VACo urges opposition to SB 378 (Surovell), which as introduced, would remove local authority and create substantial local fiscal impact 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 with no specified local government representation and impose binding arbitration, among other provisions. Furthermore, the bill has no provisions for grandfathering in local governments that have agreed to collective bargaining agreements with employee representatives beyond the expiration date of existing agreements.
The Senate Commerce and Labor Committee heard the bill on February 2 and voted 8 to 6 to report and Refer SB 378 to the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee. VACo led testimony in opposition to the bill.
ACTION REQUIRED
- VACo Members – Contact the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee to oppose SB 378 now. Please include VACo in your correspondence and share with your locality fiscal and other impacts of the legislation.
SB 378 is similar to previous labor organization-backed legislation from previous general assembly sessions, which was reported on by VACo last year.
KEY POINTS
- The estimated local fiscal impact for this legislation is massive.
- 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 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 this measure.
VACo opposes a similar bill, HB 1263 (Tran), which hasn’t been heard in Subcommittee #2 of the Labor and Commerce Committee.
KEY CONTACT
VACo Contact: Jeremy R. Bennett