BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1550
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Date of Hearing: April 9, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
AB 1550 (Rendon) - As Amended: March 19, 2014
Policy Committee: PERSS Vote:5-1
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: Yes
SUMMARY
This bill makes various changes to the Educational Employment
Relations Act (EERA) related to the appointment of a mediator,
implementation of the last, best, and final offer, and changing
language or implementation of terms in a collective bargaining
agreement. Specifically, this bill:
1)Extends the period the Public Employment Relations Board has
to appoint a mediator once they have determined an impasse
exists from 5 to 10 working days.
2)Requires the public school employer to provide the exclusive
representative with written notice of all terms included in
the last, best, and final offer of the public school employer
if the dispute is not settled within 30 days after a
factfinding panel has made its recommendations, or, upon
agreement of both parties, a longer period.
3)Requires the public school employer, at least 30 days prior to
implementation of the last, best, and final offer, to provide
the exclusive representative with written notice of the date
for implementation of the terms of the offer.
4)Prohibits a school employer from unilaterally adding or
removing language from a collective bargaining agreement or
implementing terms and conditions of employment inconsistent
with that agreement, and requires that if language in a
collective bargaining agreement is illegal, the employer and
employee organization must meet and negotiate to remedy the
illegal language.
FISCAL EFFECT
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1)This bill is keyed a local mandate and there could be
significant state mandated reimbursement of local costs. The
bill extends the period to resolve a dispute following the
recommendations of a factfinding panel from 10 to 60 days
(consisting of the revised 30-day negotiation period and the
new 30-day minimum notice period prior to implementation).
The additional time could result in significant costs to
school employers incurred while disputes are being resolved or
prior to implementation of the last, best, and final offer.
2)It is unknown what effect the bill would have on the
prevalence of school employee strikes, but any increase would
likely result in substantial state costs (in excess of
$150,000 to the General Fund). The additional time could help
resolve disputes that would have otherwise led to strikes,
resulting in a net cost savings. Conversely, the additional
time may allow school employees to organize a strike more
effectively, resulting in greater costs.
3)In addition, to the extent any other employee representatives
choose to seek similar changes with respect to the timing and
implementation of last, best, and final offers, the costs
described above would be incurred within other local or state
agencies.
COMMENTS
1) Purpose. According to the author, the current impasse law in
the EERA allows districts to conduct only "surface bargaining"
and use tactics designed to result in an impasse and thereby
impose their last, best, and final offer language into
bargaining unit contracts, resulting in an unfair advantage to
employers.
Although current law permits the employee's bargaining unit to
reject the last, best, and final offer and impose a strike,
proponents argue the extraordinary remedy of a strike often
creates extreme hardship for many employees, and as a result
employees often opt to accept the last, best, and final offer
to avoid that hardship.
2) Existing Law. Under the EERA, impasse procedures allow either
the employer or the employee organization to declare that an
AB 1550
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impasse exists. If the PERB determines that is the case, it
must appoint a mediator, who must meet with the parties in an
effort to resolve the differences. Should the mediator not
effect a settlement within 15 days of his appointment, the
PERB must appoint a factfinding panel on request of either
party; the factfinding panel must conduct its operations
according to statutory guidelines.
The recommendations of the factfinding panel are advisory, but
the public school employer must make public the findings and
recommendations within 10 days of receipt. The employer must
also negotiate if there is anything to negotiate. If no
agreement is reached, the employer has the right to make the
final decision on all matters within the scope of
representation. As a result, the employer can unilaterally
implement its last, best, and final offer at the conclusion of
impasse proceedings.
3) Opposition. Opponents, including the Association of
California School Administrators, argue that existing statutes
and rules relating to mediation and impasse offer sufficient
statutory, regulatory and legal recourse with respect to
contract negotiations for both employers and employees, and
that the proposed changes would only lengthen the time
available to employees to decide whether to accept a last,
best, and final offer or strike.
Analysis Prepared by : Joel Tashjian / APPR. / (916) 319-2081