Case Name: FLORIDA PUBLIC EMPLOYEES COUNCIL 79, AFSCME, AFL-CIO, Appellant, v. PUBLIC EMPLOYEES RELATIONS COMMISSION and Florida Board of Governors, Appellees
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 2004-03-22
Citations: 871 So. 2d 270
Docket Number: No. 1D03-1190
Parties: FLORIDA PUBLIC EMPLOYEES COUNCIL 79, AFSCME, AFL-CIO, Appellant, v. PUBLIC EMPLOYEES RELATIONS COMMISSION and Florida Board of Governors, Appellees.
Judges: HAWKES, J., CONCURS; WEBSTER, J., CONCURS IN PART AND DISSENTS IN PART WITH WRITTEN OPINION.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 871
Pages: 270–277

Head Matter:
FLORIDA PUBLIC EMPLOYEES COUNCIL 79, AFSCME, AFL-CIO, Appellant, v. PUBLIC EMPLOYEES RELATIONS COMMISSION and Florida Board of Governors, Appellees.
No. 1D03-1190.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, First District.
March 22, 2004.
Rehearing Denied May 4, 2004.
Alma Gonzalez, Special Counsel for the Florida Public Employees Council 79, AFSCME, Tallahassee; Jerry G. Trayn-ham, Esq. and Ben R. Patterson, Esq. of Patterson & Traynham, Tallahassee, for Appellant.
Michael Mattimore, Esq. and Robert E. Larkin, III, Esq. of Allen, Norton & Blue, P.A., Tallahassee for Florida Board of Governors; David Smolker, Esq. of Brick-lemyer, Smolker & Bolves, P.A., Tampa for New College of Florida Board of Trustees, for Appellee.

Opinion:
LEWIS, J.
Appellant, the Florida Public Employees Council 79, AFSCME, AFL-CIO, seeks review of an order of appellee, the Public Employees Relations Commission ("PERC"), dismissing appellant's petitions to amend certification. Appellant contends that PERC erred in designating the university Boards of Trustees as the public employers of their respective universities. For the following reasons, we affirm.
During a special session in 2002, the Florida Legislature passed chapter 02-387, Laws of Florida, "the Governance Act," wherein it abolished the Florida Board of Regents, effective July 1, 2001, and established new criteria for local Boards of Trustees at each state university, effective January 7, 2003. Ch. 02-387, § 3, 83, at 3152, 3236, Laws of Fla. The Legislature amended section 447.203(2), Florida Statutes (2001), which set forth that "the Board of Regents shall be deemed to be the public employer with respect to all public employees within the State University System ." by replacing the "Board of Regents" with the "university board of trustees" and prescribing that the individual boards would "be the public employer with respect to all public employees of the respective state university...." Ch. 02-387, § 1006, at 4129, Laws of Fla. Thus, section 447.203(2), Florida Statutes (2002), provides, in pertinent part, that:
With respect to all public employees determined by the commission as properly belonging to a statewide bargaining unit composed of State Career Service System employees or Selected Professional Service System employees or Selected Professional Service employees, the Governor shall be deemed to be the public employer; and the university board of trustees shall be deemed to be the public employer with respect to all public employees of the respective state university.
(emphasis added).
Thereafter, the voters of Florida . approved the following constitutional amendment to Article IX of the Florida Constitution in November 2002, which became effective on January 7, 2003:
SECTION 7. State University System.
(a) PURPOSES. In order to achieve excellence through teaching students, advancing research and providing public service for the benefit of Florida's citizens, their communities and economies, the people hereby establish a system of governance for the state university system of Florida.
(b) STATE UNIVERSITY SYSTEM. There shall be a single state university system comprised of all public universities. A board of trustees shall administer each public university and a board of governors shall govern the state university system.
(c) LOCAL BOARDS OF TRUSTEES. Each local constituent university shall be administered by a board of trustees consisting of thirteen members dedicated to the purposes of the state university system. The board of governors shall establish the powers and duties of the boards of trustees. Each board of trustees shall consist of six citizen members appointed by the governor and five citizen members appointed by the board of governors. The appointed members shall be confirmed by the senate and serve staggered terms of five years as provided by law. The chair of the faculty senate, or the equivalent, and the president of the student body of the university shall also be members.
(d) STATEWIDE BOARD OF GOVERNORS. The board of governors shall be a body corporate consisting of seventeen members. The board shall operate, regulate, control, and be fully responsible for the management of the whole university system. These responsibilities shall include, but not be limited to, defining the distinctive mission of each constituent university and its articulation with free public schools and community colleges, ensuring the well-planned coordination and operation of the system, and avoiding wasteful duplication of facilities or programs. The board's management shall be subject to the powers of the legislature to appropriate for the expenditure of funds, and the board shall account for such expenditures as provided by law. The governor shall appoint to the board fourteen citizens dedicated to the purposes of the state university system. The appointed members shall be confirmed by the senate and serve staggered terms of seven years as provided by law. The commissioner of education, the chair or the advisory council of faculty senates, or the equivalent, and the president of the Florida student association, or the equivalent, shall also be members of the board.
On January 7, 2003, appellee, the Board of Governors, the members of which were appointed by the Governor on December 23, 2002, unanimously met and approved a resolution "delineating the powers and duties of the university Boards of Trustees" pursuant to the powers bestowed upon it by the voters of Florida. The resolution, in pertinent part, provides that "[e]ach board of trustees is vested with the authority to govern its university, as necessary to provide proper governance and improvement of the university in accordance with law and with rules of the Board of Governors." The resolution further provides that:
Each board of trustees shall establish the personnel program for all employees of the university, including the president, pursuant to the provisions of chapter 1012 and, in accordance with rules and guidelines of the Board of Governors, including: compensation and other conditions of employment, recruitment and selection, nonreappointment, standards for performance and conduct, evaluation, benefits and hours of work, leave policies, recognition and awards, inventions and works, travel, learning opportunities, exchange programs, academic freedom and responsibility, promotion, assignment, demotion, transfer, tenure and permanent status, ethical obligations and conflicts of interest, restrictive covenants, disciplinary actions, complaints, appeals and grievance procedures, and separation and termination from employment.... No rule of the Board of Governors shall be considered to in any way contravene the responsibility of each of the university board of trustees to act as the sole public employer with regard to all public employees of its universities for the purposes of collective bargaining in accord with chapter W Florida Statutes.
BE IT RESOLVED that it is the intent of the Board of Governors that the university boards of trustees shall be the sole public employer with respect to all public employees of the respective state universities as provided in s. 447.203(2) and (10) F.S. for the purpose of collective bargaining....
(emphasis added).
That same day, appellant filed a Petition to Amend Certification with PERC, requesting that PERC amend "Certifications numbered 730, 731, 732, and 733" to reflect that the Board of Governors, pursuant to article IX, section 7, was the successor employer of all employees whose previous employer was the Board of Education. Appellant subsequently filed an Amended Petition to Amend Certification, which, for the most part, mirrored its initial petition. PERC appointed a hearing officer, who directed the Board of Governors to respond. In his recommended order, the hearing officer found that appellant sought to substitute the Board of Governors for the Board of Education as the public employer for the purpose of collective bargaining and to challenge the Board of Governors' resolution on constitutional grounds. According to the hearing officer, the issue did not raise disputed issues of material fact; however, the pleadings raised disputed issues of law.
In his legal analysis, the hearing officer concluded that, until section 447.203(2), which provides that the Boards of Trustees are to serve as the public employers of their respective universities, was repealed by the Legislature or judicially determined to be invalid or unconstitutional, PERC was bound by it. Based upon this statute, the hearing officer concluded that the Boards of Trustees are the public employers of their individual universities for the purpose of chapter 447. While noting that appellant's constitutional challenge to the Board of Governors' resolution was preserved, the hearing officer noted that he would not address the challenges because PERC only had the jurisdiction, authority, and responsibility to decide the merits of the amendment to certification process. However, "assuming the constitutionality of the resolution," and in reading the "explicit language" of article IX, section 7 to mean that the Board of Governors has a broad range of discretion in establishing the powers and duties of the Boards of Trustees, the hearing officer concluded that the Board of Governors was not the public employer because the resolution granted that authority to the Boards of Trustees.
Following the filing of appellant's exceptions to the recommended order, PERC issued its Order Dismissing Petitions. Therein, PERC found appellant's exception that section 447.203(2) was not controlling meritless and determined that the statute clearly and unambiguously set forth that the Boards of Trustees were deemed the public employers. PERC further determined that the statute was not qualified in any manner that would suggest that it pertained only to boards created by legislative fiat and not by constitu-tiopal amendment. PERC concluded that, until and unless section 447.203(2) was repealed or invalidated, it was bound to recognize the Boards of Trustees as the public employers, without distinction as to when or how those boards were created. In declining to address the constitutionality of the Board of Governors' resolution, PERC determined that the resolution was superfluous based upon section 447.203(2) and that any defect in the resolution would have no effect on the Boards of Trustees' public employer status. This appeal followed.
In denying appellant's petitions, PERC relied solely upon section 447.203(2) and its provision that the Boards of Trustees are to serve as the public employers of their respective universities. However, as of the effective date of article IX, section 7, which was January 7, 2003, the Board of Governors was the entity that was "fully responsible for the management of the whole university system." See Art. IX, § 7(d), Fla. Const. As of that day, the Board of Governors was also the entity responsible for establishing the "powers and duties of the boards of trustees." See Art. IX, § 7(c), Fla. Const. In establishing the powers and duties of the Boards of Trustees, the Board of Governors, in accordance with the powers vested in it by the voters of Florida, designated the Boards of Trustees as the public employers of their respective universities. Because the Board of Governors has addressed this issue, notwithstanding the fact that it reached the same conclusion as the Legislature did, the Legislature's pronouncement that the Boards of Trustees are to serve as the public employers of their respective universities is no longer enforceable. As such, section 447.203(2) cannot serve as the basis for PERC's denial of appellant's petitions.
On appeal, the Board of Governors contends that, regardless of PERC's reliance on section 447.203(2) in denying appellant's petitions, it reached the correct result because the Board of Governors' action of designating the Boards of Trustees as the public employers of their respective universities constituted a legitimate exercise of constitutional authority. We agree and conclude that, pursuant to article IX, section 7(c), the Board of Governors may constitutionally grant the authority to act as the public employers of the state universities to the respective Boards of Trustees. Because the Board of Governors, pursuant to the powers bestowed upon it by the voters of Florida, designated the Boards of Trustees as the public employers of their respective universities, we affirm PERC's order. See Dade County Sch. Bd. v. Radio Station WQBA, 731 So.2d 638, 644 (Fla.1999) ("[I]f a trial court reaches the right result, but for the wrong reasons, it will be upheld if there is any basis which would support the judgment in the record.").
AFFIRMED.
HAWKES, J., CONCURS; WEBSTER, J., CONCURS IN PART AND DISSENTS IN PART WITH WRITTEN OPINION.
. This provision replaced former section 229.008, Florida Statutes, which was part of the Education Reorganization Act. See Ch. 01-170, § 3, at 1368, Laws of Fla. (abolishing the Board of Regents as of July 1, 2001).
. The Legislature had previously created local Boards of Trustees, directing the Governor to appoint a thirteen-member board for each university no later than November 1, 2001. See Ch. 01-170, § 13, at 1391, Laws of Fla.; see also § 229.008(l)(a), Fla. Stat. (2001). After the Board of Regents was abolished, the Florida Board of Education became the public employer for purposes of collective bargaining. See § 229.003(5)(b), Fla. Stat. (2002) (providing that all the powers, duties, and functions of the Board of Regents were transferred to the Florida Board of Education).
. This section was not amended during the 2003 legislative session.
. Pursuant to sections 1001.71(1) and (4), Florida Statutes (2002), the Boards of Trustees were to be comprised of twelve members appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the state senate with the members to serve staggered four-year terms. The student body president of each university was to serve ex officio as a voting member of his or her university's board. § 1001.71(1), Fla. Stat. (2002). Members could be removed by the Governor upon a recommendation of the State Board of Education. § 1001.71(3), Fla. Stat. (2002). Notably, in 2003, the Legislature amended section 1001.71(1) to correspond with article IX, section 7 with respect to the composition of the Boards of Trustees.
. 'The hearing officer noted that, if the local Boards of Trustees, were deemed the public employers of their respective universities, then appellant's petitions should be dismissed because the procedure to amend a certification was not designed to reconfigure existing bargaining units or to create new bargaining units but to provide parties to an existing certification the flexibility to change identities.