(a) Notwithstanding subdivision (i) of Section 99560.1, Section 99566, or any other provision of this chapter, any employee who is a member of a religious body whose traditional tenets or teachings include objections to joining or financially supporting employee organizations shall not be required to join, maintain membership in, or financially support any employee organization as a condition of employment except as provided in subdivision (b).

(b) The employee may be required, in lieu of a service fee, to pay sums equal to the service fee either to a nonreligious, nonlabor organization, charitable fund exempt from taxation under Section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the Internal Revenue Code, chosen by the employee from a list of at least three such funds, designated in the organizational security arrangement, or if the arrangement fails to designate funds, then to any such fund chosen by the employee. Either the employee organization or the transit district employer may require that proof of the payments be made on an annual basis to the transit district employer as a condition of continued exemption from the requirement of financial support to the recognized employee organization. If the employee who holds conscientious objections pursuant to this section requests the employee organization to use the grievance procedure or arbitration procedure on the employee’s behalf, the employee organization is authorized to charge the employee for the reasonable cost of using that procedure.

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(Added by Stats. 2003, Ch. 833, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 2004.)