BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2835|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 2835
Author: Cooper (D), et al.
Amended: 8/19/16 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE PUBLIC EMP. & RET. COMMITTEE: 3-2, 6/27/16
AYES: Pan, Beall, Hall
NOES: Morrell, Moorlach
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 5-2, 8/11/16
AYES: Lara, Beall, Hill, McGuire, Mendoza
NOES: Bates, Nielsen
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 53-24, 6/1/16 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT: Public employees: orientation and informational
programs: exclusive representatives
SOURCE: California Labor Federation
California School Employees Association
Services Employees International Union
DIGEST: This bill requires public employers subject to
specified labor relations acts to provide an employee
orientation to all newly hired public employees, requires the
orientation to meet specified minimum requirements, and
authorizes the employees' exclusive representative to make a 30
minute presentation at the orientation.
Senate Floor Amendments of 8/19/16 delete the enumeration of the
orientation's required content and extend the period within
which the employer must provide the orientation from two to four
months from the time of the employee's hiring. These amendments
make minor, corresponding technical changes. The amendments
AB 2835
Page 2
also exempt public employers from the bill's provisions with
respect to in-home supportive services providers, as specified.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1)Establishes several statutory frameworks which provide for
public employer-employee relations by providing 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.
2)Delegates jurisdiction over the public 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 but provides the City and County of
Los Angeles a local alternative to PERB oversight.
3)Requires that all employers of 50 or more employees provide at
least two hours of classroom or other effective interactive
training and education regarding sexual harassment to all
supervisory employees within six months of their assumption of
a supervisory position, and thereafter every two years and
requires sexual harassment training to include training on the
prevention of abusive conduct.
4)Requires all state employees who are required to file
statements of economic interest with the Fair Political
Practices Commission to attend ethics training every two
years.
This bill:
1) Requires public employers subject to the specified public
employer employee labor relations acts to provide all newly
hired public employees an employee orientation within four
months of the time of hiring.
2) Provides that if employees are represented, the exclusive
AB 2835
Page 3
representative shall be permitted to make a presentation of
30 minutes to begin in the first half of the orientation.
3) Requires that the exclusive representative must be given not
less than 10 days' notice in advance of an orientation.
4) Provides that the orientations shall be conducted in-person
during work hours.
5) Requires the public employer to provide to the exclusive
representative, with the name, job title, department, work
location, telephone number, and home address of any newly
hired employee who may be represented by the exclusive
representative within 30 days of the date of hire or by the
first pay period of the month following hire.
The employee information to be provided by the employer must
be provided to the exclusive representative regardless of
whether the newly hired employee was previously employed by
the public employer. The information shall be provided in a
manner consistent with existing law restricting disclosure of
information regarding public employees and participants in
the address confidentiality program which protects personal
information of specified individuals such as law enforcement
and victims of domestic abuse.
6) Specifies that the bill does not prohibit agreements between
a public employer and an exclusive representative that
provide for orientation sessions that vary from the
requirements of the default orientation provision.
If an agreement is negotiated, this bill's default provisions
shall not apply to the extent that they are inconsistent with
the agreement. In the absence of a mutual agreement
regarding the orientation sessions, all of the requirements
of the default orientation provision of this bill shall
apply.
7) Clarifies that a public employer does not unlawfully support
or favor an employee organization or encourage employees to
join any organization in preference to another as prohibited
by existing law, as specified, by permitting an exclusive
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Page 4
representative the opportunity to present at employee
orientations and informational programs as required by this
bill or consistent with a negotiated agreement.
8) Clarifies that this bill's provision establishing the
default employee orientation session does not modify the
scope of bargaining.
9) Requires, notwithstanding provisions of the California
Public Records Act exempting specified records from
disclosure, the public employer to provide the exclusive
representative with a list containing the name, job title,
department, work location, phone number, and home address of
all employees in the bargaining unit at least every 90 days,
unless more frequent or more detailed lists are required by
an agreement with the exclusive representative. The
information shall be provided in a manner consistent with
existing law restricting disclosure of information regarding
public employees and participants in the address
confidentiality program which protects personal information
of specified individuals such as law enforcement and victims
of domestic abuse.
10)Defines public employers that are subject to this bill's
provisions as those employers subject to public employer
employee labor relations acts, as specified.
11)Exempts from this bill, public employers with respect to
in-home services providers who are covered by Section
12301.25 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.
12)Defines "newly hired public employee" to mean any employee,
whether permanent, temporary, full time, or part time, hired
by a public employer, who is still employed as of the date of
the new hire orientation.
13)Defines "exclusive representative" to mean the exclusive
representative or recognized employee organization for the
bargaining unit.
14)Gives PERB jurisdiction over violations of the requirements
of this bill and provides that PERB's powers and duties
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Page 5
apply, as specified.
15)States that this bill will not result in a local mandate, as
specified, but that if the Commission on State Mandates
determines that this act contains mandated costs,
reimbursements to local agencies and school districts for
those costs shall be made pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with
Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government
Code.
Background
According to the author:
Traditionally, public sector jobs have had little turnover,
but that is about to change. Governor Brown's January 2016
budget summary states: "With more than 40 percent of the
state workforce entering retirement by 2018, more work is
needed to develop and support the next generation of
employees."
As California faces this coming influx of new public
servants, there is no uniform standard for public employers
to provide an orientation to new employees. Many local
agencies and districts provide orientations, but others have
no orientation at all.
This bill would address that shortcoming in public sector
personnel practices. It would set basic, minimum standards
for local agencies and unions to help educate new workers.
It would also allow for local flexibility.
This bill is good policy for employees, local government,
schools, and the public. Orientations help new employees to
fully understand their responsibilities and the laws that
govern their work. Orientations also educate employees about
their employment rights and benefits and other services
available to them.
Together these provisions will help build a more educated and
effective workforce, will limit liability to public agencies,
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Page 6
and will provide better service to the taxpayers, state,
students and communities served.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: Yes
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, this bill
would result in unknown General and special fund costs, at a
minimum in the millions of dollars annually, for state
departments to modify their administration functions to
implement the provisions of the bill.
SUPPORT: (Verified8/22/16)
California Labor Federation (co-source)
California School Employees Association (co-source)
Services Employees International Union (co-source)
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees,
AFL-CIO
CAL FIRE Local, 2881
California Faculty Association
California-Nevada Conference of Operating Engineers
California Nurses Association
California Professional Firefighters
California Teachers Association
Laborers' International Union of North America, Local 777
Laborers' International Union of North America, Local 792
Los Angeles County Professional Peace Officers Association
Orange County Employees Association
Orange County Professional Firefighters Association
Organization of SMUD Employees
San Diego County Court Employees Association
San Luis Obispo County Employees Association
OPPOSITION: (Verified8/22/16)
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Association of California Community College Administrators
Association of California School Administrators
California Association of School Business Officials
California Association of Suburban Schools
California County Superintendents Association
California School Boards Association
California Special Districts Association
California State Association of Counties
City of Long Beach
City of Palmdale
Kern County Superintendent of Schools
League of California Cities
Riverside County Superintendent of Schools
Rural County Representatives of California
San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors
Urban Counties of California
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: According to the author, this bill
"Creates a uniform statewide standard regarding public employee
orientation; ensures an effective use of taxpayer funding by
confirming employees have balanced and accurate information
regarding their rights and benefits; creates a more educated and
effective workforce to respond to serve the public; and ensures
all new teachers, firefighters, police officers and other public
employees understand their rights, benefits, obligations and
duties."
According to the sponsors, California faces an influx of new
public servants with more than 40 percent of the state workforce
entering retirement by 2018. "There is no uniform standard for
public employers to provide an orientation to new employees.
Many local agencies and districts provide orientations, but
others have no orientation at all." AB 2835 ensures "that all
future public employees participate in a new hire orientation
about key policies such as workplace safety, sexual harassment,
and violence prevention. It would also give workers the
opportunity to hear from their union about their contractual
rights and benefits."
AB 2835
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ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION:According to the opposition, "The
requirements in AB 2835 will significantly increase the costs
for public agencies. By increasing the frequency and number of
orientations, while requiring the schools and public employers
to utilize additional staff to cover classes and other services
during the orientation, the bill will drive up state and locals
costs in the hundreds of millions of dollars. The over
prescriptive requirements of AB 2835 prevent management and
labor from utilizing more cost efficient and effective methods
of conducting orientations."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 53-24, 6/1/16
AYES: Alejo, Arambula, Atkins, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brown,
Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper,
Dababneh, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Cristina Garcia,
Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray,
Roger Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder,
Lopez, Low, McCarty, Medina, Mullin, Nazarian, O'Donnell,
Quirk, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Mark Stone,
Thurmond, Ting, Weber, Williams, Wood, Rendon
NOES: Achadjian, Travis Allen, Baker, Brough, Chang, Chávez,
Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Jones, Kim,
Lackey, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, Melendez, Obernolte,
Olsen, Patterson, Steinorth, Wagner, Wilk
NO VOTE RECORDED: Bigelow, Dahle, Waldron
Prepared by:Glenn Miles / P.E. & R. / (916) 651-1519
8/22/16 23:10:19
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