HB 1357 2003
1	A bill to be entitled
2	An act relating to the deduction and collection of a
3	bargaining agent's dues and uniform assessments; amending
4	s. 447.303, F.S.; eliminating a right of certain
5	bargaining agents to have certain dues and assessments
6	deducted and collected by an employer from certain
7	employees; providing legislative findings and intent;
8	providing that the deduction and collection of certain
9	dues and assessments is a proper subject of collective
10	bargaining; providing requirements and limitations;
11	providing for accounting of funds; providing for
12	enforcement; providing for refunds under certain
13	circumstances; providing refund criteria; providing an
14	effective date.
15
16	Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
17
18	Section 1. Section 447.303, Florida Statutes, is amended
19	to read:
20	447.303 Dues; deduction and collection.--
21	(1)Any employee organization which has been certified as
22	a bargaining agent, other than a certified bargaining agent for
23	instructional personnel as defined in s. 1012.01,shall have the
24	right to have its dues and uniform assessments deducted and
25	collected by the employer from the salaries of those employees
26	who authorize the deduction of said dues and uniform
27	assessments. However, such authorization is revocable at the
28	employee's request upon 30 days' written notice to the employer
29	and employee organization. Said deductions shall commence upon
30	the bargaining agent's written request to the employer.
31	Reasonable costs to the employer of said deductions shall be a
32	proper subject of collective bargaining. Such right to
33	deduction, unless revoked pursuant to s. 447.507, shall be in
34	force for so long as the employee organization remains the
35	certified bargaining agent for the employees in the unit. The
36	public employer is expressly prohibited from any involvement in
37	the collection of fines, penalties, or special assessments.
38	(2)(a)1. The Legislature acknowledges that Florida is a
39	right-to-work state as guaranteed by s. 6, Art. I of the State
40	Constitution, which provides employees the right to bargain
41	collectively. However, the State Constitution does not require
42	an employer to deduct and collect a bargaining agent's dues and
43	uniform assessments from an employee's salary. Furthermore, the
44	Legislature, in implementing s. 6, Art. I of the State
45	Constitution, has declared that it is the public policy of this
46	state to neither encourage nor discourage participation in a
47	certified employee organization. The current statutory right of
48	a collective bargaining agent to have its dues and uniform
49	assessments deducted from an employee's salary is inconsistent
50	with this policy because it assumes a non-neutral position
51	regarding membership in a certified employee organization. By
52	statutorily requiring an employer to deduct a collective
53	bargaining agent's dues and assessments, the state facilitates
54	the financial support of that organization not only for its
55	collective bargaining functions but for whatever political or
56	social causes that organization chooses to support. The payroll
57	deduction process does not require the identification of how the
58	money deducted will be utilized. Other voluntary payroll
59	deductions are clear on their faces as to the amount and purpose
60	of the deductions. In addition, other payroll deductions are not
61	encumbered with the legal complexities surrounding collective
62	bargaining rights and this state's policy of neutrality
63	regarding membership in a certified employee organization.
64	Moreover, the First Amendment to the United States Constitution
65	guarantees a person freedom of association, and included in that
66	right a person may not be compelled to financially support a
67	social cause or a political candidate or cause. To the extent
68	members of a certified employee organization are uninformed
69	regarding the use of their payroll-deducted dues and
70	assessments, unaware of their rights to be refunded any portion
71	of such dues or assessments used for political or social
72	purposes with which they do not agree, or are prevented or
73	inhibited from exercising their associational rights, directly
74	or indirectly, for whatever reason and from whatever source, the
75	state's participation in their payroll deduction impinges on
76	those employees' First Amendment rights.
77	2. The Legislature finds that instructional personnel are
78	the largest group of public employees represented by collective
79	bargaining in this state. Furthermore, the Legislature
80	recognizes and finds that teacher shortages in this state have
81	reached critical proportions and anticipates that Florida will
82	need an additional 162,000 teachers over the next 10 years to
83	meet the challenges of this state's growing student population.
84	Attracting new teachers as well as retaining existing teachers
85	is a priority for this Legislature. Furthermore, the Legislature
86	finds that this state has a substantial and compelling interest
87	in protecting the First Amendment rights of instructional
88	personnel and that the state's ability to recruit and retain
89	instructional personnel should be enhanced by empowering
90	instructional personnel to pursue their First Amendment rights
91	and to make informed decisions regarding their political and
92	social participation within the context of exercising their
93	collective bargaining rights. The Legislature also finds that,
94	as a result of the recent merger and industry consolidation of
95	the collective bargaining agents that represented instructional
96	personnel as defined in s. 1012.01, a virtual monopoly in such
97	services has been created in this state, depriving instructional
98	personnel of the benefits of competition. Accordingly, this
99	state must redouble its efforts to remain neutral and thereby
100	not empower or detract from that collective bargaining agent's
101	representational role, or from the employees' ability to be
102	represented in the collective bargaining process by whomever
103	they so choose.
104	3. Because of these facts and trends, the Legislature
105	finds that the current status of instructional personnel
106	constitutes a set of circumstances distinct and unique from any
107	other area of public employment within this state. Therefore,
108	the Legislature finds that with regard to instructional
109	personnel, the deduction and collection of the certified
110	bargaining agent's dues and uniform assessments should not be
111	mandated by the Legislature but should be a permissive subject
112	of collective bargaining, as otherwise restricted by this
113	section. The Legislature further finds that the restrictions
114	imposed by this section do not interfere with the ability of
115	instructional personnel to be members of a certified labor
116	organization or to contribute directly to that organization in
117	support of its noncollective bargaining activities.
118	(b) With regard to a certified bargaining agent that
119	represents instructional personnel as defined in s. 1012.01, any
120	deduction and collection by an employer of that certified
121	bargaining agent's dues and uniform assessments from an
122	employee's salary may be a proper subject of collective
123	bargaining. If the deduction and collection of an agent's dues
124	and uniform assessments are collectively bargained, the
125	collectively bargained agreement shall provide that payroll
126	deduction for dues or uniform assessments shall not exceed an
127	amount actually used for activities of the certified bargaining
128	agent necessary to perform the agent's duties regarding the
129	resolution of labor-management issues which consist of
130	collective bargaining, contract administration, and grievance
131	adjustment. Such amount shall not include any amounts used for
132	any other purpose, including, but not limited to: electoral
133	activities; independent expenditures or contributions to any
134	candidate, political party, political committee, or committee of
135	continuous existence; voter registration campaigns; or any other
136	political or legislative cause, including, but not limited to,
137	ballot initiatives. Additionally, the collectively bargained
138	agreement must require the written authorization of the
139	employee, commencement of the deductions upon the bargaining
140	agent's written request to the employer, collection of
141	reasonable costs which must include all of the costs incurred by
142	the employer for making such deduction, revocation provisions,
143	including revocation pursuant to s. 447.507, and a prohibition
144	against the public employer from collecting fines, penalties,
145	special assessments, or for any purpose other than labor-
146	management issues, as provided for in this subsection.
147	(c) The collectively bargained agreement shall also
148	provide for a reasonable accounting of payroll deductions
149	through:
150	1. Perpetual segregation of all funds received through
151	payroll deduction from any funds used for purposes not
152	authorized in paragraph (b); or
153	2. An independent audit of the use of funds received
154	through payroll deduction.
155	(d) Any taxpayer or other aggrieved party may seek
156	enforcement of this subsection in a court of competent
157	jurisdiction. In addition to injunctive relief prohibiting
158	violations of a bargaining agreement and this subsection, relief
159	shall include an order for a pro rata refund to bargaining unit
160	members in an amount equal to the amount of any funds received
161	through payroll deduction that were used in violation of the
162	provisions of this subsection. Such refund shall be enforced by
163	an order reducing payroll deductions up to 50 percent below the
164	agreed amount each pay period until the amount shall have been
165	fully refunded. A refund pursuant to this paragraph shall
166	supplement and not preclude a money judgment against the
167	bargaining unit in favor of one or more individuals who had
168	funds deducted from their pay that were used in violation of
169	this subsection.
170	Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2003.