Union Member Protection Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 5959 To amend the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 to require the authorization of members of a labor organization before such organization may make certain political expenditures, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 25, 2020 Mr. HUIZENGA introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor A BILL To amend the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 to require the authorization of members of a labor organization before such organization may make certain political expenditures, and for other pur- poses. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Union Member Protec- 4 tion Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress finds the following: 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:59 Feb 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5959.IH H5959 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 5959 IH (1) Labor unions make significant political con- 1 tributions and expenditures that directly or indi- 2 rectly influence the election of candidates and sup- 3 port or oppose political causes. Decisions to use 4 union dues for political contributions and expendi- 5 tures are usually made by union leadership and 6 management, rather than union membership. 7 (2) Unions, acting through their management, 8 should be obligated to conduct business in the best 9 interests of their membership. 10 (3) Historically, union members have not had a 11 way to know, or to influence, the political activities 12 of unions that are supposed to represent them. 13 Union members and the public have a right to know 14 how unions are spending members’ dues to make po- 15 litical contributions or expenditures benefitting can- 16 didates, political parties, and political causes. 17 (4) Unions should be accountable to their mem- 18 bership in making political contributions or expendi- 19 tures affecting Federal governance and public policy. 20 Requiring the express approval of a union’s member- 21 ship for political contributions or expenditures will 22 establish necessary accountability. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:59 Feb 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5959.IH H5959 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 5959 IH SEC. 3. DISCLOSURE AND APPROVAL OF CERTAIN POLIT- 1 ICAL EXPENDITURES. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title II of the Labor-Management 3 Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (29 U.S.C. 431 et 4 seq.) is amended by inserting after section 201 the fol- 5 lowing: 6 ‘‘SEC. 201A. DISCLOSURE AND APPROVAL OF CERTAIN PO- 7 LITICAL EXPENDITURES BY LABOR ORGANI- 8 ZATIONS. 9 ‘‘(a) DISCLOSURE.—The report required under sec- 10 tion 201 shall contain, in a clear and simple format— 11 ‘‘(1) a description of the specific nature of any 12 expenditures for political activities proposed to be 13 made by the labor organization for the forthcoming 14 fiscal year, to the extent the specific nature is known 15 to the labor organization and including the total 16 amount of such proposed expenditures; and 17 ‘‘(2) a disclosure of how each officer of the 18 labor organization voted to authorize or not to au- 19 thorize each expenditure for political activities made 20 by the labor organization during the preceding fiscal 21 year. 22 ‘‘(b) RESTRICTION ON EXPENDITURES.—No labor 23 organization shall make any expenditure for political ac- 24 tivities in any fiscal year unless— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:59 Feb 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5959.IH H5959 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 5959 IH ‘‘(1) such expenditure is of the nature of those 1 proposed by the labor organization pursuant to sub- 2 section (a); and 3 ‘‘(2) the full, free, and written authorization for 4 such expenditures has been granted by a majority of 5 the members of the labor organization. 6 ‘‘(c) MECHANISM FOR OBTAINING AUTHORIZA- 7 TION.—Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 8 of the Union Member Protection Act, every labor organi- 9 zation shall adopt a mechanism for obtaining, by secret 10 ballot, the authorization of its members as required under 11 subsection (b)(2). 12 ‘‘(d) LIABILITY.—The officers of a labor organization 13 who authorize an expenditure without first obtaining the 14 authorization of members required under subsection (b)(2) 15 shall be jointly and severally liable in any action brought 16 in any court of competent jurisdiction to any member of 17 the labor organization or class of members for the amount 18 of dues paid by such member or class of member during 19 the 1-year period prior to the date that such expenditure 20 was made. 21 ‘‘(e) DEFINITION OF EXPENDITURE FOR POLITICAL 22 ACTIVITIES.—As used in this section: 23 ‘‘(1) The term ‘expenditure for political activi- 24 ties’ means— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:59 Feb 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5959.IH H5959 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 5959 IH ‘‘(A) an independent expenditure, as such 1 term is defined in section 301(17) of the Fed- 2 eral Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 3 431(17)); 4 ‘‘(B) contributions to any political party, 5 committee, or electioneering communication, as 6 such term is defined in section 304(f)(3)(A) of 7 the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 8 U.S.C. 434(f)(3)(A)); and 9 ‘‘(C) dues or other payments to trade asso- 10 ciations or other tax exempt organizations that 11 are, or could reasonably be anticipated to be, 12 used for the purposes described in subpara- 13 graph (A). 14 ‘‘(2) Such term shall not include— 15 ‘‘(A) direct lobbying efforts through reg- 16 istered lobbyists employed or hired by the labor 17 organization; 18 ‘‘(B) communications by a labor organiza- 19 tion to its members and executive or adminis- 20 trative personnel and their families; or 21 ‘‘(C) the establishment, administration, 22 and solicitation of contributions to a separate 23 segregated fund to be utilized for political pur- 24 poses by a labor organization.’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:59 Feb 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5959.IH H5959 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 5959 IH (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 1 (1) Section 201(c) of such Act (29 U.S.C. 2 431(c)) is amended by striking ‘‘make available the 3 information required to be contained in’’ and insert- 4 ing ‘‘provide’’. 5 (2) Section 209(a) of such Act (29 U.S.C. 6 439(a)) is amended by inserting ‘‘other than section 7 201A’’ after ‘‘this title’’. 8 SEC. 4. REQUIREMENT OF VOTE BY PRINCIPAL OFFICERS. 9 Section 201 of the Labor-Management Reporting and 10 Disclosure Act of 1959 (29 U.S.C. 431) is further amend- 11 ed by adding at the end the following: 12 ‘‘(f) The bylaws required under this section shall ex- 13 pressly provide for a vote of the principal officers of the 14 labor organization on any individual expenditure for polit- 15 ical activities (as such term is defined in section 201A(e)) 16 in excess of $50,000. A labor organization shall make pub- 17 licly available the individual votes of principal officers re- 18 quired by the preceding sentence within 48 hours of the 19 vote, including in a clear and conspicuous location on the 20 Internet website of the labor organization.’’. 21 SEC. 5. REPORT. 22 The Comptroller General of the United States shall 23 annually conduct a study on the compliance with the re- 24 quirements of this Act and the amendments made by this 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:59 Feb 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5959.IH H5959 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 5959 IH Act by labor organizations and their management. Not 1 later than April 1 of each year, the Comptroller General 2 shall submit to Congress a report of such study. 3 SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE. 4 This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall 5 take effect on the later of— 6 (1) the date of enactment of this Act; and 7 (2) the date that the bill H.R. 5929, introduced 8 in the House of Representatives during the 116th 9 Congress, is enacted into law. 10 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:59 Feb 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H5959.IH H5959 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS