Public Safety Employer-Employee Relations Act of 1995

Summary: Public Safety Employer-Employee Relations Act of 1995 - Provides collective bargaining rights for public safety officers employed by States or local governments. 
(Sec. 4) Declares that fire fighters and law enforcement officers have the right to self-organize, to form, join, or assist labor organizations, to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing, and to engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection.  Applies this Act to any State and its local governments if such entity does not have a law or ordinance that provides greater or equal protection for the rights of fire fighters and law enforcement officers as established under this Act. 
Grants employers or employee labor organizations the right to petition the Director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) to determine whether a State or local government is in compliance.  Provides that existing collective bargaining units and agreements shall not be invalidated by this Act. 
Provides for conciliation of labor disputes involving fire fighters and law enforcement officers.  Requires the Director, when the FMCS certifies an impasse, to establish a Board of Inquiry to investigate the issues in the dispute and report its findings and recommendations.  Provides for enforcement of this Act through the appropriate U.S. District Court.  Provides that a State is not immune from an action in Federal or State court of competent jurisdiction for a violation of this Act. 
(Sec. 5) Prohibits public safety employers and employees from engaging in lockouts or strikes. 
(Sec. 6) Sets forth provisions for suits by and against labor organizations representing public safety officers. 
(Sec. 7) Authorizes appropriations.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Public Safety Employer-Employee 
Relations Act of 1995''.

SEC. 2. DECLARATION OF PURPOSE AND POLICY.

    The Congress declares that the following is the policy of the 
United States:
            (1) Labor-management relationships and partnerships are 
        based on trust, mutual respect, open communications, bilateral 
        and consensual problem solving, and shared accountability. 
        Dispute resolution procedures are fair, determinative, simple, 
        fast and inexpensive, and effectively and swiftly deal with 
        issues. Labor-management cooperation fully utilizes the 
        strengths of both parties to best serve the interests of the 
        public, operating as a team to carry out the public safety 
        mission in a quality work environment. In many public safety 
        agencies it is the union that provides the institutional 
        stability as elected leaders and appointees come and go.
            (2) The health and safety of the Nation and the best 
        interest of public safety employers and employees can be best 
        protected by the settlement of issues through the processes of 
        collective bargaining.
            (3) The Federal Government shall make available 
        governmental facilities for conciliation, mediation, and 
        voluntary arbitration to aid and encourage employers and the 
        representatives of their employees to reach and maintain 
        agreements concerning rates of pay, hours, and working 
        conditions, and to make all reasonable efforts to settle their 
        differences by mutual agreement reached through collective 
        bargaining or by such methods as may be provided for in any 
        applicable agreement for the settlement of disputes.
            (4) Certain controversies which arise involving collective 
        bargaining agreements may be avoided or minimized through 
        mediations and conciliation.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    For purposes of this Act:
            (1) The term ``Director'' means the Director of the Federal 
        Mediation and Conciliation Service.
            (2) The term ``firefighter'' means an employee who--
                    (A) primarily performs work directly related to the 
                control and extinguishment of fires;
                    (B) works for fire departments and is responsible 
                for the maintenance and use of firefighting apparatus 
                and equipment, prevention and investigation, 
                communications and dispatch; or
                    (C) provides emergency medical care.
        The term includes an employee engaged in such activity who is 
        transferred to a supervisory or administrative position, but 
        does not include a management or supervisory employee.
            (3) The term ``law enforcement officer'' means a member of 
        a law enforcement agency serving in a law enforcement position, 
        which is usually indicated by formal training (regardless of 
        whether the officer has completed or been assigned to such 
        training) and usually accompanied by the power to make arrests. 
        The term includes an employee engaged in such activity who is 
        transferred to a supervisory or administrative position, but 
        does not include a management or supervisory employee.
            (4) The term ``law enforcement agency'' means a State or 
        local public agency that is charged by law with the duty to 
        prevent or investigate crimes or apprehend or hold in custody 
        persons charged with or convicted of crimes.
            (5) The term ``management or supervisory employee'' 
        includes any public safety personnel exempted from the 
        provisions of chapter 8 of title 29, United States Code.
            (6) The terms ``employer'' and ``public safety employer'' 
        mean any State, political subdivision of a State, the District 
        of Columbia, or any territory or possession of the United 
        States.

SEC. 4. RIGHT OF FIREFIGHTERS AND LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS TO ORGANIZE 
              AND BARGAIN COLLECTIVELY.

    (a) In General.--Firefighters and law enforcement officers have the 
right to self-organize, to form, join, or assist labor organizations, 
to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing, 
and to engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of 
collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection.
    (b) Application to Existing Laws of States and Political 
Subdivisions.--
            (1) Applicability.--This Act shall be applicable to any 
        State and its political subdivisions if such entity does not 
        have a law or ordinance that provides greater or equal 
        protection for the rights of firefighters and law enforcement 
        officers as established under sections 4(a) and 4(e)(3) under 
        this Act.
            (2) Right to petition.--Any employer or employee labor 
        organization shall have the right to petition the Director of 
        the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service to determine 
        that a State or political subdivision ordinance is in 
        compliance with paragraph (1). The Director shall issue a 
        determination not later than 30 days after receipt of such a 
        petition. The power of enforcement shall be the same as cited 
        in subsection (f).
    (c) Regulations.--Not later than 1 year after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Director shall issue regulations to carry 
out this Act in accordance with the administrative procedures described 
in subchapter II of chapter 5 of title 5, United States Code.
    (d) Existing Collective Bargaining Units and Agreements.--No 
certification, recognition, election-held, collective bargaining 
agreement or memorandum of understanding which has been issued, 
approved, or ratified by any public employee relations board or 
commission or by any State or political subdivision or their agents 
(management officials) shall be invalidated by enactment of this Act.
    (e) Conciliation of Labor Disputes Involving Firefighters and Law 
Enforcement Officers.--
            (1) Establishment of board of inquiry.--
                    (A) When an impasse is certified by the Federal 
                Mediation and Conciliation Service, the Director shall 
                assist on the resolution of the impasse by establishing 
                within 30 days after the notice to the Federal 
                Mediation and Conciliation Service, an impartial Board 
                of Inquiry to investigate the issues involved in the 
                dispute and to make a written report thereon to the 
                parties not later than 15 days after the establishment 
                of such a board unless an extension is requested by 
                such board and approved by the Director.
                    (B) The written report shall contain the findings 
                of fact together with the Board's recommendations for 
                settling the dispute, with the objective of achieving a 
                prompt, peaceful, and just settlement of the dispute. 
                Each board shall be composed of such number of 
                individuals as the director may deem desirable. No 
                member appointed under this section shall have 
                pecuniary interest or involvement in firefighting or 
                law enforcement or in the employee organizations 
                involved in the dispute.
            (2) Compensation of members of boards of inquiry.--
                    (A) Members of any board established under this 
                section who are otherwise employed by the Federal 
                Government shall serve without compensation but shall 
                be reimbursed for travel, subsistence, and other 
                necessary expenses incurred by them in carrying out its 
                duties under this section.
                    (B) Members of any board established under this 
                section who are not subject to subparagraph (A) shall 
                receive compensation at a rate prescribed by the 
                Director but not to exceed the daily rate prescribed 
                for GS-15 of the General Schedule under section 5332 of 
                title 5, United States Code, including travel for each 
                day they are entitled to reimbursement for travel, 
                subsistence, and other necessary expenses incurred by 
                them in carrying out their duties under this section.
            (3) Maintenance of status quo.--After the certification of 
        an impasse under paragraph (1) of this section and for 15 days 
        after the Board of Inquiry has issued its report, no change in 
        the status quo in effect prior to the expiration of the 
        contract in the case of negotiations for a contract renewal, or 
        in effect prior to the time of the impasse in the case of an 
        initial bargaining negotiation, except by agreement of the 
        parties, shall be made by the parties to the controversy.
    (f) Enforcement.--After completion of the investigation in 
subsection (e) the Director may request the Attorney General to 
petition any United States District Court having jurisdiction of the 
parties to enforce the provisions of this Act.
    (g) State Immunity.--A State shall not be immune from an action in 
Federal or State court of competent jurisdiction for a violation of 
this Act. In any action against a State for a violation of the 
requirements of this Act, remedies (including remedies both at law and 
in equity) are available for such violation to the same extent as such 
remedies are available for such a violation in an action against any 
public or private entity other than a State.

SEC. 5. STRIKES AND LOCKOUTS PROHIBITED.

    Public safety employers and employees may not engage in lockouts or 
strikes.

SEC. 6. SUITS BY AND AGAINST LABOR ORGANIZATIONS.

    (a) Venue, Amount, and Citizenship.--Suits for violation of 
contracts between an employer and a labor organization representing 
public safety employees, or between any such labor organizations, may 
be brought in any district court of the United States having 
jurisdiction of the parties, without respect to the amount in 
controversy or without regard to the citizenship of the parties.
    (b) Responsibility for Acts of Agent; Entity for Purpose of Suit; 
Enforcement of Money Judgments.--Any labor organization which 
represents public safety employees and any employer shall be bound by 
the acts of its agents. Any such labor organization may sue or be sued 
as an entity and on behalf of the employees whom it represents in the 
courts of the United States. Any money judgment against a labor 
organization in a district court of the United States shall be 
enforceable only against the organization as an entity and against its 
assets, and shall not be enforceable against any individual member or 
the assets of the individual.
    (c) Jurisdiction.--For the purpose of actions and proceedings by or 
against labor organizations in the district courts of the United 
States, district courts shall be deemed to have jurisdiction of a labor 
organization--
            (1) in the district in which such organization maintains 
        its principal office; or
            (2) in any district in which its duly authorized officers 
        or agents are engaged in representing or acting for employee 
        members.
    (d) Service of Process.--The service of summons, subpoena, or other 
legal process of any court of the United States upon an officer or 
agent (acting in such capacity) of a labor organization shall 
constitute service upon the labor organization.
    (e) Determination of Question of Agency.--For the purpose of this 
section, in determining whether any person is acting as an ``agent'' of 
another person so as to make such other person responsible for such 
actions, the question of whether the specific acts performed were 
actually authorized or subsequently ratified shall not be controlling.

SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be 
necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act.

SEC. 8. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    This Act shall take effect 60 days after the date of the enactment 
of this Act.