By: Brown S.B. No. 433
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to the right of certain municipalities to maintain local
1-2 control over wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of
1-3 employment of certain employees.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Subtitle A, Title 5, Local Government Code, is
1-6 amended by adding Chapter 145 to read as follows:
1-7 CHAPTER 145. LOCAL CONTROL OF MUNICIPAL
1-8 EMPLOYMENT MATTERS
1-9 Sec. 145.001. POPULATION. This chapter applies only to a
1-10 municipality with a population of 1.5 million or more.
1-11 Sec. 145.002. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
1-12 (1) "Police employee representation committee" means
1-13 an organization of any kind, or any agency or association or plan,
1-14 in which police officers 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 police employees.
1-19 (2) "Public employer" means any municipality or
1-20 agency, board, commission, or political subdivision controlled by a
1-21 municipality that is required to establish the wages, salaries,
1-22 rates of pay, hours, working conditions, and other terms and
1-23 conditions of employment of public employees. The term may
1-24 include, under appropriate circumstances, a mayor, manager,
2-1 administrator of a municipality, municipal governing body, director
2-2 of personnel, personnel board, or one or more other officials,
2-3 regardless of the name by which they are designated.
2-4 (3) "Chief negotiator" means an individual who is
2-5 selected by the police employee representation committee to be the
2-6 chief spokesperson in negotiations with the public employer.
2-7 Sec. 145.003. GENERAL PROVISIONS RELATING TO AGREEMENTS,
2-8 RECOGNITION, AND STRIKES. (a) A municipality may not be denied
2-9 local control over the wages, salaries, rates of pay, hours of
2-10 work, other terms and conditions of employment, or other
2-11 state-mandated personnel issues if the public employer and the
2-12 police employee representation committee recognized as the sole and
2-13 exclusive bargaining agent for all officers covered by this chapter
2-14 come to a mutual agreement on any of the terms listed above. If no
2-15 agreement is reached, the existing state laws, local ordinances,
2-16 and civil service rules remain unaffected. All agreements shall be
2-17 reduced to writing. Nothing in this chapter shall require either
2-18 party to meet and confer on any issue or reach an agreement.
2-19 (b) A public employer may only meet and confer if the police
2-20 employee representation committee recognized under this chapter as
2-21 the sole and exclusive bargaining agent does not advocate the
2-22 illegal right to strike by public employees.
2-23 (c) Employees of a municipality may not engage in strikes or
2-24 organized work stoppages against this state or a municipality of
2-25 this state. An employee who participates in a strike forfeits all
2-26 civil service rights, reemployment rights, and any other rights,
2-27 benefits, or privileges the employee enjoys as a result of
3-1 employment or prior employment, except that the right of an
3-2 individual to cease work may not be abridged if the individual is
3-3 not acting in concert with others in an organized work stoppage.
3-4 Sec. 145.004. RECOGNITION. (a) The police employee
3-5 representation committee recognized as the sole and exclusive
3-6 bargaining agent shall be composed of one representative from each
3-7 police employee organization that has a membership of 150 or more
3-8 active dues-paying members of the bargaining unit on passage of
3-9 this chapter. Before any proposed agreement is to be submitted by
3-10 the police employee representation committee for a ratification
3-11 vote of the members of the bargaining unit pursuant to Section
3-12 145.005, the proposed agreement must be approved by each police
3-13 employee organization's representative.
3-14 (b) Unless and until recognition of the police employee
3-15 representation committee is withdrawn by a majority vote of the
3-16 members of the bargaining unit, the police employee representation
3-17 committee may be recognized by the public employer as the sole and
3-18 exclusive bargaining agent for all sworn officers except the chief
3-19 of police and officers appointed to a rank without a competitive
3-20 examination.
3-21 (c) Nothing in this chapter shall prohibit the police
3-22 employee representation committee recognized as the sole and
3-23 exclusive bargaining agent from appointing a chief negotiator.
3-24 (d) No agreement between the public employer and police
3-25 employee representation committee recognized as the sole and
3-26 exclusive bargaining agent shall prohibit dues deduction for the
3-27 police employee organizations described in Subsection (a).
4-1 Sec. 145.005. ENFORCEABILITY OF AGREEMENT. A written
4-2 agreement made under this chapter between a public employer and the
4-3 police employee representation committee recognized as the sole and
4-4 exclusive bargaining agent is enforceable and binding on the public
4-5 employer, police employee representation committee recognized as
4-6 the sole and exclusive bargaining agent, and the police officers
4-7 covered by the agreement, if the governing body ratified the
4-8 agreement by majority vote and the police employee representation
4-9 committee recognized as the sole and exclusive bargaining agent
4-10 ratified the agreement by a majority vote of the members of the
4-11 bargaining unit by secret ballot. A state district court of a
4-12 judicial district in which the municipality is located has full
4-13 authority and jurisdiction on the application of either party
4-14 aggrieved by an action or omission of the other party when the
4-15 action or omission is related to a right, duty, or obligation
4-16 stated in a written agreement made and ratified under this chapter.
4-17 The court may issue proper restraining orders, temporary and
4-18 permanent injunctions, and any other writ, order, or process,
4-19 including contempt orders, that are appropriate to enforce any
4-20 written agreement ratified by both the public employer and the
4-21 police employee representation committee recognized as the sole and
4-22 exclusive bargaining agent.
4-23 Sec. 145.006. AGREEMENT SUPERSEDES CONFLICTING PROVISIONS.
4-24 (a) A written agreement under this chapter between a public
4-25 employer and the police employee representation committee
4-26 recognized as the sole and exclusive bargaining agent supersedes a
4-27 previous statute concerning wages, salaries, rates of pay, hours of
5-1 work, and other terms and conditions of employment to the extent of
5-2 any conflict with the previous statute.
5-3 (b) A written agreement under this chapter preempts all
5-4 contrary local ordinances, executive orders, legislation, or rules
5-5 adopted by the state or a political subdivision or agent of the
5-6 state, such as a personnel board, a civil service commission, or a
5-7 home-rule municipality.
5-8 (c) An agreement under this chapter may not diminish or
5-9 qualify any right, benefit, or privilege of an employee under this
5-10 chapter or other law unless approved by a majority vote by secret
5-11 ballot of the members of the bargaining unit.
5-12 Sec. 145.007. REPEAL OF AGREEMENT BY ELECTORATE. Within 30
5-13 days after the first agreement is ratified and signed by both the
5-14 municipality and the police employee representation committee
5-15 recognized as the sole and exclusive bargaining agent, a petition
5-16 signed by 15 percent of the registered voters may be presented to
5-17 the governing body calling an election for the repeal of the
5-18 agreement. The governing body shall call an election of the
5-19 qualified voters at the next uniform date set by the Election Code
5-20 to determine if they desire to repeal the agreement. If at the
5-21 election a majority of the votes cast favor the repeal of the
5-22 adoption of the agreement, then the agreement shall become null and
5-23 void. The ballot shall be printed to provide for voting for or
5-24 against the proposition:
5-25 "Repeal of the adoption of the agreement ratified by the
5-26 municipality and the police employee representation committee
5-27 concerning wages, salaries, rates of pay, hours of work, and other
6-1 terms and conditions of employment."
6-2 Sec. 145.008. PROTECTED RIGHTS OF INDIVIDUAL EMPLOYEES.
6-3 (a) For the purpose of any disciplinary appeal to either the civil
6-4 service commission or a hearing examiner, all members of the
6-5 bargaining unit shall have the right to choose to be represented by
6-6 any person of their choice or police employee organization.
6-7 (b) No agreement shall interfere in the right of members of
6-8 the bargaining unit to pursue allegations of discrimination based
6-9 on race, creed, color, national origin, religion, age, sex, or
6-10 disability with the Commission on Human Rights or the Equal
6-11 Employment Opportunity Commission or to pursue affirmative action
6-12 litigation.
6-13 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
6-14 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
6-15 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
6-16 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
6-17 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
6-18 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.