BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 537
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Date of Hearing: May 8, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
AB 537 (Bonta) - As Amended: April 17, 2013
Policy Committee: PERSSVote:5-2
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: Yes
SUMMARY
This bill makes various changes to the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act
(MMBA) governing local public employer and employee relations
related to arbitration agreements, mediation, ground rules,
contract ratification, and employee relations ordinances.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Prohibits a public agency from establishing ground rules for
the meet and confer process that limit the right of an
employee or employee organization to communicate with
officials of the public agency.
2)Requires that if an agreement is reached between the public
agency and the recognized employee organization, an memorandum
of understanding (MOU) will jointly be prepared and will
become binding upon execution or ratification, as specified.
3)Authorizes either party to be able to request mediation if
they fail to reach agreement, requires that the parties agree
upon the appointment of a mediator within five days of the
request, and specifies that if the parties fail to agree on
the appointment of a mediator, either party may request the
Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) appoint a mediator.
PERB is required to appoint the mediator within five days of
receiving the request.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)Based on the staffing that PERB estimated was necessary to
administer the bill, the fiscal impact of administering the
provisions of this bill is approximately $750,000.
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2)This bill is keyed a local mandate and there could be
substantial state mandated reimbursement of local costs. The
amount would depend on the number of requests for arbitration
and mediation. Reimbursable costs could be in the millions of
dollars. The Commission on State Mandates has approved a test
claim for any local government subject to the jurisdiction of
PERB that incurs increased costs as a result of a mandate,
meaning their costs are eligible for reimbursement. There are
several thousand local governments, many with dozens of
bargaining units that would be subject to the bill.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose. According to the author this bill improves local
employer-employee relations by amending the MMBA to address
five areas of concerns, arbitration agreements, mediation,
ground rules, contract ratification and employer relations
ordinances.
2)Support. According to the co-sponsors, AFSCME, SEIU and
California Professional Firefighters, AB 537 protects the
rights of workers to collectively bargain by clarifying
procedures and rights during several important situations.
The bill requires employers to ratify tentative agreements in
a timely fashion. The co-sponsors state this bill improves
current law, which dissuades arbitration by requiring
procedural defenses be submitted to the arbitrator.
Other issues are addressed in the bill include requiring
mediation when parties declare an impasse in negotiations and
prohibiting employers from limit union communications with
elected officials. This bill also requires negotiation
parties to meet and actually confer with one another when
deciding to change the rules shaping their relationship.
3)Background. The Meyers-Milias-Brown Act (MMBA) governs
labor-management relations and collective bargaining in
California local government, including cities. The California
Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) is the administrative
agency charged with administering the MMBA. MMBA contains
various provisions intended to promote full communication
between public employers and their employees by providing a
reasonable method of resolving disputes regarding wages, hours
and other terms and conditions of employment between public
employers and public employee organizations.
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It also provides that if representatives of the public agency
and the employee organization fail to reach agreement, the two
parties may mutually agree on the appointment of a mediator
and equally share the cost. MMBA also delegates jurisdiction
over the employer-employee relationship to the Public
Employment Relations Board (PERB) and charges PERB with
resolving disputes and enforcing the statutory duties and
rights of local public agency employers and employee
organizations.
4)Opposition . Employment law attorneys whose clients are public
agencies have explained that generally they encourage their
clients to attempt mediation after impasse. However, since
mediation is designed for the parties to reach agreement,
requiring the parties to participate in an involuntary
mediation is seldom successful. This mandate for mediation
will only delay the labor negotiations process. Additionally,
delaying the negotiations process will make it more difficult
for agencies to prepare and plan their budgets. In addition,
the five-day time limit to agree upon the appointment of a
mediator is of great concern. Attempting to force a decision
within five days of the mediation request will only lead to
additional delay, conflict, and expense on the part of both
parties, if that short time period proves insufficient.
The California State Association of Counties (CSAC) opposes
the bill because it ignores decades of local rulemaking on
collective bargaining procedures and undermines the counties'
constitutional rights to provide for the compensation of
employees. CSAC believes these changes are contrary to the
central premise of MMBA.
5)Related legislation. AB 537 (Bonta) various changes to the
Meyers-Milias-Brown Act (MMBA) governing local public employer
and employee relations related to arbitration agreements,
mediation, ground rules, contract ratification, and employee
relations ordinances. AB 537 is pending in this committee.
6)Previous legislation .
a) AB 1606 (Perea), Chapter 314, Statutes of 2012,
authorized an employee organization to request that the
parties' differences be submitted to a fact-finding panel
not sooner than 30 days, but not more than 45 days,
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following the appointment of a mediator or entering into a
mediation process. If the dispute was not submitted to
mediation, an employee organization may request that the
parties' differences be submitted to a factfinding panel
not later than 30 days following the date either party
provided the other with written notice of a declaration of
impasse.
b) AB 646 (Atkins), Chapter 680, Statutes of 2011, allowed
local public employee organizations to request factfinding
if a mediator is unable to reach a settlement within 30
days of appointment, defines certain responsibilities of
the factfinding panel and interested parties, and made
specified exemptions from these provisions.
Analysis Prepared by : Roger Dunstan / APPR. / (916) 319-2081