Washington state governor Bob Ferguson signed new state labor legislation into law on Monday, March 23. The legislation is the latest “trigger law” to be passed by a state. These laws provide a mechanism for state authority over the organizing and bargaining rights of currently federally-preempted private sector workers. The measure, (HB 2471[1]) is similar to other trigger bills that have been passed in New York and California, but differs both in terms of how it is “triggered” and what scheme it sets up for the state governance of labor relations.
First, the trigger. Both California and New York’s state law bills were written to go into effect while the NLRB is still standing. California’s bill, broadly speaking, granted the state labor agency concurrent jurisdiction over NLRA-type disputes if the NLRB had ceded jurisdiction, lacked a quorum to act, lost independence due to a Supreme Court finding that members are unconstitutionally protected from removal, or if a workers’ case was pending for more than six months without the issuance of a complaint. The NLRB sued California and a federal judge significantly limited the circumstances in which the state agency can exercise jurisdiction over labor disputes to circumstances where the worker in question is not subject to the NLRA due to repeal, injunction, or the ceding of jurisdiction by the Board.
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