BILL NUMBER: AB 646 ENROLLED
BILL TEXT
PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 31, 2011
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY SEPTEMBER 6, 2011
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 22, 2011
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 27, 2011
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 11, 2011
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 5, 2011
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 23, 2011
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Atkins
FEBRUARY 16, 2011
An act to add Sections 3505.5 and 3505.7 to, and to repeal and add
Section 3505.4 of, the Government Code, relating to local public
employee organizations.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 646, Atkins. Local public employee organizations: impasse
procedures.
The Meyers-Milias-Brown Act contains various provisions that
govern collective bargaining of local represented employees, and
delegates jurisdiction to the Public Employment Relations Board to
resolve disputes and enforce the statutory duties and rights of local
public agency employers and employees. The act requires the
governing body of a public agency to meet and confer in good faith
regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment
with representatives of recognized employee organizations. Under the
act, if the representatives of the public agency and the employee
organization fail to reach an agreement, they may mutually agree on
the appointment of a mediator and equally share the cost. If the
parties reach an impasse, the act provides that a public agency may
unilaterally implement its last, best, and final offer.
This bill would authorize the employee organization, if the
mediator is unable to effect settlement of the controversy within 30
days of his or her appointment, to request that the matter be
submitted to a factfinding panel. The bill would require that the
factfinding panel consist of one member selected by each party as
well as a chairperson selected by the board or by agreement of the
parties. The factfinding panel would be authorized to make
investigations and hold hearings, and to issue subpoenas requiring
the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of
evidence. The bill would require all political subdivisions of the
state to comply with the panel's requests for information.
This bill would require, if the dispute is not settled within 30
days, the factfinding panel to make findings of fact and recommend
terms of settlement, for advisory purposes only. The bill would
require that these findings and recommendations be first issued to
the parties, but would require the public agency to make them
publicly available within 10 days after their receipt. The bill would
provide for the distribution of costs associated with the
factfinding panel, as specified.
This bill would prohibit a public agency from implementing its
last, best, and final offer until at least 10 days after the
factfinders' written findings of fact and recommended terms of
settlement have been submitted to the parties and the agency has held
a public hearing regarding the impasse.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 3505.4 of the Government Code is repealed.
SEC. 2. Section 3505.4 is added to the Government Code, to read:
3505.4. (a) If the mediator is unable to effect settlement of the
controversy within 30 days after his or her appointment, the
employee organization may request that the parties' differences be
submitted to a factfinding panel. Within five days after receipt of
the written request, each party shall select a person to serve as its
member of the factfinding panel. The Public Employment Relations
Board shall, within five days after the selection of panel members by
the parties, select a chairperson of the factfinding panel.
(b) Within five days after the board selects a chairperson of the
factfinding panel, the parties may mutually agree upon a person to
serve as chairperson in lieu of the person selected by the board.
(c) The panel shall, within 10 days after its appointment, meet
with the parties or their representatives, either jointly or
separately, and may make inquiries and investigations, hold hearings,
and take any other steps it deems appropriate. For the purpose of
the hearings, investigations, and inquiries, the panel shall have the
power to issue subpoenas requiring the attendance and testimony of
witnesses and the production of evidence. Any state agency, as
defined in Section 11000, the California State University, or any
political subdivision of the state, including any board of education,
shall furnish the panel, upon its request, with all records, papers,
and information in their possession relating to any matter under
investigation by or in issue before the panel.
(d) In arriving at their findings and recommendations, the
factfinders shall consider, weigh, and be guided by all the following
criteria:
(1) State and federal laws that are applicable to the employer.
(2) Local rules, regulations, or ordinances.
(3) Stipulations of the parties.
(4) The interests and welfare of the public and the financial
ability of the public agency.
(5) Comparison of the wages, hours, and conditions of employment
of the employees involved in the factfinding proceeding with the
wages, hours, and conditions of employment of other employees
performing similar services in comparable public agencies.
(6) The consumer price index for goods and services, commonly
known as the cost of living.
(7) The overall compensation presently received by the employees,
including direct wage compensation, vacations, holidays, and other
excused time, insurance and pensions, medical and hospitalization
benefits, the continuity and stability of employment, and all other
benefits received.
(8) Any other facts, not confined to those specified in paragraphs
(1) to (7), inclusive, which are normally or traditionally taken
into consideration in making the findings and recommendations.
SEC. 3. Section 3505.5 is added to the Government Code, to read:
3505.5. (a) If the dispute is not settled within 30 days after
the appointment of the factfinding panel, or, upon agreement by both
parties within a longer period, the panel shall make findings of fact
and recommend terms of settlement, which shall be advisory only. The
factfinders shall submit, in writing, any findings of fact and
recommended terms of settlement to the parties before they are made
available to the public. The public agency shall make these findings
and recommendations publicly available within 10 days after their
receipt.
(b) The costs for the services of the panel chairperson selected
by the board, including per diem fees, if any, and actual and
necessary travel and subsistence expenses, shall be equally divided
between the parties.
(c) The costs for the services of the panel chairperson agreed
upon by the parties shall be equally divided between the parties, and
shall include per diem fees, if any, and actual and necessary travel
and subsistence expenses. The per diem fees shall not exceed the per
diem fees stated on the chairperson's résumé on file with the board.
The chairperson's bill showing the amount payable by the parties
shall accompany his or her final report to the parties and the board.
The chairperson may submit interim bills to the parties in the
course of the proceedings, and copies of the interim bills shall also
be sent to the board. The parties shall make payment directly to the
chairperson.
(d) Any other mutually incurred costs shall be borne equally by
the public agency and the employee organization. Any separately
incurred costs for the panel member selected by each party shall be
borne by that party.
(e) A charter city, charter county, or charter city and county
with a charter that has a procedure that applies if an impasse has
been reached between the public agency and a bargaining unit, and the
procedure includes, at a minimum, a process for binding arbitration,
is exempt from the requirements of this section and Section 3505.4
with regard to its negotiations with a bargaining unit to which the
impasse procedure applies.
SEC. 4. Section 3505.7 is added to the Government Code, to read:
3505.7. After any applicable mediation and factfinding procedures
have been exhausted, but no earlier than 10 days after the
factfinders' written findings of fact and recommended terms of
settlement have been submitted to the parties pursuant to Section
3505.5, a public agency that is not required to proceed to interest
arbitration may, after holding a public hearing regarding the
impasse, implement its last, best, and final offer, but shall not
implement a memorandum of understanding. The unilateral
implementation of a public agency's last, best, and final offer shall
not deprive a recognized employee organization of the right each
year to meet and confer on matters within the scope of
representation, whether or not those matters are included in the
unilateral implementation, prior to the adoption by the public agency
of its annual budget, or as otherwise required by law.