(a) (1) (A) Upon receipt of a petition filed pursuant to Section 3575, the board shall conduct inquiries and investigations, or hold hearings, as it deems necessary in order to decide the questions raised by the petition. The determination of the board may be based upon the evidence adduced in the inquiries, investigations, or hearings.

(B) If the board finds, on the basis of the evidence, that a question of representation exists, or a question of representation is deemed to exist pursuant to subdivision (a) or (b) of Section 3574, it shall, in a case where the criteria of subparagraph (A) of paragraph (2) are not met, order that an election shall be conducted by secret ballot placing on the ballot all employee organizations evidencing support of at least 10 percent of the members of an appropriate unit, and it shall certify the results of the election on the basis of which ballot choice received a majority of the valid votes cast. There shall be printed on the initial ballot the choice of “no representation.”

(C) If, at any election, no choice on the ballot receives a majority of the votes cast, a runoff election shall be conducted. The ballot for the runoff election shall provide for a selection between the two choices receiving the largest and second largest number of valid votes cast in the election.

(2) (A) If the petitioning employee organization provides proof of support of more than 50 percent of the members of the appropriate unit, and no other employee organization has provided proof of support of at least 30 percent of the members of the appropriate unit, the employee organization providing the proof of support of more than 50 percent of the appropriate unit shall be certified by the board as the exclusive representative, as provided in subdivision (a) of Section 3563 and, where applicable, in Section 3579. The procedures for determining proof of support shall be defined by regulations of the board.

(B) In the event the petitioning employee organization does not provide proof of support of more than 50 percent of the members of the appropriate unit, or another employee organization provides proof of support of at least 30 percent of the members of the appropriate unit, then the procedures of paragraph (1) shall apply.

(C) The existence of a memorandum of understanding, or current certification as the exclusive representative, shall be the proof of support necessary to trigger a representation election pursuant to this section to determine majority support when a request for recognition is made by another employee organization.

(3) An employee organization shall, at its discretion, submit proof of support for the purposes of this section either to the board or to a mutually agreed-upon third party.

(b) No election shall be held and the petition shall be dismissed whenever either of the following occurs:

(1) There is currently in effect a memorandum of understanding between the employer and another employee organization recognized or certified as the exclusive representative of any employees included in the unit described in the petition, unless the petition is filed not more than 120 days and not less than 90 days prior to the expiration date of that memorandum. If the memorandum has been in effect for three years or more, there shall be no restriction as to time of filing the petition.

(2) Within the previous 12 months, either an employee organization other than the petitioner has been lawfully recognized or certified as the exclusive representative of any employees included in the unit described in the petition, or a majority of the votes cast in a representation election held pursuant to subdivision (a) were cast for “no representation.”

(Amended by Stats. 2003, Ch. 216, Sec. 2. Effective January 1, 2004.)