(a) For the purposes of this section, the following terms have the following meanings, unless the context requires otherwise:

(1) The “authority” is the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

(2) A “transportation zone” is a public agency or a public benefit corporation of which public agencies are the sole members established on or after January 1, 1999, that assumes any of the operating responsibilities described in paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) of Section 130051.11 on or after that date, regardless of whether the transportation zone is an included municipal operator, as defined in Section 99207, or an included transit district, as defined in Section 99208.

(b) (1) Except as authorized under paragraph (2), a transportation zone shall assume and be bound by the terms and conditions of employment set forth in any collective bargaining agreements between the authority and any labor organizations affected by the creation of the transportation zone as well as the duties, obligations, and liabilities arising from, or relating to, labor obligations imposed by state or federal law upon the authority.

(2) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), if the authority is engaged in collective bargaining with labor organizations representing employees who are subject to transfer to the transportation zone between the date of approval of the transportation zone and the date of the transfer of service to the transportation zone, the authority may consult with the transportation zone regarding matters within the scope of labor representation.

(c) (1) For a period of four years, commencing with the date of transfer of service by the authority to the transportation zone, or at the expiration date of any collective bargaining agreement that is in effect during that four-year period, whichever is later, employees of the transportation zone, together with like employees of the authority, shall constitute appropriate collective bargaining units. However, the transportation zone may be a separate employer for other purposes.

(2) Upon expiration of the period described in paragraph (1), employees of the transportation zone, at the option of the transportation zone, may constitute appropriate collective bargaining units that are independent of the collective bargaining units of the authority.

(3) If independent bargaining units are established as authorized under paragraph (2), the transportation zone may enter into agreements with labor organizations as a separate employer, regarding wages, benefits, and other terms and conditions of employment.

(4) The transportation zone shall maintain single employer collective bargaining units for transportation operations and maintenance employees. Those bargaining units shall contain classifications for employees that are identical to those that existed for the joint collective bargaining units of the authority and the transportation zone under paragraph (1), unless modified by mutual agreement between the transportation zone and the affected labor organizations.

(d) (1) The authority shall retain, for the period described in paragraph (1) of subdivision (c), the power of final approval of labor contracts negotiated by it and a transportation zone with those labor organizations representing collective bargaining units consisting of both employees of the authority and the employees of the transportation zone. However, the authority may not grant any final approval of a labor agreement unless it has first consulted with the transportation zone.

(2) Upon expiration of the period described in paragraph (1) of subdivision (c), the authority shall have no final approval power over any labor contract negotiated between a transportation zone and a labor organization representing the employees of the transportation zone.

(e) (1) A transportation zone shall maintain, as a cosponsor with the authority, any retirement system established and maintained under subdivision (b) of Section 130110, until participation in the retirement system or retirement benefits are modified under the collective bargaining process.

(2) The transportation zone may appoint at least one member to the retirement board of the retirement system. If the size of the board is increased pursuant to this section, an equivalent number of representatives of the labor organization representing the employees shall be appointed to the board to ensure that the board maintains an equal number of employer and labor organization members.

(3) Prior to the transfer of any service to a transportation zone, the plan administrator for the retirement system shall permit the transportation zone to perform an actuarial financial examination of the assets and liabilities of the retirement system and the benefits accrued under it.

(4) The liability of the transportation zone for obligations under the retirement system shall be limited to benefits accruing to employees of the transportation zone.

(f) (1) The transportation zone shall maintain the health care provisions contained in any assumed collective bargaining agreement, until those provisions are modified through the collective bargaining process.

(2) The transportation zone may not be held liable for financial obligations to any health care provider that arose prior to the direct transfer of employees from the authority to the transportation zone.

(g) Labor relations in a transportation zone shall be governed under Article 10 (commencing with Section 30750) of Chapter 4 of Part 3 of Division 10, except that whenever a duty or power is imposed upon or granted to the authority under those provisions, the duty or power, for the purposes of this section, shall be deemed to be imposed upon or granted to the transportation zone as well as the authority.

(h) Nothing in this section prohibits a transportation zone from contracting for managerial services that are not provided by any classification of any bargaining unit.

(i) A transportation zone is not an organizational unit of the authority.

(Added by Stats. 2000, Ch. 1080, Sec. 2. Effective January 1, 2001.)