Public employment: payroll deductions.

(1) Existing law prescribes various duties of the Controller in connection with deductions requested by employee organizations and other bona fide organizations regarding requests for deductions from the salaries and wages of their members. Existing law defines employee organization in this context as one which represents employees of the state or the California State University and which is registered or recognized, as specified, and defines bona fide organization as an organization of employees or former employees of an agency of the state and the California State University, which does not have as one of its purposes representing employees in their employment relations. Existing law prescribes the duties of the governing boards of school districts in regard to requests by certificated employees for deductions from the salaries and wages, and prescribes similar duties for the governing boards of community college districts. Existing law authorizes a trial court employee or interpreter to permit a dues deduction from his or her salary in the same manner provided to public agency employees pursuant to specified law applicable to the state and the Controller, as described above. This bill would revise and recast these provisions. The bill would expand certain authorizations and requirements currently applicable to the Controller and employees of the state and California State University to apply also to the Regents of the University of California, the Judicial Council, counties, cities, and public authorities, including transit districts, among others, and would correspondingly broaden the definition of an employee organization. In this context, the bill would authorize employee organizations and bona fide associations to request payroll deductions and would require public employers to honor these requests. The bill would require public employers to make rules and regulations for the administration of specified payroll deductions, subject to meeting and conferring with the applicable employee organizations. The bill would prohibit requiring an employee organization that certifies that it has and will maintain individual employee authorizations to provide a copy of an individual authorization to the public employer or the Controller unless a dispute arises about the existence or terms of the authorization. The bill would authorize charging an employee organization reasonable one-time startup costs, if any, for making deductions. The bill would specify when deductions are to commence following notification from an employee organization. The bill would permit a deduction for an employee organization to be revoked only pursuant to the terms of the employee's written authorization. The bill would require the public employer or Controller to rely on information provided by the employee organization regarding whether the request is in conformity with the authorization. The bill would require the employee organization to indemnify the public employer or Controller for any claims made by employees for deductions made in reliance on information provided by the employee organization. The bill would revise authorizations granted to employees and retired employees to make deductions for dues in, and for services provided by, a bona fide organization, as specified, instead to apply to employee organizations for dues in, or for any other service, program, or committee provided or sponsored by, an employee organization and would eliminate the requirement of public agency approval for these deductions. The bill would require employers to honor these authorizations and would require that the revocability of an authorization be determined by the terms of the authorization. The bill would repeal certain requirements dealing with payroll deduction for state employees of public agencies, other than those under the uniform payroll system. The bill would apply the changes described above to trial court employees and court interpreters, as specified. With regard to school district and community college district employers and employees, the bill would expand the authorization granted to certificated and academic employees to request salary deductions to apply also to dues in, or for any other service, program, or committee provided or sponsored by, an applicable employee organization, as specified. The bill would require reasonable, one-time startup costs of making deductions to be charged. The bill would require employee authorizations to be revoked according to their written terms. The bill would require these employers to honor the terms of employee written authorizations. The bill would require the employers to rely on information provided by the employee organization regarding whether the request is in conformity with the authorization, as described above. The bill would also prescribe when deductions are to commence, following notification from employee organizations, and would prohibit requiring the employee organizations to provide a copy of an authorization unless a dispute arises, as specified. The bill would require employee organizations to indemnify the public school employers or community college districts for any claims made by employees for deductions made in reliance on specified assertions. By increasing the duties of local agencies, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.