Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/11pdf/10-1121c4d6.pdf
Page Number: 7

Cite as:  567 U. S. ____ (2012) 

3 

Opinion of the Court 

monthly dues at $45.  Based on the most recently audited 
year, the SEIU estimated that 56.35% of its total expendi-
tures in the coming year would be dedicated to chargeable 
collective-bargaining  activities.    Thus,  if  a  nonunion  em-
ployee  objected  within  30  days  to  payment  of  the  full
amount  of  union  dues,  the  objecting  employee  was  re-
quired to pay only 56.35% of total dues.  The SEIU’s notice 
also  included  a  feature  that  was  not  present  in  Hudson: 
The  notice  stated  that  the  agency  fee  was  subject  to  in-
crease at any time without further notice. 

During  this  time,  the  citizens  of  the  State  of  California 
were engaged in a wide-ranging political debate regarding 
state  budget  deficits,  and  in  particular  the  budget  conse-
quences  of  growing  compensation  for  public  employees
backed  by  powerful  public-sector  unions.  On  June  13, 
2005, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger called for a special 
election to be held in November 2005, where voters would 
consider  various  ballot  propositions  aimed  at  state-level 
structural  reforms.    Two  of  the  most  controversial  issues 
on the ballot were Propositions 75 and 76.  Proposition 75
would have required unions to obtain employees’ affirma-
tive consent before charging them fees to be used for polit-
ical  purposes.  Proposition  76  would  have  limited  state
spending  and  would  have  given  the  Governor  the  ability 
under  some  circumstances  to  reduce  state  appropriations
for  public-employee  compensation.    The  SEIU  joined  a 
coalition  of  public-sector  unions  in  vigorously  opposing 
these  measures.    Calling  itself  the  “Alliance  for  a  Better 
California,”  the  group  would  eventually  raise  “more  than 
$10  million,  with  almost  all  of  it  coming  from  public  em-
ployee  unions,  including  $2.75  million  from  state  worker 
unions, $4.7 million from the California Teachers Associa-
tion, and $700,000 from school workers unions.”1 

—————— 

1 Marinucci  &  Wildermuth,  Schwarzenegger  Adds  Prop.  75  to  His 

Agenda, San Francisco Chronicle, Sept. 18, 2005, p. A–17.