BILL ANALYSIS �
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 2419
Author: Garcia (D)
Amended: 3/12/14 in Assembly
Vote: 21
SENATE PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT & RETIREMENT COMM : 3-2, 6/9/14
AYES: Torres, Block, Evans
NOES: Walters, Gaines
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 51-22, 5/15/14 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Public employee relations: agency shop arrangements
SOURCE : AFSCME
DIGEST : This bill exempts the County and City of Los Angeles
from a prohibition against agency shop arrangements for
management employees.
ANALYSIS : Existing law:
1.Establishes the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act, which provides a
statutory framework for local government employer-employee
relations by providing a reasonable method of resolving
disputes regarding wages, hours, and other terms and
conditions of employment between local public employers and
public employee organizations.
2.Defines, in the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act, "agency shop" to mean
an arrangement that requires an employee, as a condition of
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continued employment, either to join the recognized employee
organization or to pay the organization a service fee in an
amount not to exceed the standard initiation fee, periodic
dues, and general assessments of the organization.
3.Authorizes a local public agency and an employee organization
that has been recognized as the exclusive or majority
bargaining agent to negotiate an agency shop fee arrangement.
4.Prohibits an agency shop arrangement from applying to
management employees.
This bill exempts the County and City of Los Angeles from the
existing prohibition against agency shop arrangements for
management employees.
Comments
Under an agency shop arrangement, nonmembers of a union are
required to pay a fair share fee for representation to the
recognized employee bargaining agent for contract negotiations,
administration, and grievance processing.
According to the author, "Recognized public employee
organizations, including those that represent managerial public
employees, must carry out various duties and obligations to duly
represent their membership and to reach agreements with their
public agency employers on all matters within the scope of their
representation.
"As such, recognized employee organizations that represent
public managerial employees have the same legal obligations and
must exercise the same duty of care in representing their
membership, as those organizations that represent non-managerial
employees, and must likewise incur and absorb the many varied
costs associated with those representation duties and
obligations."
Prior Legislation
AB 1141 (Diaz, Chapter 311, Statutes of 2003) deleted
confidential and supervisory employees from the list of
employees for which an agency shop union fees arrangement does
not apply.
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SB 739 (Solis, Chapter 901, Statutes of 2001) authorizes an
agency shop agreement to take effect either through a negotiated
agreement between a public agency and a recognized employee
organization or without a negotiated agreement if a petition is
signed by 30% of the employees in the applicable bargaining unit
and the agency shop agreement is approved by a majority of the
employees.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No Local:
No
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/11/14)
AFSCME, AFL-CIO, (source)
Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs
California Association of Professional Employees
California School Employees Association, AFL-CIO
Los Angeles County Professional Peace Officers' Association
Los Angeles Deputy Probation Officers Union, AFSCME Local #685
Los Angeles Police Protective League
SEIU
OPPOSITION : (Verified 6/11/14)
City of Los Angeles
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to supporters, "These costs
are particularly high for public agencies in the County of Los
Angeles and City of Los Angeles, as they are some of the largest
public agencies in the state, and they operate outside the
Public Employment Relations Board's jurisdiction. In
acknowledging these particular issues, this bill would guarantee
better representation for LA's public managerial employees."
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : According to the City of Los
Angeles, "State law prohibits an agency shop arrangement from
including management employees. Your legislation would carve
out a special exception for Los Angeles making the city unequal
under the law.
"Los Angeles' employee relations laws and regulations are in
full compliance with the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act and other state
laws regulating labor relations. To the extent there are issues
in Los Angeles, we should seek a collaborative local solution
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rather than pursue a top-down approach that runs afoul of local
control agreements. I look forward to working with you to
address any such concerns."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 51-22, 5/15/14
AYES: Alejo, Ammiano, Bloom, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta,
Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau,
Chesbro, Cooley, Dababneh, Dickinson, Eggman, Fong, Garcia,
Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Hall, Roger Hern�ndez,
Holden, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Lowenthal, Medina, Mullin,
Muratsuchi, Pan, Perea, John A. P�rez, V. Manuel P�rez, Quirk,
Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Skinner,
Stone, Ting, Weber, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, Atkins
NOES: Achadjian, Allen, Bigelow, Ch�vez, Conway, Dahle,
Donnelly, Beth Gaines, Grove, Hagman, Harkey, Jones, Linder,
Logue, Maienschein, Melendez, Nestande, Olsen, Patterson,
Wagner, Waldron, Wilk
NO VOTE RECORDED: Daly, Fox, Frazier, Gorell, Mansoor, Nazarian,
Vacancy
JL:nl 6/11/14 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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