Union Member Protection Act
Bill: H.R.2640 | Sponsor: Rep. Huizenga, Bill (R-MI)
Policy area: Labor and Employment

Summary:
Union Member Protection Act  This bill requires labor unions to obtain approval of a majority of union members for specified political expenditures. Further, it requires unions to report proposed political expenditures and to disclose the vote of each union officer with respect to such expenditures during the preceding fiscal year.  Additionally, labor union bylaws must require principal officers to vote on individual political expenditures in excess of $50,000 and such individual votes must be made publicly available on the union's website.

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.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Union Member Protection Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Labor unions make significant political contributions 
        and expenditures that directly or indirectly influence the 
        election of candidates and support or oppose political causes. 
        Decisions to use union dues for political contributions and 
        expenditures are usually made by union leadership and 
        management, rather than union membership.
            (2) Unions, acting through their management, should be 
        obligated to conduct business in the best interests of their 
        membership.
            (3) Historically, union members have not had a way to know, 
        or to influence, the political activities of unions that are 
        supposed to represent them. Union members and the public have a 
        right to know how unions are spending members' dues to make 
        political contributions or expenditures benefitting candidates, 
        political parties, and political causes.
            (4) Unions should be accountable to their membership in 
        making political contributions or expenditures affecting 
        Federal governance and public policy. Requiring the express 
        approval of a union's membership for political contributions or 
        expenditures will establish necessary accountability.

SEC. 3. DISCLOSURE AND APPROVAL OF CERTAIN POLITICAL EXPENDITURES.

    (a) In General.--Title II of the Labor-Management Reporting and 
Disclosure Act of 1959 (29 U.S.C. 431 et seq.) is amended by inserting 
after section 201 the following:

``SEC. 201A. DISCLOSURE AND APPROVAL OF CERTAIN POLITICAL EXPENDITURES 
              BY LABOR ORGANIZATIONS.

    ``(a) Disclosure.--The report required under section 201 shall 
contain, in a clear and simple format--
            ``(1) a description of the specific nature of any 
        expenditures for political activities proposed to be made by 
        the labor organization for the forthcoming fiscal year, to the 
        extent the specific nature is known to the labor organization 
        and including the total amount of such proposed expenditures; 
        and
            ``(2) a disclosure of how each officer of the labor 
        organization voted to authorize or not to authorize each 
        expenditure for political activities made by the labor 
        organization during the preceding fiscal year.
    ``(b) Restriction on Expenditures.--No labor organization shall 
make any expenditure for political activities in any fiscal year 
unless--
            ``(1) such expenditure is of the nature of those proposed 
        by the labor organization pursuant to subsection (a); and
            ``(2) the full, free, and written authorization for such 
        expenditures has been granted by a majority of the members of 
        the labor organization.
    ``(c) Mechanism for Obtaining Authorization.--Not later than 1 year 
after the date of enactment of the Union Member Protection Act, every 
labor organization shall adopt a mechanism for obtaining, by secret 
ballot, the authorization of its members as required under subsection 
(b)(2).
    ``(d) Liability.--The officers of a labor organization who 
authorize an expenditure without first obtaining the authorization of 
members required under subsection (b)(2) shall be jointly and severally 
liable in any action brought in any court of competent jurisdiction to 
any member of the labor organization or class of members for the amount 
of dues paid by such member or class of member during the 1-year period 
prior to the date that such expenditure was made.
    ``(e) Definition of Expenditure for Political Activities.--As used 
in this section:
            ``(1) The term `expenditure for political activities' 
        means--
                    ``(A) an independent expenditure, as such term is 
                defined in section 301(17) of the Federal Election 
                Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 431(17));
                    ``(B) contributions to any political party, 
                committee, or electioneering communication, as such 
                term is defined in section 304(f)(3)(A) of the Federal 
                Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 434(f)(3)(A)); 
                and
                    ``(C) dues or other payments to trade associations 
                or other tax exempt organizations that are, or could 
                reasonably be anticipated to be, used for the purposes 
                described in subparagraph (A).
            ``(2) Such term shall not include--
                    ``(A) direct lobbying efforts through registered 
                lobbyists employed or hired by the labor organization;
                    ``(B) communications by a labor organization to its 
                members and executive or administrative personnel and 
                their families; or
                    ``(C) the establishment, administration, and 
                solicitation of contributions to a separate segregated 
                fund to be utilized for political purposes by a labor 
                organization.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendments.--
            (1) Section 201(c) of such Act (29 U.S.C. 431(c)) is 
        amended by striking ``make available the information required 
        to be contained in'' and inserting ``provide''.
            (2) Section 209(a) of such Act (29 U.S.C. 439(a)) is 
        amended by inserting ``other than section 201A'' after ``this 
        title''.

SEC. 4. REQUIREMENT OF VOTE BY PRINCIPAL OFFICERS.

    Section 201 of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 
1959 (29 U.S.C. 431) is further amended by adding at the end the 
following:
    ``(f) The bylaws required under this section shall expressly 
provide for a vote of the principal officers of the labor organization 
on any individual expenditure for political activities (as such term is 
defined in section 201A(e)) in excess of $50,000. A labor organization 
shall make publicly available the individual votes of principal 
officers required by the preceding sentence within 48 hours of the 
vote, including in a clear and conspicuous location on the Internet 
website of the labor organization.''.

SEC. 5. REPORT.

    The Comptroller General of the United States shall annually conduct 
a study on the compliance with the requirements of this Act and the 
amendments made by this Act by labor organizations and their 
management. Not later than April 1 of each year, the Comptroller 
General shall submit to Congress a report of such study.

SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall take effect on 
the later of--
            (1) the date of enactment of this Act; and
            (2) the date that the bill H.R. 1087, introduced in the 
        House of Representatives during the 117th Congress, is enacted 
        into law.
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