In concise terms, SB 1458 would significantly reduce the power of all government unions except law enforcement so in effect the focus is the Teachers Unions. In Summary, this bill:
- Significantly increases employees ‘rights to be a member or not’.
- Prohibits certain employee organizations from having dues and assessments automatically deducted from employee’s wages.
- Increases the accountability requirements for unions and provides authority for the Public Relations Employment Commission to revoke an Employee Organization certification.
SB 1458 has been referenced to 3 committees in the Senate: Judiciary, Government Oversight and Accountability and Appropriations. The first referenced Senate Committee to hear the bill is Judiciary, chaired by Senator Burgess. He has not yet scheduled this bill to have a fair hearing and an up or down vote to advance through the process. Next week is the 3rd week of session so time to get the bill across the finish line is critical. Last year the Senate ran out the clock.
ACTION
Send the action alert petition (below) urging Senator Burgess to schedule the bill NOW for a hearing, AND call his office at (850) 487-5020 with a simple message: “Schedule bill SB 1458 now to give it a fair hearing to advance through the process.”
NOTE REGARDING PETITION: Your impact will be greater if you take a few minutes to write your own subject and rewrite some of the email message to be in your own words. Leaders and their staffs tend to pay less attention to emails that are identical copies of what they’ve seen before. But if you take the time to change it (or at least SOME of it), it indicates that you care enough about the issue to spend some time constructing your message.
NOTE: if you submit the petition via a mobile device and receive an “invalid email” message, please make sure you’re manually entering all the petition form fields (not using auto-fill of any kind). If the problem persists, please try again on a computer. We are aware of the mobile device issue and are working to fix it as soon as possible.
