement a decision or remedy that, in the employer’s reasonable determination, intrudes on the Legislature’s core function of efficient and effective lawmaking. Procedures for investigating, hearing, and deciding these cases shall be devised and promulgated by the board and shall include all of the following:
(a) Any employee or employee organization, or the Legislatureemployer, has the right to file an unfair practice charge, except that the board shall not do either of the following:
(1) Issue a complaint respecting a charge based upon an alleged unfair practice that occurred more than six months prior to the filing of the charge.
(2) Issue a complaint respecting conduct also prohibited by the provisions of the agreement between the parties until the grievance machinery of the agreement, if it exists and covers the matter at issue, has been exhausted, either by settlement or binding arbitration. However, when the charging party demonstrates that resort to contract grievance procedures would be futile, their exhaustion is not necessary. The board has discretionary jurisdiction to review a settlement or arbitration award reached pursuant to the grievance machinery solely for the purpose of determining whether it is repugnant to the purposes of this chapter. If the board finds that the settlement or arbitration award is repugnant to the purposes of this chapter, it shall issue a complaint on the basis of a timely filed charge, and hear and decide the case on the merits; otherwise, it shall dismiss the charge. The board shall, in determining whether the charge was timely filed, consider the six-month limitation set forth in paragraph (1) to have been tolled during the time it took the charging party to exhaust the grievance machinery.
(b) The board shall not enforce agreements between the parties or issue a complaint on any charge based on an alleged violation of an agreement that would not also constitute an unfair practice under this chapter.
(c) The board may issue a decision and order directing an offending party to cease and desist from the unfair practice and to take such affirmative action, including, but not limited to, the reinstatement of employees with or without backpay, as will effectuate the policies of this chapter., except that the board shall not issue any decision or order that intrudes on the Legislature’s core function of efficient and effective lawmaking. The employer is expressly authorized to reject or decline to implement a decision or remedy that, in the employer’s reasonable determination, intrudes on the Legislature’s core function of efficient and effective lawmaking.
3599.56.
Employees of the Legislature have the right to form, join, and participate in the activities of employee organizations of their own choosing for the purpose of representation on all matters of employer-employee relations. Employees of the Legislature also have the right to refuse to join or participate in the activities of employee organizations, except that the parties are not precluded from agreeing to a maintenance of membership provision pursuant to a memorandum of understanding. In any event, employees of the Legislature have the right to represent themselves individually in their employment relations with the Legislature employer.
3599.57.
Employee organizations have the right to represent their members in their employment relations with the Legislatureemployer, except that once an employee organization is recognized as the exclusive representative of an appropriate unit, the recognized employee organization is the only organization that may represent that unit in employment relations with the Legislature employer. Employee organizations may establish reasonable restrictions regarding who may join and may make reasonable provisions for the dismissal of individuals from membership. This section does not prohibit any employee from appearing on the employee’s own behalf in the employee’s employment relations with the Legislature employer.
3599.58.
All employee organizations have the right to have membership dues, initiation fees, membership benefit programs, and general assessments deducted pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 1152 and Section 1153 until an employee organization is recognized as the exclusive representative for employees in an appropriate unit, and then any deductions as to any employee in the negotiating unit are not permissible except to the exclusive representative.
3599.59.
(a) Once an employee organization is recognized as the exclusive representative of an appropriate unit, it may enter into an agreement with the Legislature employer providing for organizational security in the form of a maintenance of membership deduction.
(b) The Legislature employer shall furnish the recognized employee organization with sufficient employment data to allow the organization to calculate membership fees, and shall deduct the amount specified by the recognized employee organization from the salary or wages of every employee for the membership fee. These fees shall be remitted monthly to the recognized employee organization along with an adequate itemized record of the deductions, including, if required by the recognized employee organization, machine readable data.
3599.60.
(a) The scope of representation is limited to wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment, except that the scope of representation does not include consideration of the merits, necessity, or organization of any service or activity provided by law.
(b) In view of the powers and responsibilities vested in the Legislature pursuant to the Constitution, decisions regarding the following matters shall not be included within the scope of representation:
(1) Any matter relating to the qualifications and elections of Members of the Legislature, or the holding of office of Members of the Legislature.
(2) Any matter relating to the Legislature or each house thereof choosing its officers, adopting rules for its proceedings, selecting committees necessary for the conduct of its business, considering and enacting legislation, or otherwise exercising the legislative power of this state.
(3) Any matter relating to legislative calendars, schedules, and deadlines, or the hours of operation of the Legislature.
(4) Laws, rules, policies, or procedures regarding ethics or conflicts of interest.
(5) Design, construction, and location of legislative facilities.
3599.61.
(a) Except in cases of emergency as provided in subdivision (b), the Legislature employer shall give reasonable written notice to each recognized employee organization affected by any law, rule, or resolution policy or procedure directly relating to matters within the scope of representation proposed to be adopted by the Legislature employer, and shall give such recognized employee organizations the opportunity to meet and confer with the Legislature employer.
(b) In cases of emergency when the Legislature employer determines that a law, rule, or resolution policy or procedure must be adopted immediately without prior notice or meeting with a recognized employee organization, the Legislature employer shall provide notice and opportunity to meet and confer in good faith at the earliest practical time following the adoption of the law, rule, or resolution policy or procedure.
3599.62.
(a) The Legislature employer shall meet and confer in good faith regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment with representatives of recognized employee organizations, and shall consider fully such presentations as are made by the employee organization on behalf of its members prior to arriving at a determination of policy or course of action. For purposes of this section, the term “meet and confer in good faith” means that the Legislature employer and representatives of recognized employee organizations have the mutual obligation to personally meet and confer promptly upon request by either party and continue to meet and confer for a reasonable period of time in order to exchange freely information, opinions, and proposals, and to endeavor to reach agreement on matters within the scope of representation prior to the adoption by the state of its final budget for the ensuing year. The process should include adequate time for the resolution of impasses.
(b) The Legislature employer shall freely provide to representatives of recognized employee organizations nonconfidential information that is necessary and relevant to their scope of representation. However, this chapter does not require the Legislature employer to provide confidential information to representatives of recognized employee organizations. For purposes of this subdivision, “confidential information” means any information contained in records that are exempt from public disclosure under federal or state law. “Confidential information” does not include the name, job title, office, workplace location, work telephone number and email address, and home or personal telephone number and email address, if on file with the Legislature employer, for employees in the bargaining unit of the recognized employee organization.
3599.63.
If an agreement is reached between the Legislature employer and the recognized employee organization, the parties shall jointly prepare a written memorandum of understanding reflecting the terms of the agreement, which shall be presented, when appropriate, to the Legislature employer for adoption as a resolution.
3599.64.
A side letter, appendix, or other addendum to a properly ratified memorandum of understanding shall be expressly identified by the parties if that side letter, appendix, or other addendum is to be incorporated in a subsequent memorandum of understanding submitted to the Legislature employer for adoption as a resolution.
3599.65.
If the Legislature employer does not fully fund any provision of the memorandum of understanding that requires the expenditure of funds, either party may reopen negotiations on all or part of the memorandum of understanding. The parties are not precluded from agreeing to and effecting those provisions of the memorandum of understanding that do not require legislative action for passage of a statute resolution.
3599.66.
(a) If a memorandum of understanding has expired, and the Legislature employer and the recognized employee organization have not agreed to a new memorandum of understanding and have not reached an impasse in negotiations, subject to subdivision (b), the parties to the agreement shall continue to give effect to the provisions of the expired memorandum of understanding, including provisions that supersede existing law, arbitration provisions, no-strike provisions, and agreements regarding matters covered in the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. Sec. 201 et seq.).
(b) If the Legislature employer and the recognized employee organization reach an impasse in negotiations for a new memorandum of understanding, the Legislature employer may implement any or all of its last, best, and final offer through adoption of a resolution. Implementation of the last, best, and final offer does not relieve the parties of the obligation to bargain in good faith and reach an agreement on a memorandum of understanding if circumstances change, and does not result in a waiver of rights that the recognized employee organization has under this chapter.
3599.67.
If, after a reasonable period of time, the Legislature employer and the recognized employee organization fail to reach an agreement, the Legislature employer and the recognized employee organization may agree upon the appointment of a mediator mutually agreeable to the parties, or either party may request the board to appoint a mediator. When both parties mutually agree upon a mediator, the costs of mediation shall be divided one-half to the Legislature employer and one-half to the recognized employee organization. If the board appoints the mediator, the costs of mediation shall be paid by the board.
3599.68.
A reasonable number of employee representatives of recognized employee organizations shall be granted reasonable time off without loss of compensation or other benefits when formally meeting and conferring with the Legislature employer on matters within the scope of representation. This section applies only to employees, as defined by Section 3599.52, and only for periods when a memorandum of understanding is not in effect.
3599.69.
It is unlawful for the Legislature to An employer shall not do any of the following:
(a) Impose or threaten to impose reprisals on employees, discriminate or threaten to discriminate against employees, or otherwise interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees because of their exercise of rights guaranteed by this chapter. For purposes of this subdivision, “employee” includes an applicant for employment or reemployment.
(b) Deny to employee organizations rights guaranteed to them by this chapter.
(c) Refuse or fail to meet and confer in good faith with a recognized employee organization.
(d) Dominate or interfere with the formation or administration of any employee organization, or contribute financial or other support to it, or in any way encourage employees to join any organization in preference to another.
(e) Refuse to participate in good faith in the mediation procedure set forth in Section 3599.67.
3599.70.
It is unlawful for an An employee organization to shall not do any of the following:
(a) Cause or attempt to cause the Legislature employer to violate Section 3599.69.
(b) Impose or threaten to impose reprisals on employees, discriminate or threaten to discriminate against employees, or otherwise interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees because of their exercise of rights guaranteed by this chapter.
(c) Refuse or fail to meet and confer in good faith with the Legislature employer in relation to the employees for whom it is the recognized employee organization.
(d) Refuse to participate in good faith in the mediation procedure set forth in Section 3599.67.
3599.71.
(a) Judicial review of a unit determination is allowed only under either of the following circumstances:
(1) When the board, in response to a petition from the Legislature or an employee organization, agrees that the case is one of special importance and joins in the request for review.
(2) When the issue is raised as a defense to an unfair practice complaint. A board order directing an election shall not be stayed pending judicial review.
(b) Upon receipt of a board order joining in a request for judicial review, a party to the case may petition for a writ of extraordinary relief from the unit determination decision or order.
(ca) Any charging party, respondent, or intervenor aggrieved by a final decision or order of the board in an unfair practice case, except a decision of the board not to issue a complaint in such a case, may petition for a writ of extraordinary relief from the decision or order.
(db) The petition shall be filed in the Court of Appeal for the Third Appellate Districtdistrict court of appeal in the appellate district where the unit determination or unfair practice dispute occurred. The petition shall be filed within 30 days after issuance of the board’s final order, order denying reconsideration, or order joining in the request for judicial review, as applicable. Upon the filing of the petition, the court shall cause notice to be served upon the board and thereupon shall have jurisdiction of the proceeding. The board shall file in the court the record of the proceeding, certified by the board, within 10 days after the clerk’s notice unless the time is extended by the court for good cause shown. The court has jurisdiction to grant to the board any temporary relief or restraining order it deems just and proper and in like manner to make and enter a decree enforcing, modifying, or setting aside the order of the board. The findings of the board with respect to questions of fact, including ultimate facts, if supported by substantial evidence on the record considered as a whole, are conclusive. The provisions of Title 1 (commencing with Section 1067) of Part 3 of the Code of Civil Procedure relating to writs, except where specifically superseded herein, apply to proceedings pursuant to this section.
(ec) If the time to petition for extraordinary relief from a board decision has expired, the board may seek enforcement of any final decision or order in a district court of appeal or a superior court in the district where the unit determination or unfair practice case occurred. If, after a hearing, the court determines that the order was issued pursuant to procedures established by the board and that the person or entity refuses to comply with the order, the court shall enforce the order by writ of mandamus. The court shall not review the merits of the order.
3599.72.
(a) The Legislature employer shall grant exclusive recognition to employee organizations designated or selected pursuant to rules established by the board for employees of the Legislature or an appropriate unit thereof, subject to the right of an employee to self-represent.
(b) The board shall establish reasonable procedures for petitions and for holding elections and determining appropriate units pursuant to subdivision (a).
(c) The employer shall have the sole and exclusive authority to determine appropriate bargaining units. The board employer, as it determines appropriate bargaining units, shall not include employees of the Legislature in a bargaining unit that includes employees other than those of the Legislature employer. The board employer shall not include within a bargaining unit employees from both the Assembly and Senate. The board employer shall not separate employees into bargaining units solely based on political affiliation.
(d) The board shall establish procedures whereby recognition of employee organizations formally recognized as exclusive representatives pursuant to a vote of the employees may be revoked by a majority vote of the employees only after a period of not less than 12 months following the date of such recognition.
3599.73.
The Legislature employer shall adopt reasonable rules for all of the following:
(a) Registering employee organizations, as defined by subdivision (c) of Section 3599.52.
(b) Determining the status of organizations as employee organizations.
(c) Identifying the officers and representatives who officially represent employee organizations.
3599.74.
Notwithstanding any other law, if a decision by an administrative law judge regarding the recognition or certification of an employee organization is appealed, the decision is the final order of the board if the board does not issue a ruling that supersedes the decision on or before 180 days after the appeal is filed.
3599.75.
(a) In determining an appropriate unit, the board employer is governed by the criteria in subdivision (b). However, the board shall not direct an election in a unit unless one or more of the employee organizations involved in the proceeding seeks or agrees to an election in the unit.
(b) In determining an appropriate unit, the board employer shall take into consideration all of the following criteria:
(1) The internal and occupational community of interest among the employees, including, but not limited to, all of the following:
(A) The extent to which they perform functionally related services or work toward established common goals.
(B) The history of employee representation in state government and in similar employment.
(C) The extent to which the employees have common skills, working conditions, job duties, or similar educational or training requirements.
(2) The effect that the projected unit will have on the meet and confer relationships, emphasizing the availability and authority of the Legislature’s employer’s representatives to deal effectively with employee organizations representing the unit, and taking into account such factors as work location, the numerical size of the unit, the relationship of the unit to organizational patterns of the Legislature employer, and the effect on the existing classification structure or existing classification schematic of dividing a single class or single classification schematic among two or more units.
(3) The effect of the proposed unit on efficient operations of the Legislature employer and the compatibility of the unit with the responsibility of the Legislature employer and its employees to serve the public.
(4) The number of employees and classifications in a proposed unit and its effect on the operations of the Legislature employer, on the objectives of providing the employees the right to effective representation, and on the meet and confer relationship.
(5) The impact on the meet and confer relationship created by fragmentation of employees or any proliferation of units among the employees of the Legislature.
(c) Political affiliation shall not constitute a community of interest for purposes of determining an appropriate unit.
3599.76.
(a) (1) All initial meet and confer proposals of recognized employee organizations shall be presented to the Legislature employer at a public meeting, and those proposals thereafter are a public record.
(2) All initial meet and confer proposals or counterproposals of the Legislature employer shall be presented to the recognized employee organization at a public meeting, and those proposals or counterproposals thereafter are a public record.
(b) Except in cases of emergency as provided in subdivision (d), meeting and conferring shall not take place on any proposal subject to subdivision (a) until not less than seven consecutive days have elapsed to enable the public to become informed, and to publicly express itself regarding the proposals, as well as regarding other possible subjects of meeting and conferring, and thereafter, the Legislature employer shall, in an open meeting, hear public comment on all matters related to the meet and confer proposals.
(c) Forty-eight hours after any proposal that includes any substantive subject that has not first been presented in proposals for public reaction pursuant to this section is offered during any meeting and conferring session, the proposal and the position, if any, taken by the representatives of the Legislature employer are a public record.
(d) Subdivision (b) does not apply when the Legislature employer determines that, due to an act of God, natural disaster, or other emergency or calamity affecting the state, and that is beyond the control of the Legislature employer or recognized employee organization, it must meet and confer and take action upon a proposal immediately and without sufficient time for the public to become informed and to publicly express itself. In those cases, the results of the meeting and conferring shall be made public as soon as reasonably possible.
(e) This section does not affect the authority of each house of the Legislature and the committees thereof to hold closed meetings pursuant to paragraphs (3) and (4) of subdivision (c) of Section 7 of Article IV of the Constitution and Article 2.2 (commencing with Section 9027) of Chapter 1.5 of Part 1 of Division 2 of Title 2.
3599.77.
This chapter does not apply Section 923 of the Labor Code to employees of the Legislature.
3599.78.
This chapter does not modify or eliminate any existing wages, hours, or terms and conditions of employment for employees of the Legislature. All existing wages, hours, and terms and conditions of employment for employees of the Legislature shall remain in effect unless and until changed in accordance with the Legislature’s employer’s procedures or pursuant to a memorandum of understanding or agreement between the Legislature employer and a recognized employee organization.
3599.79.
If any provision of this chapter, or the application thereof to any person or circumstances, is held invalid, the invalidity shall not affect any other provision or application of this chapter that can be given effect without the invalid provision or application and, to this end, the provisions of this chapter are severable.
3599.80.
Expenses incurred by the Legislature employer in relation to a properly ratified memorandum of understanding pursuant to this chapter are subject to Section 7.5 of Article IV of the California Constitution.
3599.81.
(a) Employees shall not have the right to strike during times when the Legislature is in session, or to recognize a picket line of an employee organization while in the course of the performance of their official duties.
(b) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), an essential employee shall not have the right to strike at any time. For purposes of this subdivision, “essential employee” means an employee whose duties are essential to maintaining public health or safety, including an employee whose absence would impair the ability of the employer to meet its constitutional obligations. The employer shall have the sole and exclusive authority to determine who is an essential employee.
3599.82.
Notwithstanding any other law, the expression of any views, arguments, or opinions, or the dissemination thereof in any form, by a Member of the employer, an employee, or excluded employee or position, related to this chapter or to matters within the scope of representation, shall not constitute, or be evidence of, an unfair labor practice, unless the employer authorized the individual to express that view, argument, or opinion on behalf of, or authorized the individual to represent, the employer as an employer.
3599.83.
Notwithstanding Article 3.5 (commencing with Section 9070) of Chapter 1.5 of Part 1 of Division 2 of Title 2 or any other law, the employer is not required to disclose legislative records related to activities governed by this chapter, that reveal the employer’s deliberative processes, impressions, evaluations, opinions, recommendations, meeting minutes, research, work product, theories, or strategy, or that provide instruction, advice, or training to employees who do not have full collective bargaining and representation rights under this chapter.
3599.81 3599.84.
This chapter shall become operative on July 1, 2026.
SEC. 2.
No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution.
This Senate Judiciary Committee analysis was updated to correct an error regarding Oregon legislative employee strike law that was included in the previously released analysis. The correction is reflected in Comment 3. ↑
The NLRA excludes public sector employees, so there is no federal collective bargaining mandate (29 U.S.C. §§ 151 et seq.), but state laws authorized executive branch and Judicial Council employees to form collective bargaining units (Gov. Code, §§ 3512 et seq., 3524.50 et seq.). ↑
H. Res. 5, 118th Cong., 1st Sess. (2023). ↑
SCA 7 (Umberg, 2023). ↑
See, e.g., NLRB v. Hendricks County Rural Elec. Membership Corp. (1981) 454 U.S. 170, 177 (upholding NLRB’s longstanding exclusion of confidential employees from the definition of “employee” under the NLRA). ↑
Cal. Const., art. III, § 3. ↑
Butts v. State of California (1992) 4 Cal.4th 668, 700, fn. 4. ↑
The potential for judicial review also distinguishes this bill from the statutes authorizing unions for employees of the judicial branch; there, the fact that a dispute might ultimately end up in the courts serves to return the labor dispute to the body having the dispute, not shunt it over to yet another branch. ↑
County Sanitation Dist. No. 2. V. Los Angeles County Employees Assn. (1985) 38 Cal.3d 564, 585. ↑
City of San Jose v. Operating Engineers Local Union No. 3 (2010) 49 Cal.4th 597, 605. ↑
Lab. Code, § 1962. ↑
E.g., Cal. Const., art. IV, §§ 10, 12. ↑
In Oregon, the following public employees are prohibited from striking or recognizing a picket line of a labor organization while in the performance of official duties: assistant attorneys general; deputy district attorneys; emergency communications workers; employees of the Oregon Youth Authority who have custody, control or supervision of adjudicated youths; firefighters; guards at a correctional institution or mental hospital; parole and probation officers who supervise adult offenders; police offers; and any employees of a mass transit districts, transportation districts or municipal bus systems. (ORS 243.736 & ORS 243.738.) ↑
See Senate Committee on Labor, Public Employment and Retirement Committee analysis for AB 1 (McKinnor), hearing date June 28, 2023. ↑
SENATE COMMITTEE ON LABOR, PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT AND RETIREMENT
Senator Dave Cortese, Chair
2023 - 2024 Regular
Bill No: AB 1 Hearing Date: June 28, 2023
Author: | McKinnor | ||
Version: | May 18, 2023 | ||
Urgency: | No | Fiscal: | Yes |
Consultant: | Glenn Miles | ||
SUBJECT: Collective bargaining: Legislature
KEY ISSUE
Should the Legislature provide collective bargaining rights to Legislative employees, as specified, by establishing the Legislature Employer-Employee Relations Act (LEERA)?
ANALYSIS
Existing law:
- Governs collective bargaining in the private sector under the federal National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) but leaves to the states the regulation of collective bargaining in their respective public sectors. While the NLRA and the decisions of its National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) often provide persuasive precedent in interpreting state collective bargaining law, public employees generally have no collective bargaining rights absent specific statutory authority establishing those rights (29 United State Code § 151 et seq.).
- Provides several statutory frameworks under California law to provide public employees collective bargaining rights, govern public employer-employee relations, and limit labor strife and economic disruption in the public sector through 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. These include the Dills Act, which provides collective bargaining for state employees of the executive branch and establishes a process for determining wages, hours, and terms and conditions of employment for represented employees. The Act excludes managers and confidential employees from bargaining rights. (Government Code § 3512 et seq.)
- Requires the Governor and the recognized state employee organizations to meet and confer in good faith regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment and, if they reach an agreement, to jointly prepare a written memorandum of understanding (MOU), which the Governor shall present, when appropriate, to the Legislature for determination. (GC § 3517 et seq.)
- Establishes a civil service that includes every officer and employee of the State except as otherwise provided in the Constitution and requires that the State make permanent appointment and promotion in the civil service under a general system based on merit ascertained by competitive examination. (Cal. Const., art. VII, § 1.)
- Defines the powers of state government as legislative, executive, and judicial and prohibits persons charged with the exercise of one power from exercising either of the others except as permitted by the Constitution. (Cal. Const., art. III, § 3.)
- Establishes the California Legislature which consists of the Senate and Assembly and in which the people, through the state constitution, have vested the state’s legislative power. (Cal. Const., art. IV, § 1.)
- Exempts officers and employees appointed or employed by the Legislature, either house, or legislative committees from the state civil service. (Cal. Const., art. VII, § 4, subd. (a))
- Limits for the Legislature, state-financed incumbent staff and support services, among other things, in order to counter the unfair incumbent advantages that discourage qualified candidates from seeking public office and create a class of career politicians, instead of the citizen representatives envisioned by the Founding Fathers. (Cal. Const., art. IV, § 1.5.)
- Prohibits the total aggregate expenditures of the Legislature for the compensation of members and employees of, and the operating expenses and equipment for, the Legislature from exceeding an amount equal in 1991 to $950,000 per member for that fiscal year or 80 percent of the amount of money expended for those purposes in the preceding fiscal year and for each fiscal year thereafter, an amount equal to that expended for those purposes in the preceding fiscal year, adjusted and compounded by an amount equal to the percentage increase in the appropriations limit for the State established pursuant to Article XIII B of the Constitution. (Cal. Const., art. IV, § 7.5.)
- Establishes the Judicial Council Employer-Employee Relations Act (JCEERA), which provides collective bargaining rights to Judicial Council employees, as specified. (GC § 3524.50 et seq.)
- Requires the Administrative Director of the Courts, or his or her designated representatives, acting with the authorization of the Chairperson of the Judicial Council, to meet and confer in good faith regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment with representatives of recognized employee organizations, and to consider fully such presentations as are made by the employee organization on behalf of its members prior to arriving at a determination of policy or course of action. (GC § 3524.63 et seq.)
- Requires the Administrative Director of the Courts and the recognized employee organization, if they reach an agreement, to jointly prepare a written memorandum of the agreement, which the Administrative Director of the Courts shall present, when appropriate, to the Legislature for appropriation of funding and amendment of any related statutes. (GC § 3524.63 et seq.)
- Establishes the Public Employee Relations Board (PERB), a quasi-judicial administrative agency, to administer the collective bargaining statutes covering public employees including school, college, state, local agency, and trial court employees. PERB consists of five members appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Senate. Existing law tasks PERB with administering several public employee labor relations statutes that provide collective bargaining to California public employees, including the Dills Act and JCEERA, and adjudicating unfair labor practice claims under the respective acts. (GC § 3541 et seq.)
This bill:
I. Legislature Employer-Employee Relations - Purpose (3599.50-3599.51)
- Establishes the Legislature Employer-Employee Relations Act (LEERA) for the following purposes:
- Promoting full communication between the Legislature and its employees by providing a reasonable method of resolving disputes regarding wages, hour, and other terms and conditions of employment between the Legislature and public employee organizations;
- Promoting the improvement of personnel management and employer-employee relations within the Legislature by providing a uniform basis for recognizing the right of employees of the Legislature to join organizations of their own choosing and be represented by those organizations in their employment relations with the Legislature; and
- Fostering peaceful employer-employee relations, to allow employees of the Legislature to select one employee organization as the exclusive representative of the employees in an appropriate unit and to permit the exclusive representative to receive financial support from those employees who receive the benefits of this representation. (3399.50)
II. Definition of Certain Terms (3599.52)
- Defines certain terms as follows:
- “Board” means the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB). The bill also applies PERB’s existing statutory powers and duties, as appropriate, to LEERA.
- “Employee of the Legislature” or “employee” means any employee of either house of the Legislature, except all of the following:
- Members of the Legislature.
- Appointed officers of the Legislature, such as the Secretary of the Senate and the Chief Clerk of the Assembly.
- Department or office leaders, such as chiefs-of-staff, staff directors, and chief consultants. “Department or office leader” means any supervisory employee having authority, in the interest of the employer, to hire, transfer, suspend, lay off, recall, promote, discharge, assign, reward, or discipline other employees, or responsibility to direct them, or effectively to recommend this action, if, in connection with the foregoing, the exercise of any authority is not of a merely routine or clerical nature, but requires the use of independent judgment.
- Confidential employees. “Confidential employee” means any employee who is required to develop or present management positions with respect to employer-employee relations or whose duties normally require access to confidential information contributing significantly to the development of management positions.
- “Employee organization” means any organization that includes employees of the Legislature and that has as one of its primary purposes representing these employees in their relations with the Legislature.
- “Legislature” means the Assembly Committee on Rules or the Senate Committee on Rules. For the purposes of bargaining or meeting and conferring in good faith, “Legislature” means the Assembly Committee on Rules or the Senate Committee on Rules, or their designated representatives, acting with the authorization of their respective houses.
- “Maintenance of membership” means that all employees who voluntarily are, or who voluntarily become, members of a recognized employee organization shall remain members of that employee organization in good standing for a period as agreed to by the parties pursuant to a memorandum of understanding, commencing with the effective date of the memorandum of understanding. A maintenance of membership provision does not apply to any employee who within 30 days prior to the expiration of the memorandum of understanding withdraws from the employee organization by sending a signed withdrawal letter to the employee organization and a copy to the Controller’s office.
- “Mediation” means effort by an impartial third party to assist in reconciling a dispute regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment between representatives of the Legislature and the recognized employee organization or recognized employee organizations through interpretation, suggestion, and advice.
- “Recognized employee organization” means an employee organization that has been recognized by the Legislature as the exclusive representative of the employees in an appropriate unit.
III. PERB Authority to Administer LEERA (3599.54 and 3599.55)
- Provides that any person who willfully resists, prevents, impedes or interferes with any member of PERB, or any of its agents, in the performance of duties pursuant to LEERA, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be sentenced to pay a fine of not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000).
- Provides PERB with exclusive jurisdiction over the initial determination as to whether the charges of unfair practices are justified, and, if so, what remedy is necessary to effectuate the purposes of LEERA but prohibits PERB from awarding strike-preparation expenses as damages or damages for costs, expenses, or revenue losses incurred during, or as a consequence of, an unlawful strike.
- Authorizes PERB to establish procedures for investigating, hearing, and deciding LEERA cases and requires the procedures to include all of the following:
- Any employee, employee organization, or employer shall have the right to file an unfair practice charge (ULP) , except that PERB shall not do either of the following:
- Issue a complaint in respect of any charge based upon an alleged unfair practice occurring more than six months prior to the filing of the charge.
- Issue a complaint against conduct also prohibited by the provisions of the agreement between the parties until the grievance machinery of the agreement, if it exists and covers the matter at issue, has been exhausted either by settlement or by binding arbitration. However, when the charging party demonstrates that resort to contract grievance procedure would be futile, exhaustion shall not be necessary. PERB shall have discretionary jurisdiction to review a settlement or arbitration award reached pursuant to the grievance machinery solely to determine whether it is repugnant to LEERA’s purpose. If PERB finds that the settlement or arbitration award is repugnant to LEERA’s purpose, it shall issue a complaint on the basis of a timely filed charge, and hear and decide the case on the merits; otherwise, it shall dismiss the charge. PERB shall consider, in determining whether the charge was timely filed, the six-month limitation set forth in this subdivision to have been tolled during the time it took the charging party to exhaust the grievance machinery.
- Any employee, employee organization, or employer shall have the right to file an unfair practice charge (ULP) , except that PERB shall not do either of the following:
- Prohibits PERB from enforcing agreements between the parties or issuing a complaint on any charge based on an alleged violation of an agreement that would not also constitute an unfair practice under LEERA.
- Allows PERB to issue a decision and order directing an offending party to cease and desist from the unfair practice and to take such affirmative action, including, but not limited to, the reinstatement of employees with or without back pay, as will effectuate LEERA’s policies.
IV. Employees’ Right to Collectively Organize / Employee Organizations (3599.56)
- Grants employees of the Legislature the right to form, join, and participate in the activities of employee organizations of their own choosing for the purpose of representation on all matters of employer-employee relations.
- Grants employees of the Legislature the right to refuse to join or participate in the activities of employee organizations.
- Provides that nothing shall preclude the parties from agreeing to a maintenance of membership provision pursuant to a memorandum of understanding.
- Specifies that in any event employees of the Legislature shall have the right to represent themselves individually in their employment relations with the Legislature.
V. Recognized Employee Organization Exclusive Representation (3599.57)
- Provides that employee organizations shall have the right to represent their members in their employment relations with the Legislature until an employee organization is recognized as the exclusive representative of an appropriate unit.
- Requires that once an employee organization is recognized as the exclusive representative of an appropriate unit, the recognized employee organization is the only organization that may represent that unit in employment relations with the Legislature.
- Authorizes employee organizations to establish reasonable restrictions regarding who may join and to make reasonable provisions for the dismissal of individuals from membership.
- Clarifies that this provision does not prohibit any employee from appearing on the employee’s own behalf in the employee’s employment relations with the Legislature.
VI. Employee Organization Dues, Maintenance of Membership, and Employer Requirements to Provide Corresponding Employment Data (3599.58 and 3599.59)
- Provides that all employee organizations have the right to have membership dues, initiation fees, membership benefit programs, and general assessments deducted, as specified, until an employee organization is recognized as the exclusive representative for employees in an appropriate unit, and then any deductions as to any employee in the negotiating unit shall not be permissible except to the exclusive representative.
- Authorizes an employee organization recognized as the exclusive representative of an appropriate unit to enter into an agreement with the Legislature providing for organizational security in the form of a maintenance of membership deduction.
- Requires the Legislature to furnish the recognized employee organization with sufficient employment data to allow the organization to calculate membership fees and to deduct the amount specified by the recognized employee organization from the salary or wages of every employee for the membership fee.
- Requires the fees to be remitted monthly to the recognized employee organization along with an adequate itemized record of the deductions, including, if required by the recognized employee organization, machine-readable data.
VII. Scope of Representation (3599.60 and 3599.61)
- Limits the scope of representation to wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment, except, however, that the scope of representation does not include consideration of the merits, necessity, or organization of any service or activity provided by law.
- Requires the employer to give reasonable written notice to each recognized employee organization affected by any law, rule, or resolution directly relating to matters within the scope of representation proposed to be adopted by the Legislature, and to give such recognized employee organizations the opportunity to meet and confer with the Legislature except in cases of emergency.
- Requires the Legislature to provide notice and opportunity to meet and confer in good faith at the earliest practical time following the adoption of the law, rule, or resolution in cases of emergency when the Legislature determines that a law, rule, or resolution must be adopted immediately without prior notice or meeting with a recognized employee organization.
VIII. Requirements to Meet and Confer, Disclosure of Non-confidential Information, Definition of Confidential Information (3599.62)
- Requires the Legislature to meet and confer in good faith regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment with representatives of recognized employee organizations, and to consider fully such presentations as are made by the employee organization on behalf of its members prior to arriving at a determination of policy or course of action.
- Defines the term “meet and confer in good faith” to mean that the Legislature and representatives of recognized employee organizations have the mutual obligation to personally meet and confer promptly upon request by either party and continue to meet and confer for a reasonable period of time in order to exchange freely information, opinions, and proposals, and to endeavor to reach agreement on matters within the scope of representation prior to the adoption by the state of its final budget for the ensuing year.
- Clarifies that the process should include adequate time for the resolution of impasses.
- Requires the Legislature to freely provide to representatives of recognized employee organizations nonconfidential information that is necessary and relevant to their scope of representation.
- Provides, however, that LEERA does not require the Legislature to provide confidential information to representatives of recognized employee organizations.
- Defines “confidential information” to mean any information contained in records that are exempt from public disclosure under federal or state law.
- Clarifies that “confidential information” does not include the name, job title, office, workplace location, work telephone number and email address, and home or personal telephone number and email address, if on file with the Legislature, for employees in the bargaining unit of the recognized employee organization.
IX. Preparation of MOUs and Presentation to the Legislature for Appropriation / Side Letters / Reopening Bargaining (3599.63, 3599.64, 3599.65)
- Requires the parties, if an agreement is reached between the Legislature and the recognized employee organization, to jointly prepare a written memorandum of understanding (MOU) reflecting the terms of the agreement, which shall be presented, when appropriate, to the Legislature for adoption as a resolution.
- Requires the parties to expressly identify a side letter, appendix, or other addendum to a properly ratified MOU if that side letter, appendix, or other addendum is to be incorporated in a subsequent MOU submitted to the Legislature for adoption as a resolution.
- Authorizes either party to reopen negotiations on all or part of the MOU if the Legislature does not fully fund any of the MOU’s provisions that require the expenditure of funds.
- Does not preclude the parties from agreeing to and effecting those provisions of the MOU that do not require legislative action for passage of a statute.
X. Continued Effect of Expired MOU / Impasse / LBFO (3599.66)
- Requires the parties to the agreement to continue to give effect to the provisions of the expired MOU, including provisions that supersede existing law, arbitration provisions, no-strike provisions, and agreements regarding matters covered in the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. Sec. 201 et seq.) if an MOU has expired, and the Legislature and the recognized employee organization have not agreed to a new MOU and have not reached an impasse in negotiations, as specified.
- Authorizes the Legislature to implement any or all of its last, best, and final offer (LBFO) through adoption of a resolution if the Legislature and the recognized employee organization reach an impasse in negotiations for a new MOU.
- Clarifies that implementation of the LBFO does not relieve the parties of the obligation to bargain in good faith and reach an agreement on an MOU if circumstances change, and does not result in a waiver of rights that the recognized employee organization has under LEERA.
XI. Mediation and Time off for Employee Representatives (3599.67, 3599.68)
- Authorizes the Legislature and the recognized employee organization, if after a reasonable period of time in which they fail to reach agreement, to agree upon the appointment of a mediator mutually agreeable to the parties, or either party may request PERB to appoint a mediator.
- Provides that when both parties mutually agree upon a mediator, costs of mediation shall be divided one-half to the Legislature and one-half to the recognized employee organization but that if PERB appoints the mediator, PERB shall pay the costs of mediation.
- Requires the Legislature to grant a reasonable number of recognized employee organizations’ employee representatives reasonable time off without loss of compensation or other benefits when formally meeting and conferring with the Legislature on matters within the scope of representation. This section applies only to employees, as defined by Section 3599.52, and only for periods when an MOU is not in effect.
XII. Unlawful Acts – the Legislature (3599.69)
- Defines the following acts as unlawful and prohibits the Legislature from doing any of the following:
- Impose or threaten to impose reprisals on employees, to discriminate or threaten to discriminate against employees, or otherwise to interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees because of their exercise of rights guaranteed by LEERA. For purposes of this subdivision, “employee” includes an applicant for employment or reemployment.
- Deny to employee organizations rights guaranteed to them by LEERA.
- Refuse or fail to meet and confer in good faith with a recognized employee organization.
- Dominate or interfere with the formation or administration of any employee organization, or contribute financial or other support to it, or in any way encourage employees to join any organization in preference to another.
- Refuse to participate in good faith in the mediation procedure set forth in Section 3599.67.
XIII. Unlawful Acts - Employee Organization (3599.70)
- Defines the following acts as unlawful and prohibits an employee organization from doing any of the following:
- Cause or attempt to cause the Legislature to violate Section 3599.69.
- Impose or threaten to impose reprisals on employees, to discriminate or threaten to discriminate against employees, or otherwise to interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees because of their exercise of rights guaranteed by this chapter.
- Refuse or fail to meet and confer in good faith with the Legislature in relation to the employees for whom it is the recognized employee organization.
- Refuse to participate in good faith in the mediation procedure set forth in Section 3599.67.
XIV. Limitation on Judicial Review of Bargaining Unit Determination (3599.71 (a))
- Limits judicial review of a unit determination only to either of the following circumstances:
- When PERB, in response to a petition from the Legislature or an employee organization, agrees that the case is one of special importance and joins in the request for the review.
- When a party raises the issue as a defense to an unfair practice complaint. A reviewing court shall not stay a PERB order directing an election pending judicial review.
XV. Writ of Extraordinary Relief / Court Enforcement by Writ of Mandamus (3599.71 (b) - (e))
- Permits a party to the case to petition for a writ of extraordinary relief from the unit determination decision or order upon receipt of a PERB order joining in the request for judicial review.
- Authorizes any charging party, respondent, or intervenor aggrieved by a PERB final decision or order in an unfair practice case to petition for a writ of extraordinary relief from such decision or order, except a PERB decision not to issue a complaint in such a case.
- Requires the charging party to file the petition in the district court of appeal in the appellate district where the unit determination or unfair practice dispute occurred within 30 days after issuance of PERB’s final order, order denying reconsideration, or order joining in the request for judicial review, as applicable.
- Requires the court to cause the petitioning party to serve notice upon PERB upon the filing of the petition and thereupon provides the court with jurisdiction of the proceeding.
- Requires PERB to file in the court the record of the proceeding, certified by PERB, within 10 days after the clerk’s notice unless the court extends time for good cause shown.
- Gives the court jurisdiction to grant PERB any temporary relief or restraining order the court deems just and proper and in like manner to make and enter a decree enforcing, modifying, or setting aside PERB’s order.
- Deems PERB’s findings conclusive with respect to questions of fact, including ultimate facts, if supported by substantial evidence on the record considered as a whole.
- Provides that the provisions of Title 1 (commencing with Section 1067) of Part 3 of the Code of Civil Procedure relating to writs shall, except where specifically superseded herein, apply to these proceedings.
- Authorizes PERB to seek enforcement of any final decision or order in a district court of appeal or a superior court in the district where the unit determination or unfair practice case occurred if the time to petition for extraordinary relief from the PERB decision has expired.
- Requires the court to enforce the PERB order by writ of mandamus if, after hearing, the court determines that the order was issued pursuant to procedures established by PERB and that the person or entity refuses to comply with the order. The court shall not review the merits of the order.
XVI. PERB Rules for Determining the Legislature’s Exclusive Recognition of Employee Organizations and Bargaining Units (3599.72)
- Requires the Legislature to grant exclusive recognition to employee organizations designated or selected pursuant to PERB established rules for employees of the Legislature or an appropriate unit thereof, subject to the right of an employee to self-represent. Requires PERB to establish reasonable procedures for petitions and for holding elections and determining appropriate units, as specified.
- Prohibits PERB, as it determines appropriate bargaining units, from the following:
- Including employees of the Legislature in a bargaining unit that includes employees other than those of the Legislature;
- Including within a bargaining unit employees from both the Assembly and Senate;
- Separating employees into bargaining units solely based on political affiliation.
- Requires PERB to establish procedures whereby a majority vote of the employees may revoke recognition of employee organizations formally recognized as exclusive representatives pursuant to a vote of the employees only after a period of not less than 12 months following the date of such recognition.
XVII. Legislature’s Adoption of Rules for Employee Organization Recognition (3599.73)
- Requires the Legislature to adopt reasonable rules and regulations for all of the following:
- Registering employee organizations, as specified.
- Determining the status of organizations as employee organizations.
- Identifying the officers and representatives who officially represent employee organizations.
XVIII. Exhaustion of Administrative Remedies after 180 Days (3599.74)
- Provides that an administrative law judge’s decision regarding the recognition or certification of an employee organization becomes PERB’s final order if a party appeals the decision and if PERB does not issue a ruling that supersedes the decision on or before 180 days after the party filed the appeal.
XIX. Criteria Governing PERB’s Determination of Appropriate Bargaining Units (3599.75)
- Requires PERB to be governed by the following criteria in determining an appropriate bargaining unit, except that PERB shall not direct an election in a unit unless one or more of the employee organizations involved in the proceeding is seeking or agrees to an election in such a unit:
- The internal and occupational community of interest among the employees, including, but not limited to, all of the following:
- The extent to which they perform functionally related services or work toward established common goals.
- The history of employee representation in state government and in similar employment.
- The extent to which the employees have common skills, working conditions, job duties, or similar educational or training requirements.
- The effect that the projected unit will have on the meet and confer relationships, emphasizing the availability and authority of employer representatives to deal effectively with employee organizations representing the unit, and taking into account such factors as work location, the numerical size of the unit, the relationship of the unit to organizational patterns of the Legislature, and the effect on the existing classification structure or existing classification schematic of dividing a single class or single classification schematic among two or more units.
- The effect of the proposed unit on efficient operations of the Legislature and the compatibility of the unit with the responsibility of Legislature and its employees to serve the public.
- The number of employees and classifications in a proposed unit and its effect on the operations of the Legislature, on the objectives of providing the employees the right to effective representation, and on the meet and confer relationship.
- The impact on the meet and confer relationship created by fragmentation of employees or any proliferation of units among the employees of the Legislature.
- The internal and occupational community of interest among the employees, including, but not limited to, all of the following:
- Prohibits political affiliation from constituting a community of interest for purposes of determining an appropriate unit.
XX. Public Meeting - Public Record Requirement for Meet and Confer (3599.76)
- Requires the exclusive employee representative to present all of its initial meet and confer proposals to the Legislature at a public meeting, and thereafter, make those proposals a public record.
- Requires the Legislature to present all of its initial meet and confer proposals or counterproposals to the recognized employee organization at a public meeting, and thereafter, make those proposals or counterproposals a public record.
- Prohibits, except in cases of emergency, any meeting and conferring to take place on any proposal until not less than seven consecutive days have elapsed to enable the public to become informed, and to publicly express itself regarding the proposals, as well as regarding other possible subjects of meeting and conferring, and thereafter, requires the Legislature, in an open meeting, to hear public comment on all matters related to the meet and confer proposals.
- Requires any proposal the parties offered during any meeting and conferring session that includes any substantive subject that the Legislature has not first presented as a proposal for public reaction, and the position if any, taken by the Legislature’s representatives on the proposal, to be a public record within forty-eight hours.
- Provides that the requirement to wait seven days after publicly presenting a proposal before meeting and conferring does not apply when the Legislature determines that, due to an act of God, natural disaster, or other emergency or calamity affecting the state, and that is beyond the control of the Legislature or recognized employee organization, the parties must meet and confer and take action upon a proposal immediately and without sufficient time for the public to become informed and to publicly express itself. In those cases, the Legislature shall make the results of the meeting and conferring public as soon as reasonably possible.
XXI. No Application of Labor Code Section 923 (3599.77)
- Provides that LEERA does not apply Section 923 of the Labor Code to employees of the Legislature. That section provides that it is necessary that the individual workman have full freedom of association, self-organization, and designation of representatives of his own choosing, to negotiate the terms and conditions of his employment, and that he shall be free from the interference, restraint, or coercion of employers of labor, or their agents, in the designation of such representatives or in self-organization or in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection.
XXII. No Immediate Change to Wages, Hours, or Terms and Conditions of Employment (3599.78)
- Provides that nothing in LEERA modifies or eliminates any wages, hours, or terms and conditions of employment for employees of the Legislature. All existing wages, hours, and terms and conditions of employment for employees of the Legislature remain in effect unless and until changed in accordance with the Legislature’s procedures or pursuant to a MOU between the Legislature and a recognized employee organization.
XXIII. Severability Clause (3599.79)
- Provides that if any provision of LEERA, or the application thereof to any person or circumstances, is held invalid, the invalidity shall not affect any other provision or application of LEERA that can be given effect without the invalid provision or application and, to this end, LEERA’s provisions are severable.
XXIV. Application of Proposition 140 (3599.80)
- Subjects expenses incurred by the Legislature in relation to a properly ratified MOU pursuant to LEERA to Section 7.5 of Article IV of the California Constitution, which limits funding to the Legislature, as specified.
XXV. Effective Date of AB 1 (3599.81)
- Provides that LEERA shall become operative on July 1, 2024.
XXVI. No Reimbursable Local Mandate (SEC. 2)
- Provides that no reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution.
COMMENTS
1. Need for this bill?
According to the author,
“The legislature itself remains the only branch of state government that does not allow their employees to have the choice to unionize. Legislative staff serve as at-will employees that are exempt from state civil service laws and denied the right to collectively bargain for wages, benefits and working conditions. This has led to generations of legislative employees being subject to low and inequitable pay and subject to hostile work environments with no recourse other than being forced to seek employment outside of the legislature. This bill will solve this issue by allowing legislative staff the choice to organize and seek representation.”
2. Background
This bill comes to the committee in essentially the same form that last session’s AB 1557 (Stone, 2021) passed the Senate floor. The issues identified in that bill’s Senate Floor Analysis in particular and the bill’s committee analysis in general, both incorporated herein by reference, still apply although the proponents addressed several issues raised in the latter.
Also still highly relevant are the aspirations of many, both within and outside the Legislature, who seek to give legislative employees what nearly all other public employees and most private sector employees already have, a right to choose representation by a union to bargain collectively with their employer and to improve the conditions under which they labor for the people of this state.
The fundamental roadblock for many lies in addressing several constitutional and practical issues that this bill presents. Whatever others may say about all employers’ reluctance or outright hostility to employee organizing or how self-important it may sound, the Legislature is a beast of a different nature. The Legislature does not produce widgets nor seek profit for profit’s sake. Nor is it a minor actor in the regulatory affairs of our residents. It is the constitutional embodiment of how we, as a people, agree to govern ourselves and to regulate the process that permits the evolution of our laws so they may adapt to our own changing nature while holding fast to fundamental precepts that history shows is the only assurance of democratic government that also protects minority rights. When we lose sight of those principles, other co-equal and co-extensive branches of the government must, by their constitutional duty, act. If not, we may find our fate determined under the mutual obligations of our federalist system.
Because we wish to be no part of a false promise to our colleagues that the bill’s passage will guarantee the rights they seek, we once again put forth concerns that certain aspects of the bill’s current provisions make it vulnerable and constitutionally suspect, administratively challenging, and pragmatically unimplementable. The prime concern remains the resolution of addressing the constitutional separation of powers issues with the proponents’ desired objective of utilizing PERB as expert administrator and adjudicator of the bill’s provisions. The committee presents the amendments below with the objective of bridging, however imperfectly, the gaps between the impossible, the feasible, and the attainable.
3. Recommended Amendments
- To Ensure Noninterference with the Legislature’s Core Functions
- Adjustments to the Balance Between PERB’s Role and the Legislature’s Role
Prior analyses both of this bill and of its predecessors have detailed the problematic aspect of PERB administering and adjudicating LEERA. The essential issue remains a question of constitutional separation of powers. This committee recommended in past versions potential solutions including establishing a Legislative Employee Relations Board, an appeal process from PERB to the Legislature or its representatives, or binding arbitration. All seem to find little support, being either disfavored by proponents or other parties or seen as unnecessarily repetitive of PERB’s expertise. Nevertheless, application of PERB’s full powers to the Legislature pose a direct challenge to the Legislature’s core functions by interfering with the Legislature’s ability to organize as it deems necessary to complete its constitutionally mandated mission.
In order to avoid a constitutional conflict, we recommend that the author take amendments that do the following:
- Specify that PERB shall not intrude on the Legislature’s core function of efficient and effective lawmaking.
- Clarify that each house’s Rules Committee (“the employer”) shall have the sole and exclusive authority to determine and designate excluded positions.
- Grant to the respective Rules Committees the sole and exclusive authority to determine bargaining units pursuant to LEERA or pursuant to reasonable rules adopted by the respective houses to implement LEERA. However, the amendment should also provide that such determinations are appealable to PERB.
- Expressly authorize the employer to reject or decline to implement a PERB decision or remedy that the employer determines in good faith intrudes on the Legislature’s core function.
- Exclude from LEERA’s scope of representation the following subjects:
- The qualifications and elections of Members of the Legislature, or the terms of their holding office.
- The ability of the Legislature or each house to choose its officers, adopt rules for its proceedings, select committees, or otherwise exercise the legislative power of this state.
- The determination of legislative calendars, schedules, deadlines, and operating hours.
- Ethics and conflict of interest rules.
- Legislative facilities’ design, construction, and location.
- Expressly acknowledge the Legislature’s continued right to meet in closed session for specified matters as determined in the constitution.
- Seasonal Limitations on the Right to Strike
The Legislature is constitutionally obligated to address the peoples’ concerns, deliberate thereon, and act to address them in a well-defined, if little understood process. As enunciated in past analyses of this proposal, the right to strike – universally understood to be employees’ most powerful tool in negotiating with intransigent employers - can hinder if not completely shut down this core function. Some might reflexively retort that is exactly the point. However, courts are unlikely to treat a strike in the public sector the same way as in the private, particularly one involving the Legislature, due to the responsibility of public employers to provide services to ensure the public welfare. To the extent that current case law, intending to support public sector collective bargaining, still requires a case-by-case analysis whether a strike imperils public welfare, one should expect a more careful examination from courts when a strike might impede the Legislature’s core functions.
- To preemptively defend LEERA from such scrutiny and potential frustration, the author ought to amend the bill to provide that strikes shall be prohibited during the period beginning with the bill introduction deadline to the last day for each house to pass bills, inclusive. Such an amendment would allow the Legislature to fulfill its core function of revising and passing laws and still permit employees to strike when the Legislature is present and during other periods still filled with substantial administrative, executive, constituent, and research work where employees may apply appropriate pressure in pursuit of their legitimate objectives.
- For similar reasons the committee recommends prohibiting essential employees, defined as those necessary to maintain public health and safety, from striking at any time to ensure the Legislature can continue its core functions without interruption.
- Also, to ensure the effective operation of the Legislature, the bill should grant each house sole and exclusive authority to determine respectively who is an essential employee.
- To Exempt Certain Speech and Deliberations from Unfair Labor Practice Claims
It is common in other public sector statutory schemes to protect employees’ rights to be free of interference from their employer whose speech or communication on matters related to collective bargaining may unlawfully influence employees’ exclusive decision whether to unionize. In contrast, the constitution designs the Legislature to be a deliberative body. Members and staff as well as witnesses and constituents may provide choice words for and opinions on a number of topics, including collective bargaining.
- The bill should be amended to specifically exempt speech, opinions, arguments, etc. by members, employees, and other persons from ULP claims unless the employer has specifically authorized the person to speak for the employer on employer-employee relations matters pursuant to LEERA.
- To Clarify the Terms “employer”, “house”, and “Legislature” Pursuant to Each Term’s Respective Function
- The bill refers throughout its provisions to the Legislature, sometimes in its role as an employer to whom LEERA’s requirements to negotiate with its employees clearly and appropriately apply and in other instances to its role as lawmaker who has the power to make changes to existing law or introduce and pass new law so that the parties can implement the agreements they negotiate under LEERA. The latter bears directly on the Legislature’s core function and this bill’s provisions cannot command or restrain it without imperiling the legislation.
Additionally, the current bill uses the term “Legislature” at different times to refer to 1) each house’s Rules committee, 2) each house separately, or 3) both houses together. Although the proponents have made progress in delineating the institution’s dual nature as both employer and lawmaker and its bicameral nature of two discrete houses and one unified lawmaker, the author ought to amend the bill to better distinguish when the bill intends the respective Rules Committees to act as employer, when the respective houses must act, and when the bill seeks to task the Legislature in its function as lawmaker.
- The committee recommends that the bill use the term “employer” when referring to the former function and “Legislature” for the latter. More specifically, “employer” should refer to each house’s respective Rules Committee; “house” should refer to an action by the respective chamber through resolution, and “Legislature” should designate when both houses act together to make or amend law though statute or joint declarations through joint resolutions.
- Other Operational and Administrative Amendments
- Limitation on the Disclosure of Legislative Records
- To protect the Legislature’s deliberative process and the ability of members and staff to provide forthright assessments to develop the Legislature’s positions on matters regulated by LEERA, the committee recommends amendments that specifically exempt certain specified legislative records.
- Extension of the Bill’s Operative Date to July 1, 2026.
- The bill’s operative date should be extended to July 1, 2026, to allow for the preparation necessary to implement LEERA. However, it should be clear that extending the operative date does not mean that preparations cannot start until July 1, 2026. Rather, meeting and conferring between the employer and employees should begin prior to that time and with the assistance of PERB, as appropriate.
4. Proponent Arguments
According to the author,
“Our staff aren’t looking for special treatment. They are looking for the same dignity and respect afforded to all workers. It is hypocritical as legislators that we ask our employees to staff committees and write legislation that often expands collective bargaining rights for other workers in California, but we intentionally prohibit our own workers from that same right.”
According to the California Labor Federation and a coalition of multiple employee organizations,
“In any workplace, an imbalance of power leaves workers with little to no recourse to make their voice heard. In recent years, various events, including the #MeToo Movement and the COVID-19 pandemic, have shed a spotlight on legislative employees’ fear of retribution for voicing workplace concerns and their lack of tangible workplace protections in statute due to their at-will status. AB 1 will grant employees of the Legislature agency over the decision to form and join a union, without fear of retaliation, and have a collective voice over their working conditions and protections in the workplace.”
5. Opponent Arguments:
None received.
6. Dual Referral:
The Senate Rules Committee referred this bill to the Senate Labor, Public Employment and Retirement Committee and the Senate Judiciary Committee.
7. Prior Legislation:
AB 1577 (Stone, 2021) was substantively identical to this bill and would have provided collective bargaining rights to Legislative employees, as specified, by establishing the Legislature Employer-Employee Relations Act (LEERA). The bill died in the Assembly Public Employment and Retirement Committee on concurrence.
AB 314 (Gonzalez, 2021) was substantively similar to this bill. The Assembly held AB 314 at the Desk.
AB 969 (Gonzalez, 2019) was substantively similar to this bill. The Assembly Public and Retirement Committee held AB 969 in committee.
AB 2048 (Gonzalez, 2018) was substantially similar to this bill except that it included specific provisions related to fair share fees (i.e., fees non-union members would have to pay for the benefits that they received resulting from the union’s bargaining efforts). U.S. Supreme Court case law has since prohibited mandatory fair share fees. The Assembly Public and Retirement Committee held AB 969 in committee.
AB 83 (Santiago, 2017), Chapter 835, Statutes of 2017, established the Judicial Council Employer-Employee Relations Act, which provides collective bargaining rights to specified Judicial branch employees.
AB 874 (Santiago, 2016), would have applied the Ralph C. Dills Act (Dills Act) to certain specified employees of the Judicial Council, thereby providing collective bargaining rights to these employees. The Governor vetoed the bill.
AB 2350 (Floyd, 2000) would have included nonsupervisory Legislative employees within the definition of "state employees" in the Ralph C. Dills Act, which authorizes collective bargaining for state employees. The bill died in the Assembly Public Employees, Retirement and Social Security Committee.
SUPPORT
California Labor Federation (Sponsor)
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
California Alliance for Retired Americans
California Association of Psychiatric Technicians
California Conference Board of The Amalgamated Transit Union
California Conference of Machinists
California Faculty Association
California Federation of Teachers
California IATSE Council
California Low-income Consumer Coalition
California Nurses Association
California Professional Firefighters
California School Employees Association
California State Council of Laborers
California State Legislative Board of SMART-TD
California Teachers Association
California Teamsters Public Affairs Council
City of Pinole
Ella Baker Center for Human Rights
Engineers & Scientists of California, Local 20, IFPTE
Faculty Association of California Community Colleges
Fund Her
Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of The San Francisco Bay Area
Los Angeles County Federation of Labor
Lyles, Wiesmann, Pizzotti & Associates
National Union of Healthcare Workers
Northern California District Council of The International Longshore and Warehouse Union
Professional and Technical Engineers, IFPTE Local 21
Service Employees International Union, California State Council
Service Employees International Union, Local 1000
Solano County Democratic Central Committee
State Building & Construction Trades Council of California
Transport Workers Union of America
Unite Here Local 11
United Auto Workers, Local 2865
United Auto Workers, Local 5810
United Domestic Workers, AFSCME Local 3930
United Food and Commercial Workers, Western States Council
Utility Workers Union of America
OPPOSITION
None received
-- END --
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
ATR Bill Id:AB 1
Author:(McKinnor, et al.)
As Amended Ver:May 18, 2023
Majority vote
SUMMARY
Establishes the Legislature Employer-Employee Relations Act (LEERA) for the purpose of promoting full communication between employees of the Assembly and Senate, respectively, and their employers by providing a reasonable method of resolving disputes regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment through a prescribed process for representation and collective bargaining.
Major Provisions
- Authorize employees of the Legislature to form, join, and participate in the activities of a union, excluding Members of Legislature, appointed officers, department or office leaders, and chief consultants, as provided, and also authorize LEERA-covered employees to self-represent in their employment relations.
- Limit the scope of representation to wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment, except the consideration of the merits, necessity or organization or any service or activity provided by law.
- Establish the jurisdiction of the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) over the LEERA; provide for judicial review of bargaining unit determinations; and, prohibit the PERB from separating employees into bargaining units solely based on political affiliation, and political affiliation from constituting as a community of interest for purposes of determining an appropriate bargaining unit.
- Establish the processes and procedures for collective bargaining, including meet and confer, resolution of impasse, adoption of a memorandum of understanding (MOU), and require MOUs adopted to comply with Proposition 140 (i.e., Section 7.5, article IV of the California Constitution), and establish the continued effect of an expired MOU and impasse procedures, as provided.
- Establish certain acts by a legislative employer and an employee organization as unlawful; thereby, prohibiting certain prescribed acts by each.
- Authorize a reasonable number of LEERA-covered employees reasonable time off without loss of compensation or other benefits when formally meeting and conferring with the Legislature on matters within the scope of representation during periods when a MOU is not in effect.
- Provide that the LEERA does not apply Section 923 of the Labor Code to legislative employees.
- Include a severability clause to shield otherwise valid provisions from becoming invalid, and establish that the LEERA must become operative on July 1, 2024.
COMMENTS
- Brief History of Public Sector Collective Bargaining Statutes in California
The first of California's public sector bargaining laws was enacted in 1961. Known as the "George Brown Act" or "Brown Act," this act originally covered all public employers and recognized employees' right to participate and be represented by employee organizations. It also granted those organizations the right to meet and confer with the employer on matters affecting employment relations prior to action being taken on such matters.
Over time, the breadth of the Brown Act was reduced as subsequent statutes removed all employees from coverage in favor of separate statutes that were enacted separately covering the various segments of public sector employment in California (i.e., state, local, education, higher education, etc.) recognizing the uniqueness of each, their respective mandates and needs, and the needs of their respective employees. While many of the provisions among each of the state's public sector collective bargaining statutes are substantially similar, a number of variations exist among them.
Notwithstanding these similarities and variations, the basic foundation for their respective purposes remains: To foster harmonious labor relations between public employers and their employees, and to limit labor strife and economic disruption through a reasonable method of resolving disputes in California. The relations that continue today as a result of these statutes are guided not only by statutory construction, but also by judicial decisions, quasi-adjudicative decisions of the PERB, precedential decisions of each, and administrative regulations. In these regards, California's history and experience relating to public sector collective bargaining continues to be substantially well documented, even if evolving to meet present day challenges, while maintaining the intent and spirit of the core principle.
- The Core Mechanics of Public Sector Collective Bargaining in California
The core purpose and principle of the various collective bargaining statutes governing public employer-employee relations in California are to limit labor strife and economic disruption in the public sector through a reasonable method of resolving disputes regarding wages, hours and other terms and conditions of employment between public employers and their employees or their exclusive representatives.
The core mechanics of collective bargaining are twofold: (i) each party must give up something to get something else in return to, (ii) achieve the manifestation of the art of compromise represented by a written and signed contractual agreement formally executed as a MOU. Thus, achieving the agreement is identical to the common law principles of the formation of a contract (i.e., offer, acceptance, and exchange of consideration). Here, to achieve an agreement assumes that the collective bargaining process and negotiation strategy or tactics used by both parties (i.e., employer and union) are in good faith and not to reach an impasse, nor the employer driving negotiations in a manner ultimately to be able to unilaterally implement (also commonly referred to by labor unions as "impose") what might be considered by the union as an unfair or objectionable contract, which ultimately could lead to a strike or other workplace disruption by the aggrieved union/union member-employees.
- Proposition 140 and Legislative Operating Costs
Proposition 140, also known as "Legislative Term Limits, Legislators' Retirement and Legislative Operating Costs Amendment," which was passed by voters (over 52 percent) in November 1990, amended the state's constitution and among other things, reduced the operating budget of the Legislature by placing a "cap" on the total aggregate expenditures of the Legislature for the compensation of Members, employees, and operating expenditures.
The analysis of Assembly Bill 969 (Gonzalez, 2019) by the Assembly Committee on Public Employment and Retirement stated that,"[i]f over time, wages or other benefits increase as a result of collective bargaining rights granted pursuant to the provisions of [this bill] reach or exceed the mandated "cap" of the Legislature's operating budget, the Legislature would not be in compliance with the express "will" of the voters in passing the measure. As a result, unknown and unintended consequences, including legal or other, may ensue. In addition, should the "cap" be reached or exceeded as a result of collective bargaining efforts where negotiated salary [and/or] benefit increases exceed the rate of Proposition 140 appropriation growth, there may be unintended consequences that necessitate reductions to remain within the operational budget mandate. Actions to reduce the operating budget may include, but not be limited to, reduction in services provided to the public, positions, staff and budgets of Members of the Legislature (including for district offices), all or some of which may negatively affect the normal business activities and operations of the Legislature in serving Californians."
This bill includes a requirements that, "[e]xpenses incurred by the Legislature in relation to a properly ratified memorandum of understanding pursuant to [the LEERA] are subject to Section 7.5 of Article IV of the California Constitution." This provision acknowledges that unlike some other California public sector employers who may have a flexible expenditure limit and may request additional moneys when the limit has been reached, if necessary, the Legislature absolutely has no such flexibility. Thus, the Legislature must "live within its financial means" absent a modification to, or a repeal of, the constitutional provision.
Questions may arise as to what may happen to an agreement if it is not compliant with the constitutional provision as provided in this bill. Here, because an agreement is subject to the constitutional provision, the parties to the agreement may negotiate in good faith to a contractual provision that upon mutual agreement by both parties, all or certain terms within the agreement must be renegotiated to achieve constitutional compliance. Although the collective bargaining process is one possible means to address this matter, other options also may exist.
- Other
This bill is substantially similar to Assembly Bill 1577 (Stone), as amended in the Senate August 23, 2022, in which a number of items discussed in the Assembly Committee on Public Employment and Retirement's analysis of that bill remain relevant with the respect to this bill. However, early introduction of this bill affords the various policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature, Members of the Legislature, and the general public, increased opportunity to fully contemplate and deliberate this proposed statute, including prudent changes through amendments deemed necessary or appropriate, towards balancing the interests of affected legislative employees, the constitutional and other statutory obligations of the Legislature, and the rights and interests of the public to ensure continuity in legislative operations and representation that inure to the benefit of the health, safety, and welfare of Californians.
- Equity Solutions and Maximizing Benefits for Underserved and Marginalized Communities
Pursuant to House Resolution (HR) 39 (Gipson, 2021), to continue the Assembly's commitment to investing in equity solutions and maximizing benefits for underserved and marginalized communities, legislative analyses of the Assembly must discuss the equity impact that a bill will, or may, have on such communities, if any.
This bill does not present a particular focus towards addressing equity in relation to maximizing benefits for underserved or marginalized communities as articulated in HR 39. However, under a broader context, information provided by the author states that, "[t]his bill would ensure that staffers who work in the Legislature would be able to collectively bargain for better wages, work conditions, and benefits. This will allow for equity across the board for all staffers, allowing them to receive equal pay regardless of which house they work in, along with receiving equal benefits regarding medical, health, parking, etc."
- Please see the policy committee analysis for a full discussion of this bill.
According to the Author
"Our staff aren't looking for special treatment. They are looking for the same dignity and respect afforded to all workers. It is hypocritical as legislators that we ask our employees to staff committees and write legislation that often expands collective bargaining rights for other workers in California, but we intentionally prohibit our own workers from that same right."
Arguments in Support
A large number of labor organizations and others similarly express in part, that among each of the segments of public sector in California, the Legislature is the only branch of California government whose employees cannot reap the benefits and protections that come with the right of collective bargaining. Further, because legislative employees are expressly exempted from the state civil service, they lack many of the workplace protection laws that cover employees in private and other public settings. This bill will grant legislative employees agency over the decision to form and join a union without fear of retaliation, and have a collective voice over their working conditions and protections in the workplace.
Arguments in Opposition
None.
FISCAL COMMENTS
According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, this bill would result in the following:
- Ongoing General Fund cost pressures, of an unknown amount, to the Legislature to establish and maintain labor and employee relations functions. Costs would depend on various factors, including the number of bargaining units formed.
- Potential ongoing General Fund cost pressure, of an unknown amount, to the Legislature to the extent the bill results in salary or benefits increases resulting from collective bargaining. The Legislature employees about 1,900 staff members.
- One-time costs of $143,364 General Fund to the PERB in the first year of implementation and ongoing costs of $113,364 General Fund to implement the provisions of this bill. The PERB would incur one-time costs to promulgate new regulations required by this bill and would incur ongoing costs associated with adjudicating unfair practice charges that could result from this bill. Ongoing costs would depend on the number of unfair practice charges. PERB's estimate is based on costs incurred for unfair practice charges from a department of a similar size to the Legislature.
VOTES
ASM PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT AND RETIREMENT: 6-1-0
YES: McKinnor, Lackey, Addis, Haney, Stephanie Nguyen, Schiavo
NO: Vince Fong
ASM APPROPRIATIONS: 12-3-1
YES: Holden, Bryan, Calderon, Wendy Carrillo, Mike Fong, Hart, Lowenthal, Mathis, Papan, Pellerin, Weber, Ortega
NO: Megan Dahle, Dixon, Sanchez
ABS, ABST OR NV: Robert Rivas
UPDATED
VERSION: May 18, 2023
CONSULTANT: Michael Bolden / P. E. & R. / (916) 319-3957 FN: 0000800
Date of Hearing: May 10, 2023
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Chris Holden, Chair
ABPCA Bill Id:AB 1
Author:(McKinnor, et al.) – As Amended Ver:April 17, 2023
Policy Committee: | Public Employment and Retirements | Vote: | 6 - 0 |
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: Yes Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY:
This bill establishes the Legislature Employer-Employee Relations Act (LEERA) to provide employees of the California Legislature with collective bargaining rights.
Specifically, this bill, beginning July 1, 2024, will give non-supervisorial legislative employees in both the Senate and Assembly the choice to organize and seek representation by a union that will collectively bargain wages, benefits, and working conditions. The bill also grants the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) authority to adjudicate LEERA-related matters, including unfair practice charges.
FISCAL EFFECT:
- Ongoing General Fund costs, of an unknown amount, to the Legislature to establish and maintain labor and employee relations functions. Costs would depend on various factors, including the number of bargaining units formed.
Specifically, costs to the Legislature to establish and maintain labor and employee relations functions include, (a) negotiating memoranda of understanding (MOUs), (b) administering the contracts, (c) ensuring the Legislature remains in compliance, (d) training members of the Legislature and management on the rights of employees, and (e) responding to grievances, including arbitration and mediation.
- Potential ongoing General Fund costs, of an unknown amount, to the Legislature to the extent the bill results in salary or benefits increases resulting from collective bargaining. The Legislature employees about 1,900 staff members.
Under the California Constitution, the Legislature’s annual spending is capped, as described in Comment 2. For this reason, costs resulting from this bill to the Legislature may need to be accommodated by shifting funds from other legislative purposes.
- One-time costs of $143,364 General Fund to PERB in the first year of implementation and ongoing costs of $113,364 General Fund to implement the provisions of this bill. PERB would incur one-time costs to promulgate new regulations required by this bill and would incur ongoing costs associated with adjudicating unfair practice charges that could result from this bill. Ongoing costs would depend on the number of unfair practice charges. PERB’s estimate is based on costs incurred for unfair practice charges from a department of a similar size to the Legislature.
COMMENTS:
- Purpose. According to the author:
This bill is needed because legislative staff are exempt from state civil service laws and denied the right to collectively bargain for wages, benefits, and working conditions. This has led many staffers to being subject to low and inequitable pay and subject to hostile work environments with no solution except for being forced to find work outside of the Legislature.
- Background. The California Constitution designates most state employees as members of civil service and provides these employees with collective bargaining rights. Legislative employees are excluded under the Constitution from civil service and are without collective bargaining rights.
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.
Public sector employees covered by PERB, including civil service state employees, may file an unfair labor practice charge with PERB within six months of the alleged unfair practice. Once the charge has been properly filed, a PERB agent reviews the charge to determine if a complaint should be issued or the charge should be dismissed if there is insufficient 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.
California’s department and agency budgets generally may be increased through the state’s budget process. The Legislature’s budget, however, is capped in the California Constitution as a result of Proposition 140 (1990). Specifically, Proposition 140 set an annual cap on the amount of money the Legislature may spend to support operations. Growth to the cap is based on annual growth in the economy and population and the Legislature cannot appropriate additional funding to support its operations beyond this cap.
- Prior Legislation. AB 1577 (Stone), of the 2021-22 Legislative Session, was similar to this bill. AB 1577 failed passage in the Assembly Public Employment and Retirement Committee.
AB 314 (Gonzalez), of the 2021-22 Legislative Session, was similar to this bill. AB 314 was held at the desk.
AB 969 (Gonzalez), of the 2019-20 Legislative Session, was similar to this bill. AB 969 failed passage in the Assembly Public Employment and Retirement Committee.
AB 2048 (Gonzalez), of the 2017-18 Legislative Session, was similar to this bill. AB 2048 failed passage in the Assembly Public Employment and Retirement Committee.
Analysis Prepared by: Natasha Collins / APPR. / (916) 319-2081
Date of Hearing: April 26, 2023
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT AND RETIREMENT
Tina S. McKinnor, Chair
ABPCA Bill Id:AB 1 (
Author:McKinnor) – As Amended Ver:April 17, 2023
SUBJECT: Collective bargaining: Legislature
SUMMARY: Establishes the Legislature Employer-Employee Relations Act (LEERA) for the purpose of promoting full communication between employees of the Assembly and Senate, respectively, and their employers by providing a reasonable method of resolving disputes regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment through a prescribed process for representation and collective bargaining, among other provisions. Specifically, this bill:
- Makes codified legislative findings and declarations for these purposes. (See Section 3599.51.)
- Defines the following key terms (see Section 3599.52):
- “Employee of the Legislature” or “employee” means any employee of either house of the Legislature, except the following, which are excluded from LEERA coverage:
- Members of the Legislature
ii) Appointed officers of the Legislature such as the Secretary of the Senate and Chief Clerk of the Assembly, and (iii) department or office leaders such as chiefs of staff, staff directors, and chief consultants.
iii) “Department or office leaders,” such as chiefs-of-staff, staff directors, and chief consultants. Further, “department or office leader” means any supervisory employee having authority, in the interest of the employer, to hire, transfer, suspend, lay off, recall, promote, discharger, assign, reward, or discipline other employees, or responsibility to direct them, or effectively to recommend this action, if, in connection with the foregoing, the exercise of any authority is not of a merely routine or clerical nature, but requires the use of independent judgment.
iv) “Confidential employees,” which is defined to mean any employee who is required to develop or present management positions with respect to employer-employee relations or whose duties normally require access to confidential information contributing significantly to the development of management positions.
- “Legislature” to mean the Assembly Committee on Rules or the Senate Committee on Rules, but for purposes of bargaining or meeting and conferring in good faith pursuant to the LEERA, “Legislature” means the Assembly Committee on Rules or the Senate Committee on Rules, or their designated representatives, acting with authorization of their respective houses.
- Defines other key terms for these purposes.
- Provides that any person who willfully resists, prevents, impedes or interferes with any member of the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB), or any of its agents, in the performance of duties pursuant to the LEERA, must be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be sentenced to pay a fine of not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000). (See Section 3599.54.)
- Establishes the jurisdiction of the PERB as follows (see Section 3599.55):
- Over disputes under the LEERA, including over the initial determination as to whether the charges of unfair practices are justified, and, if so, what remedy is necessary to effectuate the purposes of the LEERA but prohibits the PERB from awarding strike-preparation expenses as damages or damages for costs, expenses, or revenue losses incurred during, or as a consequence of, an unlawful strike.
- Authorize the PERB to establish procedures for investigating, hearing, and deciding LEERA cases and requires the procedures to include all of the following:
- Any employee, employee organization, or employer must have the right to file an unfair practice charge, except that the PERB must not do either of the following:
- Issue a complaint in respect of any charge based upon an alleged unfair practice occurring more than six months prior to the filing of the charge.
- Issue a complaint against conduct also prohibited by the provisions of the agreement between the parties until the grievance machinery of the agreement, if it exists and covers the matter at issue, has been exhausted either by settlement or by binding arbitration. However, when the charging party demonstrates that resort to contract grievance procedure would be futile, exhaustion must not be necessary. The PERB must have discretionary jurisdiction to review a settlement or arbitration award reached pursuant to the grievance machinery solely for the purpose of determining whether it is repugnant to the purposes of this chapter. If, however, the PERB finds that the settlement or arbitration award is repugnant to the purposes of this chapter, it must issue a complaint on the basis of a timely filed charge, and hear and decide the case on the merits; otherwise, it must dismiss the charge. The PERB must consider, in determining whether the charge was timely filed, the six-month limitation, as provided, to have been tolled during the time it took the charging party to exhaust the grievance machinery.
- Prohibits the PERB from enforcing agreements between the parties or issue a complaint on any charge based on an alleged violation of an agreement that would not also constitute an unfair practice under this chapter.
- Authorizes the PERB to issue a decision and order an offending party to cease and desist from the unfair practice and to take such affirmative action, including, but not limited to, the reinstatement of employees with or without back pay, as will effectuate the policies of the LEERA.
- Establishes the rights of employees of the Legislature to collectively organize as follows (see Section 3599.56):
- Authorizes employees of the Legislature the right to form, join, and participate in the activities of employee organizations of their own choosing for the purpose of representation on all matters of employer-employee relations, including self-representation in those relations.
- Authorizes employees of the Legislature the right to refuse to join or participate in the activities of employee organizations.
- Establishes that nothing must preclude the parties from agreeing to a maintenance of membership provision pursuant to a memorandum of understanding (MOU).
- Establishes representation rights and limitations of employee organizations; the rights of representation of the recognized exclusive employee organization; and, the rights of employees to self-representation as follows (see Section 3599.57):
- Requires the right of employee organizations to represent their members in their employment relations with the Legislature until an employee organization is recognized as the exclusive representative of an appropriate unit.
- Requires that once an employee organization is recognized as the exclusive representative of an appropriate unit, the recognized employee organization is the only organization that may represent that unit in employment relations with the Legislature.
- Authorizes employee organizations to establish reasonable restrictions regarding who may join and to make reasonable provisions for the dismissal of individuals from membership.
- Establishes that these specific provisions must not prohibit any employee from appearing on the employee’s own behalf in the employee’s employment relations with the Legislature.
- Establishes the rights and limitations of employee organizations relating to the remittance of specified financial support, including similar rights of the exclusive representatives for employees in an appropriate unit, and the Legislature to provide the recognized employee organization information for these purposes as follows (see Sections 3599.58 through 3599.59):
- Employee organizations must have the right to have membership dues, initiation fees, membership benefit programs, and generation assessments deducted pursuant to existing law, until an employee organization is recognized as the exclusive representative for employees in an appropriate unit, and then any deductions as to any employee negotiating unit are impermissible except to the exclusive representative.[1]
- Authorizes an employee organization that has been recognized as the exclusive representative of an appropriate unit to enter into an agreement with the Legislature providing for organizational security in the form of a maintenance of membership deduction.
- Requires the Legislature to furnish the recognized employee organization with sufficient employment data to allow the organization to calculate membership fees and to deduct the amount specified by the recognized employee organization from the salary or wages of every employee for the membership fee, and that these fees must be remitted monthly to the recognized employee organization along with an adequate itemized record of the deductions, including, if required by the recognized employee organization, machine readable data.
- Establishes that the scope of representation is limited to wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment, except, the consideration of the merits, necessity, or organization of any service or activity provided by law. (See Section 3599.60.)
- Requires the employer, except in cases of emergency, to give reasonable written notice to each recognized employee organization affected by any law, rule, or resolution directly relating to matters within the scope of representation proposed to be adopted by the Legislature, and to give such recognized employee organizations the opportunity to meet and confer with the Legislature, and that in cases of emergency when the Legislature determines that a law, rule, or resolution must be adopted immediately without prior notice or meeting with the recognized employee organization, the Legislature must provide notice and an opportunity to meet and confer in good faith at the earliest practical time following adoption of the law, rule, or resolution. (See Section 3599.61.)
- Establishes requirements relating to “meet and confer” as follows (see Section 3599.62):
- The Legislature must meet and confer in good faith regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment with representatives of recognized employee organizations, and to consider fully such presentations as are made by the employee organization on behalf of its members prior to arriving at a determination of policy or course of action.
- Defines “meet and confer in good faith” for these purposes to mean the Legislature and representatives of recognized employee organizations have the mutual obligation to personally meet and confer promptly upon request by either party and continue to meet and confer for a reasonable period of time in to exchange freely information, opinions, and proposals, and to endeavor to reach agreement on matters within the scope of representation prior to the adoption by the state of its final budget for the ensuing year, and in which the process should include adequate time for the resolution of impasses.
- Requires the Legislature to freely provide to representatives of recognized employee organizations nonconfidential information that is relevant to their scope of representation, and that the Legislature is not required to provide confidential information to representatives of recognized employee organizations.
- Defines for these specific purposes, “confidential information” to mean any information contained in records that are exempt from public disclosure under federal or state law; however, “confidential information” does not include the name, job title, office, workplace location, work telephone number and email address, if on file with the Legislature, for employees in the bargaining unit of the recognized employee organization.
- Establishes procedures for preparation of an agreement, the adoption of a MOU, side letters, appendices, and other associated addenda as follows (see Sections 3599.63 through 3599.65):
- Requires, if an agreement is reached between the Legislature and the recognized employee organization, the parties to jointly prepare a written MOU reflecting terms of the agreement, which must be presented, when appropriate, to the Legislature for adoption as a resolution.
- Requires a side letter, appendix, or other addendum to a properly ratified MOU to be expressly identified by the parties if such addenda is to be incorporated in a subsequent MOU submitted to the Legislature for adoption as a resolution.
- Authorizes either party to reopen negotiations on all or part of the MOU, if the Legislature does not fully fund any provision of the MOU that requires the expenditure of funds. However, the parties are not precluded from agreeing to and effecting those provisions of the MOU that do not require legislative action for passage of a statute.
- Establishes the continued effect of an expired MOU and impasse procedures as follows (see Sections 3599.66 through 3599.67):
- If a MOU has expired, and the Legislature and recognized employee organization have not agreed to a new MOU, and have not reached an impasse in negotiations, as provided, the parties must continue to give effect to the expired MOU provisions, including, but not limited to, all provisions that supersede existing law, any arbitration provisions, any no-strike provisions, and any agreements regarding matters covered in the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. Secs. 201 et seq.).
However, if the Legislature and recognized employee organization reach an impasse in negotiations for a new MOU, the Legislature is authorized to implement its last, best, and final officer (LBFO) through adoption of a resolution, except that, implementation of the LBFO does not relieve the parties of the obligation to bargain in good faith and reach agreement on a MOU if circumstances change, and does not result in a waiver of rights that the recognized employee organization has pursuant to other provisions established by the LEERA.
- Authorizes, if after a reasonable period of time, the Legislature and the recognized employee organization fail to reach an agreement, the Legislature and recognized employee organization to agree upon the appointment of a mediator mutually agreeable to the parties, or either party may request the PERB to appoint a mediator.
- Provides that when both parties mutually agree upon a mediator, costs of mediation must be divided one-half to the Legislature and one-half to the recognized employee organization but that if PERB appoints the mediator, the costs of mediation must be paid by the PERB.
- Requires a reasonable number of employee representatives of recognized employee organizations to be granted reasonable time off without loss of compensation or other benefits when formally meeting and conferring with the Legislature on matters within the scope of representation; establishes that this only applies to LEERA-covered employees, as defined, and only for periods when a MOU is not in effect. (See Section 3599.68.)
- Establishes unlawful acts by the Legislature and the employee organization as follows (see Sections 3599.69 through 3599.70):
- The Legislature is prohibited from doing any of the following:
- Imposing or threatening to impose reprisals on employees; discriminating or threatening to discriminate against employees, or otherwise to interfering with, restraining, or coercing employees because of their exercise of rights guaranteed to them by the LEERA, including an applicant for employment or reemployment.
- Denying to employee organizations rights guaranteed to them by the LEERA.
- Refusing or failing to meet and confer in good faith with a recognized employee organization.
- Dominating or interfering with the formation or administration of any employee organization, or contributing financial or other support to it, or in any way encouraging employees to join any organization in preference to another.
- Refusing to participate in good faith in the mediation procedure, as provided.
- An employee organization is prohibited from doing any of the following:
- Causing or attempting to cause the Legislature to violate provisions relating to unlawful acts for which the Legislature is prohibited.
- Imposing or threatening to impose reprisals on employees; discriminating or threatening to discriminate against employees, or otherwise interfering with, restraining, or coercing employees because of their exercise of rights guaranteed to them by the LEERA.
- Refusing or failing to meet and confer in good faith with the Legislature in relation to the employees for whom it is the recognized employee organization.
- Refuse to participate in good faith in the mediation procedure, as provided.
- Establishes the process for judicial review of a unit determination and the process and procedures relating to such review as follows (see Section 3599.71):
- Judicial review of a unit determination is limited to either of the following circumstances:
- When the PERB, in response to a petition from the Legislature or an employee organization, agrees that the case is one of special importance and joins in the request for the review.
- When the issue is raised as a defense to an unfair practice complaint. Here, a PERB order directing an election must not be stayed pending judicial review.
- A party to the case may petition for a writ of extraordinary relief from the unit determination decision or order upon receipt of a PERB order joining in the request for judicial review.
- Any charging party, respondent, or intervenor aggrieved by a PERB final decision or order in an unfair practice case may petition for a writ of extraordinary relief from such decision or order, except a PERB decision not to issue a complaint in such a case.
- The charging party must file the petition in the district court of appeal in the appellate district where the unit determination or unfair practice dispute occurred within 30 days after issuance of the PERB’s final order denying reconsideration, or order joining in the request for judicial review, as applicable.
- Upon filing of the petition, the court must cause notice to be served to the PERB, and thereupon, must have jurisdiction of the proceeding.
- The PERB must file in the court the record of the proceeding, certified by the PERB, within 10 days after the clerk’s notice unless the court extends time for good cause shown.
- The court has jurisdiction to grant the PERB any temporary relief or restraining order the court deems just and proper and in like manner to make and enter a decree enforcing, modifying, or setting aside the PERB’s order.
- The findings of the PERB with respect to questions of fact, including ultimate facts, if supported by substantial evidence on the record considered as a whole, are conclusive.
- Provides that the provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure, as specified, relating to writs must, except where specifically superseded herein, apply to these proceedings.
- Authorizes the PERB to seek enforcement of any final decision or order in a district court of appeal or a superior court in the district where the unit determination or unfair practice case occurred, if the time to petition for extraordinary relief from the PERB decision has expired.
- The court is required to enforce the PERB order by writ of mandamus if, after hearing, the court determines that the order was issued pursuant to procedures established by the PERB and that the person or entity refuses to comply with the order; however, the court must not review the merits of the order.
- Establishes requirements for the granting exclusive recognition to employee organizations as follows (see Section 3599.72):
- The Legislature must grant exclusive recognition to employee organizations designated or selected pursuant to PERB-established rules for employees of the Legislature or an appropriate unit of the Legislature, subject to the right of an employee to self-represent, and the PERB must establish reasonable procedures for petitions, holding elections, and determining appropriate units, as specified.
- Prohibits the PERB, as it determines appropriate bargaining units, from including employees of the Legislature in a bargaining unit that includes employees other than those of the Legislature, and prohibits the commingling of employees from both the Assembly and Senate within the same bargaining unit.
- Require the PERB to establish procedures whereby a majority vote of the employees are authorized to revoke recognition of employee organizations formally recognized as exclusive representatives pursuant to a vote of the employees only after a period of not less than 12 months following the date of such recognition.
- Requires the Legislature to adopt reasonable rules for registering employee organizations, as defined; determining the status of organizations as employee organizations; and, identifying the officers and representatives who officially represent employee organizations. (See Section 3599.73.)
- Provide that, if a decision by an administrative law judge regarding the recognition or certification of an employee organization is appealed, the decision is the final order of the PERB, if the PERB does not issue a ruling that supersedes the decision on or before 180 days after the appeal is filed. (See Section 3599.74.)
- Establishes criteria relating to the PERB determining an appropriate unit and prohibition on PERB directing an election as follows (see Section 3599.75):
- The PERB must be governed by criteria in determining an appropriate bargaining unit, except that the PERB must not direct an election in a unit unless one or more of the employee organizations involved in the proceeding is seeking or agrees to an election in such a unit:
- The internal and occupational community of interest among the employees, including, but not limited to, all of the following:
- The extent to which they perform functionally related services or work toward established common goals.
- The history of employee representation in state government and in similar employment.
- The extent to which the employees have common skills, working conditions, job duties, or similar educational or training requirements.
- The effect that the projected unit will have on the meet and confer relationships, emphasizing the availability and authority of employer representatives to deal effectively with employee organizations representing the unit, and taking into account such factors as work location, the numerical size of the unit, the relationship of the unit to organizational patterns of the Legislature, and the effect on the existing classification structure or existing classification schematic of dividing a single class or single classification schematic among two or more units.
- The effect of the proposed unit on efficient operations of the employer and the compatibility of the unit with the responsibility of Legislature and its employees to serve the public.
- The number of employees and classifications in a proposed unit and its effect on the operations of the Legislature, on the objectives of providing the employees the right to effective representation, and on the meet and confer relationship.
- The impact on the meet and confer relationship created by fragmentation of employees or any proliferation of units among the employees of the employer.
- Establishes procedures relating to the “meet and confer” process as follows (see Section 3599.76):
- Requires all initial meeting and confer proposals of the recognized employee organizations, and all meet and confer proposals or counterproposals of the Legislature to be presented to the other at a public meeting, and which those initial proposals and counterproposals must become a public record.
- Prohibits, except in cases of emergency as provided, any meeting and conferring to take place on any proposal, subject to as specified, until not less than seven consecutive days have elapsed to enable the public to become informed and to publicly express itself regarding the proposals, as well as regarding other possible subjects of meeting and conferring, and thereafter, the Legislature must hear public comment on all matters related to the meet and confer proposals in an open meeting.
- Requires, 48 hours after any proposal that includes any substantive subject that has not been presented in proposals for public reaction, as specified, is offered during any meeting and conferring session, the proposal and the position, if any, taken by representatives of the Legislature are a public record.
- Establishes an exception relating the prescribed meet and confer process in the event of an emergency, as provided. However, the results of the meeting and conferring must be made public as soon as reasonably possible.
- Establishes that the LEERA does not apply Section 923 of the Labor Code to employees of the Legislature.[2] (See Section 3599.77.)
- Provides that nothing in LEERA modifies or eliminates any existing wages, hours, or terms and conditions of employment for employees of the Legislature, and that all existing wages, hours, and terms and conditions of employment for employees of the Legislature must remain in effect unless and until changed in accordance with the Legislature’s procedures, or pursuant to a MOU between the Legislature and a recognized employee organization. (See Section 3599.78).
- Includes a severability clause to shield otherwise valid provisions from becoming invalid. (See Section 3599.79.)
- Establishes that expenses incurred by the Legislature in relation to a properly ratified MOU pursuant to the LEERA are subject to the Legislature’s constitutional limitation in Section 7.5 of Article IV of the California Constitution. (See Section 3599.80.)
- Establishes that the provisions of the LEERA become operative on July 1, 2024.
- Provides that no reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIIIB of the California Constitution because the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution. (See SEC. 2)
EXISTING LAW:
- Governs collective bargaining in the private sector under the federal National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) but leaves to the states the regulation of collective bargaining in their respective public sectors.[3]
While the NLRA and the decisions of its National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) often provide persuasive precedent in interpreting state collective bargaining law, public employees generally have no collective bargaining rights absent specific statutory authority establishing those rights.
- Provides several statutory frameworks under California law to provide public employees collective bargaining rights, govern public employer-employee relations, and limit labor strife and economic disruption in the public sector through 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. These frameworks include:
- The Ralph C. Dills Act (commonly referred to as the “Dills Act”) for certain state employees of the executive branch. [4]
- The Judicial Council Employer-Employee Relations Act (JCEERA) governing employer-employee relations for specified employees of the California Judicial Council – an administrative agency of the judicial branch.[5]
- The Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act (HEERA) governing employer-employee relations for the California State University, University of California, and Hastings College of Law.[6]
- The Meyers-Milias-Brown Act (MMBA) governing local public employer-eCployee relations, excluding peace officers, management employees, and the City and county of Los Angeles from the jurisdiction of the PERB.[7]
- The Educational Employment Relations Act (EERA) governing employer-employee relations for California’s public schools (K-12) and community colleges.[8]
- The Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority Transit Employer-Employee Relations Act (TEERA) governing employer-employee relations for supervisory employees of the transit agency.[9]
- The Trial Court Interpreter Employment and Labor Relations Act (Court Interpreter Act), which provides for labor relations between the trial courts and court interpreters.[10]
- The Trial Court Employment Protection and Governance Act (Trial Court Act), which provides for labor relations between trial courts and specified trial court employees.[11]
- The Building a Better Early Care and Education System Act of 2019, commonly known as the “Childcare Provider Act,” which establishes collective bargaining for family childcare providers who participate in a state-funded early care and education program.[12]
- Establishes the Bill of Rights for State Excluded Employees (BRSEE) to inform state supervisory, managerial, confidential, and employees otherwise excepted from coverage under the Ralph C. Dills Act, of their rights and terms and conditions of employment, as specified, and serves to promote harmonious personnel relations among those representing state management in the conduct of state affairs.[13]
- Establishes the civil service that includes every officer and employee of the State except as otherwise provided in the Constitution and requires that the State make permanent appointment and promotion in the civil service under a general system based on merit ascertained by competitive examination.[14]
- Defines the powers of state government as legislative, executive, and judicial and prohibits persons charged with the exercise of one power from exercising either of the others except as permitted by the Constitution.[15]
- Establishes the California Legislature which consists of the Senate and Assembly and in which the people, through the state constitution, have vested the state’s legislative power.[16]
- Exempts officers and employees appointed or employed by the Legislature, either house, or legislative committees from the state civil service.[17]
- Limits for the Legislature, state-financed incumbent staff and support services, among other things, in order to counter the unfair incumbent advantages that discourage qualified candidates from seeking public office and create a class of career politicians, instead of the citizen representatives envisioned by the Founders.[18]
- Prohibits the total aggregate expenditures of the Legislature for the compensation of members and employees of, and the operating expenses and equipment for, the Legislature from exceeding an amount equal in 1991 to nine hundred fifty thousand dollars ($950,000) per member for that fiscal year or 80 percent of the amount of money expended for those purposes in the preceding fiscal year and for each fiscal year thereafter, an amount equal to that expended for those purposes in the preceding fiscal year, adjusted and compounded by an amount equal to the percentage increase in the appropriations limit for the State established pursuant to Article XIII B of the Constitution.[19]
- Establishes, pursuant to the JCEERA, the scope of representation to include all matters relating to employment, including, but not limited to, wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment, and among other things, recognizes the unique and special responsibilities of the trial courts to administer justice, and expressly excludes certain items from being within the scope of representation in view of those unique and special responsibilities.[20]
- Establishes the PERB, a quasi-judicial administrative agency, to administer the various collective bargaining statutes covering public employees, including the adjudication of unfair labor practice claims. The PERB consists of five members appointed by the Governor by and with the advice and consent of the Senate.[21]
- Establishes that public employers that receive state funds are prohibited from using those funds to assist, promote, or deter union organizing, and that any public official knowingly authorizes the use of state funds for those purposes, must be liable to the state for the amount of those funds.[22]
- Expressly prohibits public employee firefighters from striking and participating in a picket line during the performance of their official duties.[23]
Case law similarly establishes this prohibition as applied to peace officers (City of Santa Ana v. Santa Ana Police Benevolent Association (1989) 207 Cal.App.3d 1568), and essential employees (County Sanitation District No. 2 v. Los Angeles County Employees’ Assn. (1985) 38 Cal.3d.564, 586).
- Establishes the Legislative Open Records Act (LORA) in which the Legislature finds and declares that access to information concerning the conduct of the people’s business by the Legislature is a fundamental and necessary right of every citizen of this state. The LORA also exempts from disclosure, certain records pursuant to federal or state law, including, but not limited to, provisions in the Evidence Code relating to privilege.[24]
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown. This bill is flagged as fiscal by Legislative Counsel.
COMMENTS: Information provided by the author states that, “[t]his bill is needed because legislative staff are exempt from state civil service laws and denied the right to collectively bargain for wages, benefits, and working conditions. This has led many staffers to being subject to low and inequitable pay and subject to hostile work environments with no solution except for being forced to find work outside of the Legislature. [This bill] will give non-supervisorial legislative staff the choice to organize and seek representation by a union that will collectively bargain for wages, benefits, and working conditions. Employees that work in both the Assembly and Senate will be impacted equally. Last year, the Public Employment Relations Board estimated that this bill would incur first-year costs of $124,000 and $95,000 annually after to implement the provisions of the bill (general fund).”
For these purposes, the author states that, “[o]ur staff aren’t looking for special treatment. They are looking for the same dignity and respect afforded to all workers. It is hypocritical as legislators that we ask our employees to staff committees and write legislation that often expands collective bargaining rights for other workers in California, but we intentionally prohibit our own workers from that same right.”
- Brief History of Public Sector Collective Bargaining Statutes in California
The first of California’s public sector bargaining laws was enacted in 1961. Known as the “George Brown Act” or “Brown Act,” this act originally covered all public employers and recognized employees’ right to participate and be represented by employee organizations. It also granted those organizations the right to meet and confer with the employer on matters affecting employment relations prior to action being taken on such matters.
Over time, the breadth of the Brown Act was reduced as subsequent statutes removed all employees from coverage in favor of separate statutes that were enacted covering the various segments of public sector employment in California recognizing the uniqueness of each California governmental sector (i.e., state, local, education, higher education, etc.), their responsibilities, and the uniqueness of their needs and the needs of their respective employees.
Several of the state’s collective bargaining statutes were established within the past 45 years (i.e., the Dills Act, Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act, and Educational Employer-Employee Relations Act), while the Meyers-Milias-Brown was established in 1968. The remainder (i.e., the TEERA, JCEERA, Trial Court, and Court Interpreter Acts, respectively) were established within the past 25 years.
As enumerated under “Existing Law,” each of these statutes govern employer-employee relations for a specific group of public employers and their employees (i.e., state, local, education, trial court, etc.). While many of the provisions among each are substantially similar, a number of variations exist that recognize and respect the unique needs and circumstances of each segment of California’s public sector relating to public employers and their employees.
Notwithstanding these similarities and variations, the basic foundation for their respective purposes remains: To foster harmonious labor relations between public employers and their employees, and to limit labor strife and economic disruption through a reasonable method of resolving disputes in California.
The relations that continue today as a result of these statutes are guided not only by statutory construction, but also by judicial decisions, quasi-adjudicative decisions of the PERB, precedential decisions of each, and administrative regulations. In these regards, California’s history and experience relating to public sector collective bargaining continues to be substantially well documented, even if evolving to meet present day challenges, while maintaining the intent and spirit of the core principle.
- The Obligation of Labor Organizations: Representation of Their Members Regardless of Political Affiliation
Unions are membership-driven, democratic organizations governed by laws that require financial transparency and integrity, fair elections, and other democratic standards, and fair representation of all workers.[25] (Emphasis added.)
In their official capacity, the employees of the Legislature are an extension of each member to assist the member in carrying out their official duties. However, regardless of political affiliation, unions have an obligation to represent their members. Indeed, numerous individuals of the various political affiliation preferences are members of a union, including within the same union or bargaining unit, in both public and private sectors. Across the political affiliation spectrum as well as within each political affiliation, there are individuals who do, and some who do not, subscribe to the ideals of unionism and union membership. Moreover, although employees of the Legislature may share common values with the elected member whom they serve, employees are not employed by the member. Each employee is employed by the nonpartisan Rules Committee of the respective house of the Legislature. As proposed, this bill expressly establishes “employer-employee” relations.
Because unions represent all workers and have an obligation to represent their members regardless of political affiliation, such representation also is evidenced in a collective bargaining agreement or MOU between an employer and a labor union as to wages, benefits, and other terms and conditions of employment, as well as any permissive subjects of collective bargaining that are included in the contractual agreement. Thus, the express terms of the contractual agreement apply to all employees covered thereunder as to the benefits and obligations of the contractual agreement, again, regardless of political affiliation.
It is also worth noting that, among other things, the proposed statute expressly provides that the employer, and an employee organization, are prohibited from imposing or threatening to impose reprisals; discriminating or threatening to discriminate against employees; or interfering with, restraining, or coercing employees because of their exercise of rights guaranteed by the LEERA.[26]
- The Core Mechanics of Public Sector Collective Bargaining in California
As previously stated, the core purpose (and principle) of the various collective bargaining statutes governing public employer-employee relations in California are to limit labor strife and economic disruption in the public sector through a reasonable method of resolving disputes regarding wages, hours and other terms and conditions of employment between public employers and their employees or their exclusive representatives.
The core mechanics of collective bargaining are twofold: (i) each party must give up something to get something else in return to, (ii) achieve the manifestation of the art of compromise represented by a written and signed agreement that is formally executed as a MOU. Thus, achieving the agreement (i.e., contract) is identical to the common law principles of the formation of a contract (i.e., offer, acceptance, and exchange of consideration).
Here, to achieve an agreement assumes that the collective bargaining process and negotiation strategy or tactics used by both parties (i.e., employer and union) are in good faith and not to reach an impasse, nor the employer driving negotiations in a manner ultimately to be able to unilaterally implement (also commonly referred to by labor unions as “impose”) what might be considered by the union as an unfair or objectionable contract, which ultimately could lead to a strike or other workplace disruption by the aggrieved union/union member-employees.
a) What is Good Faith?
“The phrase “good faith” is used in a variety of contexts, and its meaning varies somewhat with the context. Good faith performance or enforcement of a contract emphasizes faithfulness to an agreed common purpose and consistency with the justified expectations of the other party; it excludes a variety of types of conduct characterized as involving “bad faith” because they violate community standards of decency, fairness, and reasonableness. The appropriate remedy for a breach of the duty of good faith also varies with the circumstances.”[27]
“[G]ood faith is an elusive idea, taking on different meanings and emphases as we move from one context to another – whether the particular context is supplied by the type of legal system (e.g., common law, civilian, or hybrid), the type of contract (e.g., commercial or consumer), or the nature of the subject matter of the contract (e.g., insurance, employment, sale of goods, financial services, and so on).”[28] Generally, “good faith” means a state of mind consisting in (1) honesty in belief or purpose, (2) faithfulness to one’s duty or obligation, (3) observance of reasonable commercial standards of fair dealing in a given trade or business, or (4) absence of intent to defraud or to seek unconscionable advantage.[29]
Under the public sector collective bargaining frameworks, including as proposed by this bill, an employer and exclusive representative have a mutual obligation to meet and confer in good faith with respect to wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment. Although bargaining in good faith is a subjective attitude, it requires a genuine desire to reach agreement.
Similar to each of the other statewide collective bargaining statutes, this bill includes requirements that the employer and employee organizations act and bargain in good faith.
b) Mandatory Subjects of Collective Bargaining
With the exception of the JCEERA to date, under each of the statewide collective bargaining statutes previously enumerated, agreements between a public employer and labor organization contain numerous provisions that have been negotiated in good faith and agreed to by the various employers and labor organizations.[30] Such provisions cover those matters that are within the mandatory subjects of bargaining, also referred to as the “scope of representation” which, generally, are limited to wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment consistent with decisions by the NLRB as applied to the NLRA, and pursuant to decisions of the PERB.
The subject of “wages” is relatively self-explanatory. Generally, this refers to pay, salary, compensation, or remuneration for official work performed by the employee for, or on behalf of, the employer. The subject of “hours” also is relatively self-explanatory. Generally, this refers to the hours in which an employee works to perform official work for, or on behalf of, the employer. However, the category of “other terms of conditions of employment” is not as readily self-explanatory. Here, “other terms and conditions of employment” acts as a category of “other” when considering the very specific categories of “hours” and “wages.” It is not specifically defined, but has been interpreted to include, among other things, health and welfare benefits, vehicle transportation expenses, transfer and reassignment, and organizational security matters, as examples.
Although this bill is similar to the Dills Act, the PERB has interpreted the Dills Act’s scope of representation which has resulted in what is largely a well-settled rule. That is, subjects are within the scope of bargaining “if they involve the employment relationship and are of such concern to both management and employees that conflict is likely to occur, and if the mediatory influence of collective negotiation is an appropriate means of resolving the conflict.”[31] However, decisions that concern “essential managerial prerogatives” are not within the scope of representation under the (Dills) Act.
c) Permissive Subjects of Collective Bargaining
While there are mandatory subjects of bargaining, there are also permissive subjects in which the parties may bargain over subject matters that are of mutual interest to both. Here, the parties do not have a duty to bargain over permissive subjects if one party declines, and such subjects cannot be insisted upon towards an impasse. It is important to note, however, that permissive subjects are not transmuted to mandatory subjects simply due to inclusion of a permissive subject in a negotiated employer-employee relations agreement.
For example, many of such agreements may include a provision or provisions in which employee organizations and their represented members are prohibited from engaging in a strike or other form of workplace stoppage or slowdown, including a sympathy strike during the term of the agreement. Generally, such provisions may be construed as permissive subjects within bargaining if they are not within the mandatary subjects of bargaining, and are commonly referred to as a “no strike clause.” Indeed, these provisions can be found in a number of agreements between the state – as an employer – and the various bargaining units of the state covered by the Dills Act, as well as within a multitude of agreements throughout California’s public sector jurisdictions under the other public sector collective bargaining frameworks. In other instances, an employer and exclusive representative have negotiated in good faith not to include such a provision in an agreement for various reasons that are of genuine and mutual interest to both parties.
- The Role of the PERB
As previously stated under “Existing Law,” the PERB is a quasi-judicial administrative agency charged with administering the state’s various collective bargaining statutes. Its decisions in this arena have the similar effect of a judicial decision and may be enforced by a court of law.
The PERB was established exclusively for this purpose, and is recognized in the public employer-employee relations arena for its neutrality and objectivity, consistency, effectiveness, efficiency, and very specific subject matter expertise, to name a few. While it does have powers and authorities, some of its powers and authorities are limited as prescribed by statute.[32] It is not a court of law within the judicial branch of government, but is a quasi-judicial administrative agency of the state.
The major organizational elements of the PERB, in addition to the PERB itself, are the Office of the General Counsel, the Division of Administrative Law, State Mediation and Conciliation Service, and the Division of Administration.[33] The PERB consists of individuals each whom are appointed by the Governor, and this bill proposes to include the LEERA within the jurisdiction of the PERB.
- Proposed PERB Jurisdiction Regarding the LEERA
This bill would grant the PERB authority to adjudicate LEERA-related matters such as unfair practice claims; determine bargaining units; and, make other determinations as necessary and appropriate to further the express purposes of the LEERA as applied to the respective employers within the Legislature. Given that the PERB is a state quasi-judicial administrative agency that consists of gubernatorial appointees, the granting of such authority for purposes of the LEERA may be viewed as authorizing the executive branch – through this agency – involvement within employer-employee relations matters that are internal to each respective employer within Legislature.
- PERB Jurisdiction Over the JCEERA
Concerns may exist as to the deferral or conferring of such internal legislative matters to an executive branch entity as proposed by this bill, and that PERB decisions may affect the operations of the Legislature and its ability to comply with various constitutional mandates. It is noted that while some concerns may exist, such deferral or conferring of such authority is not wholly inconsistent with other statewide public sector collective bargaining frameworks. Indeed, the PERB also has jurisdiction over the JCEERA for specified employees of the Judicial Council of California within another separate, but coequal, branch of government, although there are certain limitations reserved to that employer.[34]
As previously stated, there are several various statewide public sector collective bargaining statutes, and while each are similar relative to the core principle, including many of the various provisions within each, there are variations that exist among them.
- Other Variations in the PERB’s Jurisdiction: Example – The MMBA
The LEERA proposes to authorize the PERB to determine appropriate bargaining units for each employer within the Legislature, which is not inconsistent with some, but not all, of the statewide public sector collective bargaining frameworks.
For example, the MMBA as applied to local public agency employer-employee relations, differs from several, but not all, of the other statewide public sector collective bargaining statutes in that it permits the local agency public employer to adopt its own reasonable rules and regulations governing employment relations after consultation in good faith with employee organizations.[35] Under the MMBA, a local public employer may adopt local rules for determining an “appropriate” bargaining unit.[36] However, an employer’s decision on a unit determination issue may be challenged as a violation of the MMBA’s statutory provisions or if the unit determination is unreasonable. In such instances, the PERB will consider whether the employer’s decision is reasonable, not whether it was the best or most reasonable decision.[37] Further, here, the PERB does not impose or substitute its own judgment for that of the local agency where reasonable minds can differ as to what constitutes “appropriateness.”[38]
Although the PERB has recognized that local public employers have a considerable degree of discretion to adopt local rules,[39] the PERB will consider whether the rule “is consistent with and effectuates the purposes of the express provisions of the MMBA.[40] Further, if the employer fails to adopt local rules, the PERB’s regulations for the MMBA will apply.[41]
Generally, under this specific example, a unit consists of employees in the same occupation or with similar interests, and this bill establishes criteria for the PERB to determine bargaining units, similar to the criteria established in some of the other statewide collective bargaining frameworks.
The purpose of the immediate discussion provides an example as to some, but not all, variations that exist among other public sector collective bargaining statutes.
- Proposition 140 and Legislative Operating Costs
Proposition 140, also known as “Legislative Term Limits, Legislators’ Retirement and Legislative Operating Costs Amendment,” which was passed by voters (over 52 percent) in November 1990, amended the state’s constitution and among other things, reduced the operating budget of the Legislature by placing a “cap” on the total aggregate expenditures of the Legislature for the compensation of Members, employees, and operating expenditures.[42]
This bill includes a requirements that, “[e]xpenses incurred by the Legislature in relation to a properly ratified memorandum of understanding pursuant to [the LEERA] are subject to Section 7.5 of Article IV of the California Constitution.”[43] This provision acknowledges that unlike some other California public sector employers who may have a flexible expenditure limit and may request additional moneys when the limit has been reached, if necessary, the Legislature absolutely has no such flexibility. Thus, the Legislature must “live within its financial means” absent a modification to increase or repeal the constitutional provision.
Questions may arise as to what may happen to an agreement if it is not compliant with the constitutional provision as provided in this bill. Here, because an agreement is subject to the constitutional provision, the parties to the agreement may negotiate in good faith to a contractual provision that upon mutual agreement by both parties, they must renegotiate certain or all appropriate terms within the agreement to achieve constitutional compliance. Although the collective bargaining process is one possible means to address this matter, other options also may exist.
The committee is reminded of its analysis of a prior substantially similar, but not entirely identical, bill previously considered by this committee relating to this discussion.[44] That analysis states, “[i]f over time, wages or other benefits increase as a result of collective bargaining rights granted pursuant to the provisions of [this bill] reach or exceed the mandated “cap” of the Legislature’s operating budget, the Legislature would not be in compliance with the express “will” of the voters in passing the measure. As a result, unknown and unintended consequences, including legal or other, may ensue. In addition, should the “cap” be reached or exceeded as a result of collective bargaining efforts where negotiated salary [and/or] benefit increases exceed the rate of Proposition 140 appropriation growth, there may be unintended consequences that necessitate reductions to remain within the operational budget mandate. Actions to reduce the operating budget may include, but not be limited to, reduction in services provided to the public, positions, staff and budgets of Members of the Legislature (including for district offices), all or some of which may negatively affect the normal business activities and operations of the Legislature in serving Californians.”
- Acknowledgements
Although this bill is substantially similar to a prior bill last year (i.e., Assembly Bill 1577 (Stone), as amended in the Senate August 23, 2022) and items discussed in this committee’s analysis of that bill remain with the respect to the current bill, early introduction of this bill may be viewed as a pragmatic approach by the author to afford not only the author, but also the various policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature, members of the Legislature, and the general public, increased opportunity to fully contemplate and deliberate this proposed statute, including prudent changes through amendments, as deemed necessary or appropriate, towards balancing the interests of affected legislative employees, the constitutional and other statutory obligations of the Legislature, and the rights and interests of the public to ensure continuity in legislative operations and representation that inure to the benefit of the health, safety, and welfare of Californians.
- Equity Solutions and Maximizing Benefits for Underserved and Marginalized Communities
Pursuant to House Resolution (HR) 39 (Gipson, 2021), to continue the Assembly’s commitment to investing in equity solutions and maximizing benefits for underserved and marginalized communities, legislative analyses of the Assembly must discuss the equity impact that a bill will, or may, have on such communities, if any.
This bill does not present a particular focus towards addressing equity in relation to maximizing benefits for underserved or marginalized communities as articulated in HR 39. However, under a broader context, information provided by the author states that, “[t]his bill would ensure that staffers who work in the Legislature would be able to collectively bargain for better wages, work conditions, and benefits. This will allow for equity across the board for all staffers, allowing them to receive equal pay regardless of which house they work in, along with receiving equal benefits regarding medical, health, parking, etc.”
- Comments by Supporters
A large number of labor organizations and others similarly express in part, that among each of the segments of public sector in California, the Legislature is the only branch of California government whose employees cannot reap the benefits and protections that come with the right of collective bargaining. Further, because legislative employees are expressly exempted from the state civil service, they lack many of the workplace protection laws that cover employees in private and other public settings. This bill will grant legislative employees agency over the decision to form and join a union without fear of retaliation, and have a collective voice over their working conditions and protections in the workplace.
- Comments by Opponents
None one file.
- Prior or Related Legislation
Assembly Bill 1672 (Haney) would establish that In-Home Supportive Service Employer-Employee Relations Act (IHSSEERA) as a method for resolving disputes regarding wages, benefits, and other and terms and conditions of employment between the state and recognized employee organizations representing independent In-Home Support Services (IHSS) providers, among other provisions. On April 12, 2023, this bill was passed by the Assembly Committee on Public Employment and Retirement (6-0) and is currently pending in the Assembly Committee on Appropriations.
Assembly Bill 1032 (Pacheco) makes changes to the Court Interpreter Act, as provided. On April 12, 2023, this bill was passed by the Assembly Committee on Public Employment and Retirement (5-2) and is currently pending in the Assembly Committee on Appropriations.
Assembly Bill 504 (Reyes) amends the Public Employer Communications Chapter (PECC) to add certain prohibitions against a public employer from taking disciplinary or other adverse action against a state or local public employee, as prescribed, and would void as against public policy, employer policies or a provision in a collective bargaining agreement that would limit certain prescribed rights, among other provisions. As previously passed by the Assembly Committee on Public Employment and Retirement (5-1) on April 12, 2023, this bill proposed to amend the Dills Act and MMBA, respectively. Subsequently amended in the Assembly Committee on Judiciary, this bill was amended to amend the PECC, and was passed by that committee (8-3) on April 18, 2023.
Assembly Bill 1577 (Stone, 2022) was substantively similar to the current bill, and Assembly Bill 314 discussed below. This bill failed passage in the Assembly Committee on Public Employment and Retirement.
Assembly Bill 314 (Gonzalez, 2021) was substantively similar, but not entirely identical, to the current bill and Assembly Bill 1577. This bill was held at the Assembly Desk.
Assembly Bill 969 (Gonzalez, 2019) was substantively similar, but not entirely identical, to the current bill and other bills of the same subject. This bill failed passage in the Assembly Committee on Public and Retirement Committee.
Assembly Bill 2048 (Gonzalez, 2018) was substantively similar, but not entirely identical, to the current bill and other bills of the same subject. This bill failed passage in the Assembly Committee on Public Employment and Retirement
Chapter 835, Statutes 2017 (Assembly Bill 83, Santiago) established the JCEERA, as previously discussed.
Assembly Bill 874 (Santiago, 2016) would have applied the Dills Act to certain employees of the Judicial Council, thereby providing collective bargaining rights to these employees. The Governor vetoed this bill stating that:
“The state has no experience collective bargaining with employees from the third branch of government. This bill leaves several important questions unanswered such as how agreements will be ratified, approved for funding and whether the Dills Act is a proper law for employees who are constitutionally exempt from civil service. This bill isn't ready to become law.”
Assembly Bill 2350 (Floyd, 2000) would have included nonsupervisory Legislative employees within the definition of "state employees" in the Ralph C. Dills Act, which authorizes collective bargaining for state employees. This bill was held in the Assembly Committee on Public Employees, Retirement and Social Security.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO (Sponsor)
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, California, AFL-CIO
California Alliance for Retired Americans
California Conference Board of the Amalgamated Transit Union
California Conference of Machinists
California Federation of Teachers AFL-CIO
California International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Council
California Nurses Association
California Professional Firefighters
California School Employees Association, AFL-CIO
California State Council of Laborers
California State Legislative Board of the Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers,
Transportation Division
California Teachers Association
California Teamsters Public Affairs Council
Engineers and Scientists of California, International Federation of Professional and Technical
Engineers, Local 20, AFL-CIO
Fund Her
Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO
Northern California District Council of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union
Professional and Technical Engineers, International Federation of Professional and Technical
Engineers, Local 21, AFL-CIO
Service Employees International Union, California
Service Employees International Union, Local 1000
State Building and Construction Trades Council of California
Transport Workers Union of America, AFL-CIO
UNITE HERE, AFL-CIO
UNITE HERE, Local 11
United Auto Workers, Local 2865
United Auto Workers, Local 5810
United Domestic Workers, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees,
Local 3930
United Food and Commercial Workers, Western States Council
Utility Workers Union of America, AFL-CIO
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by: Michael Bolden / P. E. & R. / (916) 319-3957
Here, Sections 1152 (a) and 1153 of the Government (Gov.) Code are incorporated by reference. Section 1152 (a) authorizes employee organizations and bona fide associations to deduct, upon request to the employer, membership dues, initiation fees, and general assessments, as well as payment of any other membership benefit program sponsored by the organization, and that public employers are required to honor those requests. Section 1153 provides for the administrative procedures of the State Controller as to payroll deductions, reductions, cancellations, or changes. ↑
Section 923, id., relates to contracts against public policy and establishes the policy of the state that negotiations of terms and conditions of labor should result from voluntary agreement between employer and employees, and among other things, establishes certain rights of employees, as provided. ↑
Sections 151 et seq., Title 29, United States Code. ↑
Sections 3512 et seq. of the Gov. Code. ↑
Sections 3524.50 et seq. of the Gov. Code. ↑
Sections 3560 et seq. of the Gov. Code. ↑
Sections 3500 et seq. of the Gov. Code. ↑
Sections 3540 et seq. of the Gov. Code. ↑
Sections 99560 et seq. of the Gov. Code. ↑
Sections 71800 et seq. of the Gov. Code. ↑
Sections 71600 et seq. of the Gov. Code. ↑
Sections 10420 et seq. of the Welfare and Institutions Code. ↑
Sections 3525 et seq. of the Gov. Code. ↑
Section 1, art. VII, Cal. Const. ↑
Section 3, art. III, Cal. Const. ↑
Section 1, art. IV, Cal. Const. ↑
Section 4, subdiv. (a), Art. VII, Cal. Const. ↑
Section 1.5, art. IV, Cal. Const. ↑
Section 7.5, art. IV, Cal. Const. ↑
Sections 71634, inclusive, of the Gov. Code. ↑
Sections 3541 et seq. of the Gov. Code. ↑
Section 16645.6 of the Gov. Code. ↑
Section 1962 of the Labor Code. ↑
Sections 9070 et seq. of the Gov. Code. ↑
United States Department of Labor: Unions 101. ↑
Section 3599.70 (b) of this bill. ↑
Section 205, Restatement (Second) of Contracts, cmt. a (1979). ↑
“Good Faith in Contract, in ”Good Faith in Contract: Concept and Context” 1, 3. Roger Brownsword, et al. (Roger Brownsword, ed., 1999). ↑
Black’s Law Dictionary, 11th Edition. ↑
Although effective since January 1, 2018, bargaining units have not yet been established under the JCEERA to date; therefore, there also is no formalized agreement or agreements pursuant to the JCEERA. ↑
California State Employees Assn. v. State of California (Dept. of Transportation) (1983) PERB No. 361-S ↑
For example: See Section 3541.3 of the Gov. Code, and Sections 100309 and 100310 (b) of the Public Utilities Code relating to the Santa Clara Valley Transportation District. ↑
Organization of the PERB: www.perb.ca.gov ↑
For example: See Sections 3524.52 (a) re: PERB authority; 3524.53 re: Judicial Council sole authority to designate employee positions as excluded, subject to a limitation; and, 3524.55 re: PERB limitations on the awarding of damages involving strikes, of the Gov. Code. ↑
For example: See section 3507 of the Gov. Code as applied to unit determinations and representation elections for local public agency employer-employee relations under the MMBA. ↑
Sections 3507, ibid. and 3507.1 of the Gov. Code. ↑
Alameda County Assistant Public Defender’s Assn. v. County of Alameda (1973) 33 Cal.App.3d 825. ↑
SEIU Local 721 v. County of Riverside (2010) PERB Decision No. 2119-M. ↑
Teamsters Local 542 v. County of Imperial (2007) PERB Decision No. 1916-M. ↑
Union of American Physicians and Dentists v. County of Orange (2010) PERB Decision No. 2138-M. ↑
Sections 61000 et seq., Title 8, California Code of Regulations. ↑
Section 7.5, Art. IV, Cal. Const. ↑
See Section 3599.80 of this bill. ↑
Analysis of Assembly Bill 969 (Gonzalez, 2019), Assembly Committee on Public Employment and Retirement. ↑
Discussed in Hearing
5MIN
Assembly Floor
20MIN
Senate Floor
3MIN
Senate Standing Committee on Appropriations
23MIN
Senate Standing Committee on Judiciary
27MIN
Senate Standing Committee on Labor, Public Employment and Retirement
22MIN
Assembly Floor
44MIN
Assembly Standing Committee on Public Employment and Retirement
Bill Author
Bill Co-Author(s):
