BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1008|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1008
Author: Buchanan (D) and Bonta (D), et al.
Amended: 9/4/13 in Senate
Vote: 27 - Urgency
SENATE GOVERNANCE & FINANCE COMMITTEE : 5-2, 8/21/13
AYES: Wolk, Beall, DeSaulnier, Hernandez, Liu
NOES: Knight, Emmerson
SENATE HEALTH COMMITTEE : 6-2, 8/21/13
AYES: Hernandez, Beall, De León, DeSaulnier, Monning, Pavley
NOES: Anderson, Nielsen
NO VOTE RECORDED: Wolk
SENATE PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT & RETIREMENT COMM : 5-0, 9/6/13
AYES: Beall, Block, Gaines, Walters, Yee
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : Not relevant
SUBJECT : Alameda County Medical Center: privatization of
services
SOURCE : Alameda Health Systems
American Federation of State, County and Municipal
Employees,
AFL-CIO
Union of American Physicians and Dentists
DIGEST : This bill makes finding regarding the agreement
between Sutter Health and the Alameda Health System (AHS) to
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transfer ownership of San Leandro Hospital to AHS, and specifies
how employees of a facility acquired by, or merged into, AHS
shall be treated with regard to their retirement benefits, and
specifies that those employees shall not automatically become
members of the Alameda County Employees' Retirement Association
(ACERA).
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1.Establishes the hospital authority as a separate public
agency, established by the Board of Supervisors of Alameda
County to manage, administer, and control the Alameda County
Medical Center (doing business as the AHS).
2.Requires the hospital authority to be governed by a board that
is appointed by the Board of Supervisors of the County of
Alameda, and requires its mission to be the management,
administration, and other control of the group of public
hospitals, clinics, and programs that comprise AHS in a manner
that ensures appropriate, quality, and cost-effective medical
care.
3.Requires the hospital authority to have the power to sue or be
sued, to employ personnel, and to contract for services
required to meet its obligations.
4.Provides for a personnel transition plan for the time the
hospital authority was created, but prohibits anything in the
personnel transition plan from being construed as prohibiting
the hospital authority from determining the number of
employees, the number of full-time equivalent positions, the
job descriptions, and the nature and extent of classified
employment positions.
5.Requires the hospital authority to have sole authority to
negotiate memorandums of understanding with appropriate
employee organizations.
This bill:
1.Prohibits, prior to January 1, 2024, AHS from entering into
any contract with any private person or entity to replace
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services being provided by physicians and surgeons who are
employed by AHS, and in a recognized collective bargaining
unit as of March 31, 2013, without clear and convincing
evidence that the needed medical care can only be delivered
cost-effectively by a private contractor.
2.Makes findings that an agreement has been reached between
Sutter Health, operators of San Leandro Hospital, and AHS as
of October 31, 2013, and that this bill is necessary in order
to ensure continued care of residents of Alameda County and
benefits for employees of the hospital.
3.Specifies that certain employees and officers of AHS,
including those who are employees of a facility that is
acquired by, or merged into AHS, will not automatically become
members of ACERA, as specified.
4.Provides that on or after the effective date of this bill, the
ability of an employee of AHS to participate in ACERA is
limited as follows:
A. Prohibits a person who is an employee of a facility
acquired by AHS or who later becomes an employee of that
facility, who is not currently a member of ACERA, and who
is not subject to a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), from
participating in ACERA. The employee will instead
participate in one or more retirement plans adopted by AHS
on November 27, 2012, or as subsequently amended. (The AHS
plans include a Defined Contribution Plan and a Hybrid
Retirement Plan).
B. Allows a person who is an employee of a facility
acquired by AHS or who later becomes an employee of that
facility, who is not currently a member of ACERA, and who
is subject to a MOU, to become a member of ACERA or one or
more of the retirement plans adopted by AHS on November 27,
2012, or as subsequently amended, or in a pension trust
sponsored by a third party, as agreed to in a collective
bargaining agreement.
C. Prohibits, upon adoption of a resolution by AHS making
this provision applicable, a person who is subsequently
hired by AHS who is not a member of ACERA on the date of
hire and who is not subject to a MOU, from participating in
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ACERA. The employee will instead participate in one or
more retirement plans adopted by AHS on November 27, 2012,
or as subsequently amended.
1.Prohibits a person who is employed by AHS on or before the
effective date of this bill who is not qualified for
membership in ACERA at that time from becoming qualified for
membership as a result of subsequent employment with AHS. The
employee will instead participate in one or more retirement
plans adopted by AHS on November 27, 2012, or as subsequently
amended.
2.Is an urgency statute in order to provide for the transfer of
health care facilities that will ensure continued access to
care for residents of Alameda County.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No Local:
No
SUPPORT : (Verified 9/6/13)
Alameda Health Systems (co-source)
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees,
AFL-CIO (co-
source)
Union of American Physicians and Dentists (co-source)
International Longshoremen's & Warehousemen's Union, Local 6
International Union of Operation Engineers
Service Employees International Union
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : This bill is sponsored by the Union of
American Physicians and Dentists - Local 206 (UAPD), which
states that it has learned that AHS is planning to contract-out
all 100 of its employed physicians which are represented by UAPD
by January 2, 2014, but because AHS denies having formed such
intent, nothing can be done about it in court or before the
Public Employee Relations Board. UAPD states that this bill
proposes to both clarify that the decision to privatize at AHS
is negotiable, and to provide for disputes arising in such
negotiations to be resolved by a neutral arbitrator.
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal
Employees, AFL-CIO (AFSCME), is co-sponsoring this bill, and
states that it is in response to AHS' repeated attempts to bust
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the physicians' union by contracting out all 100 employed
physicians. According to AFSCME, AHS has attempted
privatization several times over the past two decades, but was
blocked by courts or arbitration rulings. AFSCME states that
this bill will ensure that the jobs of health workers are not
contracted out unless AHS can provide a clear and convincing
reason that the needed care can only be delivered
cost-effectively by a private contractor.
AB:nl 9/6/13 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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