Office of the Governor v. Public Employment Relations Commission

¶1 The State appeals a superior court decision affirming a Public Employment Relations Commission (PERC or Commission) decision that included certain independent contractor interpreters in the statewide collective bargaining unit defined in RCW 41.56.030(10). These interpreters work in local health jurisdictions and public hospitals through the voluntary Medicaid Administrative Match (MAM) program. The State claims that this statute authorizes collective bargaining only with interpreters paid from state funds and that PERC exceeded its authority and erroneously interpreted and applied the…