Committee on Commerce and Labor-March 25, 2015

MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE AND LABOR Seventy-Eighth Session March 25, 2015 The Committee on Commerce and Labor was called to order by Vice Chair Victoria Seaman at 1:33 p.m. on Wednesday, March 25, 2015, in Room 4100 of the Legislative Building, 401 South Carson Street, Carson City, Nevada. The meeting was videoconferenced to Room 4401 of the Grant Sawyer State Office Building, 555 East Washington Avenue, Las Vegas, Nevada. Copies of the minutes, including the Agenda (Exhibit A), the Attendance Roster (Exhibit B), and other substantive exhibits, are available and on file in the Research Library of the Legislative Counsel Bureau and on the Nevada Legislature's website at www.leg.state.nv.us/App/NELIS/REL/78th2015. In addition, copies of the audio or video of the meeting may be purchased, for personal use only, through the Legislative Counsel Bureau's Publications Office (email: [email protected]; telephone: 775-684-6835). COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT: Assemblyman Randy Kirner, Chairman Assemblywoman Victoria Seaman, Vice Chair Assemblyman Paul Anderson Assemblywoman Irene Bustamante Adams Assemblywoman Maggie Carlton Assemblywoman Olivia Diaz Assemblyman John Ellison Assemblywoman Michele Fiore Assemblyman Ira Hansen Assemblywoman Marilyn K. Kirkpatrick Assemblywoman Dina Neal Assemblyman Erven T. Nelson Assemblyman James Ohrenschall Assemblyman P.K. O'Neill Assemblyman Stephen H. Silberkraus COMMITTEE MEMBERS ABSENT: None Minutes ID: 611 *CM611* Assembly Committee on Commerce and Labor March 25, 2015 Page 2 GUEST LEGISLATORS PRESENT: None STAFF MEMBERS PRESENT: Kelly Richard, Committee Policy Analyst Matt Mundy, Committee Counsel Leslie Danihel, Committee Manager Connie Jo Smith, Committee Secretary Olivia Lloyd, Committee Assistant OTHERS PRESENT: Thom Reilly, Director, Morrison Institute for Public Policy, Arizona State University Dan Schinhofen, Commissioner, Board of Commissioners, Nye County Ande Engleman, Private Citizen, Carson City, Nevada Victor Joecks, Executive Vice President, Nevada Policy Research Institute Carolyn Goodman, Mayor, City of Las Vegas Paul J. Moradkhan, Vice President, Government Affairs, Las Vegas Metro Chamber of Commerce Tray Abney, Director of Government Relations, The Chamber, Reno-Sparks-Northern Nevada Steve W. Driscoll, City Manager, City of Sparks Gerald Antinoro, Sheriff, Storey County John Wagner, State Chairman, Independent American Party of Nevada Gerry Collins, Vice President, Nevada Alliance of Retired Public Safety Officers John Faulis, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Police Managers and Supervisors Association, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Timothy Ampulski, Member, Service Employees International Union Tom Collins, Commissioner, Board of Commissioners, Clark County Martin C. Bassick, President, Local 1107, Service Employees International Union Jeffrey H. Keefe, Private Citizen, West Orange, New Jersey Ruben R. Murillo, Jr., President, Nevada State Education Association Steve Sisolak, Private Citizen, Las Vegas, Nevada Chris Giunchigliani, Private Citizen, Las Vegas, Nevada Ruben Garcia, Private Citizen, Las Vegas, Nevada Rusty McAllister, President, Professional Fire Fighters of Nevada Jeffrey Church, Private Citizen, Reno, Nevada Christina Conti Rodriguez, Private Citizen, Reno, Nevada Assembly Committee on Commerce and Labor March 25, 2015 Page 3 Stephen Augspurger, Executive Director, Clark County Association of School Administrators and Professional-Technical Employees Stan Olsen, representing Nevada Association of Public Safety Officers Carla Fells, Executive Director, Washoe County Employees Association Tracey Thomas, Private Citizen, Sparks, Nevada Teresa Twitchell, Private Citizen, Sparks, Nevada Uriah Wise, Private Citizen, Carson City, Nevada Loralei L. Barr, Board Member, Carson City Employees Association Chris Ferrari, representing Consumer Health Care Products Association Liz MacMenamin, Vice President of Government Affairs, Retail Association of Nevada Vice Chair Seaman: [Roll was taken, a quorum was present, and protocol was explained.] Assembly Bill 295 will not be considered today. Assembly Bill 295: Revises provisions relating to the provision of certain health care services (BDR 54-698) We will begin the hearing on Assembly Bill 182. Assembly Bill 182: Revises provisions relating to collective bargaining by local government employers. (BDR 23-646) Assemblyman Randy Kirner, Assembly District No. 26: Since this bill was first introduced, I have received, and I suspect many of you have as well, a barrage of emails from public employees decrying the bill. I have received numerous calls at my district office, which is in my home, with some being unsavory. The AFL-CIO has launched a television campaign. Much of this is driven by folks who are trying to spread fear about the consequences of this bill. This bill should be argued not on hyperbole but on policy. What it says and what it does not say is important. This is not a union Armageddon, as is being advertised. Rather this bill acknowledges that public unions play an important role, as do the people in the unions who police our streets, respond to our fires, teach our kids, and who administer the many responsibilities of general government. At the same time, it seeks to achieve a balance, or better said, to restore a balance with the right-to-work laws and the powers of public unions. I believe this balance has been muted, and I believe that from time to time, we should be looking at bills related to Nevada Revised Statutes (NRS) Chapter 288. Assembly Committee on Commerce and Labor March 25, 2015 Page 4 I have spoken with individuals on both sides of this discussion and agree that no bill is perfect. I am confident of two things: this bill will be processed, and I am equally confident that there will be amendments to the bill. I have already been in discussions with many of the affected associations and think we will find a middle ground on many of these provisions. To that end I remain open, but intimidation is not the best method for give-and-take discussion. I think the discussion has to focus on what the best policy is for Nevada and our citizens, as well as the unions and the taxpayer. Given the time constraints, I would like to summarize the bill. Rather than going through it page by page, I will talk about some components. The first component is union dues. Nevada is a right-to-work state. Automatic payroll deductions from government payrolls ensure unions have a guaranteed stream of revenue to fund political and bargaining activities that are often hostile to the interests of those governments and the taxpayer. Essentially, what I am trying to say is that the union has goals and objectives, and the government has goals and objectives. Oftentimes, they are not exactly the same. Union members should have a direct relationship with their unions or associations, and they should be willing to write a check to them. If not, they should be willing to authorize deductions from their checking account. It is not the job of the government to collect dues. The second element is doing union business on government time Once again, the government should not be in the business of sponsoring a union, with their adversarial relationships described earlier, and associated activities any more than they should be funding any other assorted activities. It is the obligation of the union to fund their own workers in the field. This is an enormous cost to the taxpayers, and I do not have those specific numbers here, but I have heard the numbers, and they are quite large. Teachers should be teaching, police officers should be policing, and firefighters should be fighting fires. In fact, testimony on Assembly Bill 109 of this session reinforced this concept as every union that came forward talked about how they were independent and like a private corporation. The next component is management and administrators in bargaining units. In terms of who is covered by bargaining units, regarding management and administrators' unions, how is it in the public interest for those who supervise the daily activities of subordinates to be brothers in the association or the unions? This has to be separated. In fact, it is separated in the private sector. Assembly Committee on Commerce and Labor March 25, 2015 Page 5 The fourth factor is reduction in force and layoff rule changes. Recent economic factors have caused reductions in force or layoffs and brought into question—even with a court case in Reno—rules as to how elimination of services or reduction of services, budgetary allocations of expenses or loss of revenue impact layoffs. This bill addresses these circumstances. Moreover, this bill also addresses circumstances such as conducting a layoff using simple seniority, especially among specialized skill sets or without regard to performance. The next component is the evergreen clause―one of the big factors of this bill. For those who do not know of the evergreen clause, it is an extension of an agreement beyond the end of the collective bargaining agreement, or CBA, until a successor agreement becomes effective. This provision that I put into the bill freezes wages and salaries until such time as a new agreement is reached. Effectively, this encourages bargaining in good faith on both sides. The fifth component is binding fact-finding and notice of final offers. This is about transparency. This section puts the decision in the hands of elected officials on behalf of people as to

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