If Rep. Steven Harris (R-Meridian) gets his way, all public employees will be required to bargain their contracts with their employers in open session. Currently, only Idaho school teachers are required to bargain in public.
Members of the House State Affairs Committee printed HB 487 on Monday. The bill would remove a provision in the law that currently allows governing boards of public entities to conduct labor negotiations in executive session if either side requests the closed meeting. If the legislature approves HB 487, firefighters, police officers, and other public employees who bargain their contracts would no longer be allowed to bargain in executive session. Instead, the employer would be required to post a notice of upcoming negotiations sessions and hold those sessions in open.
