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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAB2835_LtrToCooper_20160812Office of the City 1 9`1401-3249 San u S #. � ""A s ..n - by E 3 .r .,r 01, August 12, 2016 Honorable Jim Cooper Member, California State Assembly State Capitol, Room 5158 Sacramento, CA 95814 FAX: 916-319-2109 RE: Assembly Bill 2835 (Cooper) Orientations and Informational Programs Notice of Opposition (As amended June 21, 2016) Dear Assembly Member Cooper: The City of San Luis Obispo strongly opposes AB 2835 (Cooper), legislation that would place numerous new requirements in statute pertaining to mandatory employee orientations. AB 2835 would create serious legal, logistical, fiscal and administrative issues for cities that would displace our employees and threaten fundamental management rights. We oppose the bill for the following reasons: Expands Scope of Collective Bargaining Employee organizations already have the right to negotiate the issue of orientations. Placing the details of employee orientations in statute would create costly logistical and administrative burdens for cities and effectively restrict employee groups' rights to negotiate for provisions that address the unique needs of their Local memberships. The provision unnecessarily interferes with the bargaining relationship and will yield counterproductive results for all involved. Proposal is Overly Prescriptive and Costly The requirements in AB 2835 would prevent management and labor from utilizing more cost efficient and effective methods of conducting orientations. AB 2835 fails to take into consideration the varied circumstances of the public agencies that would be subject to its requirements. This measure would significantly increase the costs for public agencies by increasing the frequency and number of orientations necessitating public employers' utilization of additional staff to cover classes and other services during the orientation. In fact, The Department of Finance estimates that this measure would cost 350 million dollars annually more than 70 million of that cost could be shifted to local agencies. There is no conceivable benefit of this measure that justifies such an exorbitant additional drain on already strained public resources. Unclear Employee Representative Organization Discretion AB 2835 provides that the content of the recognized employee organization's or exclusive representative's presentation shall be determined solely by the employee organization and shall not be subject to negotiation. It further requires that the presentation shall not include advocacy for or against a candidate for political office or ballot measure. However, nothing in the proposal prohibits the employee organization or exclusive representative from discussing internal union politics or campaigning, how to vote on upcoming incumbency elections, or prohibits conduct covered by the Public Employment Relations Board's (PERB) long-standing rule for unprotected conduct by employee representatives. Administrative and Privacy Issues with Providing Employee Information The proposal requires that public employers provide the recognized employee organization or exclusive representative with the name, Job title, department, work location, phone number, and home address of any newly hired employee within seven days of the date of hire. In addition to the burden of constantly providing updated information to employee representatives, providing such information violates provisions of the Public Records Act which exempt the disclosure of records for recipients of certain benefits under the California Welfare and Institutions Code. This legislation is ill conceived, unnecessary and costly. For those reasons, the City of San Luis Obispo opposes AB 2835 (Cooper). Sincerely, le, _ Ile' J owell Marx M or cc: San Luis Obispo City Council State Senator Bill Monning, fax (916) 651 — 4917 State Assembly Member Katcho Achadjian, fax (916) 319-2135 Camille Wagner, Legislative Secretary, Office of Governor Edmond G. Brown Jr., fax: (916) 558-3177 Dave Mullinax, League of California Cities, dmllinax /cacities.org Meg Desmond, League of California Cities, mdesmondgeacities. or