Will Sandoval use the bill to achieve collective bargaining reform?

CARSON CITY — Although Gov. Brian Sandoval has yet to articulate his plan to reform Nevada’s collective bargaining law, he will have no shortage of opportunities to push forward with changes to the statute that requires local governments to bargain in good faith with unions regarding pay, benefits and working conditions.

Four bill drafts have been requested by four Republican lawmakers, and any of them could become a vehicle for changes that will be sought by Sandoval in the legislative session that begins Feb. 2. Sandoval is expected to rely on a legislative bill draft to seek changes to labor laws, but his office declined to provide any details Friday, saying only that he will monitor the legislative debate and make an ultimate decision on a bill if and when it reaches his desk.

But the changes proposed in the measures, which likely would be described as modest by most observers, nevertheless will face a tough fight from Democrats.

Sen. Tick Segerblom, D-Las Vegas, an attorney who has specialized in representing workers in litigation against their employers, said that even modest changes will be opposed. The overarching intent of such legislation is to weaken the unions, which more often than not support Democrats in the Legislature, he said.

Two of the bill drafts, from Sen. Pete Goicoechea, R-Eureka, and Assemblyman Jim Wheeler, R-Minden, seek to shed more light on the collective bargaining process. Wheeler’s bill goes further, proposing to subject contract negotiations to the state open meeting law. Goicoechea’s bill would require any contracts negotiated behind closed doors to be made available for public review before being voted on by local government elected officials.

Sen. James Settelmeyer, R-Minden, wants to establish a clear definition of what constitutes a fiscal emergency for a local government entity. Determining that a fiscal emergency exists allows agreements to be reopened so that government officials and union leaders can work together to respond to a budget shortfall, but there is no clear definition of what constitutes such an event, he said.

Right now, if a union disagrees that there is a fiscal crisis, elected officials are forced to impose layoffs or take other drastic actions rather than work collaboratively to address the concerns, Settelmeyer said.

Assemblyman Randy Kirner, R-Reno, is requesting the most comprehensive measure of the four. It would clarify the rules that exclude supervisors from collective bargaining, prohibit using government funds to pay employees engaged in union activities, require employees to seek union deductions before they would be collected by a government entity and make agreements retroactive to the date of the expiration of the previous contract. It also would require a final contract offer to be made public.

“Speaking for myself, we don’t want to destroy the collective bargaining process,” Kirner said. “But we think there should be some changes, some reforms made. That’s the track I am personally going down.”

The other GOP lawmakers sponsoring bills on the subject made similar statements.

“I’m not against unions,” Wheeler said. “People have a right to join, and they have a right to bargain. But if you are bargaining with my money, we need to know what is going on.”

Senate Majority Leader Michael Roberson, R-Las Vegas, said he expects most of the labor reform legislation to come from the Assembly. Kirner’s bill mirrors much of what Roberson proposed in a bill in 2011.

“And we’ll see where it takes us,” he said.

Roberson said any such reforms are likely to become part of an overall package of changes sought by Republicans in the areas of tort reform, education reform and labor reform. The Senate Judiciary Committee will be working on tort reform, he said.

“This session is going to be about revenue and reforms,” Roberson said. “I don’t know how that mix is going to end up come late May or early June. We’ll see what the governor is supportive of.

“I do not intend to put the governor in the position of vetoing Republican bills.”

Assembly Speaker-designate John Hambrick, R-Las Vegas, sent a letter to local government officials identifying collective bargaining reform as a top priority for the session.

“We are committed to reforming state law in a way that returns to you the power your communities have entrusted you with,” he said. “For far too long, the Legislature has dictated what local governments can and cannot do for their constituents and employees. Cities, counties and school boards should be the experts of personnel and priorities, not a part-time Legislature.”

Segerblom said any GOP-backed changes are aimed at weakening public sector unions so they won’t be as effective in supporting politically progressive candidates.

“These are all things that have been talked about for years,” he said. “None of them will make a significant difference. But anything they can do to decrease union membership they will do. I think the Democrats need to fight this tooth and nail.”

There are groups that would like the Republican-controlled Legislature to go much further on collective bargaining reform.

The Nevada Policy Research Institute, a conservative think tank based in Las Vegas, has a list of Top 10 labor reforms that include ending compulsory collective bargaining. The group also would like to end the use of binding arbitration and end the use of government resources to collect union dues.

Segerblom said binding arbitration works and favors the government position more often than that of unions.

“The reality is the system works,” he said. “Both sides have to realize if they go to binding arbitration they could lose.”

Contact Sean Whaley at swhaley@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3900. Find him on Twitter: @seanw801.