By Dutton H.B. No. 2479
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the right of certain municipalities to maintain local
1-3 control over wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of
1-4 employment.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. Subtitle C, Title 5, Local Government Code, is
1-7 amended by adding Chapter 174 to read as follows:
1-8 CHAPTER 174. LOCAL CONTROL OF MUNICIPAL AND COUNTY
1-9 EMPLOYMENT MATTERS
1-10 Sec. 174.001. POPULATION. This chapter applies only to a
1-11 municipality with a population of 1.5 million or more.
1-12 Sec. 174.002. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
1-13 (1) "Employee association" means an organization in
1-14 which public employees participate and which exists for the
1-15 purpose, in whole or part, of dealing with one or more employers
1-16 whether public or private concerning grievances, labor disputes,
1-17 wages, rates of pay, hours of employment, or conditions of work
1-18 affecting public employees.
1-19 (2) "Public employer" means any municipality or
1-20 agency, board, commission, or political subdivision controlled by a
1-21 municipality which is required to establish the wages, salaries,
1-22 rates of pay, hours, working conditions, other terms and conditions
1-23 of employment, and affirmative action programs of public employees.
2-1 The term may include, under appropriate circumstances, a mayor,
2-2 manager, administrator of a municipality, municipal governing body,
2-3 director of personnel, personnel board, or one or more other
2-4 officials regardless of the name by which they are designated.
2-5 Sec. 174.003. GENERAL PROVISIONS RELATING TO AGREEMENTS,
2-6 RECOGNITION, AND STRIKES. (a) A municipality may not be denied
2-7 local control over the wages, salaries, rates of pay, hours of
2-8 work, other terms and conditions of employment, affirmative action
2-9 programs, or other state-mandated personnel issues. A public
2-10 employer may enter into a mutual written agreement governing these
2-11 issues with an employee association that does not advocate the
2-12 illegal right to strike by public employees.
2-13 (b) A municipality may recognize an employee association
2-14 that does not advocate the illegal right to strike by public
2-15 employees as the negotiating agent for any group of public
2-16 employees so requesting such representation under this chapter.
2-17 (c) Employees of a municipality may not engage in strikes or
2-18 organized work stoppages against the state or a municipality of the
2-19 state. An employee who participates in a strike forfeits all civil
2-20 service rights, reemployment rights, and any other rights,
2-21 benefits, or privileges the employee enjoys as a result of
2-22 employment or prior employment, except that the right of an
2-23 individual to cease work may not be abridged if the individual is
2-24 not acting in concert with others in an organized work stoppage.
2-25 Sec. 174.004. RECOGNITION OF EMPLOYEE ASSOCIATION. (a) An
3-1 employee association selected by a petition signed by a majority of
3-2 the nonclassified employees of the municipality, excluding
3-3 department directors, may be recognized by the public employer as
3-4 the sole and exclusive negotiating agent for all of the covered
3-5 employees unless and until recognition of the association is
3-6 withdrawn by a majority of those employees.
3-7 (b) In the event of a question about whether an employee
3-8 association is the majority representative of the covered
3-9 employees, the question shall be resolved by a fair election
3-10 conducted according to procedures agreeable to the parties. If the
3-11 parties are unable to agree on such procedures, either party may
3-12 request the American Arbitration Association to conduct the
3-13 elections and to certify the results. Certification of the results
3-14 of an election resolves the question concerning representation.
3-15 The employee association is liable for the expenses of the
3-16 election, except that if two or more associations seeking
3-17 recognition as the negotiating agent submit petitions signed by a
3-18 majority of the covered employees, the associations shall share
3-19 equally the costs of the election.
3-20 Sec. 174.006. OPEN MEETINGS REQUIRED. All deliberations
3-21 relating to an agreement between an employee association and a
3-22 public employer shall be open to the public and in compliance with
3-23 other state statutes.
3-24 Sec. 174.007. ENFORCEABILITY OF AGREEMENT. A written
3-25 agreement made under this chapter between a public employer and an
4-1 employee association is enforceable and binding on the public
4-2 employer, the employee association, and the public employees
4-3 covered by the agreement if the governing body ratifies the
4-4 agreement by majority vote and the employee association ratifies
4-5 the agreement by a majority vote of the members of the negotiating
4-6 unit by secret ballot. The state district court of the judicial
4-7 district in which the municipality is located has full authority
4-8 and jurisdiction over the application of either party aggrieved by
4-9 an action or omission of the other party when the action or
4-10 omission relates to the rights, duties, or obligations provided by
4-11 this chapter. The court may issue proper restraining orders,
4-12 temporary and permanent injunctions, and any other writs, orders,
4-13 or processes, including contempt orders, that are appropriate to
4-14 enforcing this chapter.
4-15 Sec. 174.008. AGREEMENT SUPERSEDES CONFLICTING PROVISIONS.
4-16 (a) A written agreement under this chapter between a public
4-17 employer and an employee association supersedes a previous statute
4-18 concerning wages, salaries, rates of pay, hours of work, other
4-19 terms and conditions of employment, and affirmative action programs
4-20 to the extent of any conflict with the previous statute.
4-21 (b) A written agreement under this chapter preempts all
4-22 contrary local ordinances, executive orders, legislation, or rules
4-23 adopted by the state or a political subdivision or agent of the
4-24 state such as a personnel board, a civil service commission, or a
4-25 home-rule municipality.
5-1 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
5-2 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
5-3 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
5-4 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
5-5 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
5-6 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.