HomeMy WebLinkAbout20200702_SB1173City of San Luis Obispo, Office of the City Council, 990 Palm Street, San Luis Obispo, CA, 93401-3249, 805.781.7114, slocity.org
July 6, 2020
The Honorable Maria Elena Durazo
California State Senate
State Capitol, Room 5066
Sacramento, CA 95814
Fax: (916) 651-4924
RE: SB 1173 (Durazo) – Public Employment: labor relations: employee information
Dear Senator Durazo,
The City of San Luis Obispo writes today to respectfully OPPOSE your SB 1173, which
would create new types of damages in litigation against public agencies and employers at a
time of extreme social and economic uncertainty.
The city is unaware of any information suggesting that there is a widespread record of public
agency failure to comply. In instances where a problem exists, there are remedies that can be
pursued with relative ease.
New Damages and More Litigation
Creating new financial damages to be paid to the Public Employment Relations Board by
public agencies that fail to comply with a mostly bureaucratic task will only increase
compliance and litigation costs in public agency budgets and divert those funds away from
public benefit. It simply does not make sense why one public agency should have to pay
another public agency under these circumstances. The city would oppose this type of re-
direction of important public funds in good times, and the city certainly objects during the
current pandemic, economic insecurity, and public agency budget instability. In addition,
allowing unions to recover attorney’s fees for bringing such claims will only encourage
unions to threaten to bring lawsuits rather than encourage them to work cooperatively with
public agencies. Unfortunately, in this scenario, attorneys make money to the detriment of
the general public.
Unfair Rules for Public Agencies
SB 1173 contains a limited right to cure the violation that doesn’t apply uniformly.
Moreover, public employers, such as cities, would be limited in the number of times they
could exercise their right to cure in a 12-month period. After correcting three data errors in a
12-month period, a public employer would be subject to an unfair labor practice claim and
subject to new civil penalties
Letter from the City of San Luis Obispo
SB 1173 (Durazo) – Public Employment: labor relations: employee information
Page 2 of 2
Diverting Funds from Public Benefit
The State of California has projected a budget deficit of $54 billion and local revenue
sources to be significantly down. The city cannot possibly understand, especially in this
context, why public funds should be re-directed from one public agency to another and why
attorneys’ fees should be awarded to labor unions over this issue rather than having such
funds available to the benefit of the public.
For these reasons, the City of San Luis Obispo respectfully OPPOSES SB 1173.
Sincerely,
Heidi Harmon
Mayor
cc: San Luis Obispo City Council
State Senator Bill Monning, fax (916) 651 – 4917
State Assembly Member Jordan Cunningham, fax (916) 319-2135
Dave Mullinax, League of California Cities, dmullinax@cacities.org
Meg Desmond, League of California Cities, mdesmond@cacities.org