By Talton H.B. No. 1472
75R5458 JRD-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the conditions of employment for police officers in
1-3 certain municipalities.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Chapter 143, Local Government Code, is amended by
1-6 adding Subchapter J to read as follows:
1-7 SUBCHAPTER J. LOCAL CONTROL OF POLICE OFFICER
1-8 EMPLOYMENT MATTERS IN MUNICIPALITIES WITH
1-9 POPULATION OF 1.5 MILLION OR MORE
1-10 Sec. 143.351. APPLICABILITY. This subchapter applies only
1-11 to a municipality with a population of 1.5 million or more, but
1-12 does not apply to a municipality that has adopted Chapter 174.
1-13 Sec. 143.352. DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter:
1-14 (1) "Police officers association" means an
1-15 organization in which police officers participate and that exists
1-16 for the purpose, in whole or in part, of dealing with one or more
1-17 employers, whether public or private, concerning grievances, labor
1-18 disputes, wages, rates of pay, hours of employment, or conditions
1-19 of work affecting public employees.
1-20 (2) "Public employer" means any municipality or
1-21 agency, board, commission, or political subdivision controlled by a
1-22 municipality that is required to establish the wages, salaries,
1-23 rates of pay, hours, working conditions, and other terms and
1-24 conditions of employment of public employees. The term includes,
2-1 under appropriate circumstances, a mayor, manager, administrator of
2-2 a municipality, municipal governing body, director of personnel,
2-3 personnel board, or one or more other officials, regardless of the
2-4 name by which they are designated.
2-5 Sec. 143.353. 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, and other terms of employment, or other state-mandated
2-9 personnel issues, if the public employer and the police officers
2-10 association recognized as the sole and exclusive bargaining agent
2-11 for all officers covered by this subchapter come to a mutual
2-12 agreement on any of the terms of employment. If an agreement is
2-13 not reached, the state laws, local ordinances, and civil service
2-14 rules remain unaffected. All agreements shall be written. Nothing
2-15 in this subchapter requires either party to meet and confer on any
2-16 issue or reach an agreement.
2-17 (b) A public employer may only meet and confer if the police
2-18 officers association recognized under this subchapter as the sole
2-19 and exclusive bargaining agent does not advocate the illegal right
2-20 to strike by public employees.
2-21 (c) Police officers of a municipality may not engage in
2-22 strikes or organized work stoppages against this state or a
2-23 political subdivision of this state. A police officer who
2-24 participates in a strike forfeits all civil service rights,
2-25 reemployment rights, and any other rights, benefits, or privileges
2-26 the police officer enjoys as a result of employment or prior
2-27 employment, except that the right of an individual to cease work
3-1 may not be abridged if the individual is not acting in concert with
3-2 others in an organized work stoppage.
3-3 Sec. 143.354. RECOGNITION OF POLICE OFFICERS ASSOCIATION.
3-4 (a) A police officers association submitting a petition signed by
3-5 a majority of the paid police officers in the municipality,
3-6 excluding the head of the department and assistant department heads
3-7 in the rank or classification immediately below that of the
3-8 department head, may be recognized by the public employer as the
3-9 sole and exclusive bargaining agent for all of the covered police
3-10 officers until recognition of the association is withdrawn by a
3-11 majority of those police officers.
3-12 (b) Whether a police officers association represents a
3-13 majority of the covered police officers shall be resolved by a fair
3-14 election conducted according to procedures agreeable to the
3-15 parties. If the parties are unable to agree on procedures, either
3-16 party may request the American Arbitration Association to conduct
3-17 the election and to certify the results. Certification of the
3-18 results of an election resolves the question concerning
3-19 representation. The police officers association is liable for the
3-20 expenses of the election, except that if two or more associations
3-21 seeking recognition as the bargaining agent submit petitions signed
3-22 by a majority of the covered police officers, the associations
3-23 shall share equally the costs of the election.
3-24 Sec. 143.355. OPEN RECORDS REQUIRED. All documents relating
3-25 to an agreement between a police officers association and a public
3-26 employer shall be available to the public in accordance with state
3-27 statutes.
4-1 Sec. 143.356. ENFORCEABILITY OF AGREEMENT. (a) A written
4-2 agreement made under this subchapter between a public employer and
4-3 a police officers association recognized as the sole and exclusive
4-4 bargaining agent is enforceable and binding on the public employer,
4-5 the police officers association recognized as the sole and
4-6 exclusive bargaining agent, and police officers covered by the
4-7 agreement if:
4-8 (1) the municipality's governing body ratified the
4-9 agreement by a majority vote; and
4-10 (2) the police officers association ratified the
4-11 agreement by conducting a secret ballot election, held with
4-12 adequate notice and at which only police officers of the
4-13 municipality in the association were eligible to vote, and a
4-14 majority of the votes cast at the election favored ratifying the
4-15 agreement.
4-16 (b) A state district court of the judicial district in which
4-17 a majority of the population of the municipality is located has
4-18 full authority and jurisdiction on the application of either party
4-19 aggrieved by an action or omission of the other party when the
4-20 action or omission is related to a right, duty, or obligation
4-21 provided by any written agreement ratified by both the public
4-22 employer and the police officers association. The court may issue
4-23 proper restraining orders, temporary and permanent injunctions, and
4-24 any other writ, order, or process, including contempt orders, that
4-25 are appropriate to enforcing any written agreement ratified by both
4-26 the public employer and the police officers association.
4-27 Sec. 143.357. AGREEMENT SUPERSEDES CONFLICTING PROVISIONS.
5-1 (a) A written agreement under this subchapter between a public
5-2 employer and the police officers association recognized as the sole
5-3 and exclusive bargaining agent supersedes a previous statute
5-4 concerning wages, salaries, rates of pay, hours of work, and other
5-5 terms of employment to the extent of any conflict with the previous
5-6 statute.
5-7 (b) A written agreement under this subchapter preempts all
5-8 contrary local ordinances, executive orders, legislation, or rules
5-9 adopted by the state or a political subdivision or agent of the
5-10 state, such as a personnel board, a civil service commission, or a
5-11 home-rule municipality.
5-12 (c) An agreement under this subchapter may not diminish or
5-13 qualify any right, benefit, or privilege of an employee under this
5-14 chapter or other law unless approved by a majority of the votes
5-15 cast at the secret ballot election held by the police officers
5-16 association recognized as the sole and exclusive bargaining agent
5-17 to ratify the agreement.
5-18 Sec. 143.358. REPEAL OF AGREEMENT BY ELECTORATE. Within 45
5-19 days after the date an agreement is ratified and signed by the
5-20 municipality and the police officers association recognized as the
5-21 sole and exclusive bargaining agent, a petition signed by a number
5-22 of registered voters equal to 10 percent of the votes cast at the
5-23 most recent mayoral general election in the municipality may be
5-24 presented to the municipal secretary calling an election for the
5-25 repeal of the agreement, in which event the governing body shall
5-26 reconsider the agreement, and, if it does not repeal the agreement,
5-27 it shall call an election of the qualified voters to determine if
6-1 they desire to repeal the agreement. The election shall be held as
6-2 part of the next regularly scheduled municipal election or at a
6-3 special election called by the governing body for that purpose. If
6-4 at the election a majority of the votes are cast in favor of the
6-5 repeal of the adoption of the agreement, the agreement becomes
6-6 void. The ballot shall be printed to provide for voting for or
6-7 against the proposition:
6-8 "Repeal of the adoption of the agreement ratified by the
6-9 municipality and the police officers association concerning wages,
6-10 salaries, rates of pay, hours of work, and other terms of
6-11 employment."
6-12 Sec. 143.359. PROTECTED RIGHTS OF INDIVIDUAL EMPLOYEES. (a)
6-13 For the purpose of any disciplinary appeal to either the civil
6-14 service commission or a hearing examiner, all members of the
6-15 bargaining unit have the right to choose to be represented by any
6-16 person of their choice or by the police officers association.
6-17 (b) An agreement may not interfere with the right of members
6-18 of the police officers association to pursue allegations of
6-19 discrimination based on race, creed, color, national origin,
6-20 religion, age, sex, or disability with the Commission on Human
6-21 Rights or the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or to pursue
6-22 affirmative action litigation.
6-23 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.
6-24 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
6-25 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
6-26 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
6-27 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
7-1 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.