§89-10 Written agreements; enforceability; cost items. (a) Any collective bargaining agreement reached between the employer and the exclusive representative shall be subject to ratification by the employees concerned, except for an agreement reached pursuant to an arbitration decision. Ratification is not required for other agreements effective during the term of the collective bargaining agreement, whether a supplemental agreement, an agreement on reopened items, or a memorandum of agreement, and any agreement to extend the term of the collective bargaining agreement. The agreement shall be reduced to writing and executed by both parties. Except for cost items and any non-cost items that are tied to or bargained against cost items, all provisions in the agreement that are in conformance with this chapter, including a grievance procedure and an impasse procedure culminating in an arbitration decision, shall be valid and enforceable and shall be effective as specified in the agreement, regardless of the requirements to submit cost items under this section and section 89-11.

(b) All cost items shall be subject to appropriations by the appropriate legislative bodies. The employer shall submit within ten days of the date on which the agreement is ratified by the employees concerned all cost items contained therein to the appropriate legislative bodies, except that if any cost items require appropriation by the state legislature and it is not in session at the time, the cost items shall be submitted for inclusion in the governor's next operating budget within ten days after the date on which the agreement is ratified. The state legislature or the legislative bodies of the counties acting in concert, as the case may be, may approve or reject the cost items submitted to them, as a whole. If the state legislature or the legislative body of any county rejects any of the cost items submitted to them, all cost items submitted shall be returned to the parties for further bargaining.

(c) Because effective and orderly operations of government are essential to the public, it is declared to be in the public interest that in the course of collective bargaining, the public employer and the exclusive representative for each bargaining unit shall by mutual agreement include provisions in the collective bargaining agreement for that bargaining unit for an expiration date which will be on June 30th of an odd-numbered year.

The parties may include provisions for reopening during the term of a collective bargaining agreement; provided that cost items as defined in section 89-2 shall be subject to the requirements of this section.

(d) Whenever there is a conflict between the collective bargaining agreement and any of the rules adopted by the employer, including civil service or other personnel policies, standards, and procedures, the terms of the agreement shall prevail; provided that the terms are not inconsistent with section 89-9(d).

Whenever there are provisions in a collective bargaining agreement concerning a matter under chapter 76 or 78 that is negotiable under chapter 89, the terms of the agreement shall prevail; provided that the terms are not inconsistent with section 89-9(d). [L 1970, c 171, pt of §2; am L 1975, c 162, §2; am L 1988, c 399, §1; am L 2000, c 253, §99; am L 2002, c 195, §1]

Attorney General Opinions

Cost items that require new or additional appropriation and positions that exceed the maximum position count must be submitted to Legislature. Att. Gen. Op. 72-10.

Legislature may reject cost items by failure to appropriate funds or by concurrent resolution or other means indicating views of both houses. Att. Gen. Op. 72-10.

Legislature has power to pass law increasing salaries of one unit of state employees, but it would be inconsistent with the collective bargaining law to do so. Att. Gen. Op. 74-6.

Case Notes

In interpretation of a collective bargaining agreement, extrinsic evidence of past practices and past interpretations is proper. 60 H. 513, 591 P.2d 621.