Opinion ID: 1379638
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The attorney general's argument as to legal sufficiency

Text: Insofar as the legal sufficiency of the twenty-seven challenged provisions of the agreement is concerned, the attorney general, among other objections, contends as follows: (1) the agreement contains provisions pertaining to salary, compensation and classification of employees in violation of RLMR 7(B), which provides that matters of salary and matters of classification are to be excluded from collective bargaining negotiations; (2) the agreement provides for the unlawful appropriation of money, including the establishment of a $20,000 counseling program that the legislature refused to fund, in violation of RLMR 7(G), which prohibits collective bargaining agreements from obligating state agencies to commit funds for purposes for which funds have not been lawfully appropriated; (3) the agreement unlawfully expands the scope of collective bargaining agreements by requiring the parties to challenge disputed provisions of the agreement in the courts, when Local 2238 provides that such a collective bargaining agreement must be controlled by the Personnel Act, the board's rules, and any legislative changes; (4) the agreement impermissibly defines management employees in such a way as to include them in the bargaining unit, when RLMR 5(F)(2) excludes management employees from bargaining units; (5) the agreement's leave provisions clash with board rules 13.3(B) and (C) pertaining to the rights of an employee who takes leave to return to the same geographical location in which the employee lived before the leave; In general, the attorney general finds in the challenged provisions a blanket violation of the principle we enunciated in Local 2238, to the effect that the board may not delegate to state agencies or employee unions the authority to enact rules or agreements on those matters expressly placed within the purview of the Board's rule-making authority, i.e., wages, hiring, termination of employment   . 108 N.M. at 169, 769 P.2d at 82.