BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
104 (Steinberg)
Hearing Date: 3/17/2011 Amended: A I
Consultant: Franzoia, Bob Policy Vote: L&IR 5-2
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BILL SUMMARY: SB 104 would permit agricultural employees, as an
alternative procedure, to select their labor representatives by
submitting a petition to the Agricultural Labor Relations Board
(ALRB) accompanied by representation cards signed by a majority
of the bargaining unit. This bill would also extend existing
prohibitions and penalties to employers who engage in unfair
labor practices with regard to a majority signup election.
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 Fund
Alternative election Potentially significant reduction in
costs General
procedure compared to current election procedure
Investigation of filings of Unknown new costs potentially
in the range General
unfair labor practices of $120 in the first year; likely
decreasing in
future years; unknown increase, if any,
in
penalty revenues
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STAFF COMMENTS: This bill meets the criteria for referral to the
Suspense File.
Under current law, the selection of representation by
agricultural employees requires that, after a petition has been
presented to the ALRB, the ALRB has seven days to investigate
and conduct an election. The ALRB assigns employees to monitor
voting locations and other activities in order to ensure an
impartial election process. Costs to the ALRB to conduct
elections under this process has ranged from approximately
$7,500 for a small (40 electors), one day election with a single
voting site to approximately $80,000 for a large election (1430
electors) with multiple voting sites. For large elections, the
ALRB has received assistance, on a reimbursement basis, from
employees other state and federal entities.
This bill would create a majority signup election whereby
agricultural employees would elect their labor representative by
signing representation cards without holding a polling site
election. Under a majority signup election, a labor
representative would deliver or mail the representation cards to
the ALRB for tabulation and comparison against a list of current
employees in the bargaining unit. If more than 50 percent of
the employees in the bargaining unit sign representation cards,
the ALRB would certify the election and recognize the labor
representative.
Under this bill, the employer would have 48 hours after the
petition is served to file with the ALRB its response to a
petition. The ALRB would have 48 hours after a petition for
majority signup election is filed to determine whether the labor
organization submitted the number of representation cards
required. This bill prescribes what information must
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SB 104 (Steinberg)
be included on a representation card. This analysis assumes
that if majority signup elections are authorized, the ability to
conduct such elections will result in a significant increase in
petitions and there would be an initial increase in allegations
of unfair labor practices, for example, misleading statements,
forgery or fraud relating to these petitions. These allegations
would require investigation by the ALRB.
The cost of an investigation will depend in part on the type of
allegation, the number of workers subject the petition and the
vote. For example, if there is an allegation that three
authorization cards were forged and the vote was 1,200 to 100,
the time needed to investigate is much less than if there is an
allegation that three authorization cards were forged and the
vote was 16 to 14. Staff estimates investigations will range in
cost from $1,000 to $5,000. If 80 petitions (twice the
historical average) are filed and one half of those petitions
result in allegations of unfair labor practices, investigative
costs in the first year could be approximately $120,000 (40 x
$3,000). As employers become more familiar with majority signup
elections, the number of allegations is expected to decline.
Long term, this bill should result in a reduction in costs for
labor representative elections over current law.
This bill is similar to other bills vetoed by Governor
Schwarzenegger, including AB 2386 (Nunez) 2008. That bill, too,
was vetoed with the following message:
In 1975, the historical Agricultural Labor Relations Act (ALRA)
was passed by the California Legislator in order to "ensure
peace in the agricultural fields by guaranteeing justice for all
agricultural workers and stability in labor relations." The
ALRA allowed for a secret ballot election and provided
protections so that an agricultural worker could decide
privately without fear of retaliation or intimidation whether or
not to be represented by a union.
AB 2386 creates a new and unique process for how agricultural
workers choose or decline union representation. I am concerned
that aspects of AB 2386's novel process weaken
workers' existing privacy rights and protections under the ALRA.
Specifically, I am concerned that authorizing the union seeking
to represent workers to receive and distribute election ballots
from the Agricultural Labor Relations Board (board), complete
information on the ballot envelopes, and return the workers'
ballots to the board unnecessarily compromises the workers'
right to privacy protected by the existing secret ballot
process.
However, as I indicated last year in my veto of SB 180, I remain
committed to ensuring that agricultural workers receive all
workplace protections that our labor laws afford. To that end,
I
am calling for the creation of a dedicated funding source to
facilitate enhanced oversight and education in the agricultural
industry. I am directing my Labor and Workforce Development
Agency to work with the proponents of this bill and all
stakeholders to develop a proposal which will create such a
program in a fiscally responsible way, for the ultimate benefit
of both agricultural employees and employers.
Staff notes a 2010-11 Finance Letter provided $2.3 million to
the Department of Industrial Relations' Division of Occupational
Safety and Health for a Targeted Agricultural Enforcement
Program. This program targets heat-related enforcement and
education as workplaces where workers are the least likely to be
served by existing law enforcement approaches. The dollars are
a permanent increase in federal funds.