National Labor Relations Board Reform Act

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3833 To amend the National Labor Relations Act to reform the National Labor Relations Board, the Office of the General Counsel, and the process for appellate review, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 5, 2023 Mr. WALBERG introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce A BILL To amend the National Labor Relations Act to reform the National Labor Relations Board, the Office of the Gen- eral Counsel, and the process for appellate review, and for other purposes. 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 ‘‘National Labor Rela- 4 tions Board Reform Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:12 Jun 28, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3833.IH H3833 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3833 IH SEC. 2. NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD. 1 (a) COMPOSITION; TERMS.—Section 3(a) of the Na- 2 tional Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 153(a)) is amend- 3 ed— 4 (1) in the first sentence— 5 (A) by striking ‘‘prior to its amendment by 6 the Labor Management Relations Act, 1947,’’ 7 and inserting ‘‘prior to its amendment by the 8 National Labor Relations Board Reform Act’’; 9 (B) by striking ‘‘five instead of three mem- 10 bers’’ and inserting ‘‘6 instead of 5 members’’; 11 and 12 (C) by striking ‘‘appointed by the Presi- 13 dent by and with the advice and consent of the 14 Senate’’ and inserting ‘‘appointed by the Presi- 15 dent, after consultation with the leader of the 16 Senate representing the party opposing the 17 party of the President, by and with the advice 18 and consent of the Senate’’; 19 (2) by striking the second sentence and insert- 20 ing the following: ‘‘The sixth member added by the 21 first sentence of this section shall be appointed for 22 a term that expires on the day before the first date 23 on which a full term of another member of the 24 Board commences that is after the date of enact- 25 ment of the National Labor Relations Board Reform 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:12 Jun 28, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3833.IH H3833 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3833 IH Act. Of the 6 members, there shall be 3 members 1 representing each of the 2 major political parties 2 and, beginning on January 1, 2028, each of the 2 3 members of the Board whose terms expire on the 4 same date, as established under subsection (e), shall 5 represent a different major political party.’’; and 6 (3) in the fourth sentence (including the 7 amendment made by paragraph (2))— 8 (A) by striking ‘‘Their successors, and the 9 successors of the other members,’’ and inserting 10 ‘‘The successor of such sixth member, and the 11 successors of the other members,’’; 12 (B) by inserting ‘‘(except as otherwise pro- 13 vided during the transition period under sub- 14 section (e))’’ after ‘‘each’’; and 15 (C) by striking ‘‘he’’ and inserting ‘‘the in- 16 dividual’’. 17 (b) AUTHORITY.—Section 3(b) of the National Labor 18 Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 153(b)) is amended— 19 (1) in the first sentence— 20 (A) by striking ‘‘three or more’’ and insert- 21 ing ‘‘4 or more’’; and 22 (B) by inserting before the period the fol- 23 lowing: ‘‘, with such group consisting of an 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:12 Jun 28, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3833.IH H3833 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3833 IH equal number of members representing each 1 major political party’’; and 2 (2) in the third sentence— 3 (A) by striking ‘‘three members’’ and in- 4 serting ‘‘4 members’’; and 5 (B) by striking ‘‘Board, except that’’ and 6 all that follows through ‘‘hereof.’’ and inserting 7 the following: ‘‘Board. Any determination of the 8 Board shall be approved by a majority of the 9 members present.’’. 10 (c) TRANSITION TO IMPROVED STAGGERED 11 TERMS.—Section 3 of the National Labor Relations Act 12 (29 U.S.C. 153) is further amended by adding at the end 13 the following: 14 ‘‘(e) TRANSITION TO IMPROVED STAGGERED 15 TERMS.—Notwithstanding subsection (a) or any other 16 provision of this Act— 17 ‘‘(1) each term of a member of the Board ap- 18 pointed after the date of enactment of the National 19 Labor Relations Board Reform Act and before De- 20 cember 31, 2027, shall terminate on December 31, 21 2027, or the date on which the term otherwise ex- 22 pires, whichever is earlier, and new terms for all 6 23 members of the Board shall begin on January 1, 24 2028; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:12 Jun 28, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3833.IH H3833 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3833 IH ‘‘(2) of the 6 members of the Board who are 1 appointed for the terms beginning on January 1, 2 2028— 3 ‘‘(A) 2 of the members shall be appointed 4 for terms ending on December 31, 2029; 5 ‘‘(B) 2 of the members shall be appointed 6 for terms ending on December 31, 2031; and 7 ‘‘(C) 2 of the members shall be appointed 8 for terms ending on December 31, 2032.’’. 9 SEC. 3. GENERAL COUNSEL. 10 The National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 151 11 et seq.), as amended by section 2, is further amended— 12 (1) in section 3 (29 U.S.C. 153)— 13 (A) in subsection (d)— 14 (i) in the second sentence, by striking 15 ‘‘trial examiners’’ and inserting ‘‘adminis- 16 trative law judges’’; and 17 (ii) in the third sentence, by striking 18 ‘‘He shall’’ and inserting ‘‘Subject to sub- 19 section (f), the General Counsel shall’’; and 20 (B) by adding at the end the following: 21 ‘‘(f) REVIEW OF GENERAL COUNSEL COMPLAINTS.— 22 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Any person subject to a 23 complaint that is issued or authorized by the Gen- 24 eral Counsel under subsection (d) may obtain review 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:12 Jun 28, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3833.IH H3833 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3833 IH of the complaint in any district court of the United 1 States in the judicial district wherein the unfair 2 labor practice in question was alleged to have oc- 3 curred, wherein such person resides or transacts 4 business, or in the United States District Court for 5 the District of Columbia, by filing in such court, not 6 later than 30 days after such issuance or authoriza- 7 tion, a written petition for review of the complaint. 8 The court may prohibit any further proceedings re- 9 lating to such complaint if the court determines that 10 the General Counsel does not have substantial evi- 11 dence that such person has violated this Act. 12 ‘‘(2) DISCOVERY.—Any party to a complaint 13 under paragraph (1) may file a request to the Gen- 14 eral Counsel to obtain any advice memorandum pre- 15 pared by an attorney of the Division of Advice of the 16 Office of the General Counsel, any internal memo- 17 randum of the Office of the General Counsel, or any 18 other inter-agency or intra-agency memorandum or 19 letter described in section 552(b)(5) of title 5, 20 United States Code, related to the complaint. Not 21 later than 10 days after the filing of such request, 22 the General Counsel shall provide such party the re- 23 quested memorandum or letter.’’; and 24 (2) in section 4(a) (29 U.S.C. 154(a))— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:12 Jun 28, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3833.IH H3833 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 3833 IH (A) in the second sentence by striking ‘‘ex- 1 aminers’’ and inserting ‘‘administrative law 2 judges’’; and 3 (B) in the fourth sentence— 4 (i) by striking ‘‘trial examiner’s re- 5 port’’ and inserting ‘‘report of an adminis- 6 trative law judge’’; and 7 (ii) by striking ‘‘trial examiner shall 8 advise’’ and inserting ‘‘administrative law 9 judge shall advise’’. 10 SEC. 4. FINAL ORDERS; DISCHARGE. 11 Section 10 of the National Labor Relations Act (29 12 U.S.C. 160) is amended— 13 (1) in subsection (c)— 14 (A) by striking ‘‘before an examiner or ex- 15 aminers thereof’’ and inserting ‘‘before an ad- 16 ministrative law judge or administrative law 17 judges thereof’’; and 18 (B) by striking ‘‘such examiner or exam- 19 iners’’ and inserting ‘‘such judge or judges’’; 20 and 21 (2) in subsection (d)— 22 (A) by inserting ‘‘or the Board has issued 23 a final order’’ after ‘‘have been filed in a 24 court’’; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:12 Jun 28, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3833.IH H3833 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 3833 IH (B) by striking ‘‘at any time upon reason- 1 able notice’’ and inserting ‘‘, not later than 1 2 year after the submission of a report of an ad- 3 ministrative law judge, or a decision of a re- 4 gional director, pertaining to such case or 5 order, upon reasonable notice,’’; and 6 (C) by adding at the end the following: 7 ‘‘The Board shall issue a final order reviewing 8 an appeal of a report of an administrative law 9 judge or decision of a regional director filed 10 within 1 year after such report or decision. If 11 the Board does not issue a final order within 1 12 year after the report of an administrative law 13 judge or decision of a regional director, any 14 party to the case may move to discharge the 15 case. Upon such motion, the report of the ad- 16 ministrative law judge or decision of the re- 17 gional director shall be deemed to be a final 18 agency action and the Board may not take fur- 19 ther action on the matter under subchapter II 20 of chapter 5 of title 5, United States Code. Any 21 party to the case may obtain review of the order 22 of the Board in any court of appeals of the 23 United States in the circuit wherein the unfair 24 labor practice in question was alleged to have 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:12 Jun 28, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3833.IH H3833 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 3833 IH occurred, wherein such person resides or trans- 1 acts business, or in the United States Court of 2 Appeals for the District of Columbia, by filing 3 in such court, not later than 60 days after the 4 issuance of the order, a written petition for the 5 court to modify or set aside the order. The 6 court shall review the order de novo.’’. 7 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:12 Jun 28, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3833.IH H3833 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS