82R8216 SLB-F
By: Whitmire S.B. No. 1268
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the right of sheriff's departments in certain counties
to maintain local control over wages, hours, and other terms and
conditions of employment.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 158, Local Government Code, is amended
by adding Subchapter C to read as follows:
SUBCHAPTER C. LOCAL CONTROL OVER SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT
EMPLOYMENT MATTERS IN CERTAIN COUNTIES
Sec. 158.101. APPLICABILITY. This subchapter applies only
to a county with a population of more than four million.
Sec. 158.102. DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter:
(1) "Covered employee" means an employee of a county
sheriff's department, other than an elected sheriff or other
employee who is exempt under Section 158.013 or 158.038.
(2) "Employee association" means an organization in
which county employees pay dues to participate and that exists for
the purpose, wholly or partly, of dealing with one or more
employers, whether public or private, concerning grievances, labor
disputes, wages, rates of pay, hours of employment, or conditions
of work affecting covered employees.
(3) "Public employer" means any county sheriff's
department that is required to establish the wages, salaries, rates
of pay, hours, working conditions, and other terms and conditions
of employment of employees of the sheriff's department. The term
may include, under appropriate circumstances, a county judge,
county commissioner, sheriff, commissioners court, director of
personnel, personnel board, or one or more other officials
regardless of the name by which they are designated.
Sec. 158.103. GENERAL PROVISIONS RELATING TO AGREEMENTS AND
RECOGNITION. (a) A public employer may not be denied local control
over wages, salaries, rates of pay, hours of work, other terms and
conditions of employment, or other state-mandated personnel
issues. A public employer may enter into a mutual agreement
governing these issues with an employee association recognized
under this subchapter as the sole and exclusive bargaining agent
for all covered employees that does not advocate the illegal right
to strike by county employees. The applicable statutes, local
ordinances, and civil service rules govern a term or condition of
employment on which the public employer and the association do not
agree.
(b) An agreement under this subchapter must be written.
(c) This subchapter does not require the public employer and
the recognized employee association to meet and confer on any issue
or reach an agreement on any issue.
Sec. 158.104. PETITION FOR RECOGNITION: ELECTION OR ACTION
BY COMMISSIONERS COURT. (a) Not later than the 30th day after the
date the commissioners court of a county receives from an employee
association a petition signed by the majority of all covered
employees that requests recognition of the association as the sole
and exclusive bargaining agent for all the covered employees, the
commissioners court shall:
(1) grant recognition of the association as requested
in the petition and find that a public employer may meet and confer
under this subchapter without conducting an election by the voters
in the county under Section 158.106;
(2) defer granting recognition of the association and
order an election by the voters in the county under Section 158.106
regarding whether a public employer may meet and confer under this
subchapter; or
(3) order a certification election under Section
158.105 to determine whether the association represents a majority
of the covered employees.
(b) If the commissioners court of a county orders a
certification election under Subsection (a)(3) and the employee
association named in the petition is certified to represent a
majority of the covered employees, the commissioners court shall,
not later than the 30th day after the date that results of that
election are certified:
(1) grant recognition of the association as requested
in the petition for recognition and find that a public employer may
meet and confer under this subchapter without conducting an
election by the voters in the county under Section 158.106; or
(2) defer granting recognition of the association and
order an election by the voters in the county under Section 158.106
regarding whether a public employer may meet and confer under this
subchapter.
Sec. 158.105. CERTIFICATION ELECTION. (a) Except as
provided by Subsection (b), a certification election ordered under
Section 158.104(a)(3) to determine whether an employee association
represents a majority of the covered employees shall be conducted
according to procedures agreeable to the parties.
(b) If the parties are unable to agree on procedures for the
certification election, either party may request the American
Arbitration Association to conduct the election and to certify the
results of the election.
(c) The results of an election shall be certified if the
employee association receives a majority of the valid votes cast in
the election.
(d) Certification of the results of an election under this
section resolves the question concerning representation.
(e) The employee association is liable for the expenses of
the certification election, except that if two or more associations
seeking recognition as the sole and exclusive bargaining agent
submit a petition signed by at least 30 percent of the employees
eligible to sign the petition for recognition, all the associations
named in any petition shall share equally the costs of the election.
Sec. 158.106. ELECTION TO AUTHORIZE OPERATING UNDER THIS
SUBCHAPTER. (a) A commissioners court that receives a petition for
recognition under Section 158.104 may order an election to
determine whether a public employer may meet and confer under this
subchapter.
(b) An election ordered under this section must be held as
part of the next regularly scheduled general election for county
officials that is held after the date the commissioners court
orders the election and that allows sufficient time to prepare the
ballot in compliance with other requirements of law.
(c) The ballot for an election ordered under this section
shall be printed to permit voting for or against the proposition:
"Authorizing __________ (name of the county) to operate under the
state law allowing a county to meet and confer and make agreements
with the association representing employees of the county sheriff's
department as provided by state law, preserving the prohibition
against strikes and organized work stoppages, and providing
penalties for strikes and organized work stoppages."
(d) An election called under this section must be held and
the returns prepared and canvassed in conformity with the Election
Code.
(e) If an election authorized under this section is held,
the county may operate under the other provisions of this
subchapter only if a majority of the votes cast at the election
favor the proposition.
(f) If an election authorized under this section is held, an
employee association may not submit a petition for recognition to
the commissioners court under Section 158.104 before the second
anniversary of the date of the election.
Sec. 158.107. CHANGE OR MODIFICATION OF RECOGNITION. (a)
Covered employees may modify, change, or withdraw the recognition
of the employee association granted under this subchapter by filing
with the commissioners court a petition signed by a majority of all
covered employees.
(b) The commissioners court may:
(1) recognize the modification, change, or withdrawal
as provided by the petition; or
(2) order a certification election in accordance with
Section 158.105 regarding whether to do so.
Sec. 158.108. STRIKES PROHIBITED. (a) A covered employee
may not engage in a strike or organized work stoppage against this
state or the county.
(b) A covered employee who participates in a strike forfeits
any civil service rights, reemployment rights, and other rights,
benefits, or privileges the employee may have as a result of the
employee's employment or prior employment with the 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. 158.109. RECOGNITION OF EMPLOYEE ASSOCIATION. (a) A
public employer in a county that chooses to meet and confer under
this subchapter shall recognize an association that is recognized
under Section 158.104 or 158.105 as the sole and exclusive
bargaining agent for the covered employees.
(b) The public employer shall recognize the employee
association until recognition of the association is withdrawn, in
accordance with Section 158.107, by a majority of the covered
employees eligible to sign a petition for recognition.
Sec. 158.110. SELECTION OF BARGAINING AGENT; BARGAINING
UNIT. (a) The public employer's chief executive officer or the
chief executive officer's designee shall select one or more persons
to represent the public employer as its sole and exclusive
bargaining agent to meet and confer on issues related to the wages,
hours of employment, and other terms and conditions of employment
of covered employees.
(b) An employee association may designate one or more
persons to negotiate or bargain on the association's behalf.
(c) A county's bargaining unit is composed of all the
covered employees.
Sec. 158.111. PROTECTED RIGHTS OF EMPLOYEES. A meet and
confer agreement ratified under this subchapter may not interfere
with the right of a covered employee to pursue 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 or to pursue affirmative action litigation.
Sec. 158.112. OPEN RECORDS. (a) A proposed meet and confer
agreement and a document prepared and used by the county, including
a public employer, in connection with the proposed agreement are
available to the public under Chapter 552, Government Code, only
after the agreement is ready to be ratified by the commissioners
court of the county.
(b) This section does not affect the application of
Subchapter C, Chapter 552, Government Code, to a document prepared
and used in connection with the agreement.
Sec. 158.113. OPEN DELIBERATIONS. (a) Deliberations
relating to a meet and confer agreement or proposed agreement under
this subchapter between representatives of the public employer and
representatives of the employee association recognized under this
subchapter as the sole and exclusive bargaining agent for the
covered employees must be open to the public and comply with state
law.
(b) Subsection (a) may not be construed to prohibit the
representatives of the public employer or the representatives of
the recognized employee association from conducting private
caucuses that are not open to the public during meet and confer
negotiations.
Sec. 158.114. RATIFICATION AND ENFORCEABILITY OF
AGREEMENT. (a) An agreement under this subchapter is enforceable
and binding on the public employer, the recognized employee
association, and the employees covered by the meet and confer
agreement only if:
(1) the commissioners court ratified the agreement by
a majority vote; and
(2) the recognized employee association ratified the
agreement by conducting a secret ballot election at which the
majority of the members of the employee association who voted in the
election favored ratifying the agreement.
(b) A meet and confer 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 county is located has jurisdiction to hear and resolve a dispute
under the ratified meet and confer 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. 158.115. ACTION OR ELECTION TO REPEAL AUTHORIZATION TO
OPERATE UNDER THIS SUBCHAPTER. (a) The commissioners court of a
county that granted recognition of an employee association under
Section 158.104 without conducting an election under Section
158.106 may withdraw recognition of the association by providing to
the association not less than 90 days' written notice that:
(1) the commissioners court is withdrawing
recognition of the association; and
(2) any agreement between the commissioners court and
the association will not be renewed.
(b) The commissioners court that granted recognition of an
employee association after conducting an election under Section
158.106 may order an election to determine whether a public
employer may continue to meet and confer under this subchapter. The
commissioners court may not order an election under this subsection
until the second anniversary of the date of the election under
Section 158.106.
(c) An election ordered under Subsection (b) must be held as
part of the next regularly scheduled general election for county
officers that occurs after the date the commissioners court orders
the election and that allows sufficient time to prepare the ballot
in compliance with other requirements of law.
(d) The ballot for an election ordered under Subsection (b)
shall be printed to permit voting for or against the proposition:
"Authorizing __________ (name of the county) to continue to operate
under the state law allowing a county to meet and confer and make
agreements with the association representing employees of the
county sheriff's department as provided by state law, preserving
the prohibition against strikes and organized work stoppages, and
providing penalties for strikes and organized work stoppages."
(e) An election ordered under Subsection (b) must be held
and the returns prepared and canvassed in conformity with the
Election Code.
(f) If an election ordered under Subsection (b) is held, the
county may continue to operate under this subchapter only if a
majority of the votes cast at the election favor the proposition.
(g) If an election ordered under Subsection (b) is held, an
employee association may not submit a petition for recognition to
the commissioners court under Section 158.104 before the second
anniversary of the date of the election.
Sec. 158.116. ELECTION TO REPEAL AGREEMENT. (a) Not later
than the 45th day after the date a meet and confer agreement is
ratified by the commissioners court and the recognized employee
association, a petition calling for the repeal of the agreement
signed by at least 10 percent of the qualified voters residing in
the county may be presented to the person charged with ordering an
election under Section 3.004, Election Code.
(b) If a petition is presented under Subsection (a), the
commissioners court shall:
(1) repeal the meet and confer agreement; or
(2) certify that it is not repealing the agreement and
call an election to determine whether to repeal the agreement.
(c) An election called under Subsection (b)(2) may be held
as part of the next regularly scheduled general election for the
county or at a special election called by the commissioners court
for that purpose. The ballot shall be printed to permit voting for
or against the proposition: "Repeal the meet and confer agreement
ratified on _____ (date agreement was ratified) by the __________
(name of the commissioners court of the county) and the _____ (name
of the recognized county employee association) concerning wages,
salaries, rates of pay, hours of work, and other terms of
employment."
(d) If a majority of the votes cast at the election favor the
repeal of the agreement, the agreement is void.
Sec. 158.117. AGREEMENT SUPERSEDES CONFLICTING PROVISIONS.
A written meet and confer agreement ratified under this subchapter
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 this state or
a political subdivision or agent of this state, including a
personnel board or civil service commission, other than a statute,
ordinance, executive order, civil service provision, or rule
regarding pensions or pension-related matters.
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2011.