2011 Ohio Revised Code
Title [41] XLI LABOR AND INDUSTRY
Chapter 4117: PUBLIC EMPLOYEES' COLLECTIVE BARGAINING
4117.141 [Enactment subject to referendum; See note] Procedures when revenues insufficient to cover last best offer agreement.

(A) This section shall apply to an agreement involving a public employer that has a defined geographic area located within this state. This section does not apply to a public employer that is the state, a state institution of higher education, or a public employer that does not have a defined geographic area within this state.

(B) Within three days after the legislative body selects a last best offer under division (D) of section 4117.14 of the Revised Code or the public employer’s last best offer becomes the agreement due to the failure of the legislative body to make a selection as described under that division, as applicable, the chief financial officer of the legislative body of the public employer shall determine whether sufficient revenues exist to cover the agreement.

(C) If the legislative body selects the last best offer that the chief financial officer determines costs more and if the chief financial officer determines that insufficient funds exist or refuses to make the determination required under division (B) of this section, either party to the agreement or any constituent who resides within the geographical area of the public employer that is a party to the agreement may submit the last best offer from each party that was submitted to the legislative body under division (D) of section 4117.14 of the Revised Code to the electors in accordance with this division and division (D) of this section. The party or constituent shall submit to the board the signatures of either five per cent of the number of electors within that area that voted in the most recent gubernatorial election or one hundred electors who reside in the geographic area, whichever is greater. The petition for collecting the signatures shall include a summary of each last best offer. The signatures shall comply with the requirements of sections 3501.38 and 3519.10 of the Revised Code. The signatures shall be submitted not later than seventy-five days prior to the date of the election described in division (D) of this section. If the petition contains the required number of signatures, the board shall submit the last best offers to the electors as described in division (D) of this section.

(D) If the last best offers are required to be submitted to the electors under division (C) of this section, the board shall place the question described in this division on the ballot at the next succeeding general election or at a special election on the day of the next succeeding primary election in any year occurring subsequent to seventy-five days after the petition is filed under division (C) of this section. The ballot language shall include the summaries required under division (E) of this section and the following question:

“Vote for not more than one:

The union’s labor contract proposal

The (name of public employer) labor contract proposal”

Only electors who reside within the jurisdiction of the public employer are eligible to vote on the issue. The board shall place a copy of each last best offer at each polling location at which the electors vote on the issue.

(E) Each party to the agreement shall prepare a summary of their respective last best offers, and the board shall include those summaries in the ballot language. All summaries prepared under this division shall be filed with the appropriate board of elections not later than sixty-five days before the date of the election. No summary shall exceed three hundred words.

The legislative body of the public employer shall post on the web site of the legislative body the full text of each last best offer submitted to the legislative body under division (D) of section 4117.14 of the Revised Code.

(F) Notice of the election shall be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the applicable voting area once a week for two consecutive weeks prior to the election, and if the board of elections maintains a web site, the board shall post notice of the election on the web site for thirty days prior to the election. Each notice shall contain the summaries required under division (E) of this section.

(G) The election shall be conducted, canvassed, and certified in the same manner as regular elections. The last best offer receiving a majority of the votes cast in the election shall become the agreement of the parties. The parties shall enter into the agreement in accordance with the last best offer upon certification by the board of the results of the election. The public employer and exclusive representative shall be subject to the last best offer selected by the electors for three years after the date the results of the election are certified.

(H) During the time period between the date that the question is required to appear on the ballot under division (C) of this section and the date the board certifies the results of the election, the parties shall implement the provisions of the public employer’s last best offer.

(I) Any agreement entered into under this chapter on or after the effective date of this section by a public employer that is subject to this section shall contain a provision that states that the agreement may be subject to approval of the voters as described in this section.

Added by 129th General Assembly File No. 10, SB 5, § 1. This enactment is subject to referendum in the Nov. 8, 2011 election.

See 129th General Assembly File No. 10, SB 5, §4.

The enactment of this section by 129th General Assembly File No. 10, SB 5, § 1 has been made subject to referendum in the upcoming November, 2011 election.