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78R8440 YDB-F
By: Alonzo H.B. No. 2870
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to conditions of employment for corrections officers
employed by certain municipalities or counties.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subtitle C, Title 5, Local Government Code, is
amended by adding Chapter 176 to read as follows:
CHAPTER 176. LOCAL CONTROL OF CORRECTIONS OFFICER EMPLOYMENT
MATTERS IN CERTAIN MUNICIPALITIES AND COUNTIES
Sec. 176.001. APPLICABILITY. (a) Except as provided by
Subsection (b), this subchapter applies only to:
(1) a county with a population of more than two million
that contains the majority of the territory of a municipality with a
population of more than one million; and
(2) a municipality with a population of more than one
million that has the majority of its territory located in a county
described by Subdivision (1).
(b) This chapter does not apply to:
(1) a municipality that has adopted Chapter 143; or
(2) a county in which the most populous municipality
has adopted Chapter 143.
Sec. 176.002. DEFINITIONS. (a) In this chapter:
(1) "Association" means an organization in which
corrections officers employed by a municipality or county
participate and that exists for the purpose, in whole or in part, of
dealing with the municipality or county concerning grievances,
labor disputes, wages, rates of pay, hours of work, or conditions of
work affecting corrections officers.
(2) "Public employer" means a municipality or county
or a law enforcement agency of the municipality or county that is
required to establish the wages, salaries, rates of pay, hours of
work, working conditions, and other terms and conditions of
employment of corrections officers employed by the municipality or
county.
(b) A reference in this chapter to "municipality or county"
means:
(1) only a municipality, to the extent the reference
involves correctional officers employed by a municipality; and
(2) only a county, to the extent the reference
involves correctional officers employed by a county.
Sec. 176.003. GENERAL PROVISIONS RELATING TO AGREEMENTS.
(a) The municipality or county may not be denied local control over
the wages, salaries, rates of pay, hours of work, or other terms and
conditions of employment to the extent the public employer and the
association recognized as the sole and exclusive bargaining agent
under Section 176.006 agree as provided by this chapter.
Applicable statutes and applicable local orders, ordinances, and
civil service rules apply to an issue not governed by the agreement.
(b) An agreement under this chapter must be written.
(c) This chapter does not require a public employer or a
recognized association to meet and confer on any issue or reach an
agreement.
(d) A public employer and the recognized association may
meet and confer only if the association does not advocate an illegal
strike by public employees.
Sec. 176.004. STRIKES PROHIBITED. (a) A corrections
officer of the municipality or county may not engage in a strike or
organized work stoppage against this state or the municipality or
county.
(b) A corrections officer who participates in a strike
forfeits any civil service rights, reemployment rights, and other
rights, benefits, or privileges the corrections officer may have as
a result of the person's employment or prior employment with the
municipality or county.
(c) This section does not affect the right of a person to
cease work if the person is not acting in concert with others in an
organized work stoppage.
Sec. 176.005. SELECTION OF BARGAINING AGENT. The public
employer's chief executive officer or the chief executive officer's
designee shall select a group of persons to represent the public
employer as its sole and exclusive bargaining agent for issues
related to the employment of corrections officers by the
municipality or county.
Sec. 176.006. RECOGNITION OF PEACE OFFICER ASSOCIATION.
(a) If the municipality or county chooses to meet and confer under
this chapter, the public employer shall recognize an association
submitting a petition for recognition signed by a majority of the
corrections officers employed by the municipality or county or a
law enforcement agency of the municipality or county, excluding the
head of the agency and the employees exempt under Subsection (b), as
the sole and exclusive bargaining agent for all of the corrections
officers employed by the municipality or county or law enforcement
agency, excluding the agency head and exempt employees.
(b) For the purposes of Subsection (a), exempt employees are
the employees that the head of the law enforcement agency of the
municipality or county designates as exempt in the manner
prescribed by Chapter 143 or 158.
(c) The public employer shall recognize the association
until recognition of the association is withdrawn by a majority of
the corrections officers eligible to sign a petition for
recognition.
Sec. 176.007. ELECTION. (a) Whether an association
represents a majority of the covered corrections officers shall be
resolved by a fair election conducted according to procedures
agreeable to the parties.
(b) If the parties are unable to agree on election
procedures, either party may request the American Arbitration
Association to conduct the election and to certify the results.
Certification of the results of an election under this section
resolves the question concerning representation.
(c) The association is liable for the expenses of the
election, except that if two or more associations seeking
recognition as the bargaining agent submit petitions signed by a
majority of the corrections officers eligible to sign the petition,
the associations shall share equally the costs of the election.
Sec. 176.008. OPEN RECORDS. (a) A proposed agreement and a
document prepared and used by the municipality or county in
connection with a proposed agreement are available to the public
under Chapter 552, Government Code, only after the agreement is
ratified by the governing body of the municipality or county.
(b) This section does not affect the application of
Subchapter C, Chapter 552, Government Code, to a document prepared
and used by the municipality or county in connection with the
agreement.
Sec. 176.009. RATIFICATION AND ENFORCEABILITY OF
AGREEMENT. (a) An agreement under this chapter is enforceable and
binding on the public employer, the recognized association, and the
corrections officers covered by the agreement only if:
(1) the governing body of the municipality or county
ratified the agreement by a majority vote; and
(2) the recognized association ratified the agreement
by conducting a secret ballot election at which only the
corrections officers of the municipality or county or law
enforcement agency of the municipality or county in the association
were eligible to vote, and a majority of the votes cast at the
election favored ratifying the agreement.
(b) An agreement ratified as described by Subsection (a) may
establish a procedure by which the parties agree to resolve
disputes related to a right, duty, or obligation provided by the
agreement, including binding arbitration on a question involving
interpretation of the agreement.
(c) A state district court of a judicial district in which
the municipality or county is located has jurisdiction to hear and
resolve a dispute under the ratified agreement on the application
of a party to the agreement aggrieved by an action or omission of
the other party when the action or omission is related to a right,
duty, or obligation provided by the agreement. The court may issue
proper restraining orders, temporary and permanent injunctions, or
any other writ, order, or process, including contempt orders, that
are appropriate to enforcing the agreement.
Sec. 176.010. AGREEMENT SUPERSEDES CONFLICTING PROVISIONS.
(a) A written agreement ratified under this chapter preempts,
during the term of the agreement and to the extent of any conflict,
all contrary state statutes, local ordinances, executive orders,
civil service provisions, or rules adopted by the head of the law
enforcement agency or municipality or county or by a division or
agent of the municipality or county, such as a personnel board or a
civil service commission.
(b) An agreement ratified under this chapter may not
interfere with the right of a member of a bargaining unit to pursue
allegations of discrimination based on race, creed, color, national
origin, religion, age, sex, or disability with the Commission on
Human Rights or the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
or to pursue affirmative action litigation.
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2003.