(a) (1) The classified employees of a school district whose average daily attendance is 3,000 or greater, may, in accordance with this article, petition the governing board of the school district to make the provisions of Article 6 (commencing with Section 45240) applicable to the school district. That petition shall read substantially as follows:

(2) “Classified employee,” as used in this section, shall be construed to include all personnel who are a part of the classified service, as defined in Section 45103.

(b) Within 120 days after receipt of the petition the governing board of the school district shall do all of the following:

(1) Obtain the services of competent and qualified persons to present the pros and cons of the issue. Notwithstanding this paragraph, the classified employees who submitted the petition may select the person or persons to present the proponent position on the issue.

(2) Provide adequate and ample opportunity for all of its classified personnel to attend one or more meetings at which the issue is presented.

(3) (A) Having complied with paragraphs (1) and (2), conduct an election by secret ballot of its classified personnel to determine whether or not they desire to make the merit system applicable to the school district. The ballot shall read:

(B) Although the ballot shall not require the employees’ signatures or other personal identifying requirements, the governing board of the school district shall devise an identification system to ensure against fraud in the balloting process while also ensuring ballot secrecy.

(c) (1) The governing board of the school district shall appoint a three- or five-person tabulation committee, at least one member of which shall be a member of the governing board of the school district and at least one member of which shall be a classified employee designated by the largest exclusive representative of classified employees within the school district, to canvass the ballots and present the results to the governing board of the school district. No representative of the school district shall make any marks upon the ballot envelope or ballot of any employee, except that the tabulation committee may adopt a system of uniformly stamping in a consistent manner and in the same location on all ballots received or all ballots counted, or both of those, to help ensure an accurate count. If a simple majority votes in favor of the merit system, that system shall become applicable in the school district.

(2) The tabulation committee shall certify the results of the election to the governing board of the school district at the next regular or special meeting of the governing board of the school district following the date the committee completes tabulation of the votes. If the tabulation committee completes the tabulation on the same day that the governing board of the school district meets in regular or special session, the committee shall certify the results of the election to the governing board of the school district at that meeting.

(d) If the school district communicates with classified employees in opposition to adopting the merit (civil service) system, it shall provide at least equal time and equal access to any exclusive representative of classified employees within the school district to communicate in favor of that system. Nothing in this chapter shall be construed as limiting the rights of an exclusive representative under the Educational Employment Relations Act (Chapter 10.7 (commencing with Section 3540) of Division 4 of Title 1 of the Government Code) for access to communicate its position on adopting the system.

(e) All election procedures not specified above for an election pursuant to this section shall be within the scope of representation of an exclusive representative under § 3543.2 of the Government Code, including the rules for campaigning, the election date, time, and place, translation of the ballot, electioneering near the polls, and balloting methods.

(Amended by Stats. 2021, Ch. 88, Sec. 1. (AB 289) Effective January 1, 2022.)