Local public employees: memoranda of understanding.

Plain English Breakdown

The official source material does not provide specific details on how non-compliance will be handled or if there are penalties for failing to include the provisions in memoranda of understanding.

Local Public Employees: Memoranda of Understanding

AB-465 requires public agencies to include provisions for progressive discipline and due process in memoranda of understanding with employee organizations upon request.

What This Bill Does

• Requires public agencies to include a system of progressive discipline that provides due process for employees when they are disciplined, upon the request of recognized employee organizations in memoranda of understanding.
• Defines 'progressive discipline' and 'due process' for this purpose.
• Specifies that refusing or failing to include these provisions in memoranda of understanding constitutes not negotiating in good faith.

Who It Names or Affects

• Local public agencies
• Recognized employee organizations
• Employees who are part of these organizations

Terms To Know

Progressive Discipline

A system where penalties for misconduct increase progressively based on the severity or frequency of the behavior.

Due Process

The legal requirement that the state must respect all legal rights owed to a person. It requires the government to notify an individual before taking action against them and provide a fair hearing.

Limits and Unknowns

• Does not specify how local agencies will be reimbursed for costs related to these new requirements.
• The bill does not address what happens if a public agency fails to comply with the new requirements.

Official Summary Text

AB 465, as amended, Zbur.
Political Reform Act of 1974: gifts.
Local public employees: memoranda of understanding.
Existing law, the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act (act), authorizes local public employees, as defined, to form, join, and participate in the activities of employee organizations of their own choosing for the purpose of representation on matters of labor relations and defines various terms for these purposes. The act prohibits a public agency from, among other things, refusing or failing to meet and negotiate in good faith with a recognized employee organization. Existing law states that the Legislature finds and declares that the duties and responsibilities of local agency employer representatives under the act are substantially similar to the duties and responsibilities required under existing collective bargaining enforcement procedures and therefore the costs incurred by the local agency employer
representatives in performing those duties and responsibilities under that act are not reimbursable as state-mandated costs.
This bill would require, on or after January 1, 2026, a memorandum of understanding between a public agency and a recognized employee organization to include specified provisions including, among other things, a provision providing for a system of progressive discipline that grants due process to an employee when they are disciplined, upon the request of the recognized employee organization. The bill would define “progressive discipline” and “due process” for this purpose. The bill would specify that the refusal or failure to include those provisions in a memorandum of understanding upon request of the recognized employee organization constitutes refusing or failing to meet and negotiate in good faith for purposes
of the above-described prohibition. By imposing new requirements on public agencies, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
The bill would include findings that changes proposed by this bill address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and, therefore, apply to all cities, including charter cities.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement shall be made
pursuant to these statutory provisions for costs mandated by the state pursuant to this act, but would recognize that a local agency or school district may pursue any available remedies to seek reimbursement for these costs.
The Political Reform Act of 1974 regulates lobbyists and lobbying firms and imposes various restrictions on public officials for the purpose of avoiding conflicts of interests. The act prohibits a lobbyist or lobbying firm from making gifts to specified individuals aggregating more than $10 in a calendar month. The act defines “gift” for these purposes.
This bill would make a nonsubstantive change to the definition of “gift”.

Current Bill Text

Download Bill PDF