CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — Nevada Republicans are sponsoring a bill that would allow local governments to opt out of future collective bargaining agreements with their employees.
Assemblyman Erv Nelson is sponsoring AB280 and testified for the bill Monday in the Assembly Government Affairs Committee.
The bill would allow local governments and school boards to opt out of future collective bargaining agreements with employee unions. Government agencies would then set salaries and benefits for public workers through an ordinance.
Nelson said non-elected union officials or arbitrators shouldn't have the final say in how government contracts are created and that the bill would give publicly-elected officials more control over their budgets.
Democratic Assemblywoman Amber Joiner said she was concerned that local governments could implement furloughs and layoffs which could hurt public employee retention.