H.B. 371

127th General Assembly

(As Introduced)

Reps. Flowers, Barrett, Beatty, Blessing, Bolon, Book, Brady, Brown, Budish, Celeste, Chandler, Collier, Combs, DeGeeter, Distel, Dodd, Domenick, Driehaus, Dyer, Fende, Foley, Garrison, Gerberry, Goyal, J. Hagan, R. Hagan, Harwood, Healy, Heard, Huffman, Hughes, Letson, Luckie, Lundy, Mallory, J. McGregor, R. McGregor, Oelslager, Okey, Otterman, Patton, Peterson, Sayre, Schindel, Skindell, Strahorn, D. Stewart, J. Stewart, Sykes, Szollosi, Uecker, Ujvagi, Wagoner, B. Williams, S. Williams, Wolpert, Yates, Yuko, Zehringer

BILL SUMMARY

· Provides that a township is considered to be a public employer for purposes of the Public Employees' Collective Bargaining Law with respect to members of the township fire department if the township has a population of less than 5,000 in its unincorporated area, but has a population of at least 5,000 in both the incorporated and unincorporated areas of the township served by the fire department.

CONTENT AND OPERATION

The Public Employees' Collective Bargaining Law (PECBL) permits certain public employees to bargain collectively with their public employers concerning wages, hours, terms, and conditions of employment and the continuation, modification, or deletion of an existing collective bargaining agreement (R.C. 4117.08(A), not in the bill). Current law defines "public employer" to include a township with a population of at least 5,000 in its unincorporated area according to the most recent federal decennial census (R.C. 4117.01(B)(1)). A township with a population of less than 5,000 in its unincorporated area is not a public employer and thus is excluded from the scope of the PECBL.

The bill provides, in addition, that a township is considered to be a public employer for purposes of the PECBL with respect to members of the township fire department if the township has a population of less than 5,000 in its unincorporated area, but has a population of at least 5,000 in both the incorporated and unincorporated areas of the township served by the fire department (R.C. 4117.01(B)(2)).

Under the bill, an agreement entered into between such a township and an employee organization representing the members of the township's fire department must contain a provision stating that if any incorporated municipal corporation located within the township elects to no longer receive fire protection through the township and, as a result, the population served by that township's fire department becomes less than 5,000 according to the most recent federal decennial census, the township, at the township's option, may terminate the agreement between the township and the employee organization (R.C. 4117.09(F)).

HISTORY

ACTION	DATE
Introduced	10-30-07

H0371-I-127.doc/kl