I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2640 

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 

APRIL 19, 2021 

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 purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Union Member Protec5 tion Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) Labor unions make significant political con2 tributions and expenditures that directly or indi3 rectly influence the election of candidates and sup4 port or oppose political causes. Decisions to use 

5 union dues for political contributions and expendi6 tures are usually made by union leadership and 

7 management, rather than union membership. 

8 (2) Unions, acting through their management, 

9 should be obligated to conduct business in the best 

10 interests of their membership. 

11 (3) Historically, union members have not had a 

12 way to know, or to influence, the political activities 

13 of unions that are supposed to represent them. 

14 Union members and the public have a right to know 

15 how unions are spending members’ dues to make po16 litical contributions or expenditures benefitting can17 didates, political parties, and political causes. 

18 (4) Unions should be accountable to their mem19 bership in making political contributions or expendi20 tures affecting Federal governance and public policy. 

21 Requiring the express approval of a union’s member22 ship for political contributions or expenditures will 

23 establish necessary accountability. 


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1 SEC. 3. DISCLOSURE AND APPROVAL OF CERTAIN POLIT2 ICAL EXPENDITURES. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title II of the Labor-Management 

4 Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (29 U.S.C. 431 et 

5 seq.) is amended by inserting after section 201 the fol6 lowing: 

7 ‘‘SEC. 201A. DISCLOSURE AND APPROVAL OF CERTAIN PO8 LITICAL EXPENDITURES BY LABOR ORGANI9 ZATIONS. 

10 ‘‘(a) DISCLOSURE.—The report required under sec11 tion 201 shall contain, in a clear and simple format— 

12 ‘‘(1) a description of the specific nature of any 

13 expenditures for political activities proposed to be 

14 made by the labor organization for the forthcoming 

15 fiscal year, to the extent the specific nature is known 

16 to the labor organization and including the total 

17 amount of such proposed expenditures; and 

18 ‘‘(2) a disclosure of how each officer of the 

19 labor organization voted to authorize or not to au20 thorize each expenditure for political activities made 

21 by the labor organization during the preceding fiscal 

22 year. 

23 ‘‘(b) RESTRICTION ON EXPENDITURES.—No labor 

24 organization shall make any expenditure for political ac25 tivities in any fiscal year unless— 


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1 ‘‘(1) such expenditure is of the nature of those 

2 proposed by the labor organization pursuant to sub3 section (a); and 

4 ‘‘(2) the full, free, and written authorization for 

5 such expenditures has been granted by a majority of 

6 the members of the labor organization. 

7 ‘‘(c) MECHANISM FOR OBTAINING AUTHORIZA8 TION.—Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 

9 of the Union Member Protection Act, every labor organi10 zation shall adopt a mechanism for obtaining, by secret 

11 ballot, the authorization of its members as required under 

12 subsection (b)(2). 

13 ‘‘(d) LIABILITY.—The officers of a labor organization 

14 who authorize an expenditure without first obtaining the 

15 authorization of members required under subsection (b)(2) 

16 shall be jointly and severally liable in any action brought 

17 in any court of competent jurisdiction to any member of 

18 the labor organization or class of members for the amount 

19 of dues paid by such member or class of member during 

20 the 1-year period prior to the date that such expenditure 

21 was made. 

22 ‘‘(e) DEFINITION OF EXPENDITURE FOR POLITICAL

23 ACTIVITIES.—As used in this section: 

24 ‘‘(1) The term ‘expenditure for political activi25 ties’ means— 


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1 ‘‘(A) an independent expenditure, as such 

2 term is defined in section 301(17) of the Fed3 eral Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 

4 431(17)); 

5 ‘‘(B) contributions to any political party, 

6 committee, or electioneering communication, as 

7 such term is defined in section 304(f)(3)(A) of 

8 the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 

9 U.S.C. 434(f)(3)(A)); and 

10 ‘‘(C) dues or other payments to trade asso11 ciations or other tax exempt organizations that 

12 are, or could reasonably be anticipated to be, 

13 used for the purposes described in subpara14 graph (A). 

15 ‘‘(2) Such term shall not include— 

16 ‘‘(A) direct lobbying efforts through reg17 istered lobbyists employed or hired by the labor 

18 organization; 

19 ‘‘(B) communications by a labor organiza20 tion to its members and executive or adminis21 trative personnel and their families; or 

22 ‘‘(C) the establishment, administration, 

23 and solicitation of contributions to a separate 

24 segregated fund to be utilized for political pur25 poses by a labor organization.’’. 


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1 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

2 (1) Section 201(c) of such Act (29 U.S.C. 

3 431(c)) is amended by striking ‘‘make available the 

4 information required to be contained in’’ and insert5 ing ‘‘provide’’. 

6 (2) Section 209(a) of such Act (29 U.S.C. 

7 439(a)) is amended by inserting ‘‘other than section 

8 201A’’ after ‘‘this title’’. 

9 SEC. 4. REQUIREMENT OF VOTE BY PRINCIPAL OFFICERS. 

10 Section 201 of the Labor-Management Reporting and 

11 Disclosure Act of 1959 (29 U.S.C. 431) is further amend12 ed by adding at the end the following: 

13 ‘‘(f) The bylaws required under this section shall ex14 pressly provide for a vote of the principal officers of the 

15 labor organization on any individual expenditure for polit16 ical activities (as such term is defined in section 201A(e)) 

17 in excess of $50,000. A labor organization shall make pub18 licly available the individual votes of principal officers re19 quired by the preceding sentence within 48 hours of the 

20 vote, including in a clear and conspicuous location on the 

21 Internet website of the labor organization.’’. 

22 SEC. 5. REPORT. 

23 The Comptroller General of the United States shall 

24 annually conduct a study on the compliance with the re25 quirements of this Act and the amendments made by this 


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1 Act by labor organizations and their management. Not 

2 later than April 1 of each year, the Comptroller General 

3 shall submit to Congress a report of such study. 

4 SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

5 This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall 

6 take effect on the later of— 

7 (1) the date of enactment of this Act; and 

8 (2) the date that the bill H.R. 1087, introduced 

9 in the House of Representatives during the 117th 

10 Congress, is enacted into law. 

Æ 


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