I 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5860 

To amend the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act 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 

JULY 26, 2010 

Mr. HENSARLING (for himself, Mr. BACHUS, Mr. MCCARTHY of California, 

and Ms. JENKINS) 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 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 (29 U.S.C. 431 et seq.) is 

5 amended by inserting after section 201 the following: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 201A. DISCLOSURE AND APPROVAL OF CERTAIN PO7 LITICAL EXPENDITURES BY LABOR ORGANI8 ZATIONS. 

9 ‘‘(a) DISCLOSURE.—The report required under sec10 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 au19 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 ac24 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 (29 U.S.C. 431) is further amended by 

12 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 by labor organizations and their 


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1 management. Not later than April 1 of each year, the 

2 Comptroller General shall submit to Congress a report of 

3 such study. 

4 SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

5 The amendments made by this Act shall take effect 

6 on the date of enactment of the Shareholder Protection 

7 Act of 2010. 

Æ 


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