Category: Legislation

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FAQs on AB 119 – California’s New Employee Orientation Law (Part III)

Earlier this week I wrote about the staff report to the Board on implementing AB 119. Now that we have the staff report, here is Part III of my FAQ’s related to AB 119. This part focuses on PERB’s role.  (Click here for Part I and here for Part II.)

How is an arbitrator selected for compulsory interest arbitration? Upon request, the State Mediation and Conciliation Service (SMCS)—which is now part of PERB—will provide a list of arbitrators.  The staff report recommends that PERB utilize existing SMCS procedures for requesting and processing requests for lists of arbitrators. The statute requires the list to be provided within seven (7) days, but PERB’s practice is to provide the list almost immediately. But remember that PERB requires a payment of $50 for the list. Once the list is provided, the parties have seven days to make a mutual selection from the list of arbitrators or go through a process where each party takes a turn striking a name until there is only one remaining. (Gov. Code §3557(b)(2).)

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PERB Schedules Meeting to Discuss AB 119

At its regular meeting on August 10, 2017, the Board instructed each of its divisions to prepare recommendations for the implementation of AB 119, the Public Employee Communication Chapter (PECC). The Board has now scheduled a meeting on August 31, 2017 to hear and act upon those recommendations. Based on the staff report to the Board, here are the recommendations from each division:

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SB 548: PERB is “committed … but unable to deliver”

I recently wrote about SB 548 here. SB 548 codifies PERB Regulation 32147 on expediting cases. However, as any PERB practitioner can tell you, that regulation is relatively toothless as it only requires the Board to give “priority” to an expedited case “in the manner determined to be appropriate by … the Board itself, the General Counsel, or the Chief Administrative.”

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Update on AB 530 and SB 548

I previously wrote about AB 530 and SB 548 here.  In summary, AB 530 would have made peace officers subject to PERB’s jurisdiction for the first time. In contrast, SB 548 would have removed firefighters from PERB’s jurisdiction. However, both bills have since been amended.  Here’s an update:

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AB 1339 Expands Background Check Law

Current state law requires an employer to provide the full personnel records of any employee or former employee who applies for a peace officer position. (Gov. Code §1031.1.) AB 1339, which was signed by the Governor on July 21, 2017, extends this obligation to any applicant for any position in a law enforcement agency. The intent behind this bill is that current law leaves a gap for positions such as a police dispatcher or evidence clerk. Although these are not peace officer positions, these are still sensitive positions in a law enforcement agency. Under AB 1339, if an employee or…

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