BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó




                   Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
                            Senator Kevin de León, Chair


          AB 537 (Bonta) - Local Government Impasse Procedures
          
          Amended: August 12, 2013        Policy Vote: PE&R 3-2
          Urgency: No                     Mandate: Yes
          Hearing Date: August 19, 2013                           
          Consultant: Maureen Ortiz       
          
          This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
          
          
          Bill Summary:  AB 537 makes several changes to the  
          Meyers-Milias-Brown Act (MMBA) governing impasse procedures for  
          local agencies and their respective employee representation  
          organizations with respect to ground rules, ratifications of  
          MOUs, mediation, and arbitration procedures.
          .
          Fiscal Impact: 
          
              Approximately $940,000 in annual costs to the Public  
              Employees' Relations Board  (General Fund)

              Unknown, potentially significant reimbursable mandate costs  
              to local agencies (General Fund)

          Background:  Existing law establishes the Meyers-Milias-Brown  
          Act, which provides a statutory framework for local government  
          employer-employee relations by providing a reasonable method of  
          resolving disputes regarding wages, hours, and other terms and  
          conditions of employment between local public employers and  
          public employee organizations.

          Under MMBA, local public agencies are authorized to adopt  
          reasonable rules and regulations after consultation in good  
          faith with representatives of an employee organization or  
          organizations.  A public agency is required to meet and confer  
          in good faith with the representatives of a recognized employee  
          organization regarding wages, hours, and other terms and  
          conditions of employment.  The Public Employment Relations Board  
          (PERB) is charged with resolving disputes and enforcing the  
          statutory duties and rights of local public agency employers and  
          employee organizations.









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          Current law further provides that an agreement between the  
          parties shall not be final and binding upon the parties to the  
          negotiations until it is presented to the public agency's  
          governing body or statutory representative for determination.   
          If, after a reasonable amount of time, representatives of the  
          public agency and the employee organization fail to reach an  
          agreement,  either  party may request mediation.  Within 5 days of  
          the mediation request, existing law requires  both  parties to  
          agree on the appointment of a mediator and equally share the  
          cost.  However, there is no provision for when the parties  
          cannot agree on a mediator.
          Current law authorizes an employee organization to request that  
          the parties' differences be submitted to a factfinding panel  
          following the appointment of a mediator or entering into a  
          mediation process, or following a written notice of a  
          declaration of impasse.

          A public agency is allowed to implement its last, best and final  
          offer once any applicable mediation and factfinding procedures  
          have been exhausted.  Current law provides that even with  
          implementation of the best and final offer, a recognized  
          employee organization has the right each year to meet and confer  
          with the public agency.

          Proposed Law:  AB 537 contains the following provisions:

            a)  Prohibits a public agency from proposing, as a condition  
              for meeting and conferring, ground rules that limit the  
              right of an employee or employee organization to communicate  
              with officials of the public agency.

            b)  Requires that if a  tentative  agreement is reached by the  
              authorized representatives of the public agency and a  
              recognized employee organization or recognized employee  
              organizations, that agreement shall be presented to the  
              governing body for determination and provides that the  
              governing body has thirty (30) days to reject the tentative  
              agreement or it shall be deemed adopted.

            c)  Clarifies that a decision by the governing body not to  
              adopt the tentative agreement shall not bar the filing of an  
              unfair practice charge for failure to have met and bargained  
              in good faith through authorized representatives.








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            d)  Requires, if the governing body adopts the tentative  
              agreement, that the parties shall jointly prepare a written  
              memorandum of understanding.

            e)  Authorizes  either  party to request mediation if they fail  
              to reach agreement. 

            f)  Provides that an arbitration agreement contained in a MOU  
              is enforceable, as specified. 

            g)  Requires a public agency to engage in the meet and confer  
              process before adopting reasonable rules and regulations  
              governing the administration of employer-employee relations  
              and specifies that disputes arising under this provision  
              will be resolved pursuant to the factfinding procedures of  
              the MMBA.

            h)  Extends the period of time whereby the parties must  
              mutually agree upon the appointment of a mediator from 5  
              days to 14 days of a request by one of the parties.

          Related Legislation:  AB 616 (Bocanegra), pending on this  
          committee's Suspense File also makes several changes to local  
          government impasse procedures.

          Staff Comments:  AB 537 makes changes to the MMBA that will  
          require additional workload to the PERB similar to its workload  
          under provisions of the Educational Employment Relations Act  
          (EERA), also under the jurisdiction of the Public Employment  
          Relations Board.  In deriving the cost estimates, PERB is basing  
          the additional workload on a significant increase in mediation  
          workload resulting from a number of cases that are comparable to  
          those it receives annually under the EERA and the State  
          Mediation and Conciliation Service.  Current estimates are based  
          on the need for 40 new mediator appointments each month,  
          entailing approximately 13 hours of work for each case, to  
          assist parties in resolving MMBA bargaining impasses. 

          Additionally, PERB estimates a significant increase in workload  
          due to the new provision requiring negotiations for the adoption  
          of local rules governing employer-employee relations.  The exact  
          increase in workload to PERB is unknown, however, new  








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          regulations will need to be promulgated as well as the potential  
          for a large number of new unfair practice charges which will  
          require additional staff in the General Counsel's office to  
          process the charges, issue complaints or dismissals, and conduct  
          informal settlement conferences.  Also, the Administrative Law  
          Division will need to conduct formal hearings and issue written  
          proposed decisions, process injunctive relief requests, and  
          handle court litigation whenever a local rule that was adopted  
          without the benefit of a meet-and-confer process is alleged to  
          be "unreasonable". 

          Local agencies will incur potentially significant costs related  
          to arbitration, mediation, and rule making procedures.  These  
          costs will be reimbursable as a state mandate and paid from the  
          General Fund.