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An Act To Simplify Municipal Collective Bargaining by Removing the 120-Day Notice Required Prior to Certain Negotiations
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. 26 MRSA §965, sub-§1, as amended by PL 2009, c. 107, §5, is further amended to read:
 
1. Negotiations.   It is the obligation of the public employer and the bargaining agent to bargain collectively. "Collective bargaining" means, for the purposes of this chapter, their mutual obligation:
 
A. To meet at reasonable times;
 
B. To meet within 10 days after receipt of written notice from the other party requesting a meeting for collective bargaining purposes, as long as the parties have not otherwise agreed in a prior written contract. This obligation is suspended during the period between a referendum approving a new regional school unit and the operational date of the regional school unit, as long as the parties meet at reasonable times during that period;
 
C. To confer and negotiate in good faith with respect to wages, hours, working conditions and contract grievance arbitration, except that by such obligation neither party may be compelled to agree to a proposal or be required to make a concession and except that public employers of teachers shall meet and consult but not negotiate with respect to educational policies; for the purpose of this paragraph, educational policies may not include wages, hours, working conditions or contract grievance arbitration;
 
D. To execute in writing any agreements arrived at, the term of any such agreement to be subject to negotiation but may not exceed 3 years; and
 
E. To participate in good faith in the mediation, fact-finding and arbitration procedures required by this section.
 
Whenever wages, rates of pay or any other matter requiring appropriation of money by any municipality or county are included as a matter of collective bargaining conducted pursuant to this chapter, it is the obligation of the bargaining agent to serve written notice of request for collective bargaining on the public employer at least 120 days before the conclusion of the current fiscal operating budget, except that this requirement is waived in the event that a bargaining agent of a newly formed bargaining unit is recognized or certified during the period not more than 120 days nor less than 30 days prior to the end of the fiscal period. The 120-day notice requirement is also waived with respect to regional school units formed pursuant to Title 20-A, chapter 103-A, subchapter 2 prior to their first year of operation.
 
SUMMARY
This bill repeals the requirement that a bargaining agent for municipal public employees submit a written request for collective bargaining to the public employer of those municipal public employees at least 120 days before the conclusion of the current fiscal operating budget.