Question Submitted by: The Honorable Chris Kannady, Oklahoma House of Representatives, District 91, The Honorable Stan May, Oklahoma House of Representatives, District 80

2023 OK AG 15
CourtOklahoma Attorney General Reports
DecidedDecember 27, 2023
StatusUnpublished

This text of 2023 OK AG 15 (Question Submitted by: The Honorable Chris Kannady, Oklahoma House of Representatives, District 91, The Honorable Stan May, Oklahoma House of Representatives, District 80) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oklahoma Attorney General Reports primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

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Question Submitted by: The Honorable Chris Kannady, Oklahoma House of Representatives, District 91, The Honorable Stan May, Oklahoma House of Representatives, District 80, 2023 OK AG 15 (Okla. Super. Ct. 2023).

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OSCN Found Document:Question Submitted by: The Honorable Chris Kannady, Oklahoma House of Representatives, District 91, The Honorable Stan May, Oklahoma House of Representatives, District 80
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Question Submitted by: The Honorable Chris Kannady, Oklahoma House of Representatives, District 91, The Honorable Stan May, Oklahoma House of Representatives, District 80
2023 OK AG 15
Decided: 12/27/2023
Oklahoma Attorney General Opinions


Cite as: 2023 OK AG 15, __ __

¶0 This office has received your request for an official Attorney General Opinion in which you ask, in effect, the following questions:
1. Does a leave-sharing policy violate any provision of Oklahoma law, including article 10, section 14 of the Oklahoma Constitution?
2. May a municipality enact an ordinance that conflicts with the statutory right of members of a paid fire or police department to collectively bargain for the terms and conditions of their employment?

I.

SUMMARY

¶1 Neither the Oklahoma Constitution nor any other provision of law prohibit a charter municipality from establishing a leave-sharing program for members of a paid fire department or police department. First, whereas article X, section 14, of the Oklahoma Constitution requires all uses of public funds to be for public expenditures, "public purpose" is broadly interpreted with great deference to the Legislature. Here, the Legislature has declared, as a matter of statewide concern, that members of a paid fire department have a statutory right to collectively bargain for all terms of labor. Declaring this right to be a matter of statewide concern, the Legislature established a right to collectively bargain for all terms of labor in exchange for the public's guarantee of uninterrupted public fire protection services. Thus, the ability to agree to a leave-sharing program in a collective bargaining agreement reached among a municipality and members of a paid fire department satisfies article X, sections 14 and 17. Further, for multiple reasons detailed below, authorized leave-sharing programs for members of a municipal fire department do not violate the Oklahoma Constitution's prohibition on "gifts" (article X, section 15). In addition, because the rights of members of a fire department to collectively bargain for all terms of labor in exchange for uninterrupted fire and police public safety services is as a matter of statewide concern, and not purely municipal, a charter municipality may not enact or construe an ordinance which irreconcilably conflicts with these rights. Importantly, this conclusion does not deprive a charter municipality of the right to control employment matters or to concede to terms proposed during the parties' negotiations. City of Wewoka v. Rodman, 172 Okla. 630 (1935), 46 P.2d 334. While the members of the fire and police department are vested with the right to bargain collectively, the parties are required to come to the table in good faith negotiations. Therefore, the municipal employer retains the right to make the final decision on all employment issues so long as it bargains in good faith. Midwest City v. Cravens, 1975 OK 22, 532 P.2d 829; 11 O.S.2021, § 51-102 (defining "collective bargaining" to require good faith negotiating, but neither party is compelled to agree or confess to any one or more terms in the negotiation).

II.

BACKGROUND

¶2 In your request, you detail that the questions presented stem from the International Association of Firefighters ("IAFF") Local No. 176 having a longstanding request for the city of Tulsa ("City") to establish a leave-sharing program for employees of the City's Fire Department. According to your request, beginning in 1986 and continuing to this date, the City asserts that a leave-sharing policy violates article X, section 14 of the Oklahoma Constitution. However, you identify other leave-sharing programs authorized in Oklahoma statutes.1 Your request also identifies municipalities in Oklahoma which have taken a position contrary to that of the City and have authorized employee leave-sharing programs. Accordingly, considering this background and with an apparent conflict present, this office will answer the questions of law presented.2

III.

DISCUSSION

A. Neither article 10, section 14 of the Oklahoma Constitution nor any other provision of Oklahoma law prohibits a charter municipality from establishing a "leave-sharing" policy for members of the municipal fire department.

1. Article X, Section 14

¶3 Section 14 of article X of the Oklahoma Constitution sets forth, with exceptions not relevant here, that "taxes shall be levied and collected by general laws, and for public purposes only." OKLA. CONST. art. X, § 14(A) (emphasis added); see also Burkhardt v. City of Enid, 1989 OK 45, ¶ 8, 771 P.2d 608, 610 (stating that section 14 "restricts the use of public funds to expenditures for a public purpose"). The term "public purpose" is given a deferentially broad interpretation and is not to be construed in a narrow and restricted sense. State ex rel. Brown v. City of Warr Acres, 1997 OK 117, ¶ 18, 946 P.2d 1140, 1144. Indeed, "great deference" is given to a "legislative body's determination that a particular project serve[s] a public purpose," and that determination will be reversed "only upon a clear showing that it was manifestly arbitrary, capricious, or unreasonable." Id. As early as 1938, the Oklahoma Supreme Court stated:

The meaning of "public purposes" for which governmental exaction of money may be had is not within a narrow and restricted sense. At any rate the courts cannot interfere to arrest legislative action where the line of distinction between that allowable and that which is not is faint and shadowy. In such instances the decision of the Legislature is accepted as final.

Helm v. Childers, 1938 OK 34, ¶ 5, 75 P.2d 398, 399 (emphasis added).

¶4 The Oklahoma Supreme Court expressly affirmed this rule in Way v. Grand Lake Association, 1981 OK 70, ¶ 38, 635 P.2d 1010, 1016-17, holding that it is within the Legislature's province to decide what is a public purpose.3 Additionally, the court in Way also placed importance on the fact that the statutory program involved governmental controls and safeguards for the disbursement of public monies. See also Democratic Party of Okla. v. Estep, 1982 OK 106, ¶ 14 n.19, 652 P.2d 271, 276 n.19 (the legislation in Way required the "legislative policy to be followed and defined the category of expenditures for which reimbursement could be sought. All claims of the multicounty organizations to be benefitted by that act were required to be processed through the state budget office, on state-approved claim forms and pursuant to an approved budget.").

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Related

Lawrence v. Schellstede
348 P.2d 1078 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1960)
City of Ponca City v. Edwards
1969 OK 149 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1969)
State Ex Rel. Brown v. City of Warr Acres
1997 OK 117 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1997)
Morehead v. Dyer
1973 OK 121 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1973)
Midwest City v. Cravens
532 P.2d 829 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1975)
Oklahoma City News Broadcasters Ass'n v. Nigh
1984 OK 31 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1984)
Democratic Party of Oklahoma v. Estep
652 P.2d 271 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1982)
Way v. Grand Lake Ass'n, Inc.
1981 OK 70 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1981)
City of Tulsa v. Taylor
555 P.2d 885 (Court of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma, 1976)
City of Tulsa v. Public Employees Relations Board
845 P.2d 872 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1990)
State Ex Rel. Trimble v. City of Moore
1991 OK 98 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1991)
Farmer v. City of Sapulpa
1982 OK 58 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1982)
Reed v. City of Tulsa
1977 OK 159 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1977)
Moore Funeral Homes, Inc. v. City of Tulsa
1976 OK 96 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1976)
Lee v. Norick
1968 OK 173 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1968)
Burkhardt v. City of Enid
1989 OK 45 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1989)
Petition of University Hospitals Authority
953 P.2d 314 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1998)
City of Bethany v. Public Employees Relations Board
1995 OK 99 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1995)
Willow Wind, Inc. v. City of Midwest City
1989 OK 171 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1989)
Moore v. City of Tulsa
1977 OK 43 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1977)

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