SB 731 (Salim), as substituted, would require that the governing body of any city or county that contracts with a private company to provide a system of public transportation must:
- Require such company to provide any employee of such company providing services compensation and benefits that are, at a minimum, equivalent to the compensation and benefits provided to a public employee.
- Ensure that all employees of such public transportation system employed by a predecessor private company be offered employment with any successor company without loss of compensation or benefits.
The bill also states that if a city or county that contracts with a private company to provide a system of public transportation subsequently elects to provide its own system of public transportation, such county or city shall:
- Adopt an ordinance or resolution providing collective bargaining (if such county or city has not already done so).
- Ensure that all employees of the private company are offered employment with such subsequent system of public transportation without loss of compensation or benefits.
The bill was substituted in the Senate to exempt the Virginia Railway Express, paratransit service, microtransit service, and any ferry service from the provisions of SB 731. The substitute also grandfathers existing collective bargaining agreements and directs the Department of Rail and Public Transportation to convene a workgroup on how to implement the provisions . SB 731 passed the Senate (20-19 vote) and will be heard in a House Counties, Cities and Towns Subcommittee on Friday.
HB 547 (Helmer) passed through the House of Delegates (63-34 vote) in its original form and was eventually conformed with SB 731. Both bills now contain the same language.
VACo opposes SB 731 and HB 547 because they would mandate collective bargaining for localities, interfere with the ability for a county to make employment and services delivery decisions, and may have costly unintended consequences. The bills would almost certainly raise the operating costs of transportation delivery systems at a time when the budgets for these services are tight.
VACo Contact: James Hutzler