GENERAL LEGAL PRINCIPLES; STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION – General Principles

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The language of HEERA and its overall statutory scheme provide a clear indication that the Legislature did not intend to consign nonexclusive representatives to a state of powerless limbo when it enacted HEERA. A provision of general application contained in EERA or SEERA not provided for similarly or identically in HEERA does not mean that the policy embodied by such provision is not applicable to HEERA; pp. 6-7. HEERA's express provisions indicate a legislative intent to preserve representation rights for employees and employee organizations until such time as an exclusive representative is selected; p. 7. Subsection 3560(e) makes clear the Legislature's intention that designation of nonexclusive representatives is an integral part of the statutory scheme; pp. 7-8. The statutory language of subsection 3565 separates meeting and statutory scheme; pp. 7-8. The statutory language of subsection 3565 separates meeting and represented by nonexclusive representatives prior to selection of an exclusive representative. The very definition of the term "employee organization" at subsection 3562(g) further indicates that the Legislature contemplated that nonexclusive representatives would "deal with" the higher education employer regarding employment matters. Otherwise, the Legislature would have limited the definition accordingly, rather than including within that definition " . . . any organization of any kind . . . ."; pp. 9-10.