VACo urges opposition to HB 2764 (Tran) / SB 917 (Surovell), which would undermine the existing local option local governments have to engage in collective bargaining agreements with their employees and require local governments to engage in collective bargaining should their employees so choose. The bills create the Public Employee Relations Board, which shall determine appropriate bargaining units and provide for certification and decertification elections for exclusive bargaining representatives of state employees and local government employees. These bills which have other, problematic provisions have cleared their respective chambers and are likely headed towards Governor Youngkin’s desk. The fiscal impacts to both the state and local governments for these bills are large. VACo opposes any effort to mandate collective bargaining for public employees.
As previously reported, these bills would remove local authority by imposing mandatory collective bargaining for local governments if a group of employees petition and vote to form a bargaining unit. The bill would also create a state Public Employee Relations Board and impose binding arbitration, among other provisions. HB 2764 / SB 917 are similar to previous labor organization-backed legislation from prior general assembly sessions, which was reported on by VACo here and here. As a result of the 2020 session, compromise legislation from then Senate Commerce and Labor Chair Senator Saslaw removed the ban on collective bargaining for local governments in Virginia, but ensured that the decision as to whether or not to engage in collective bargaining remained a local government option. Since the enactment of that law in May 2021, several local governments and local school boards have opted to adopt ordinances in collaboration with labor groups allowing collective bargaining to proceed and have made collective bargaining agreements.
SB 917 also incorporates separate legislation. SB 1401 (Lucas) would have created similar provisions only for firefighters. SB 1033 (Pekarsky) would have permitted school boards to enter into agreements subject to binding arbitration. As previously reported, VACo testified with concerns over potentially significant challenges that would undermine the financial harmony and statutory balance between school boards and county boards of supervisors.
KEY POINTS
- Virginia is home to a diverse array of localities with significant variations in population, resources, and administrative capacity. Mandating a uniform collective bargaining framework ignores these differences and places an undue burden on many localities that lack the resources to manage the complexities of collective bargaining agreements. Disregard for locally tailored solutions disrupts established practices and agreements and creates unnecessary confusion and an administrative burden.
- This legislation preempts local governance, introduces fiscal uncertainty, and disregards the progress made under the current framework.
- VACo urges the General Assembly to respect the autonomy of local governments and reject these measures.
VACo Contact: Jeremy R. Bennett