I
107TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 4719
To amend the National Labor Relations Act to ensure that any business
owned and operated by an Indian tribe and located on Indian lands
is not considered an employer for purposes of such Act.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MAY 14, 2002
Mr. HAYWORTH 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 ensure that
any business owned and operated by an Indian tribe
and located on Indian lands is not considered an em-
ployer for purposes of such Act.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Tribal Labor Relations
Act’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) The United States Constitution recognizes
Native American tribes as sovereign governmental
entities.
(2) Indian tribes have an inherent right to gov-
ern themselves consistent with the United States
Constitution, treaties, laws, and court decisions.
(3) The National Labor Relations Act expressly
exempts government entities from the Act.
(4) The National Labor Relations Board (re-
ferred to in this section as the ‘NLRB’) has held
that a tribally owned and operated business located
on Indian lands is exempt from the National Labor
Relations Act (referred to in this section as the
‘NLRA’) under the Act’s exemption for government
entities.
(5) In the Fort Apache Timber Company case
(226 N.L.R.B. 503), the NLRB ruled that the
Board lacked jurisdiction over the White Mountain
Apache Tribe and a wholly owned and operated en-
terprise of the tribe because the tribe was considered
to be a sovereign governmental entity.
(6) The Federal District Court for the District
of Oregon expressly agreed with the NLRB’s posi-
tion in Fort Apache Timber by concluding that the
Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reserva-
tion was ‘‘not an employer for the purposes of’’ the
NLRA.
(7) Some Indian tribes have used the freedom
they enjoy as sovereign entities to voluntarily enter
into labor agreements covering tribal gaming em-
ployees without Federal coercion.
(8) The report issued by the National Gaming
Impact Study Commission (referred to in this sec-
tion as ‘Commission’) recommending that—
(A) Indian tribes should voluntarily enter
into agreements to ‘‘ensure the enforceable
right of free association—including the right to
organize and bargain collectively—for employ-
ees of tribal casinos’’ and to extend to casino
employees ‘‘the same or equivalent protections
that are applicable to comparable State or pri-
vate-sector employees through Federal and
State employment laws’’; and
(B) if the tribes do not enter into such vol-
untary agreements within ‘‘a reasonable period
of time’’, Congress should enact legislation es-
tablishing such rights and protections;
is in conflict with the findings of paragraphs (1)
through (4).
(9) An Indian tribe that owns and operates a
business on Indian lands—
(A) has the right to choose whether or not
to enter into agreements proposed by the Com-
mission without legislative intervention; and
(B) shall not have such business consid-
ered as an employer for purposes of the NLRA.
SEC. 3. DEFINITION OF EMPLOYER.
Section 2 of the National Labor Relations Act (29
U.S.C. 152) is amended—
(1) in paragraph (2), by inserting ‘‘or any busi-
ness owned and operated by an Indian tribe and lo-
cated on Indian lands,’’ after ‘‘subdivision thereof’’;
and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(15) The term ‘Indian tribe’ means any Indian
tribe, band, nation, pueblo, or other organized group
or community, including any Alaska Native village
or regional corporation as defined in or established
pursuant to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act, which is recognized as eligible for the special
programs and services provided by the United States
to Indians because of their status as Indians.
‘‘(16) The term ‘Indian’ means any individual
who is a member of an Indian tribe.
‘‘(17) The term ‘Indian lands’ means—
‘‘(A) all lands within the limits of any In-
dian reservation; and
‘‘(B) any lands title to which is either held
in trust by the United States for the benefit of
any Indian tribe or individual or held by any
Indian tribe or individual subject to restriction
by the United States against alienation;
‘‘(C) any lands in the State of Oklahoma
that are within the boundaries of a former res-
ervation (as defined by the Secretary of the In-
terior) of a federally recognized Indian tribe.’’.
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