Union dues bill faces contentious road ahead

Sky Canaves, Houston Chronicle

2/12/2017

Senate hearing set for revived legislation following 2015 setback

AUSTIN -- After being blocked by moderate Republicans two years ago, controversial legislation that would prohibit voluntary payroll deductions of union dues from state employee paychecks is up again Monday for a new hearing.

This time, passage of the measure has been tagged as a priority by Gov. Greg Abbott and figures in a broader push by conservative Republicans intent on pushing ahead their agenda that include school choice and pension reform.

On Monday, the Senate State Affairs Committee will hold a public hearing on Senate Bill 13 -- authored by the panel's chair, Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston -- with passage expected to allow full debate soon by the full Senate.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who lists passage of the measure as one of his top priorities, said the longstanding practice should stop.

"While we are cleaning up government, we should end the practice of government deducting union dues from the paychecks of employees," Abbott said in his State of the State speech to the Legislature last month, echoing Patrick's view.

Texas is a "right-to-work" state, meaning that employees cannot be required to be part or a union or other association as condition of employment, and their payment of dues or other association fees is voluntary. The law also prohibits the use of union dues collected by the state for political campaigning.

Huffman's bill, along with the identical House Bill 510, would apply to most public employees, such as teachers and corrections officers, though police officers, firefighters and emergency medical services personnel have been exempted. That has led to charges of unfairness over the creation of two separate classes of public employees, while raising concern among excluded employees that they could be targeted by future amendments.

Two years ago, when the measure was first proposed, law enforcement and firefighter groups turned out in force to oppose the bill and its chances appeared doomed until the exemption was added.

Supporters of the proposed changes say the government has no role in helping labor unions, and cite the apparent conflict of interest presented by the state's aid to organizations that may be opposed to the government when they negotiate on behalf of employees.

In a statement, Huffman said that other states have moved to end automatic deductions of labor union dues from state employee paychecks. "Texas is now only one of a handful of states that still collects union dues from the paychecks of its public employees," she said.

Opponents portray the issue as one of state employees' freedom of speech and association, noting that the state also allows them to choose to have automatic payroll deductions for charitable contributes. They also emphasize that state law requires unions to bear the costs of administering payroll deductions and that there are no real costs to taxpayers associated with the practice.

In the fiscal year 2016, the state comptroller's office collected $6 million in dues from roughly 45,500 state employees on behalf of six organizations. That figure does not include dues collected by municipalities, school districts and other government entities.

The legislation is part of a years-long campaign by conservative groups including Empower Texans and the Texas Public Policy Foundation, who supported the failed effort in 2015. Last year, both groups backed a Republican primary ballot proposition that called for Texas to "prohibit governmental entities from collecting dues for labor unions through deductions from public employee paychecks."

The proposition passed by nearly 83 percent.

Empower Texans and board members of the Texas Public Policy Foundation were also major donors to the campaigns of Republican challengers to moderate house incumbents such as House Speaker Straus, state records show.

"They are very interested in changing the House leadership and this is part of the vehicle," says Richard Levy, secretary-treasurer of the Texas AFL-CIO, the state federation of labor unions, and an opponent of the legislation.

And while strong opposition again faces the bill, supporters are predicting it will pass the Senate despite lingering questions about its fate in the House. That's where opponents say they intend to focus much of their lobbying to defeat the measure, just like they did before.