By: Brown S.B. No. 433
73R3378 CAG-F
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 A, Title 5, Local Government Code, is
1-7 amended by adding Chapter 145 to read as follows:
1-8 CHAPTER 145. LOCAL CONTROL OF MUNICIPAL
1-9 EMPLOYMENT MATTERS
1-10 Sec. 145.001. MUNICIPALITY SUBJECT TO CHAPTER. This chapter
1-11 applies only to a municipality with a population of 1.5 million or
1-12 more.
1-13 Sec. 145.002. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
1-14 (1) "Employee association" means an organization in
1-15 which public employees participate and that exists wholly or partly
1-16 for the purpose of dealing with one or more public or private
1-17 employers concerning grievances, labor disputes, wages, salaries,
1-18 rates of pay, hours of work, or working conditions affecting public
1-19 employees.
1-20 (2) "Public employer" means any municipality or an
1-21 agency, board, commission, or political subdivision of or
1-22 controlled by a municipality that is required to establish the
1-23 wages, salaries, rates of pay, hours of work, working conditions,
1-24 other terms or conditions of employment, or affirmative action
2-1 programs for public employees. The term may include, under
2-2 appropriate circumstances, a mayor, manager, administrator of a
2-3 municipality, municipal governing body, director of personnel,
2-4 personnel board, or one or more other officials, regardless of the
2-5 names by which they are designated.
2-6 Sec. 145.003. GENERAL PROVISIONS RELATING TO AGREEMENTS,
2-7 RECOGNITION, AND STRIKES. (a) A municipality may not be denied
2-8 local control over the wages, salaries, rates of pay, hours of
2-9 work, other terms and conditions of employment, affirmative action
2-10 programs, or other state-mandated personnel issues. To resolve
2-11 these matters at the local level, a public employer shall enter
2-12 into a mutual written agreement governing these issues with an
2-13 employee association that does not advocate the illegal right to
2-14 strike of public employees.
2-15 (b) A municipality may recognize an employee association
2-16 that does not advocate the illegal right to strike of public
2-17 employees as the bargaining agent for any group of public employees
2-18 requesting the representation under this chapter.
2-19 (c) Employees of a municipality may not engage in strikes or
2-20 organized work stoppages against this state or a municipality of
2-21 this state. An employee who participates in a strike forfeits all
2-22 civil service rights, reemployment rights, and any other rights,
2-23 benefits, or privileges the employee enjoys as a result of
2-24 employment or prior employment, except that the right of an
2-25 individual to cease work may not be abridged if the individual is
2-26 not acting in concert with others in an organized work stoppage.
2-27 Sec. 145.004. RECOGNITION OF EMPLOYEE ASSOCIATION. (a) An
3-1 employee association selected by a petition signed by a majority of
3-2 its sworn police officers in the municipality, excluding the chief
3-3 of police and any officers appointed to a rank without competitive
3-4 examination, may be recognized by the public employer as the sole
3-5 and exclusive bargaining agent for all of the covered employees
3-6 unless and until recognition of the association is withdrawn by a
3-7 majority of those employees.
3-8 (b) In the event of a question about whether an employee
3-9 association is the majority representative of the covered
3-10 employees, the question shall be resolved by a fair election
3-11 conducted according to procedures agreeable to the parties. If the
3-12 parties are unable to agree on the procedures, either party may
3-13 request the American Arbitration Association to conduct the
3-14 election and to certify the election results. Certification of the
3-15 results of the election resolves the question concerning
3-16 representation. The employee association is liable for the
3-17 expenses of the election, except that if two or more associations
3-18 seeking recognition as the bargaining agent each submit a petition
3-19 signed by a majority of the covered employees, the associations
3-20 shall share equally the costs of the election.
3-21 (c) The employee association recognized as the sole and
3-22 exclusive bargaining agent for all police officers of the
3-23 municipality and the municipality shall receive and review
3-24 communications from the various ethnic, fraternal, and labor
3-25 organizations representing police officers in that municipality.
3-26 The employee association recognized as the sole and exclusive
3-27 bargaining agent shall place on the association's negotiating team
4-1 a representative selected by the association that represents
4-2 African-American police officers, the association that represents
4-3 Spanish-speaking police officers, any police labor organization
4-4 with membership exceeding 25 percent of the bargaining unit, and
4-5 any other police employee organization agreeable to both the
4-6 municipality and the recognized employee association. An agreement
4-7 between the public employer and the employee association may not
4-8 prohibit dues deduction for any association that may place a
4-9 representative on the recognized association's negotiating team.
4-10 Sec. 145.005. OPEN MEETINGS REQUIRED. All deliberations
4-11 relating to an agreement between an employee association and a
4-12 public employer shall be open to the public and in compliance with
4-13 other state statutes.
4-14 Sec. 145.006. ENFORCEABILITY OF AGREEMENT. A written
4-15 agreement made under this chapter between a public employer and an
4-16 employee association is enforceable and binding on the public
4-17 employer, the employee association, and the public employees
4-18 covered by the agreement if the governing body of the public
4-19 employer ratifies the agreement by majority vote and the employee
4-20 association ratifies the agreement by majority vote of the members
4-21 of the bargaining unit by secret ballot. A state district court of
4-22 the judicial district in which the municipality is located has full
4-23 authority and jurisdiction on the application of either party
4-24 aggrieved by an action or omission of the other party when the
4-25 action or omission relates to the rights, duties, or obligations
4-26 provided by this chapter. The court may issue proper restraining
4-27 orders, temporary and permanent injunctions, and any other writ,
5-1 order, or process, including contempt orders, that are appropriate
5-2 to enforcing this chapter.
5-3 Sec. 145.007. AGREEMENT SUPERSEDES CONFLICTING PROVISIONS.
5-4 (a) A written agreement under this chapter between a public
5-5 employer and an employee association supersedes a previous statute
5-6 concerning wages, salaries, rates of pay, hours of work, other
5-7 terms and conditions of employment, and affirmative action programs
5-8 to the extent of any conflict with the previous statute.
5-9 (b) A written agreement under this chapter preempts all
5-10 contrary local ordinances, executive orders, legislation, or rules
5-11 adopted by the state or a political subdivision or agent of the
5-12 state, such as a personnel board, a civil service commission, or a
5-13 home-rule municipality.
5-14 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
5-15 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
5-16 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
5-17 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
5-18 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
5-19 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.