S. 636 — Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act

This section declares U.S. policy promoting labor-management cooperation in public safety agencies (i.e., law enforcement, fire, and emergency medical services) based on trust, mutual respect, and shared accountability to support public safety missions, national incident response, and commerce. It emphasizes the role of state and local public safety officers as first responders, encourages federal promotion of conciliation, mediation, and arbitration for collective bargaining on pay, hours, and conditions, and directs respect for state and local laws providing comparable or greater bargaining rights.

This section defines 15 terms for purposes of the Act, including "Authority" as the Federal Labor Relations Authority; "public safety officer" as a law enforcement officer, firefighter, or emergency medical services employee employed by a public safety employer (excluding supervisory, management, and confidential employees except when temporarily transferred to such positions); "public safety employer" as a state or political subdivision employing public safety officers (deemed engaged in commerce); "labor organization"; "supervisory employee," "management employee," and "confidential employee" (each deferring to applicable state law or providing fallback definitions modeled on federal precedents); and "unfair labor practice" by reference to 5 U.S.C. 7116 with substitutions for this Act's terms. It incorporates the Fair Labor Standards Act (29 U.S.C. 203) definitions of "employ" and "firefighter" (i.e., employee in fire protection activities) and the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act (34 U.S.C. 10284) definition of "law enforcement officer."

This section directs the Authority to determine, not later than 180 days after enactment, whether each state substantially provides five specified rights and responsibilities for public safety officers (i.e., right to form and join a labor organization excluding management, supervisory, or confidential employees and have it recognized as exclusive bargaining representative; employer requirements to recognize the organization, bargain collectively, and commit agreements to writing; right to bargain over hours, wages, and terms and conditions of employment; right to binding interest arbitration to resolve bargaining impasses; and right to enforce rights and agreements via state agency or court). In making determinations, the Authority must consider employer and labor organization input (giving maximum weight to their mutual agreements), limit analysis to those criteria, exclude certain state laws (e.g., permitting employee self-representation, exempting political subdivisions with populations under 5,000 or fewer than 25 full-time employees excluding elected/appointed officials, or not requiring pension/retirement/health benefits bargaining), allow subsequent determinations within 30 days of requests documenting material state law changes, and permit judicial review in U.S. Courts of Appeals within 60 days. States determined compliant are exempt from preemption under this Act; noncompliant states (or categories of officers therein) become subject to federal regulations and procedures in section 5 beginning at the later of two years after enactment or the end of the state's first regular legislative session following the determination.

This section directs the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) to issue regulations not later than one year after the date of enactment establishing collective bargaining procedures for public safety employers and public safety officers that substantially provide minimum standards specified in section 4(b) for states described in section 4(d). In administering these regulations, FLRA must (1) determine the appropriateness of bargaining units; (2) supervise or conduct elections for exclusive representatives; (3) resolve good faith bargaining disputes; (4) adjudicate unfair labor practice complaints; (5) resolve exceptions to arbitrator awards; (6) protect employees' rights to form, join, or refrain from labor organizations; and (7) perform necessary administrative actions, including issuing subpoenas. For enforcement, FLRA may petition a U.S. court of appeals for compliance with its orders, and any party may sue in U.S. district court unless FLRA has petitioned (except as provided in section 8(b)(4) for states).

This section prohibits public safety employers, public safety officers, and labor organizations from engaging in a lockout, sickout, work slowdown, strike, or other organized job action that measurably disrupts emergency services to compel agreement on proposed contract terms. The prohibition does not preempt any state or local law regarding strikes by public safety officers.

This section preserves the validity of any existing certifications, recognitions, election results, collective bargaining agreements, or memoranda of understanding for public employees that are in effect on the day before enactment.

This section provides that the Act does not preempt or limit state or local laws or remedies providing public safety officers with rights and responsibilities comparable to or greater than those in section 4(b), nor prevent states from enforcing prohibitions on public safety employers and labor organizations negotiating union membership or fees as a condition of employment. It further clarifies that the Act (1) does not require states to rescind qualifying local laws or ordinances; (2) does not preempt state or local laws providing comparable collective bargaining rights, applying section 4(b) rights to certain but not all public safety officer categories, or requiring legislative body approval of employer-labor organization contracts; (3) limits the Authority's enforcement powers under section 5 to officer categories lacking section 4(b) rights; and (4) vests exclusive enforcement authority over state employees in the Authority, absent a sovereign immunity waiver.