HomeMy WebLinkAboutAB 616 LTR to Beall 20130620L
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OFFICE OF THE CITY COUNCIL
990 Palm Street ■ San Luis Obispo, CA 93401-3249 ■ 805/781-7119
June 20, 2013
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The Honorable Jim Beall, Chair
Senate Committee on Public Employment and Retirement
State Capitol Building,
Sacramento, CA 95814
RE: AB 616 (Bocanegra) Local Public Employee Organizations: Dispute:
Factfinding Panel (as amended March 19, 2013)
NOTICE OF OPPOSITION
Dear Senator Beall:
The City of San Luis Obispo is opposed to Assembly Bill 616, which would expand the
Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) jurisdiction over city labor relations rules. It would
drastically alter our local labor relations authority by giving PERB jurisdiction over
representation petitions and elections, determinations on the appropriateness of units, and
impasse procedures. AB 616 not only shifts authority for local labor decisions from locally
elected decision -makers to the state, it does so without public policy justification.
The Meyers-Millias-Brown Act (MMBA) has governed local public agencies since 1968;
it permits cities to enact our own reasonable employee relations rules and regulations after good
faith consultation with employee organizations. The drastic changes proposed in AB 616
undermine the foundation of how the MMBA operates as well as how we use our rules to
implement it. Cities understand our own employees, their duties, and our operational needs
better than PERB. Since PERB can already review the reasonableness of local rules, and
employees can seek remedy via unfair labor practice charges, we see no public purpose for the
expanded state authority proposed in this bill.
Cities must retain authority over our labor relations rules and practices. Therefore the
City of San Luis Obispo opposes AB 616.
ncerely,
fan Marx
Mayor
cc: Assembly Member Raul Bocanegra, fax 916-319-2139
Senator Bill Monning, fax 916-445-8081
Assembly Member Katcho Achadjian, fax 916-319-2135
City Council
J City Manager
David Mullinax, League of CA Cities, dmullinax@cacities.org
Natasha Karl, League of CA Cities, nkarl@cacities.org
Meg Desmond, League of CA Cities, mdesmond@cacities.org