§89-10 Written agreements; appropriations for implementation; enforcement. (a) Any collective bargaining agreement reached between the employer and the exclusive representative shall be subject to ratification by the employees concerned. The agreement shall be reduced to writing and executed by both parties. The agreement may contain a grievance procedure and an impasse procedure culminating in final and binding arbitration, and shall be valid and enforceable when entered into in accordance with provisions of this chapter.

(b) All cost items shall be subject to appropriations by the appropriate legislative bodies. The employer shall submit within ten days of the date on which the agreement is ratified by the employees concerned all cost items contained therein to the appropriate legislative bodies, except that if any cost items require appropriation by the state legislature and it is not in session at the time, the cost items shall be submitted for inclusion in the governor's next operating budget within ten days after the date on which the agreement is ratified. The state legislature or the legislative bodies of the counties acting in concert, as the case may be, may approve or reject the cost items submitted to them, as a whole. If the state legislature or the legislative body of any county rejects any of the cost items submitted to them, all cost items submitted shall be returned to the parties for further bargaining.

(c) Because effective and orderly operations of government are essential to the public, it is declared to be in the public interest that in the course of collective bargaining, the public employer and the exclusive representative for each bargaining unit shall by mutual agreement include provisions in the collective bargaining agreement for that bargaining unit for an expiration date which will be on June 30th of an odd-numbered year.

The parties may include provisions for the reopening date during the term of a collective bargaining agreement, provided that such provisions shall not allow for the reopening of cost items as defined in section 89-2.

(d) All existing rules and regulations adopted by the employer, including civil service or other personnel regulations, which are not contrary to this chapter, shall remain applicable. If there is a conflict between the collective bargaining agreement and any of the rules and regulations, the terms of the agreement shall prevail; provided that the terms are not inconsistent with section 89-9(d). [L 1970, c 171, pt of §2; am L 1975, c 162, §2; am L 1988, c 399, §1]