By Gallegos S.B. No. 1539
76R5703 AJA-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to local control of police officer employment matters by
1-3 certain municipalities.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Sections 143.352(1) and (2), Local Government
1-6 Code, are amended to read as follows:
1-7 (1) "Bargaining ["Majority bargaining] agent" means
1-8 the police employee group selected under Section 143.354 [or
1-9 143.355] to represent all police officers employed by the
1-10 municipality, excluding the department head and assistant
1-11 department heads, during negotiations with the public employer.
1-12 (2) "Police employee group" means an organization:
1-13 (A) in which at least three percent of the
1-14 police officers of the municipality participate and pay dues via
1-15 automatic payroll deduction; and
1-16 (B) which exists for the purpose, in whole or
1-17 part, of dealing with the municipality concerning grievances, labor
1-18 disputes, wages, rates of pay, benefits, hours of employment, or
1-19 conditions of work affecting police officers.
1-20 SECTION 2. Sections 143.353(a) and (b), Local Government
1-21 Code, are amended to read as follows:
1-22 (a) A municipality may not be denied local control over the
1-23 wages, salaries, rates of pay, hours of work, and other terms of
1-24 employment, or other state-mandated personnel issues, if the public
2-1 employer and the [majority] bargaining agent come to a mutual
2-2 agreement on any of the terms of employment. If an agreement is
2-3 not reached, the state laws, local ordinances, and civil service
2-4 rules remain unaffected. All agreements shall be written. Nothing
2-5 in this subchapter requires either party to meet and confer on any
2-6 issue or reach an agreement.
2-7 (b) A public employer may only meet and confer if the
2-8 [majority] bargaining agent does not advocate the illegal right to
2-9 strike by public employees.
2-10 SECTION 3. Section 143.354, Local Government Code, is
2-11 amended to read as follows:
2-12 Sec. 143.354. RECOGNITION OF POLICE EMPLOYEE GROUP. (a)
2-13 The public employer may recognize a police employee group that
2-14 submits a petition signed by a majority of the paid police officers
2-15 in the municipality, excluding the head of the department and
2-16 assistant department heads in the rank or classification
2-17 immediately below that of the department head, as the sole and
2-18 exclusive bargaining agent for all of the police officers in the
2-19 municipality, excluding the department head and assistant
2-20 department heads, unless recognition of the police employee group
2-21 is withdrawn by a majority of those police officers.
2-22 (b) Whether a police employee group represents a majority of
2-23 the police officers in the municipality, excluding the department
2-24 head and assistant department heads, shall be resolved by a fair
2-25 election conducted according to procedures agreed on by the
2-26 parties. If the parties are unable to agree on election
2-27 procedures, either party may request the American Arbitration
3-1 Association to conduct the election and to certify the results.
3-2 Certification of the results of an election under this subsection
3-3 resolves the question concerning representation. The police
3-4 employee group shall pay the costs of the election, except that if
3-5 two or more police employee groups seeking recognition as the
3-6 bargaining agent submit petitions signed by a majority of the
3-7 police officers eligible to sign the petition, the police employee
3-8 groups shall share equally the costs of the election.
3-9 (c) The public employer's chief executive officer shall
3-10 designate a team to represent the public employer as its sole and
3-11 exclusive bargaining agent for issues related to the police
3-12 department [SELECTION OF MAJORITY BARGAINING AGENT. (a) Not later
3-13 than January 31, 1998, representatives from each police employee
3-14 group shall meet to select the majority bargaining agent. The
3-15 majority bargaining agent must be selected unanimously.]
3-16 [(b) If the representatives of the police employee groups
3-17 fail to meet or are unable to reach a unanimous consensus as to a
3-18 majority bargaining agent before January 31, 1998, the selection of
3-19 a majority bargaining agent will be governed by Section 143.355].
3-20 SECTION 4. Section 143.357, Local Government Code, is
3-21 amended to read as follows:
3-22 Sec. 143.357. PAYROLL DUES DEDUCTIONS. After a [majority]
3-23 bargaining agent is recognized, the public employer may not stop or
3-24 prevent automatic payroll deductions for dues paid to a police
3-25 employee group because the group is or is not the [majority]
3-26 bargaining agent.
3-27 SECTION 5. Section 143.358, Local Government Code, is
4-1 amended to read as follows:
4-2 Sec. 143.358. OPEN RECORDS REQUIRED. All documents relating
4-3 to an agreement between a [majority] bargaining agent and a public
4-4 employer shall be available to the public in accordance with state
4-5 statutes.
4-6 SECTION 6. Section 143.359(a), Local Government Code, is
4-7 amended to read as follows:
4-8 (a) A written agreement made under this subchapter between a
4-9 public employer and a [majority] bargaining agent [and approved by
4-10 the bargaining team] is enforceable and binding on the public
4-11 employer, the [majority] bargaining agent, police employee groups,
4-12 and the police officers covered by the agreement if:
4-13 (1) the municipality's governing body ratified the
4-14 agreement by a majority vote; and
4-15 (2) the agreement is ratified under Section 143.360.
4-16 SECTION 7. Section 143.360, Local Government Code, is
4-17 amended to read as follows:
4-18 Sec. 143.360. ELECTION TO RATIFY AGREEMENT. (a) The
4-19 [majority] bargaining agent shall call an election to ratify any
4-20 agreement reached with the public employer [if the agreement has
4-21 been approved by a majority of the bargaining team].
4-22 (b) All police officers of the municipality, other than the
4-23 department head and assistant department heads, are eligible to
4-24 vote in the election.
4-25 (c) The bargaining agent [team] shall establish procedures
4-26 for the election [by unanimous consensus].
4-27 (d) [If the bargaining team is unable to agree on procedures
5-1 for the election, any group represented on the bargaining team may
5-2 request that the American Arbitration Association conduct the
5-3 election and certify the results. Certification of the results of
5-4 an election resolves the question concerning ratification of an
5-5 agreement. All police employee groups represented on the
5-6 bargaining team shall share equally the expenses of the election.]
5-7 [(e)] A majority of all votes cast is required to ratify an
5-8 agreement.
5-9 SECTION 8. Sections 143.361(a) and (c), Local Government
5-10 Code, are amended to read as follows:
5-11 (a) A written agreement ratified under this subchapter
5-12 between a public employer and the [majority] bargaining agent
5-13 supersedes a previous statute concerning wages, salaries, rates of
5-14 pay, hours of work, and other terms of employment to the extent of
5-15 any conflict with the previous statute.
5-16 (c) An agreement under this subchapter may not diminish or
5-17 qualify any right, benefit, or privilege of an employee under this
5-18 chapter or other law unless approved by a majority of the votes
5-19 cast at the secret ballot election held by the [majority]
5-20 bargaining agent to ratify the agreement.
5-21 SECTION 9. Section 143.362, Local Government Code, is
5-22 amended to read as follows:
5-23 Sec. 143.362. REPEAL OF AGREEMENT BY ELECTORATE. Within 45
5-24 days after the date an agreement is ratified and signed by the
5-25 municipality and the [majority] bargaining agent, a petition signed
5-26 by a number of registered voters equal to 10 percent of the votes
5-27 cast at the most recent mayoral general election in the
6-1 municipality may be presented to the municipal secretary calling an
6-2 election for the repeal of the agreement, in which event the
6-3 governing body shall reconsider the agreement, and, if it does not
6-4 repeal the agreement, it shall call an election of the qualified
6-5 voters to determine if they desire to repeal the agreement. The
6-6 election shall be held as part of the next regularly scheduled
6-7 municipal election or at a special election called by the governing
6-8 body for that purpose. If at the election a majority of the votes
6-9 are cast in favor of the repeal of the adoption of the agreement,
6-10 the agreement becomes void. The ballot shall be printed to provide
6-11 for voting for or against the proposition:
6-12 "Repeal of the adoption of the agreement ratified by the
6-13 municipality and the police officers of the municipality concerning
6-14 wages, salaries, rates of pay, benefits, hours of work, and other
6-15 terms of employment."
6-16 SECTION 10. Section 143.363(a), Local Government Code, is
6-17 amended to read as follows:
6-18 (a) For the purpose of any disciplinary appeal to either the
6-19 civil service commission or a hearing examiner, all police officers
6-20 have the right to choose to be represented by any person of their
6-21 choice or by the police employee group selected as the [majority]
6-22 bargaining agent.
6-23 SECTION 11. Sections 143.355 and 143.356, Local Government
6-24 Code, are repealed.
6-25 SECTION 12. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999. The
6-26 change in law made by this Act does not affect the validity of an
6-27 election held, agreement made, or action taken under Subchapter J,
7-1 Chapter 143, Local Government Code, before the effective date of
7-2 this Act.
7-3 SECTION 13. The importance of this legislation and the
7-4 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
7-5 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
7-6 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
7-7 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.