HF 2075 (LSB 5847YH (3) 88)

HOUSE FILE 2075

BY  KACENA, ANDERSON, WILBURN, HALL, KONFRST, MATSON, BRECKENRIDGE, STECKMAN, OURTH, WILLIAMS, STAED, McKEAN, BEARINGER, KURTZ, HUNTER, EHLERT, LENSING, WINCKLER, DONAHUE, M. SMITH, WOLFE, B. MEYER, MASCHER, KURTH, R. SMITH, NIELSEN, ISENHART, ABDUL-SAMAD, KRESSIG, DERRY, SUNDE, GAINES, McCONKEY, BROWN-POWERS, JAMES, GASKILL, PRICHARD, and OLDSON

A BILL FOR

An Act relating to employee organization elections administered by the public employment relations board and including effective date and applicability provisions.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

    Section 1.  Section 20.15, Code 2020, is amended by striking the section and inserting in lieu thereof the following:
   20.15  Elections.
   1.  Upon the filing of a petition for certification of an employee organization, the board shall submit a question to the public employees at an election in the bargaining unit found appropriate by the board. The question on the ballot shall permit the public employees to vote for no bargaining representation or for any employee organization which has petitioned for certification or which has presented proof satisfactory to the board of support of ten percent or more of the public employees in the appropriate unit.
   2.  If a majority of the votes cast on the question is for no bargaining representation, the public employees in the bargaining unit found appropriate by the board shall not be represented by an employee organization. If a majority of the votes cast on the question is for a listed employee organization, then that employee organization shall represent the public employees in the bargaining unit found appropriate by the board.
   3.  If none of the choices on the ballot receives the vote of a majority of the public employees voting, the board shall conduct a runoff election among the two choices receiving the greatest number of votes.
   4.  Upon written objections filed by any party to the election within ten days after notice of the results of the election, if the board finds that misconduct or other circumstances prevented the public employees eligible to vote from freely expressing their preferences, the board may invalidate the election and hold a second election for the public employees.
   5.  Upon completion of a valid election in which the majority choice of the employees voting is determined, the board shall certify the results of the election and shall give reasonable notice of the order to all employee organizations listed on the ballot, the public employers, and the public employees in the appropriate bargaining unit.
   6.  a.  A petition for certification as exclusive bargaining representative of a bargaining unit shall not be considered by the board for a period of one year from the date of the noncertification of an employee organization as the exclusive bargaining representative of that bargaining unit following a certification election. A petition for certification as the exclusive bargaining representative of a bargaining unit shall also not be considered by the board if the bargaining unit is at that time represented by a certified exclusive bargaining representative.
   b.  A petition for the decertification of the exclusive bargaining representative of a bargaining unit shall not be considered by the board for a period of one year from the date of its certification, or within one year of its continued certification following a decertification election, or during the duration of a collective bargaining agreement which, for purposes of this section, shall be deemed not to exceed two years. However, if a petition for decertification is filed during the duration of a collective bargaining agreement, the board shall award an election under this section not more than one hundred eighty days and not less than one hundred fifty days prior to the expiration of the collective bargaining agreement. If an employee organization is decertified, the board may receive petitions under section 20.14, provided that no such petition and no election conducted pursuant to such petition within one year from decertification shall include as a party the decertified employee organization.
   7.  A collective bargaining agreement with the state, its boards, commissions, departments, and agencies shall be for two years. The provisions of a collective bargaining agreement or arbitrator’s award affecting state employees shall not provide for renegotiations which would require the refinancing of salary and fringe benefits for the second year of the term of the agreement, except as provided in section 20.17, subsection 6. The effective date of any such agreement shall be July 1 of odd-numbered years, provided that if an exclusive bargaining representative is certified on a date which will prevent the negotiation of a collective bargaining agreement prior to July 1 of odd-numbered years for a period of two years, the certified collective bargaining representative may negotiate a one-year contract with the public employer which shall be effective from July 1 of the even-numbered year to July 1 of the succeeding odd-numbered year when new contracts shall become effective.
    Sec. 2.  Section 22.7, subsection 69, Code 2020, is amended to read as follows:
   69.  The evidence of public employee support for the certification, retention and recertification, or decertification of an employee organization as defined in section 20.3 that is submitted to the public employment relations board as provided in section 20.14 or 20.15.
    Sec. 3.  Section 22.7, subsection 70, Code 2020, is amended to read as follows:
   70.  Information indicating whether a public employee voted in a certification, retention and recertification, or decertification election held pursuant to section 20.15 or how the employee voted on any question on a ballot in such an election.
    Sec. 4.  Section 602.1401, subsection 3, paragraph b, Code 2020, is amended to read as follows:
   b.  For purposes of chapter 20, the certified representative, which on July 1, 1983, represents employees who become judicial branch employees as a result of 
1983 Iowa Acts, ch. 186
, shall remain the certified representative when the employees become judicial branch employees and thereafter, unless the public employee organization is not retained and recertified or is decertified in an election held under section 20.15 or amended or absorbed into another certified organization pursuant to chapter 20. Collective bargaining negotiations shall be conducted on a statewide basis and the certified employee organizations which engage in bargaining shall negotiate on a statewide basis, although bargaining units shall be organized by judicial district. The public employment relations board shall adopt rules pursuant to chapter 17A to implement this subsection.
    Sec. 5.  DIRECTIVES TO PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS BOARD.
   1.  The public employment relations board shall cancel any elections scheduled or in process pursuant to section 20.15, subsection 2, Code 2020, as of the effective date of this Act.
   2.  Notwithstanding section 20.15, subsection 1, paragraph “c”, Code 2020, the public employment relations board shall consider a petition for certification of an employee organization as the exclusive representative of a bargaining unit for which an employee organization was not retained and recertified as the exclusive representative of that bargaining unit regardless of the amount of time that has elapsed since the retention and recertification election at which an employee organization was not retained or recertified. 
    Sec. 6.  EFFECTIVE DATE.  This Act, being deemed of immediate importance, takes effect upon enactment.
    Sec. 7.  APPLICABILITY.  This Act applies to all elections carried out pursuant to section 20.15 on and after the effective date of this Act. 
EXPLANATION
The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with
the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly.
   This bill strikes and rewrites Code section 20.15, relating to elections for employee organizations representing public employee collective bargaining units pursuant to Code chapter 20. The bill strikes statutory changes made by 2017 Iowa Acts, ch. 2 (House File 291), and restores statutory language in effect prior to the enactment of 2017 Iowa Acts, ch. 2 (House File 291).
   The bill eliminates language providing for retention and recertification elections. The bill requires the public employment relations board to cancel any such elections scheduled or in process. The bill requires the board to consider a petition for certification of an employee organization as the exclusive representative of a bargaining unit for which an employee organization was not retained and recertified as the exclusive representative of that bargaining unit regardless of the amount of time that has elapsed since the retention and recertification election, notwithstanding prior requirements prohibiting such consideration for two years.
   The bill provides that the outcome of a certification or decertification election is determined by a majority vote of the members of the bargaining unit voting, rather than the total membership of the bargaining unit. The bill provides for a runoff election if none of the choices on the ballot in a certification election receives a majority vote of the members of the bargaining unit voting.
   The bill lowers the required percentage of support from employees in a bargaining unit required for an employee organization that did not submit a petition for certification as the exclusive bargaining representative of a bargaining unit to be listed on the ballot for a certification election from 30 percent to 10 percent.
   The bill strikes language prohibiting the board from considering a petition for certification as the exclusive bargaining representative of a bargaining unit unless a period of two years has elapsed from the date of the last certification election in which an employee organization was not certified as the exclusive representative of that bargaining unit or of the last decertification election in which an employee organization was decertified as the exclusive representative of that bargaining unit. The bill prohibits the board from considering a petition for certification as the exclusive bargaining representative of a bargaining unit for one year after the employee organization is not certified in a certification election. The bill makes additional changes relating to the scheduling of decertification elections.
   The bill makes conforming changes.
   The bill takes effect upon enactment and applies to all elections carried out pursuant to Code section 20.15 on and after the effective date of the bill.