(a) (1) On or after November 8, 1967, the classified employees of a community college district whose full-time equivalent student is 3,000 or greater, in accordance with this article, may petition the governing board of the community college district to make Article 3 (commencing with Section 88060) applicable to the community college district. That petition shall read substantially as follows:
“We, the undersigned classified employees of the _____ (name of community college district), constituting 15 percent or more of the classified personnel entitled to vote, request the governing board to submit to election the question of whether or not the merit (civil service) system shall become applicable to this district.
NAME
POSITION CLASSIFICATION ”
(2) “Classified employee,” as used in this section, shall be construed to include all personnel who are a part of the classified service, as defined in Section 88003.
(b) Within 120 days after receipt of the petition the governing board of the community college district shall do all of the following:
(1) Obtain the services of competent and qualified persons to present the pros and cons of the issue. Notwithstanding this paragraph, the classified employees who submitted the petition may select the person or persons to present the proponent position on the issue.
(2) Provide adequate and ample opportunity for all of its classified personnel to attend one or more meetings at which the issue is presented.
(3) (A) Having complied with paragraphs (1) and (2), conduct an election by secret ballot of its classified personnel to determine whether or not they desire to make the merit system applicable to the community college district. The ballot shall read:
“Shall the merit (civil service) system for classified employees be applicable in the ____________ (name of community college district)?
☐ Yes
☐ No”
(B) Although the ballot shall not require the employees’ signatures or other personal identifying requirements, the governing board of the community college district shall devise an identification system to ensure against fraud in the balloting process while also ensuring ballot secrecy.
(c) (1) The governing board of the community college district shall appoint a three- or five-person tabulation committee, at least one member of which shall be a member of the governing board of the community college district and at least one member of which shall be a classified employee designated by the largest exclusive representative of classified employees within the community college district, to canvass the ballots and present the results to the governing board of the community college district. No representative of the community college district shall make any marks upon the ballot envelope or ballot of any employee, except that the tabulation committee may adopt a system of uniformly stamping in a consistent manner and in the same location on all ballots received or all ballots counted, or both of those, to help ensure an accurate count. If a simple majority votes in favor of the merit system, that system shall become applicable in the community college district.
(2) The tabulation committee shall certify the results of the election to the governing board of the community college district at the next regular or special meeting of the governing board of the community college district following the date the committee completes tabulation of the votes. If the tabulation committee completes the tabulation on the same day that the governing board of the community college district meets in regular or special session, the committee shall certify the results of the election to the governing board of the community college district at that meeting.
(d) If the community college district communicates with classified employees in opposition to adopting the merit (civil service) system, it shall provide at least equal time and equal access to any exclusive representative of classified employees within the community college district to communicate in favor of that system. Nothing in this chapter shall be construed as limiting the rights of an exclusive representative under the Educational Employment Relations Act (Chapter 10.7 (commencing with Section 3540) of Division 4 of Title 1 of the Government Code) for access to communicate its position on adopting the system.
(e) All election procedures not specified above for an election pursuant to this section shall be within the scope of representation of an exclusive representative under Section 3543.2 of the Government Code, including the rules for campaigning, the election date, time, and place, translation of the ballot, electioneering near the polls, and balloting methods.
(Amended by Stats. 2021, Ch. 88, Sec. 3. (AB 289) Effective January 1, 2022.)