Bill Text: HI SB2369 | 2018 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Relating To Public Employees.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-02-15 - The committee on LBR deferred the measure. [SB2369 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2018-SB2369-Amended.html
THE SENATE |
S.B. NO. |
2369 |
TWENTY-NINTH LEGISLATURE, 2018 |
S.D. 1 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
Proposed |
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A BILL FOR AN ACT
RELATING TO PUBLIC EMPLOYEES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
SECTION 1. The legislature finds that Hawaii's collective bargaining in public employment law, chapter 89, Hawaii Revised Statutes, was enacted to promote labor management harmony in the public sector by:
(1) Establishing guidelines for employment relations relating to wages, hours, and working conditions;
(2) Providing a method for dealing with disputes and work stoppages; and
(3) Maintaining a favorable political and social environment.
The legislature further finds that the policy to promote harmonious and cooperative relations between government and its employees rests on the right of public employees to organize for the purpose of collective bargaining in accordance with article XIII, section 2, of the Constitution of the State of Hawaii.
The legislature also finds that changes in federal constitutional law could have a major impact on public employee collective bargaining in Hawaii. In Friedrichs v. California Teachers Ass'n, et al., 2013 WL 892547 (D. Cal. C.D. 2013), aff'd 204 WL 10076847 (Mem.) (9th Cir. 2014), aff'd 136 S.Ct. 1083 (Mem.), 194 L.Ed. 2d 255 (2016) the petitioners had asked the United States Supreme Court to overrule Abood v. Detroit Bd. of Educ., 431 U.S. 209, 97 S. Ct. 1782, 52 L.Ed.2d 261 (1977) (allowing public sector agency fees). An equally-divided United States Supreme Court upheld the status quo established in the Abood case. Many commentators considered that, but for the sudden death of supreme court justice Antonin Scalia, Friedrichs would have overruled Abood.
In June 2017, the petitioner in Janus v. American Fed'n of State, County, and Mun. Employees, Council 31, 851 F.3d 746 (7th Cir. 2017), cert. granted, 138 S.Ct. (Mem), 198 L.Ed. 2d 780 (2017) again asked the United States Supreme Court to overrule Abood. The court has accepted the case, and a decision is expected by the end of June 2018. Most commentators again expect that Abood will be overruled, and traditional agency fees will be banned.
The legislature finds that should the United States Supreme Court strike down laws requiring the payment of union dues by public sector employees, such a ruling would fundamentally undermine the legislature's consistent efforts to bar "free riders", and ensure labor management peace. Furthermore, not only would such a ruling undercut the collective bargaining representative's ability to collect resources from its bargaining unit, it would greatly diminish public employees' ability to negotiate with management and cause government to lose the advantages envisioned under the collective bargaining in public employment law.
The purpose of this Act is to ensure that public employees are able to effectively bargain collectively with their public employers by establishing a mechanism, consistent with the United States Constitution, that will provide exclusive bargaining representatives with the resources necessary to adequately represent public employees and will remove economic incentives to "free ride" so that Hawaii law will not be biased for or against employee membership in the bargaining unit's exclusive representative.
SECTION 2. Section 89-1, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (b) to read as follows:
"(b) The legislature declares that it is the public policy of the State to promote harmonious and cooperative relations between government and its employees and to protect the public by assuring effective and orderly operations of government. These policies are best effectuated by:
(1) Recognizing the right of public employees to organize for the purpose of collective bargaining;
(2) Requiring public employers to negotiate with and
enter into written agreements with exclusive representatives on matters of
wages, hours, and other conditions of employment, while, at the same time,
maintaining the merit principle pursuant to section 76-1; [and]
(3) Enabling exclusive representatives to maintain financial viability and organizational capacity, and the ability to effectively represent public employees; and
[(3)] (4) Creating a labor relations
board to administer the provisions of chapters 89 and 377."
SECTION 3. Section 89-2, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending the definition of "exclusive representative" to read as follows:
"Exclusive representative" means the
employee organization certified by the board under section 89-8 as the
collective bargaining agent to represent all employees in an appropriate
bargaining unit [without discrimination and without regard to employee
organization membership]."
SECTION 4. Section 89-3, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:
"§89-3 Rights of employees.
Employees shall have the right of self-organization and the right to form,
join, or assist any employee organization for the purpose of bargaining
collectively through representatives of their own choosing on questions of wages,
hours, and other terms and conditions of employment, and to engage in lawful,
concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual
aid or protection, free from interference, restraint, or coercion. An employee
shall have the right to refrain from any or all of such activities[, except
for having a payroll deduction equivalent to regular dues remitted to an
exclusive representative as provided in section 89-4]."
SECTION 5. Section 89-4, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:
"§89-4 Payroll deductions. (a) Upon receiving from an exclusive representative a written statement specifying the amount of regular dues required of its members in the appropriate bargaining unit, the employer shall deduct this amount from the payroll of every member employee in the appropriate bargaining unit, and remit the amount to the exclusive representative. Additionally, the employer shall deduct an amount equivalent to the regular dues from the payroll of every consenting nonmember employee in the appropriate bargaining unit, and shall remit the amount to the exclusive representative; provided that the deduction from the payroll of every nonmember employee shall be made only for an exclusive representative which provides for a procedure for determining the amount of a refund to any employee who demands the return of any part of the deduction which represents the employee's pro rata share of expenditures made by the exclusive representative for activities of a political and ideological nature unrelated to terms and conditions of employment. If a nonmember employee objects to the amount to be refunded, the nonmember employee may petition the board for review thereof within fifteen days after notice of the refund has been received. If an employee organization is no longer the exclusive representative of the appropriate bargaining unit, the deduction from the payroll of members and nonmembers shall terminate.
(b) The employer shall, upon written
authorization by an employee, executed at any time [after the employee's
joining an employee organization], deduct from the payroll of the employee
the amount of membership dues, initiation fees, representation or service
fees, group insurance premiums, [and] or other association
benefits, and shall remit the amount to the employee organization
designated by the employee.
(c) The employer shall continue all payroll assignments authorized by an employee prior to July 1, 1970, and all assignments authorized under subsection (b) until notification is submitted by an employee to discontinue the employee's assignments.
(d) The exclusive representative may establish:
(1) Dues, rates, or charges to support its activities and other programs it chooses to provide to its members;
(2) Rates or charges for services or other programs it chooses to provide to nonmembers regularly paying pro‑rata costs of representation through dues equivalents; and
(3) Rates or charges for services or other programs it chooses to provide to nonmembers who do not pay pro‑rata costs of representation.
(e) The public employer shall be entitled to rely on, and shall not be liable for accurately implementing, reports of employee deductions supplied by the exclusive representative. Any challenge to rates or charges for services shall be within the exclusive original jurisdiction of the board as a prohibited practice."
SECTION 6. Section 89-8, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:
"(a) The employee organization which has
been certified by the board as representing the majority of employees in an
appropriate bargaining unit shall be the exclusive representative of all
employees in the unit. As exclusive representative, it shall have the right to
act for and negotiate agreements covering all employees in the unit and shall
be responsible for representing the interests of all such employees without
discrimination and without regard to employee organization membership[.],
except that in the grievance-arbitration procedure, it need not represent
employees who do not pay reasonable costs of representation. Any other
provision herein to the contrary notwithstanding, whenever two or more employee
organizations which have been duly certified by the board as the exclusive
representatives of employees in bargaining units merge, combine, or amalgamate
or enter into an agreement for common administration or operation of their
affairs, all rights and duties of such employee organizations as exclusive
representatives of employees in such units shall inure to and shall be
discharged by the organization resulting from such merger, combination,
amalgamation, or agreement, either alone or with such employee organizations.
Election by the employees in the unit involved, and certification by the board
of such resulting employee organization shall not be required."
SECTION 7. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.
SECTION 8. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
Report Title:
Public Employment; Collective Bargaining; Dues
Description:
Amends collective bargaining law to ensure that exclusive bargaining representatives retain the resources necessary to adequately represent public employees and remove economic incentive to free ride. (Proposed SD1)
The summary description of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.