Bill
SB 6194
Establishes limited collective bargaining rights for select legislative branch employees, defines eligible workers, negotiable topics, and oversight rules with time limitations.
Status & timeline
- Introduced: January 12, 2024
- Passed Legislature: March 7, 2024 (as Engrossed Second Substitute Bill, amended by House)
- Governor signed: March 28, 2024 (Chapter 333, 2024 Laws)
- Effective date: May 1, 2024
Purpose
- Establishes who in the legislative branch (House, Senate, and certain legislative offices) may collectively bargain, clarifies the subjects that can and cannot be bargained, sets procedures and limits for bargaining, and implements administrative and enforcement rules (including a temporary legislative commission to assist the Public Employment Relations Commission (PERC)).
Key provisions
"Employee" for collective bargaining includes: regular partisan employees of each chamber covered by the chapter; regular staff of Legislative Support Services (LSS), Legislative Service Center (LSC), Office of the Code Reviser (limited session exception), and House/Senate administrations; and temporary staff performing substantially similar work. Interns, pages, some research/service groups and other categories are excluded.
Exclusions and employer designations
Excludes managerial employees, confidential employees, elected/appointed legislators, caucus chiefs/deputy chiefs of staff, certain legal counsels, and specified human resources and accounting directors, deputy secretary/chief clerk positions, and employees providing direct administrative or HR/accounting/collective-bargaining support.
The employer has exclusive authority to designate confidential employees, supervisors, and managerial employees — but designated confidential/managerial employees may not exceed 20% of total positions eligible to bargain (with limits applied per agency for some shared offices).
Scope and prohibited subjects of bargaining
Bargainable subjects: wages, hours, terms and conditions of employment, and contract-interpretation questions.
Newly added prohibited subjects include (among others): reinstatement requirements, employer’s authority to hire/terminate/promote (employees serve at the employer’s pleasure), legislative internal matters (elections/qualifications of legislators, choosing officers, committee selection, legislative calendars/schedules/deadlines), ethics/conflict-of-interest laws/policies, health care and other insurance benefits, employees’ exempt status under civil service and FLSA, and emergency actions necessary to carry out the Legislature’s mission.
Hours of work during session, committee assembly days, and certain pre/post-session windows are generally not open to bargaining; bargaining over compensation for hours worked beyond a 40-hour week is limited to agreements that take effect after July 1, 2027. Interim (between-session) hours may be bargained where not otherwise prohibited.
Process, representation, and PERC/court authority
PERC (or courts on specified questions) resolves certification and many disputes; PERC must adopt rules for elections (secret mail ballot) and procedures.
Negotiation of economic terms is done by a coalition of all exclusive bargaining representatives; unit-specific supplemental bargaining is allowed.
PERC or courts may not issue orders or rules that intrude upon or modify the Legislature’s core functions or essential operations (e.g., cannot alter qualifications/elections of legislators, compel attendance of legislators during session/committee days, or order reinstatement when barred).
Strikes and labor actions
The statute does not grant the right to strike, refuse to perform official duties, or engage in work stoppages during legislative sessions or committee assembly days.
Administrative structure and temporary commission
Continues/clarifies the Office of State Legislative Labor Relations (OSLLR) and the Director’s role to conduct negotiations for the employer.
Creates a temporary legislative commission (at PERC) to assist implementation; commission provisions expire (final bill sets commission tied to section 17 and expiration in 2027).
Ethics law exemption
Certain employee bargaining representation activities are exempted from the Ethics in Public Service Act (specific exemptions laid out in the bill).
Impact / Who is affected
- Affects legislative branch employees eligible to bargain (regular partisan staff, specified office staff, and similar temporary staff) — and their employee organizations.
- Excludes many senior administrative, legal, policy, and legislator-facing positions.
- Limits the scope of bargaining compared with typical public-sector collective bargaining (notably excluding many institutional and legislative governance matters and restricting bargaining during certain critical legislative time periods).
Other notes
- This act implements and refines the 2022 law that granted legislative employees collective bargaining rights starting May 1, 2024; collective negotiations may begin after May 1, 2024, but no agreement may take effect before July 1, 2025 (per the 2022 enactment).
- The bill sets procedural, jurisdictional, and substantive boundaries intended to balance employees’ collective-bargaining rights with the Legislature’s constitutional and functional prerogatives.
Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.
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