On February 27, Associate Policy Director Karrington Anderson testified before the Senate Finance Committee in opposition to SB 976 – Collective Bargaining – Local Government Employees and Public Employee Relations Act.
This bill mandates collective bargaining rights for local government employees statewide, imposing binding arbitration requirements, and significantly altering local government labor relations
MACo supports fair and competitive employment policies, which Maryland jurisdictions have pursued through the years both locally and through State-level authorizing legislation. SB 976 represents an overreach of State authority, and a rigid and unwelcome unfunded mandate that could have serious financial and operational consequences for local governments.
SB 976 removes this discretion by requiring all counties, large and small, to engage through a State-mandated collective bargaining, under a one-sizefits-all state framework, with no exceptions. Moreover, the bill mandates binding arbitration, transferring critical budgetary and personnel decisions to third-party arbitrators who may be unfamiliar with local fiscal realities, and do not share the public accountability of local elected officials. The financial impact of SB 976 on counties would be substantial and unsustainable. Without dedicated state or federal funding, counties will be forced to absorb significant costs associated with labor negotiations, arbitration, and contract implementation.
SB 976’s cross-file, HB 1509, was heard in the opposite chamber, the Appropriations Committee, on March 26. MACo submitted written testimony in opposition to this bill.
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