Indian tribes are unique in that they are quasi-sovereign entities that enjoy all the sovereign rights not divested by treaties or Congress, or inconsistent with their dependent status. As "domestic dependent nations," "Indian tribes are distinct, independent political communities, retaining their original natural rights in matters of local self-government." However, they are subordinate to the sovereignty of the United States. Because of tribes' unique status, courts have wrestled with the issue of whether statutes that do not mention tribes apply to tribes. The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), which does not mention tribes, gives employees the right to collectively bargain with employers, and imposes on employers the obligation to bargain with employees in good faith. Section 2(2) of the NLRA defines the term "employer" to exclude "the United States or any wholly owned government corporation or any state or political subdivision thereof." In 1976, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the agency responsible for enforcing the NLRA, concluded that tribal employers were "implicitly" exempted from the NLRA as governmental entities. Later, it decided the exemption did not extend to tribal employers located off tribal land. In 2004, the NLRB abandoned the location-based test in favor of a test that presumes the NLRA applies, but allows exceptions if application of the NLRA interferes with a tribe's right of self-governance in intramural matters or treaty rights. Since 2004, the NLRB has been enforcing the NLRA against tribal casinos. The Tribal Labor Sovereignty Act of 2015, H.R. 511 and S. 248 , would amend the NLRA's definition of employer to exclude, "any enterprise or institution owned and operated by an Indian tribe located on its Indian lands" effectively reinstating the Board's position before 2004. The remainder of this report discusses how the NLRB developed its current position on applying the NLRA to tribal casinos, considers how it has applied the NLRA since 2004, and discusses how the Tribal Labor Sovereignty Act of 2015 relates to the history of the NLRB applying the NLRA to tribal enterprises. The NLRB's position on enforcing the NLRA against tribal employers has changed over time. This section explains the reasoning behind the Board's positions. In 1976, the NLRB considered for the first time whether the NLRA applied to tribal employers in Fort Apache Timber Co. In this case, the White Mountain Apache Tribe (Tribe) owned and operated the Fort Apache Timber Co. on its reservation. The Board did not indicate whether the timber company employed non-Indian employees, but mentioned that it participated in interstate commerce. The NLRB identified the question presented as: "whether an Indian tribal governing council qua government, acting to direct the utilization of tribal resources through a tribal commercial enterprise on the tribe's own reservation, is an 'employer' within the meaning of the Act." The NLRB explored the legal status of Indian tribes, focusing on their sovereignty and right of self-government. Although the Board did not find that the tribal timber company was excluded from the definition of "employer" under section 2(2), the Board concluded that it was "implicitly exempt" within the meaning of the NLRA. In a footnote, the NLRB noted that the Supreme Court found that a utility district owned by private individuals was exempt because the utility district was responsible to public figures, making it a political subdivision of a state. Using that reasoning, the NLRB concluded, "the Fort Apache Timber Company is an entity administered by individuals directly responsible to the Tribal Council of the White Mountain Apache Tribe, hence exempt as a governmental entity recognized by the United States, to whose employees the Act was never intended to apply." The Board applied the reasoning of Fort Apache in Southern Indian Health Council to conclude that the employer at issue, which was a consortium of a number of tribes and operated on a reservation, was exempted from the NLRA as a governmental entity because the employer, and its personnel policies, were controlled by the tribes. In 1992, the NLRB considered whether its reasoning in Fort Apache Timber Co. applied to a tribal employer that was located outside the tribe's reservation in Sac and Fox Industries . In this case, the NLRB determined that Fort Apache and Southern Indian Health Council were inapplicable because those cases involved tribal employers located on reservations and application of the NLRA would have interfered with the tribes' "right of internal sovereignty." The NLRB noted that in Fort Apache and Southern Indian Health Council it had found the tribal employers implicitly exempt as governmental entities, but determined that the Fort Apache reasoning was not binding because it applied to tribal employers on land within the tribes' reservations. This case, however, involved a tribal employer located far away from the reservation. Having concluded that Fort Apache was not binding, the NLRB turned to the jurisprudence governing when statutes of general applicability apply to tribes to determine whether the NLRA applied to Sac & Fox Industries. The NLRB first quoted the Supreme Court's opinion in Federal Power Comm'n v. Tuscarora Indian Nation : "it is now well settled by many decisions of this Court that a general statute in terms applying to all persons includes Indians and their property interests." However, the NLRB noted exceptions to this rule, and cited Donovan v. Coeur d'Alene Tribal Farm , a case decided by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The so-called Coeur d'Alene exceptions provide that a statute of general applicability will not apply to a tribe if (1) the law touches "exclusive rights of self-governance in purely intramural matters;" (2) application of the law to the tribe would abrogate treaty rights; or (3) there is proof in the legislative history or elsewhere that Congress did not intended that the law would apply to tribes. If any of those exceptions apply, Congress must explicitly express its intention that tribes be subject to the statute. Because the NLRB found that the tribal business did not fit any of the exceptions, it concluded the business was subject to the NLRA. The NLRB considered its jurisdiction over off-reservation tribal employers again in Yukon Kuskoksim Health Corp. The employer at issue was like the employer in Southern Indian in that it was a health care organization run by a consortium of tribes. However, it was not located on a reservation. Finding the tribal employer's off-reservation location determinative, the Board found the NLRA applied. The NLRB continued to assert jurisdiction based on whether the tribal employer was located on or off a reservation until 2004, when it decided San Manuel Indian Bingo and Casino . In this case, the NLRB was asked to reject the Fort Apache / Sac and Fox Industries location-based test. In considering whether to do so, the Board noted that as tribal businesses have grown, they have employed increasing numbers of non-Indians and begun to compete with non-tribal employers. It assessed the premises underlying Fort Apache and Sac and Fox Industries and rejected them. Thus, the NLRB overturned Fort Apache , modified Sac and Fox Industries , formulated a new rule for when the NLRA would apply to tribes, which it asserted would accommodate both federal labor policy and federal Indian policy, and applied the NLRA to the tribal casino located on a reservation. In place of the location-based test, the NLRB adopted the Tuscarora / Coeur d'Alene test, which assumes a statute that does not mention tribes applies to tribes unless application of the statute would trigger one of the Coeur d'Alene exceptions. However, the NLRB took an additional analytical step of assessing its "discretionary jurisdiction," by "balanc[ing] the Board's interest in effectuating the policies of the [NLRA] with its desire to accommodate the unique status of Indians in our society and legal culture." This step involved "examin[ing] the specific facts in each case to determine whether the assertion of jurisdiction over Indian tribes will effectuate the purposes of the Act." The NLRB explained that when tribal businesses employ significant numbers of non-Indians, compete with non-tribal businesses, and participate in interstate commerce by catering to non-Indian customers, the "special attributes of tribal sovereignty" are not implicated. Distinguishing a tribal enterprise from a tribal government function, the NLRB wrote that exercising jurisdiction over such tribal enterprises would fulfill its mandate to "protect and foster interstate commerce" and "effectuate the policies of the Act while doing little harm to the Indian tribes' special attributes of sovereignty or statutory schemes designed to protect them." The NLRB explained that application of the NLRA to all tribal activities was not appropriate because at times, when tribes perform governmental functions, they act consistent with their "mantle of uniqueness." Such governmental functions are likely to occur on reservations and likely do not involve non-Indians or interstate commerce. Therefore, when tribes engage in self-government of internal matters, the NLRB wrote, the Board's interest in effectuating the purpose of the NLRA is lesser and the tribal interest in autonomy is greater. The NLRB applied this analytical framework to the San Manuel Indian Bingo and Casino and concluded that application of the NLRA would fulfill its mandate to effectuate the purpose of the NLRA. First, the NLRB determined that none of the Coeur d'Alene exceptions applied. The casino argued that application of the NLRA would interfere with the tribe's self-governance because casino revenue funded the government. However, the NLRB employed a narrow reading of Coeur d'Alene 's self-government exception and wrote that the casino's reasoning would result in the self-government exception swallowing the Tuscarora rule. Accordingly, the NLRB concluded that the NLRA applied to the San Manuel Indian Bingo and Casino. The casino appealed the NLRB's decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C.