HomeMy WebLinkAboutAB2835_LtrToCooper_20160812Office of the City
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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,
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J owell Marx
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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