BILL ANALYSIS

H.B. 3977

By: Rosenthal

Intergovernmental Affairs

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

The bill author has informed the committee that employment protections for certain municipal firefighters include the ability to meet and confer with the appropriate local governing body to amend employment agreements but that the absence of this tool with respect to other political subdivisions in the negotiation of employment agreements leaves firefighters without the surety provided by a written agreement. H.B. 3977 seeks to address this issue by establishing a process that may be used with respect to employment agreements for firefighters in certain political subdivisions.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.

ANALYSIS

H.B. 3977 amends the Local Government Code to set out provisions regarding the conditions of employment for firefighters employed by certain political subdivisions.

Recognition of Firefighters Association and Strike Prohibition

H.B. 3977 requires the governing body of a political subdivision, not later than the 30th day after the date the governing body receives from a firefighters association a petition signed by the majority of all covered firefighters employed by the political subdivision that requests recognition of the association as the sole and exclusive bargaining agent for all covered firefighters employed by the political subdivision, to determine by majority vote whether to grant both recognition of the association as requested in the petition and the public employer the authority to develop an employment agreement under the bill's provisions. The bill authorizes the firefighters to modify or change the recognition of the association granted under the bill's provisions by filing with the governing body a petition signed by a majority of all covered firefighters and requires the governing body to recognize the change or modification as provided by the petition. The bill requires a public employer in a political subdivision that chooses to develop an employment agreement to recognize an association that is recognized under the bill's provisions as the sole and exclusive bargaining agent for the covered firefighters employed by the political subdivision in accordance with the bill's provisions and the petition. The bill requires a public employer to recognize a firefighters association until recognition is withdrawn in accordance with the bill's provisions by a majority of the covered firefighters.

H.B. 3977 prohibits a firefighter employed by a political subdivision from engaging in a strike or organized work stoppage against the political subdivision and establishes that a firefighter who does so forfeits any civil service rights, reemployment rights, and other rights, benefits, or privileges the firefighter may have as a result of their employment or prior employment with the political subdivision. The prohibition expressly 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.

Employment Agreement

H.B. 3977 establishes that a political subdivision acting under the bill's provisions may not be denied local control over the wages, salaries, rates of pay, hours of work, other working conditions, or other terms and conditions of employment to the extent the public employer and the firefighters association recognized as the sole and exclusive bargaining agent agree, if the agreement is ratified and not withdrawn in accordance with the bill's provisions. The bill establishes that applicable statutes and applicable local ordinances, orders, or similar measures apply to an issue not governed by the employment agreement.

H.B. 3977 requires an employment agreement under the bill's provisions to be in writing, but expressly does not require a public employer or a recognized firefighters association to meet on any issue or reach an agreement. The bill authorizes a public employer and a recognized firefighters association to meet only if the association does not advocate an illegal strike by public employees. The bill prohibits a public employer, while an employment agreement is in effect, from accepting a petition with regard to the firefighters of the political subdivision requesting an election to adopt collective bargaining under The Fire and Police Employee Relations Act.

Selection of Bargaining Agent; Bargaining Unit; Protected Rights

H.B. 3977 requires a public employer's chief executive officer or the chief executive officer's designee to select one or more persons to represent the public employer as its sole and exclusive bargaining agent to bargain on issues related to the wages, salaries, rates of pay, hours of work, and other working conditions and other terms and conditions of employment of firefighters by the political subdivision. The bill authorizes a firefighters association to designate one or more persons to bargain on the association's behalf and establishes that a political subdivision's bargaining unit is composed of all the covered firefighters employed by the political subdivision.

H.B. 3977 authorizes a member of the political subdivision's bargaining unit, for any disciplinary appeal, to be represented by the firefighters association or by any person the member selects. The bill prohibits a ratified employment agreement from interfering with the right of a member of a bargaining unit to pursue affirmative action litigation or allegations of discrimination based on race, creed, color, national origin, religion, age, sex, or disability with the Texas Workforce Commission civil rights division or the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Open Records and Deliberations

H.B. 3977 establishes that a proposed employment agreement and a document prepared and used by a political subdivision or public employer in connection with the proposed agreement are publicly available under state public information law only after the agreement is ready to be ratified by the governing body of the political subdivision. This provision does not affect the application of state public information law provisions governing information excepted from required disclosure to a document prepared and used in connection with the agreement. The bill requires a deliberation relating to bargaining between a public employer and a firefighters association, a deliberation relating to an agreement or proposed agreement under the bill's provisions by a quorum of a firefighters association authorized to bargain, or a deliberation by a quorum of the sole and exclusive bargaining agent of the public employer authorized to bargain to be open to the public and comply with state law. This requirement may not be construed to prohibit the representative of the public employer or the representatives of the firefighters association from conducting private caucuses that are not open to the public during bargaining.

Ratification, Enforceability, Termination, and Supersedure of Agreement

H.B. 3977 establishes that an employment agreement under the bill's provisions is enforceable and binding on a public employer, a recognized firefighters association, and the covered firefighters only if the following criteria are met:

· the governing body of the political subdivision ratifies the agreement by a majority vote; and

· the recognized firefighters association ratifies the agreement by conducting a secret ballot election at which only the firefighters employed by the political subdivision in the association are eligible to vote, and a majority of the votes cast at the election favor ratifying the agreement.

The bill authorizes an employment agreement ratified in that manner to 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. The bill establishes that a district court of a judicial district in which a political subdivision is located has jurisdiction to hear and resolve a dispute under the ratified employment 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 bill authorizes the court to issue proper restraining orders, temporary and permanent injunctions, or any other writ, order, or process, including contempt orders, appropriate to enforcing the agreement.

H.B. 3977 authorizes the governing body of a political subdivision and a firefighters association to terminate an agreement before the agreement's date of expiration only if both parties agree in writing to do so. The bill establishes that a written employment agreement ratified under the bill's provisions preempts, during the term of the agreement and to the extent of any conflict, all contrary:

· local ordinances, orders, civil service provisions, rules adopted by the head of the fire department or political subdivision or by a division or agent of the political subdivision, such as a personnel board or a civil service commission, and similar measures; and

· state statutes, executive orders, and rules adopted by a state agency.

Applicability and Effect

H.B. 3977 exempts the following entities from its provisions:

· a political subdivision that has adopted a county civil service system by order or The Fire and Police Employee Relations Act by election; or

· a fire department that provides services exclusively to a municipality.

H.B. 3977 establishes the following with respect to its provisions:

· its provisions preempt all contrary rules adopted by a state agency and ordinances, orders, regulations, and similar measures adopted by a political subdivision;

· Government Code provisions prohibiting collective bargaining by public employees does not apply to an agreement made or an action taken under the bill's provisions;

· its provisions may not be construed as repealing any existing benefit provided by state statute or ordinance, order, regulation, or similar measure concerning firefighters' compensation, pensions, retirement plans, hours of work, conditions of employment, or other emoluments, except as expressly provided by a ratified employment agreement; and

· its provisions are in addition to the benefits provided by existing statutes and ordinances, orders, regulations, or similar measures.

Definitions

H.B. 3977 defines the following terms for purposes of its provisions:

· "covered firefighter" as a firefighter who is employed by a political subdivision and who is not the head of the fire department or exempt from an employment agreement by the mutual agreement of the recognized firefighters association and the public employer;

· "employment agreement" as an agreement developed by a public employer and a firefighters association that governs the conditions of employment of the public employer's firefighters, such as grievances, labor disputes, wages, salaries, rates of pay, hours of work, or other working conditions;

· "firefighter" as a person who is defined as fire protection personnel under Government Code provisions relating to the Texas Commission on Fire Protection's regulation and assistance of firefighters and fire departments and who is employed by a political subdivision;

· "firefighters association" as an employee organization in which firefighters employed by a political subdivision participate that exists for the purpose, wholly or partly, of dealing with the political subdivision or public employer concerning grievances, labor disputes, wages, salaries, rates of pay, hours of work, or other working conditions affecting firefighters; and

· "public employer" as a political subdivision or the fire department of the political subdivision that is required to establish the wages, salaries, rates of pay, hours of work, other working conditions, and other terms and conditions of employment of firefighters employed by the political subdivision.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2025.