II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1016

To provide collective bargaining rights for public safety officers employed

by States or their political subdivisions.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MAY 12, 1999

Mr. DEWINE (for himself, Mr. GREGG, Mr. WELLSTONE, and Mrs. MURRAY)

introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the

Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

A BILL

To provide collective bargaining rights for public safety

officers employed by States or their political subdivisions.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Public Safety Em5 ployer-Employee Cooperation Act of 1999’’.

6 SEC. 2. DECLARATION OF PURPOSE AND POLICY.

7 The Congress declares that the following is the policy

8 of the United States:

9 (1) Labor-management relationships and part10 nerships should be based on trust, mutual respect,
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1 open communications, consensual problem solving,

2 and shared accountability.

3 (2) To promote and assure these relationships

4 in the public safety industry, to ensure the most ef5 fective delivery of emergency services, and to main6 tain the normal flow of commerce the public safety

7 industry requires minimal standards for collective

8 bargaining.

9 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

10 In this Act:

11 (1) AUTHORITY.—The term ‘‘Authority’’ means

12 the Federal Labor Relations Authority.

13 (2) FIREFIGHTER.—The term ‘‘firefighter’’

14 means an individual employed by a fire department

15 who—

16 (A) primarily performs work directly re17 lated to the control and extinguishment of fires;

18 (B) is responsible for maintaining and

19 using firefighting equipment, preventing and in20 vestigating fires, and communicating with and

21 dispatching public safety officers; or

22 (C) provides emergency medical care.

23 (3) EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES PER24 SONNEL.—The term ‘‘emergency medical services

25 personnel’’ means an individual who provides out-of-
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1 hospital emergency medical care, including an emer2 gency medical technician, paramedic, or first re3 sponder.

4 (4) EMPLOYER.—The terms ‘‘employer’’ and

5 ‘‘public safety employer’’ mean any State, political

6 subdivision of a State, the District of Columbia, or

7 any territory or possession of the United States.

8 (5) LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY.—The term

9 ‘‘law enforcement agency’’ means a State or local

10 public agency that is charged by law with the duty

11 to prevent or investigate crimes or apprehend or

12 hold in custody persons charged with or convicted of

13 crimes.

14 (6) LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER.—The term

15 ‘‘law enforcement officer’’ has the meaning given in

16 section 1204, title I of Public Law 90–351 (as

17 amended) (42 U.S.C. 3796b(5)).

18 (7) MANAGEMENT EMPLOYEE.—The term

19 ‘‘management employee’’ means an individual em20 ployed by a public safety employer in a position that

21 requires or authorizes the individual to formulate,

22 determine, or influence the policies of the employer.

23 (8) PUBLIC SAFETY OFFICER.—The term ‘‘pub24 lic safety officer’’ means an employee of a public

25 safety agency who is a law enforcement officer, a
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1 firefighter, or emergency medical services personnel.

2 The term includes an individual who is temporarily

3 transferred to a supervisory or administrative posi4 tion, but does not include a permanent management

5 or supervisory employee.

6 (9) SUPERVISORY EMPLOYEE.—The term ‘‘su7 pervisory employee’’ means an individual employed

8 by a public safety employer who—

9 (A) has the authority in the interest of the

10 employer to hire, direct, assign, promote, re11 ward, transfer, furlough, layoff, recall, suspend,

12 discipline, or remove public safety officers, to

13 adjust their grievances or to effectively rec14 ommend such action, if the exercise of the au15 thority is not merely routine or clerical in na16 ture but requires the consistent exercise of

17 independent judgment; and

18 (B) devotes a majority of time at work ex19 ercising such authority.

20 SEC. 4. RIGHT OF PUBLIC SAFETY OFFICERS TO ORGANIZE

21 AND BARGAIN COLLECTIVELY.

22 (a) DETERMINATION.—

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days

24 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Author25 ity shall issue a determination as to whether a State
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1 substantially complies with the rights and respon2 sibilities described in subsection (b). In making such

3 a determination, the Authority shall not find that a

4 State law enacted prior to 1985 is not in substantial

5 compliance solely because it does not apply to polit6 ical jurisdictions with populations of 5,000 or less.

7 (2) SUBSEQUENT DETERMINATIONS.—After the

8 expiration of the 180-day period referred to in para9 graph (1), an employer or labor organization may

10 request the Authority to determine whether the

11 State substantially complies with the rights and re12 sponsibilities described in subsection (b). The Direc13 tor shall issue such a determination not later than

14 30 days after written receipt of such a request.

15 (3) FAILURE TO MEET REQUIREMENTS.—A

16 State that does not substantially comply with the

17 rights and responsibilities described in subsection (b)

18 shall be subject to the regulations and procedures

19 described in section 5.

20 (b) RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES.—In making a

21 determination described in subsection (a), the Authority

22 shall consider whether State law—

23 (1) grants public safety officers the right to

24 form and join a labor organization that does not in25 clude management and supervisory employees and
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1 that is, or seeks to be, recognized as the exclusive

2 bargaining agent of such employees;

3 (2) requires public safety employers to recog4 nize the employees’ labor organization (freely chosen

5 by a majority of the employees), to agree to bargain

6 with the labor organization, and to commit any

7 agreements to writing in a contract or memorandum

8 of understanding;

9 (3) allows bargaining over hours, wages, terms,

10 and conditions of employment;

11 (4) prohibits bargaining over issues which are

12 traditional and customary management functions;

13 (5) protects all existing collective bargaining

14 agreements, memoranda of understanding, certifi15 cations, recognitions, and elections;

16 (6) requires fact finding in the event of an in17 terest impasse;

18 (7) allows the parties voluntarily to agree to

19 submit disagreements to arbitration;

20 (8) requires enforcement through State courts

21 of all rights, responsibilities, and protections pro22 vided in this section and of any written contract or

23 memorandum of understanding; and

24 (9) prohibits strikes and lockouts.
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1 SEC. 5. RIGHTS TO ORGANIZE AND BARGAIN COLLEC2 TIVELY.

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the

4 date of the enactment of this Act, the Authority shall issue

5 regulations in accordance with the provisions described in

6 section 4(a) establishing collective bargaining procedures

7 for public safety employers and officers in States that are

8 not in compliance with the rights and responsibilities

9 under section 4(b).

10 (b) ROLE OF FAIR LABOR RELATIONS AUTHOR11 ITY.—The Authority shall, to the extent provided in this

12 Act and in accordance with regulations prescribed by the

13 Authority—

14 (1) determine the appropriateness of units for

15 labor organization representation;

16 (2) supervise or conduct elections to determine

17 whether a labor organization has been selected as an

18 exclusive representative by a majority of the employ19 ees in an appropriate unit;

20 (3) resolve issues relating to the duty to bar21 gain in good faith;

22 (4) conduct hearings and resolve complaints of

23 unfair labor practices;

24 (5) resolve exceptions to arbitrator’s awards;

25 and
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1 (6) take such other actions as are necessary

2 and appropriate to effectively administer the provi3 sions of this Act.

4 (c) ENFORCEMENT.—A public safety employer, offi5 cer, and labor organization each shall have the right to

6 seek enforcement of this section through appropriate State

7 courts.

8 SEC. 6. STRIKES AND LOCKOUTS PROHIBITED.

9 A public safety employer, officer, or labor organiza10 tion may not engage in lockouts or strikes.

11 SEC. 7. EXISTING COLLECTIVE BARGAINING UNITS AND

12 AGREEMENTS.

13 A certification, recognition, election-held, collective

14 bargaining agreement or memorandum of understanding

15 which has been issued, approved, or ratified by any public

16 employee relations board or commission or by any State

17 or political subdivision or its agents (management offi18 cials) in effect on the day before the date of enactment

19 of this Act shall not be invalidated by the enactment of

20 this Act.

21 SEC. 8. CONSTRUCTION AND COMPLIANCE.

22 (a) CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this Act shall be

23 construed to invalidate or limit the remedies, rights, and

24 procedures of any law of any State or political subdivision
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1 of any State or jurisdiction that provides greater or equal

2 collective bargaining rights for public safety employees.

3 (b) COMPLIANCE.—No State shall preempt laws or

4 ordinances of any of its political subdivisions which pro5 vide greater or equal collective bargaining rights for public

6 safety employees in order to comply with this Act.

7 SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

8 There are authorized to be appropriated such sums

9 as may be necessary to carry out this Act.

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