Local public employee organizations: impasse procedures.

The Meyers-Milias-Brown Act contains various provisions that govern collective bargaining of local represented employees, and delegates jurisdiction to the Public Employment Relations Board to resolve disputes and enforce the statutory duties and rights of local public agency employers and employees. The act requires the governing body of a public agency to meet and confer in good faith regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment with representatives of recognized employee organizations. Under the act, if the representatives of the public agency and the employee organization fail to reach an agreement, they may mutually agree on the appointment of a mediator and equally share the cost. If the parties reach an impasse, the act provides that a public agency may unilaterally implement its last, best, and final offer. This bill would authorize the employee organization, if the mediator is unable to effect settlement of the controversy within 30 days of his or her appointment, to request that the matter be submitted to a factfinding panel. The bill would require that the factfinding panel consist of one member selected by each party as well as a chairperson selected by the board or by agreement of the parties. The factfinding panel would be authorized to make investigations and hold hearings, and to issue subpoenas requiring the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of evidence. The bill would require all political subdivisions of the state to comply with the panel's requests for information. This bill would require, if the dispute is not settled within 30 days, the factfinding panel to make findings of fact and recommend terms of settlement, for advisory purposes only. The bill would require that these findings and recommendations be first issued to the parties, but would require the public agency to make them publicly available within 10 days after their receipt. The bill would provide for the distribution of costs associated with the factfinding panel, as specified. This bill would prohibit a public agency from implementing its last, best, and final offer until at least 10 days after the factfinders' written findings of fact and recommended terms of settlement have been submitted to the parties and the agency has held a public hearing regarding the impasse.