BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1881|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1881
Author: Jones-Sawyer (D)
Amended: 3/28/14 in Assembly
Vote: 21
SENATE PUBLIC EMPL. & RETIR. COMM. : 3-2, 6/23/14
AYES: Torres, De Le�n, Steinberg
NOES: Walters, Gaines
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 5-2, 8/4/14
AYES: De Le�n, Hill, Lara, Padilla, Steinberg
NOES: Walters, Gaines
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 52-22, 5/15/14 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Public employee relations: Los Angeles
SOURCE : AFSCME
Los Angeles County Professional Peace Officers
Association
DIGEST : This bill sets standards for appointing members to
the Los Angeles City Employee Relations Board (ERB) and the Los
Angeles County Employee Relations Commission (ERCOM).
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1. Permits local governments under the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act
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(MMBA) to establish administrative procedures for employee
representation and collective bargaining agreements.
2. Authorizes the state's Public Employment Relations Board
(PERB) to resolve public employee labor disputes under MMBA.
3. Establishes, through their respective local directives and
ordinances, ERB and ERCOM to ensure that city and county
employees and their representatives are fairly treated, that
their rights are maintained, and that their requests are
fairly heard, considered and resolved. ERB and ERCOM are
independent, quasi-judicial agencies subject to
constitutional due process requirements.
4. Specifies that ERB and ERCOM have the power and
responsibility to take actions on issues, as specified,
including union recognition, unit determinations, elections,
and unfair labor practices in their respective jurisdictions
and consistent with state statute governing public
employer-employee labor relations.
The bill:
1. Requires that appointments to ERB and ERCOM be made from
respective lists of nominees jointly submitted by the
applicable public employer and a committee of the exclusive
representatives of the employer's respective employees,
within 30 days of submission of the list.
2. Provides that ERB and ERCOM appointees meet minimum
qualifications, as specified.
3. Prohibits the city or county from requiring, as part of a
contract for services, that the ERB or ERCOM commission
members or hearing officers indemnify the city or county, as
applicable, from liability arising out of commission
rulings.
4. Prohibits the city or county from withholding or reducing
payments to ERB or ERCOM commission members or hearing
officers after services have been rendered.
5. Authorizes the provisions of this bill to be enforced
through an action for writ of mandate in superior court.
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6. Provides that any local reimbursable costs will be paid, as
specified, if the Commission on State Mandates determines
that the bill results in a state mandate.
Background
According to AFSCME District Council 36, in September 2013, the
Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors unilaterally revised the
County Relations Ordinance which undermined ERCOM's jurisdiction
by unilaterally implementing the new ERCOM Hearing Officers'
contracts. These Hearing Officers' contracts required them to
hold Los Angeles County harmless of any decision that would be
adverse to the county: these terms were calculated to intimidate
and coerce those officers to makes decisions that would heavily
favor the CEO and County. As a result of this revision, all
three ERCOM Commissioners resigned and left ERCOM vacant.
In November 2013, the Mayor of Los Angeles unilaterally
rescinded Executive Directive 2000-15 and specified that there
be no replacement of that directive. ED 2000-15 was codified by
Mayor Richard Riordan which mandated qualifications for the
members of ERB including impartiality to protect interests of
the city and its employees, and broad experience in the field of
employee relations. The Mayor of Los Angeles appointed a
candidate, which the Council then confirmed, to the ERB vacancy
who lacked such broad experience as well as professional
impartiality.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, potentially
minor reimbursable costs. (General Fund)
SUPPORT : (Per Senate PE&R Comm. analysis of 6/12/14 -- unable
to verify at time of writing)
AFSCME (co-source)
Los Angeles County Professional Peace Officers Association
(co-source)
California Association of Professional Employees
California Professional Firefighters
California School Employees Association
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Los Angeles County Lifeguard Association
Los Angeles County Probation Officers Union
Los Angeles Police Protective League
Service Employees International Union
State Coalition of Probation Organizations
Union of American Physicians and Dentists, Local 206
OPPOSITION : (Per Senate PE&R Comm. analysis of 6/12/14 --
unable to verify at time of writing)
City of Los Angeles
Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : AFSCME sponsors this bill, "because it
would restore the joint mutual selection process for the
Commissioners of the City of Los Angeles Employee Relations
Board (ERB) and the Los Angeles County Employer Relations
Commission (ERCOM) to further ensure each board's impartiality
and bolster confidence from labor and management. Providing a
safeguard against a subjective ERB and ERCOM fosters labor peace
by assuring employees, labor organizations, and employment
managers that these administrative bodies are comprised of
established neutrals in the field of labor relations. The
continued success of ERB and ERCOM relies on the trust of all
who appear before it; by restoring the joint mutual selection
process, we are thereby restoring the diminished trust in these
administrative bodies."
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : According to the City of Los
Angeles, this bill alters "local standards for appointments to
ERB as established by local ordinance." Also, this bill
"unnecessarily overrides Los Angeles' well established ordinance
without cause."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 52-22, 5/15/14
AYES: Alejo, Ammiano, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford,
Brown, Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chesbro, Cooley,
Dababneh, Daly, Dickinson, Eggman, Fong, Fox, Frazier, Garcia,
Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gray, Hall, Roger Hern�ndez, Holden,
Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Lowenthal, Medina, Mullin, Muratsuchi,
Pan, Patterson, Perea, John A. P�rez, V. Manuel P�rez, Quirk,
Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Skinner, Stone, Ting,
Weber, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, Atkins
NOES: Achadjian, Allen, Bigelow, Ch�vez, Conway, Dahle,
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Donnelly, Beth Gaines, Grove, Hagman, Harkey, Jones, Linder,
Logue, Maienschein, Melendez, Nestande, Olsen, Quirk-Silva,
Wagner, Waldron, Wilk
NO VOTE RECORDED: Bloom, Gordon, Gorell, Mansoor, Nazarian,
Vacancy
JL:de 8/6/14 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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