NY State Senate Bill 2023-S8420

Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Civil Service And Pensions Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

Please enter your contact information

First Name

Last Name

Email Address

A valid email address is required.

Home address is used to determine the senate district in which you reside. Your support or opposition to this bill is then shared immediately with the senator who represents you.

Optional services from the NY State Senate:

Create an account. An account allows you to officially support or oppose key legislation, sign petitions with a single click, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.

Include a custom message for your Senator? (Optional)

Enter a message to your senator. Many New Yorkers use this to share the reasoning behind their support or opposition to the bill. Others might share a personal anecdote about how the bill would affect them or people they care about.

Actions

View Actions

	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 29, 2024	referred to civil service and pensions

2023-S8420 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:: Senate Civil Service And Pensions
Law Section:: Civil Service Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §209, Civ Serv L

2023-S8420 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Authorizes certain school districts in Nassau county to enter into binding arbitration.

2023-S8420 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S8420

SPONSOR: RAMOS
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the civil service law, in relation to extending binding
arbitration provisions to certain school districts

 
PURPOSE:

This bill would extend the existing binding arbitration provisions,
found in the state civil service law section 209, to specific schools in
Nassau County that have been without a contract for ten or more years.

 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

Section one of the bill amends section 209 of the civil service law,
adding specific schools in Nassau County that have been without a
contract for ten years or more to the binding arbitration law.

Section 2 of the bill is the enacting clause.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

The overwhelming student population of the Lawrence Unified School
District is of BIPOC and Latin descent, with a high percentage qualify-
ing for free and reduced lunch. However, the overwhelming student popu-
lation in the community as a whole attends a variety of private reli-
gious schools throughout the area. As such, the district, through
actions taken by the current school board, has made a very strategic
decision to invest the absolute minimum amount required by law and regu-
lation into the public schools. The result is an intentional disinvest-
ment in resources and education for the minority of students-who are
overwhelmingly from minority student body.

This manifests in two ways, a lower property tax burden relative to the
property wealth of the district, and a maximization of transportation,
special education and nursing costs that "travels" with the students to
the private religious schools, thereby subsidizing those operations.

The district, through its Board of Education, has refused to bargain in
good faith with the public employee union representing the teachers. In
2017, after two years of refusing to meet across the table, the Public
Employees Relations Board (PERB) require the district to attend bargain-
ing sessions; but nothing has changed in the six years that have
followed that ruling.

In 2023, another Improper Practice charge was filed with PERB; after the
district acted in bad faith by insisting on new items after a decade of
bargaining and regressed on other items. Even if successful, under
PERB's remedy requirements, its only authority will be to require the
district to engage in "good faith bargaining," which based on the volu-
minous history can only be reasonably viewed as a hollow victory only
worth its weight "on paper."

Over the twelve years of labor conflict, unions representing the workers
in the school district have conducted multiple rallies, protests, and
actions of every level, but no amount of public pressure has had any
bearing on the district.
New York's Taylor Law never envisioned a situation whereby an employer
was able to exploit the quirks of such a uniquely configured community
and as such be immune to the legal, political, community and social
dynamics necessary for contract resolution.

As this is a unique problem, a unique solution is needed, for which this
bill is being introduced.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New bill.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.

2023-S8420 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   8420
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             January 29, 2024
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen.  RAMOS  -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Civil Service and Pensions
 
 AN ACT to amend the civil service law, in relation to extending  binding
   arbitration provisions to certain school districts
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

   Section 1. Subdivision 2 of section 209 of the civil service  law,  as
 amended  by  section 64 of subpart B of part C of chapter 62 of the laws
 of 2011, is amended to read as follows:
   2. Public employers are hereby empowered to enter into written  agree-
 ments  with recognized or certified employee organizations setting forth
 procedures to be invoked in the event of disputes which reach an impasse
 in the course of collective negotiations. Such  agreements  may  include
 the  undertaking  by each party to submit unresolved issues to impartial
 arbitration. In the absence or upon  the  failure  of  such  procedures,
 public  employers  and  employee  organizations may request the board to
 render assistance as provided in this section, or the board  may  render
 such  assistance  on its own motion, as provided in subdivision three of
 this section, or, in regard to officers or members of any organized fire
 department, or any unit of the public employer which  previously  was  a
 part  of an organized fire department whose primary mission includes the
 prevention and control of aircraft fires, police force or police depart-
 ment of any county, city, town, village or fire or police  district,  or
 detective-investigators, or rackets investigators employed in the office
 of  a  district attorney of a county, or in regard to any organized unit
 of troopers, commissioned or noncommissioned officers of the division of
 state police, or in regard to investigators,  senior  investigators  and
 investigator  specialists  of the division of state police, or in regard
 to members  of  collective  negotiating  units  designated  as  security
 services  and  security  supervisors  who  are  police officers, who are
 forest ranger captains or who are employed by the  state  department  of
 corrections  and community supervision and are designated as peace offi-
 cers pursuant to subdivision twenty-five of section 2.10 of the criminal
 procedure law, or in regard to members  of  the  collective  negotiating
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.

                                                            LBD14116-01-4
 S. 8420                             2
 
 unit  designated  as  the  agency  law enforcement services unit who are
 police officers pursuant to subdivision thirty-four of section  1.20  of
 the  criminal  procedure  law or who are forest rangers, or in regard to
 organized  units of deputy sheriffs who are engaged directly in criminal
 law enforcement activities that aggregate more than fifty per centum  of
 their service as certified by the county sheriff and are police officers
 pursuant  to  subdivision  thirty-four  of  section 1.20 of the criminal
 procedure law as certified by the municipal police training  council  or
 Suffolk  county correction officers or Suffolk county park police, OR IN
 REGARD TO A BARGAINING UNIT IN ANY SCHOOL DISTRICT IN NASSAU COUNTY WITH
 AN AGREEMENT THAT HAS BEEN EXPIRED FOR AT LEAST TEN YEARS,  as  provided
 in subdivision four of this section.
   § 2. Subdivision 2 of section 209 of the civil service law, as amended
 by chapter 234 of the laws of 2008, is amended to read as follows:
   2.  Public employers are hereby empowered to enter into written agree-
 ments with recognized or certified employee organizations setting  forth
 procedures to be invoked in the event of disputes which reach an impasse
 in  the  course  of collective negotiations. Such agreements may include
 the undertaking by each party to submit unresolved issues  to  impartial
 arbitration.  In  the  absence  or  upon the failure of such procedures,
 public employers and employee organizations may  request  the  board  to
 render  assistance  as provided in this section, or the board may render
 such assistance on its own motion, as provided in subdivision  three  of
 this section, or, in regard to officers or members of any organized fire
 department,  or  any  unit of the public employer which previously was a
 part of an organized fire department whose primary mission includes  the
 prevention and control of aircraft fires, police force or police depart-
 ment  of any county, city, except the city of New York, town, village or
 fire or police district, or in regard to organized units of deputy sher-
 iffs who are engaged directly in  criminal  law  enforcement  activities
 that  aggregate more than fifty per centum of their service as certified
 by the county sheriff and are police officers  pursuant  to  subdivision
 thirty-four  of  section 1.20 of the criminal procedure law as certified
 by the municipal police training council or  Suffolk  county  correction
 officers  or  Suffolk  county  park police, OR IN REGARD TO A BARGAINING
 UNIT IN ANY SCHOOL DISTRICT IN NASSAU COUNTY WITH AN AGREEMENT THAT  HAS
 BEEN  EXPIRED FOR AT LEAST TEN YEARS, as provided in subdivision four of
 this section.
   § 3. Paragraph (f) of subdivision  3  of  section  209  of  the  civil
 service  law,  as amended by chapter 216 of the laws of 1977, is amended
 to read as follows:
   (f) where the public employer is a school  district,  EXCEPT  FOR  ANY
 SCHOOL  DISTRICT  SUBJECT  TO  THE PROVISIONS OF SUBDIVISION TWO OF THIS
 SECTION, a  board  of  cooperative  educational  services,  a  community
 college, the state university of New York, or the city university of New
 York, the provisions of subparagraphs (iii) and (iv) of paragraph (e) of
 this  subdivision  shall  not  apply,  and  (i) the board may afford the
 parties an opportunity to explain their positions with  respect  to  the
 report  of  the fact-finding board at a meeting at which the legislative
 body, or a duly authorized committee thereof, may be present; (ii) ther-
 eafter, the legislative body may take such action as  is  necessary  and
 appropriate to reach an agreement. The board may provide such assistance
 as may be appropriate.
   §  4.  The  opening  paragraph  of subdivision 4 of section 209 of the
 civil service law, as amended by section 64 of subpart B of  part  C  of
 chapter 62 of the laws of 2011, is amended to read as follows:
 S. 8420                             3
 
   On  request  of  either  party  or upon its own motion, as provided in
 subdivision two of this section, and in the event the  board  determines
 that  an impasse exists in collective negotiations between such employee
 organization and a public employer as to the conditions of employment of
 officers  or members of any organized fire department, or any other unit
 of the public employer which previously was a part of an organized  fire
 department  whose primary mission includes the prevention and control of
 aircraft fires, police force or police department of any  county,  city,
 town,  village  or fire or police district, and detective-investigators,
 criminal investigators or rackets investigators employed in  the  office
 of a district attorney, or as to the conditions of employment of members
 of any organized unit of troopers, commissioned or noncommissioned offi-
 cers  of the division of state police or as to the conditions of employ-
 ment of members of any organized unit of investigators, senior  investi-
 gators  and investigator specialists of the division of state police, or
 as to the terms and conditions of employment of  members  of  collective
 negotiating  units designated as security services and security supervi-
 sors, who are police officers, who are forest ranger captains or who are
 employed by the state department of  corrections  and  community  super-
 vision  and  are  designated  as  peace officers pursuant to subdivision
 twenty-five of section 2.10 of the criminal procedure law, or in  regard
 to  members  of the collective negotiating unit designated as the agency
 law enforcement services unit who are police officers pursuant to subdi-
 vision thirty-four of section 1.20 of the criminal procedure law or  who
 are  forest rangers, or as to the conditions of employment of any organ-
 ized unit of deputy sheriffs who are engaged directly  in  criminal  law
 enforcement  activities  that  aggregate  more  than fifty per centum of
 their service as certified by the county sheriff and are police officers
 pursuant to subdivision thirty-four of  section  1.20  of  the  criminal
 procedure  law  as certified by the municipal police training council or
 Suffolk county correction officers or Suffolk county park police,  OR  A
 BARGAINING  UNIT  IN ANY SCHOOL DISTRICT IN NASSAU COUNTY WITH AN AGREE-
 MENT THAT HAS BEEN EXPIRED FOR AT  LEAST  TEN  YEARS,  the  board  shall
 render assistance as follows:
   §  5. Subdivision 4 of section 209 of the civil service law is amended
 by adding a new paragraph (j) to read as follows:
   (J) WITH REGARD TO A SCHOOL DISTRICT IN NASSAU COUNTY WITH  AN  AGREE-
 MENT  THAT  HAS  BEEN  EXPIRED  FOR  AT LEAST TEN YEARS, NOTWITHSTANDING
 SUBPARAGRAPH (VI) OF PARAGRAPH (C) OF THIS SUBDIVISION, THE  ARBITRATION
 PANEL  SHALL  HAVE NO RESTRICTION IN ISSUING AN AWARD FOR THE TERM OF AN
 AGREEMENT REGARDING BOTH RETROACTIVE AND PROSPECTIVE  YEARS  UNDER  SUCH
 AWARD.
   §  6.  This act shall take effect immediately; provided, however, that
 the amendments to subdivision 2 of section 209 of the civil service  law
 made  by  section one of this act shall be subject to the expiration and
 reversion of such subdivision when upon  such  date  the  provisions  of
 section two of this act shall take effect; and provided further, however
 that the amendments to subdivision 4 of section 209 of the civil service
 law  made  by sections four and five of this act shall be subject to the
 expiration of such subdivision and shall be deemed to expire therewith.

Comments

Open Legislation is a forum for New York State legislation. All comments are subject to review and community moderation is encouraged.

Comments deemed off-topic, commercial, campaign-related, self-promotional; or that contain profanity, hate or toxic speech; or that link to sites outside of the nysenate.gov domain are not permitted, and will not be published. Attempts to intimidate and silence contributors or deliberately deceive the public, including excessive or extraneous posting/posts, or coordinated activity, are prohibited and may result in the temporary or permanent banning of the user. Comment moderation is generally performed Monday through Friday. By contributing or voting you agree to the Terms of Participation and verify you are over 13.

Create an account. An account allows you to sign petitions with a single click, officially support or oppose key legislation, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.

Senate Bill S8420

Sponsored By

Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Civil Service And Pensions Committee

2023-S8420 (ACTIVE) - Details

2023-S8420 (ACTIVE) - Summary

2023-S8420 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2023-S8420 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments

Senate Bill S8420

Share this bill

Sponsored By

Jessica Ramos

Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Civil Service And Pensions Committee

2023-S8420 (ACTIVE) - Details

2023-S8420 (ACTIVE) - Summary

2023-S8420 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2023-S8420 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments