By Tillery H.B. No. 1196
75R3595 JRD-F
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the conditions of employment for firefighters.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Subtitle C, Title 5, Local Government Code, is
1-5 amended by adding Chapter 176 to read as follows:
1-6 CHAPTER 176. LOCAL CONTROL OF FIREFIGHTER
1-7 EMPLOYMENT MATTERS
1-8 Sec. 176.001. APPLICABILITY. This chapter does not apply to
1-9 a political subdivision that has adopted Chapter 174.
1-10 Sec. 176.002. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
1-11 (1) "Firefighters association" means an organization
1-12 in which firefighters participate and that exists for the purpose,
1-13 in whole or in part, of dealing with one or more employers, whether
1-14 public or private, concerning grievances, labor disputes, wages,
1-15 rates of pay, hours of employment, or conditions of work affecting
1-16 public employees.
1-17 (2) "Public employer" means any political subdivision,
1-18 including a municipality, or an agency, board, or commission, or
1-19 other governmental entity controlled by a political subdivision,
1-20 that is required to establish the wages, salaries, rates of pay,
1-21 hours, working conditions, and other terms and conditions of
1-22 employment of public employees. The term includes, under
1-23 appropriate circumstances, a mayor, manager, administrator of a
1-24 municipality, municipal governing body, commissioners court,
2-1 director of personnel, personnel board, or one or more other
2-2 officials, regardless of the name by which they are designated.
2-3 Sec. 176.003. GENERAL PROVISIONS RELATING TO AGREEMENTS,
2-4 RECOGNITION, AND STRIKES. (a) A political subdivision may not be
2-5 denied local control over the wages, salaries, rates of pay, hours
2-6 of work, and other terms of employment, or other state-mandated
2-7 personnel issues, if the public employer and the firefighters
2-8 association recognized as the sole and exclusive bargaining agent
2-9 for the firefighters employed by the political subdivision come to
2-10 a mutual agreement on any of the terms of employment. If an
2-11 agreement is not reached, the state laws, local ordinances, and
2-12 civil service rules remain unaffected. All agreements shall be
2-13 written. Nothing in this chapter requires either party to meet and
2-14 confer on any issue or reach an agreement.
2-15 (b) A public employer may meet and confer only if the
2-16 firefighters association recognized under this chapter as the sole
2-17 and exclusive bargaining agent does not advocate the illegal right
2-18 to strike by public employees.
2-19 (c) Firefighters of a political subdivision may not engage
2-20 in strikes or organized work stoppages against this state or a
2-21 political subdivision of this state. A firefighter who
2-22 participates in a strike forfeits all civil service rights,
2-23 reemployment rights, and any other rights, benefits, or privileges
2-24 the firefighter enjoys as a result of employment or prior
2-25 employment, except that the right of an individual to cease work
2-26 may not be abridged if the individual is not acting in concert with
2-27 others in an organized work stoppage.
3-1 Sec. 176.004. RECOGNITION OF FIREFIGHTERS ASSOCIATION. (a)
3-2 A firefighters association submitting a petition signed by a
3-3 majority of the firefighters employed by the political subdivision,
3-4 excluding the head of the department and assistant department heads
3-5 in the rank or classification immediately below that of the
3-6 department head, shall be recognized by the public employer as the
3-7 sole and exclusive bargaining agent for all of the covered
3-8 firefighters until recognition of the association is withdrawn by a
3-9 majority of those firefighters.
3-10 (b) Whether a firefighters association represents a majority
3-11 of the covered firefighters shall be resolved by a fair election
3-12 conducted according to procedures agreeable to the parties. If the
3-13 parties are unable to agree on procedures, either party may request
3-14 the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service to conduct the
3-15 election and to certify the results. Certification of the results
3-16 of an election resolves the question concerning representation.
3-17 The firefighters association is liable for the expenses of the
3-18 election, except that if two or more associations seeking
3-19 recognition as the bargaining agent submit petitions signed by a
3-20 majority of the covered firefighters, the associations shall share
3-21 equally the costs of the election.
3-22 Sec. 176.005. OPEN MEETINGS REQUIRED. All deliberations
3-23 relating to an agreement between a firefighters association and a
3-24 public employer shall be open to the public and held in compliance
3-25 with any applicable state statutes.
3-26 Sec. 176.006. RATIFICATION AND ENFORCEABILITY OF AGREEMENT.
3-27 (a) A written agreement made under this chapter between a public
4-1 employer and a firefighters association recognized as the sole and
4-2 exclusive bargaining agent is enforceable and binding on the public
4-3 employer, the firefighters association recognized as the sole and
4-4 exclusive bargaining agent, and firefighters covered by the
4-5 agreement if:
4-6 (1) the political subdivision's governing body
4-7 ratified the agreement by a majority vote; and
4-8 (2) the firefighters association ratified the
4-9 agreement by conducting a secret ballot election at which only
4-10 firefighters of the political subdivision in the association were
4-11 eligible to vote, and a majority of the votes cast at the election
4-12 favored ratifying the agreement.
4-13 (b) A state district court of the judicial district in which
4-14 a majority of the population of the political subdivision is
4-15 located has full authority and jurisdiction on the application of
4-16 either party aggrieved by an action or omission of the other party
4-17 when the action or omission is related to a right, duty, or
4-18 obligation provided by any written agreement ratified under
4-19 Subsection (a). The court may issue proper restraining orders,
4-20 temporary and permanent injunctions, and any other writ, order, or
4-21 process, including contempt orders, that are appropriate to
4-22 enforcing the written agreement ratified under Subsection (a).
4-23 Sec. 176.007. AGREEMENT SUPERSEDES CONFLICTING PROVISIONS.
4-24 (a) A written agreement under this chapter between a public
4-25 employer and the firefighters association recognized as the sole
4-26 and exclusive bargaining agent supersedes, during the term of the
4-27 agreement, a previous statute concerning wages, salaries, rates of
5-1 pay, hours of work, affirmative action programs, and other terms of
5-2 employment to the extent of 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 a
5-10 civil service statute or other law unless approved by a majority of
5-11 the votes cast at the secret ballot election held by the
5-12 firefighters association to ratify the agreement under Section
5-13 176.006.
5-14 (d) A matter that is not covered by an agreement ratified
5-15 under Section 176.006 remains covered by any applicable statute,
5-16 civil service provision, or other law.
5-17 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.
5-18 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
5-19 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
5-20 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
5-21 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
5-22 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.