[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4719 Introduced in House (IH)]







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 employer for purposes of such Act.

    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 ``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 govern 
        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 (referred 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 
        enterprise 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 position in Fort Apache Timber 
        by concluding that the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs 
        Reservation 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 employees without Federal coercion.
            (8) The report issued by the National Gaming Impact Study 
        Commission (referred to in this section 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 employees of tribal casinos'' 
                and to extend to casino employees ``the same or 
                equivalent protections that are applicable to 
                comparable State or private-sector employees through 
                Federal and State employment laws''; and
                    (B) if the tribes do not enter into such voluntary 
                agreements within ``a reasonable period of time'', 
                Congress should enact legislation establishing 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 Commission without 
                legislative intervention; and
                    (B) shall not have such business considered 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 business owned 
        and operated by an Indian tribe and located 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 Indian 
                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 reservation (as 
                defined by the Secretary of the Interior) of a 
                federally recognized Indian tribe.''.
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