Bill Text: CA AB537 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Meyers-Milias-Brown Act: impasse procedures.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2013-10-13 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 785, Statutes of 2013. [AB537 Detail]

Download: California-2013-AB537-Amended.html

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BILL NUMBER: AB 537	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  SEPTEMBER 6, 2013
	AMENDED IN SENATE  SEPTEMBER 3, 2013
	AMENDED IN SENATE  AUGUST 12, 2013
	AMENDED IN SENATE  JUNE 17, 2013
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 17, 2013
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MARCH 19, 2013

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Bonta

                        FEBRUARY 20, 2013

   An act to amend  Sections 3505 and   Section
 3505.1 of, and to add Section 3505.8 to, the Government Code,
relating to public employment.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 537, as amended, Bonta. Meyers-Milias-Brown Act: impasse
procedures. 
   The Meyers-Milias-Brown Act requires the governing body of a local
public agency to meet and confer in good faith regarding wages,
hours, and other terms and conditions of employment with
representatives of recognized employee organization. The act requires
that, in order to meet and confer in good faith, a public agency
meet personally and confer promptly, and continue for a reasonable
period of time, with the employee organization in order to exchange
freely prior to the agency adopting a budget for the next fiscal
year.  
   This bill would prohibit a public agency from conditioning the
meeting and conferring on a limitation on the right of employees or
an employee organization to communicate with officials of the agency.

   The  Meyers-Milias-Brown Act requires the governing body of a
local public agency to meet and confer in good faith regarding wages,
hours, and other terms and conditions of employment with
representatives of recognized employee organization. The  act
requires, if an agreement is reached, that the parties prepare
jointly a nonbinding written memorandum of understanding of the
agreement that would then be presented to the governing body or its
statutory representative for determination.
   This bill would require  that   that, if
 a tentative agreement  is  reached by the 
parties be presented to   parties,  the governing
body  for determination and, if not rejected  
vote to accept or reject that agreement  within 30 
days, be deemed adopted. This  days of the date it is
first considered, as specified. The  bill would not bar the
filing of a charge for failure to meet and confer in good faith if
the governing body rejects the tentative agreement. The bill would
further require the parties to jointly prepare a written memorandum
of understanding upon adoption of the tentative agreement by the
governing body.
   Under existing law, a written agreement to submit to arbitration a
specified controversy is valid, enforceable, and irrevocable, except
if grounds exist for the revocation of the written agreement.
   This bill would additionally provide that an arbitration agreement
contained in a memorandum of understanding entered into under the
Meyers-Milias-Brown Act is enforceable, as specified.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
   
  SECTION 1.    Section 3505 of the Government Code
is amended to read:
   3505.  (a) The governing body of a public agency, or the boards,
commissions, administrative officers, or other representatives as
properly designated by law or by a governing body, shall meet and
confer in good faith regarding wages, hours, and other terms and
conditions of employment with representatives of those recognized
employee organizations, as defined in subdivision (b) of Section
3501, and shall consider fully the presentations as are made by the
employee organization on behalf of its members prior to arriving at a
determination of policy or course of action.
   (b) "Meet and confer in good faith" means that a public agency, or
such representatives as it may designate, and representatives of
recognized employee organizations, shall have the mutual obligation
personally to meet and confer promptly upon request by either party
and continue for a reasonable period of time in order to exchange
freely information, opinions, and proposals, and to endeavor to reach
agreement on matters within the scope of representation prior to the
adoption by the public agency of its final budget for the ensuing
year. A public agency shall not propose as a condition of meeting and
conferring a limitation on the right of an employee organization or
employees of the agency to communicate with officials of the agency.
The process should include adequate time for the resolution of
impasses where specific procedures for the resolution are contained
in local rule, regulation, or ordinance, or when these procedures are
utilized by mutual consent. 
   SEC. 2.   SECTION 1.   Section 3505.1 of
the Government Code is amended to read:
   3505.1.  If a tentative agreement is reached by the authorized
representatives of the public agency and a recognized employee
organization or recognized employee organizations,  that
tentative agreement shall be presented to  the governing
body  for determination. If the governing body does not
  shall vote to accept or  reject the tentative
agreement within 30 days  from its presentation, it shall be
deemed adopted   of the date it is first considered at a
duly noticed public meeting  . A decision by the governing body
to reject the tentative agreement shall not bar the filing of a
charge of unfair practice for failure to meet and confer in good
faith. If the governing body adopts the tentative agreement, the
parties shall jointly prepare a written memorandum of understanding.
   SEC. 3.   SEC. 2.   Section 3505.8 is
added to the Government Code, to read:
   3505.8.  An arbitration agreement contained in a memorandum of
understanding entered into under this chapter shall be enforceable in
an action brought pursuant to Title 9 (commencing with Section 1280)
of Part 3 of the Code of Civil Procedure. An assertion that the
arbitration claim is untimely or  that  
otherwise barred because  the party seeking arbitration has
failed to satisfy the procedural prerequisites to arbitration shall
not be a basis for refusing to submit the dispute to arbitration. All
procedural defenses shall be presented to the arbitrator for
resolution. A court shall not refuse to order arbitration because a
party to the memorandum of understanding contends that the conduct in
question arguably constitutes an unfair practice subject to the
jurisdiction of the board.    If a party to a memorandum
of understanding files an unfair practice charge based on such
conduct, the board shall place the charge in abeyance if the dispute
is subject to final and binding arbitration pursuant to the
memorandum of understanding, and shall dismiss the charge at the
conclusion of the arbitration process unless the charging party
demonstrates that the settlement or arbitration award is repugnant to
the purposes of this chapter.