Friday, May 22, 2009

Status of Binding Interest Arbitration in California

Sacramento County Measure A passed on Tuesday with 52% of the vote. Measure A added additional law enforcement employees to those covered by the County’s binding interest arbitration provision. Because Sacramento County already had binding interest arbitration for deputy sheriffs, Measure A did not add another public entity to the list of those with binding arbitration. As it stands today, there are 24 charter cities/counties in California with some form of binding interest arbitration. They are:

  1. Alameda
  2. Anaheim
  3. Gilroy
  4. Hayward
  5. Modesto
  6. Monterey
  7. Napa
  8. Oakland
  9. Oroville
  10. Palo Alto
  11. Petaluma
  12. Redwood City
  13. Sacramento City
  14. Sacramento County
  15. Salinas
  16. San Francisco
  17. San Jose
  18. San Leandro
  19. San Luis Obispo
  20. Santa Cruz
  21. Santa Rosa
  22. Stockton
  23. Vallejo
  24. Watsonville

    Of these 24:
  • The first entity to adopt binding arbitration was Vallejo in 1970. The most recent was Oroville in 2004;
  • Sacramento County is the only county with binding arbitration (unless you count San Francisco, then there are 2);
  • Anaheim is the only public entity in Southern California with binding arbitration;
  • Vallejo and San Francisco are the only public entities with binding arbitration covering non-safety employees.
  • (To my knowledge) Binding interest arbitration has been invoked in 13 of the 24 entities. They are: Alameda, Anaheim, Gilroy, Hayward, Modesto, Oakland, Palo Alto, Redwood City, Sacramento County, San Francisco, San Jose, San Luis Obispo, and Vallejo. [Update: I've been informed that fire and police in City of Sacramento have also gone to arbitration.]