(1) If a petition signed by at least five percent of the number of persons who voted in the last general municipal election, general district election, or the total votes of each party's general election in the case of a fire authority, unless petition requirements are otherwise outlined by city charter or local ordinance, asks the public employer to engage in collective bargaining with a named employee organization, the public employer shall place on the ballot at the next general election the following question for a yes or no vote: "Should the firefighters employed by the [name of the public employer] be covered by the 'Colorado Firefighter Safety Act'?". If a majority of the registered electors voting on this question vote "yes", the public employer is obligated to engage in collective bargaining pursuant to this part 2, and the employee organization named in the petition becomes the exclusive representative of the firefighters of that public employer. If a majority of the registered electors voting on this question vote "no", the public employer will not be obligated to engage in collective bargaining under this part 2, and the meet and confer process in section 29-5-205 will continue to apply to that public employer. (2) Prior to circulating the petition referenced in subsection (1) of this section to collect the required number of signatures to place the question on the ballot, an employee organization must submit to the public employer a notice of intent to circulate the petition that contains signatures from firefighters equal to at least seventy-five percent of the potential bargaining unit. The notice need not be in any particular format. (3) If the issue of whether the public employer will be covered by the collective bargaining provisions of this part 2 has been previously voted on, the issue may be placed before the voters pursuant to the same procedure in subsection (1) of this section, no sooner than four years after the issue was last previously voted upon. If the collective bargaining provisions of this part 2 have been applied to the public employer, the ballot question presented in any subsequent election shall be: "Should the firefighters employed by the [name of the public employer] continue to be covered by the 'Colorado Firefighter Safety Act'?". (4) If there is a collective bargaining agreement in effect at the time of subsequent votes, and if any of those votes results in the public employer no longer being covered by the collective bargaining provisions of this part 2, the agreement shall remain in effect for the remainder of its term. (5) Nothing in this section prohibits a public employer from voluntarily agreeing to be covered by the collective bargaining provisions of this act. (6) The collective bargaining provisions of this part 2 apply only to a public employer that employs twenty-four or more firefighters.
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