BILL REQ. #:  S-1877.1 

READ FIRST TIME 03/05/03.   

     AN ACT Relating to uniformed personnel collective bargaining; and amending RCW 41.56.030, 41.56.465, and 41.56.492.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

Sec. 1   RCW 41.56.030 and 2002 c 99 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:
     As used in this chapter:
     (1) "Public employer" means any officer, board, commission, council, or other person or body acting on behalf of any public body governed by this chapter, or any subdivision of such public body. For the purposes of this section, the public employer of district court or superior court employees for wage-related matters is the respective county legislative authority, or person or body acting on behalf of the legislative authority, and the public employer for nonwage-related matters is the judge or judge's designee of the respective district court or superior court.
     (2) "Public employee" means any employee of a public employer except any person (a) elected by popular vote, or (b) appointed to office pursuant to statute, ordinance, or resolution for a specified term of office as a member of a multimember board, commission, or committee, whether appointed by the executive head or body of the public employer, or (c) whose duties as deputy, administrative assistant, or secretary necessarily imply a confidential relationship to (i) the executive head or body of the applicable bargaining unit, or (ii) any person elected by popular vote, or (iii) any person appointed to office pursuant to statute, ordinance, or resolution for a specified term of office as a member of a multimember board, commission, or committee, whether appointed by the executive head or body of the public employer, or (d) who is a court commissioner or a court magistrate of superior court, district court, or a department of a district court organized under chapter 3.46 RCW, or (e) who is a personal assistant to a district court judge, superior court judge, or court commissioner, or (f) excluded from a bargaining unit under RCW 41.56.201(2)(a). For the purpose of (e) of this subsection, no more than one assistant for each judge or commissioner may be excluded from a bargaining unit.
     (3) "Bargaining representative" means any lawful organization which has as one of its primary purposes the representation of employees in their employment relations with employers.
     (4) "Collective bargaining" means the performance of the mutual obligations of the public employer and the exclusive bargaining representative to meet at reasonable times, to confer and negotiate in good faith, and to execute a written agreement with respect to grievance procedures and collective negotiations on personnel matters, including wages, hours and working conditions, which may be peculiar to an appropriate bargaining unit of such public employer, except that by such obligation neither party shall be compelled to agree to a proposal or be required to make a concession unless otherwise provided in this chapter.
     (5) "Commission" means the public employment relations commission.
     (6) "Executive director" means the executive director of the commission.
     (7) "Uniformed personnel" means: (a) Law enforcement officers as defined in RCW 41.26.030 employed by the governing body of any city or town with a population of two thousand five hundred or more and law enforcement officers employed by the governing body of any county with a population of ((ten)) twenty-five thousand or more; (b) correctional employees who are uniformed and nonuniformed, commissioned and noncommissioned security personnel employed in a jail as defined in RCW 70.48.020(5), by a county with a population of seventy thousand or more, and who are trained for and charged with the responsibility of controlling and maintaining custody of inmates in the jail and safeguarding inmates from other inmates; (c) general authority Washington peace officers as defined in RCW 10.93.020 employed by a port district in a county with a population of one million or more; (d) security forces established under RCW 43.52.520; (e) fire fighters as that term is defined in RCW 41.26.030; (f) employees of a port district in a county with a population of one million or more whose duties include crash fire rescue or other fire fighting duties; (g) employees of fire departments of public employers who dispatch exclusively either fire or emergency medical services, or both; or (h) employees in the several classes of advanced life support technicians, as defined in RCW 18.71.200, who are employed by a public employer.
     (8) "Institution of higher education" means the University of Washington, Washington State University, Central Washington University, Eastern Washington University, Western Washington University, The Evergreen State College, and the various state community colleges.
     (9) "Home care quality authority" means the authority under chapter 74.39A RCW.
     (10) "Individual provider" means an individual provider as defined in RCW 74.39A.240(4) who, solely for the purposes of collective bargaining, is employed by the home care quality authority as provided in RCW 74.39A.270.

Sec. 2   RCW 41.56.465 and 1995 c 273 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) In making its determination, the panel shall be mindful of the legislative purpose enumerated in RCW 41.56.430 and, as additional standards or guidelines to aid it in reaching a decision, it shall take into consideration the following factors:
     (a) The constitutional and statutory authority of the employer;
     (b) Stipulations of the parties;
     (c)(i) For employees listed in RCW 41.56.030(7) (a) through (d), comparison of the wages, hours, and conditions of employment of personnel involved in the proceedings with the wages, hours, and conditions of employment of like personnel of like employers of similar size on the west coast of the United States. However, when an adequate number of comparable employers exists within the state of Washington, other west coast employers may not be considered;
     (ii) For employees listed in RCW 41.56.030(7) (e) through (h), comparison of the wages, hours, and conditions of employment of personnel involved in the proceedings with the wages, hours, and conditions of employment of like personnel of public fire departments of similar size on the west coast of the United States. However, when an adequate number of comparable employers exists within the state of Washington, other west coast employers may not be considered;
     (d) ((The average consumer prices for goods and services, commonly known as the cost of living;
     (e))) The percentage change in the implicit price deflator for personal consumption expenditures for the United States as published by the bureau of economic analysis of the federal department of commerce for the year preceding the year in which interest arbitration panel proceedings are initiated;
     (e) In making economic determinations, internal equity and local labor market considerations shall be given substantial weight;
     (f) The financial constraints of the governing body;
     (g) Changes in any of the circumstances under (a) through (d) of this subsection during the pendency of the proceedings; and
     (((f))) (h) Such other factors, not confined to the factors under (a) through (((e))) (g) of this subsection, that are normally or traditionally taken into consideration in the determination of wages, hours, and conditions of employment. For those employees listed in RCW 41.56.030(7)(a) who are employed by the governing body of a city or town with a population of less than fifteen thousand, or a county with a population of less than seventy thousand, consideration must also be given to regional differences in the cost of living.
     (2) Subsection (1)(c) of this section may not be construed to authorize the panel to require the employer to pay, directly or indirectly, the increased employee contributions resulting from chapter 502, Laws of 1993 or chapter 517, Laws of 1993 as required under chapter 41.26 RCW.

Sec. 3   RCW 41.56.492 and 1993 c 473 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
     In addition to the classes of employees listed in RCW 41.56.030(7), the provisions of RCW 41.56.430 through 41.56.452, 41.56.470, 41.56.480, and 41.56.490 shall also be applicable to the employees of a public passenger transportation system of a metropolitan municipal corporation, county transportation authority, public transportation benefit area, or city public passenger transportation system, subject to the following:
     (1) Negotiations between the public employer and the bargaining representative may commence at any time agreed to by the parties. If no agreement has been reached ninety days after commencement of negotiations, either party may demand that the issues in disagreement be submitted to a mediator. The services of the mediator shall be provided by the commission without cost to the parties, but nothing in this section or RCW 41.56.440 shall be construed to prohibit the public employer and the bargaining representative from agreeing to substitute at their own expense some other mediator or mediation procedure; and
     (2) If an agreement has not been reached following a reasonable period of negotiations and mediation, and the mediator finds that the parties remain at impasse, either party may demand that the issues in disagreement be submitted to an arbitration panel for a binding and final determination. In making its determination, the arbitration panel shall be mindful of the legislative purpose enumerated in RCW 41.56.430 and as additional standards or guidelines to aid it in reaching a ((decisions [decision])) decision, shall take into consideration the following factors:
     (a) The constitutional and statutory authority of the employer;
     (b) Stipulations of the parties;
     (c) The financial constraints of the governing body;
     (d) Compensation package comparisons, economic indices, fiscal constraints, and similar factors determined by the arbitration panel to be pertinent to the case; ((and
     (d))) (e) The percentage change in the implicit price deflator for personal consumption expenditures for the United States as published by the bureau of economic analysis of the federal department of commerce for the year preceding the year in which interest arbitration panel proceedings are initiated;
     (f) In making economic determinations, internal equity and local labor market considerations shall be given substantial weight; and
     (g) Such other factors, not confined to the foregoing, which are normally or traditionally taken into consideration in the determination of wages, hours, and conditions of employment.