Legislative Efforts Now Underway

One of the most anticipated cases of the Supreme Court’s term is expected to be released either tomorrow or Monday—Janus v. AFSCME. In the case, the Court will determine whether public employees can be required to pay fees, sometimes called “fair share” or “agency” fees, that cover a labor organization’s costs to negotiate a contract that applies to all public employees.

In anticipation of the possibility that the Supreme Court may rule against the public sector labor unions in this case, a number of bills have been introduced to stem a potential exodus of dues-paying members and limit anti-union advocates from having access to public employees. This began last year while the Freidrichs v. California Teachers Association case was pending with legislation mandating time for unions during employee orientations (AB 119; Committee on Budget).

Additional efforts this session include preventing disclosure of information about when those orientations occur from non-employee and non-employee representative contacts. Other bills seek to require public agencies to process union dues at the direction of the employee representatives and provide time-off with guaranteed reinstatement for employees to participate in labor-related activities on behalf of their union. CSAC anticipates that several “gut and amends” late in this legislative session will be offered in response to the Court’s decision depending on the ruling’s broad or narrow approach.