[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4680 Introduced in House (IH)]






108th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4680

To amend the National Labor Relations Act to ensure that Indian tribes 
 and any organizations owned, controlled, or operated by Indian tribes 
         are not considered employers for purposes of such Act.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 24, 2004

 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 Indian tribes 
 and any organizations owned, controlled, or operated by Indian tribes 
         are not considered employers 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 Indian tribes 
        as sovereign government entities.
            (2) Indian tribes have an inherent right to govern 
        themselves.
            (3) Indian tribes and organizations owned, controlled, or 
        operated by Indian tribes engage in a variety of government 
        services and revenue raising activities in a manner similar to 
        State and local governments.
            (4) The National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 151 et 
        seq.) exempts government entities from the Act's definition of 
        employer but does not expressly identify Indian tribal 
        governments as included within the government entity exemption.
            (5) For 30 years, the National Labor Relations Board has 
        interpreted the general government entity exemption in the 
        National Labor Relations Act to exempt Indian tribes and 
        organizations owned, controlled, or operated by Indian tribes, 
        a precedent set forth in the Fort Apache Timber Company case in 
        1976 and in the Southern Indian Health Council case in 1988 and 
        affirmed by many Federal courts.
            (6) On May 28, 2004, the National Labor Relations Board 
        issued a decision and order in the San Manuel Indian Bingo and 
        Casino case that reversed this 30-year National Labor Relations 
        Board precedent by holding that the National Labor Relations 
        Act does not exempt Indian tribes.
            (7) The San Manuel Indian Bingo and Casino decision is an 
        affront to longstanding Federal Indian policy and practice to 
        treat Indian tribes as sovereign governments in a manner 
        consistent with the United States Constitution.
            (8) An Indian tribe or an organization owned, controlled, 
        or operated by an Indian tribe has the inherent, sovereign 
        right to choose whether or not to enter into labor agreements 
        and should not be considered an employer for purposes of the 
        National Labor Relations Act.

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 Indian tribe or 
        any organization owned, controlled, or operated by an Indian 
        tribe,'' 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 which is 
recognized as eligible for the special programs and services provided 
by the United States to Indians because of their status as Indians.''.
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