SB18-264: Barring teachers from protesting in support of a teachers' strike
Would have prohibited public school teachers from participating in protests that supported a teachers' strike. The bill broadly bans all public school teachers from "directly or indirectly" "inducing, instigating," or "encouraging" a strike "against any public school employer." Accordingly, teachers that were not participating in a strike could be barred from participating in a protest or demonstration deemed to "indirectly" "encourage[]" the strike, even outside of school hours. The bill provides that any teacher who is "convicted of violating" the bill's provisions, including its ban on direct or indirect support of strikes, is to be "immediately terminate[d]" by their public school employer; that he or she is not entitled to a hearing or judicial review of the termination; and that he or she is barred from public school employment for one year following termination. Lawmakers introduced the bill as teachers across the state threatened to go on strike for higher wages and increased education funding. After the bill received immediate, widespread criticism in the days following its introduction, a Senate committee voted to postpone it indefinitely, and its sponsors said they would withdraw it. (See full text of bill here)
Status: defeated / expired
Introduced 20 Apr 2018.
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