[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3932 Introduced in House (IH)]

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114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3932

 To amend the Labor Management Relations Act, 1947, to provide for the 
 mandatory appointment of a board of inquiry into slow-downs, strikes, 
    or lock-outs when certain specified events occur, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            November 5, 2015

  Mr. Newhouse (for himself, Mr. Schrader, Mrs. McMorris Rodgers, Mr. 
   Cole, Mr. LaMalfa, Mr. Reichert, Mr. Stivers, Mr. Upton, and Mr. 
   Walden) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
   Committee on Education and the Workforce, and in addition to the 
  Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, for a period to be 
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 
  of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 
                               concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Labor Management Relations Act, 1947, to provide for the 
 mandatory appointment of a board of inquiry into slow-downs, strikes, 
    or lock-outs when certain specified events occur, 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 ``Ensuring Continued Operations and No 
Other Major Incidents, Closures, or Slowdowns Act'' or the ``ECONOMICS 
Act''.

SEC. 2. CONDITIONS REQUIRING APPOINTMENT OF BOARD OF INQUIRY.

    (a) In General.--Section 206 of the Labor Management Relations Act, 
1947 (29 U.S.C. 176) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``Whenever in the opinion'' and inserting 
        ``(a) Whenever in the opinion'';
            (2) by striking ``a threatened or actual strike'' and 
        inserting ``a slow-down, or a threatened or actual strike or 
        lock-out''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(b) The President shall appoint a board of inquiry described in 
subsection (a) not later than 10 days after any of the following events 
occur:
            ``(1) The U.S. Census Bureau reports that the monthly 
        Import or Export Vessel Value decreased by 20 percent or more 
        in any one month from the previous month in any one of the four 
        metric identification regions.
            ``(2) A slow-down, or a threatened or an actual strike or 
        lock-out takes place at four or more port facilities in any one 
        of the four metric identification regions.
            ``(3) A slow-down, or a threatened or an actual strike or 
        lock-out occurs in which the total number of employees actively 
        striking, locked-out, or slowing down at the affected port 
        facilities in any one of the four metric identification 
        regions, is 6,000 or greater.
    ``(c) Whenever a board of inquiry is appointed as required by the 
occurrence of any of the events described in subsection (b), such board 
shall submit a written report to the President not later than 10 days 
after its appointment. If a board of inquiry is appointed as required 
due to the occurrence of the event described in paragraph (1) of such 
subsection, such board shall include in its report an assessment as to 
whether a slow-down, or a threatened or an actual strike or lock-out 
contributed to the occurrence of such an event resulting in the board's 
appointment. If the board determines that a slow-down, or a threatened 
or an actual strike or lock-out did contribute to the occurrence of 
such an event, the board shall also include in its report the 
additional criteria established in subsection (a). The President shall 
file a copy of such report with the Service and shall make its contents 
available to the public.
    ``(d) For purposes of this section, the term `metric identification 
region' means one of the four regions into which each of the Nation's 
maritime ports is classified by the Secretary of Transportation in 
accordance with section 4 of the Ensuring Continued Operations and No 
Other Major Incidents, Closures, or Slowdowns Act.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendments.--Section 208(a) of the Labor Management 
Relations Act, 1947 (29 U.S.C. 178(a)) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``such strike or lock-out'' and inserting 
        ``such slow-down, strike, or lock-out''; and
            (2) by striking ``such threatened or actual strike'' and 
        inserting ``such slow-down, or threatened or actual strike or 
        lock-out''.

SEC. 3. STUDY AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ADDITIONAL CONDITIONS REQUIRING 
              APPOINTMENT OF BOARD OF INQUIRY.

    (a) Data.--The Director of the Bureau of Transportation Statistics 
shall collect the following data relating to activity at port 
facilities in the United States:
            (1) The average number of lifts per hour of containers by 
        crane.
            (2) The average cargo container dwell time.
            (3) The average truck times at ports.
            (4) The average rail time at ports.
    (b) Recommendations to Congress.--Not later than 2 years after the 
date of enactment of this Act, the Director shall transmit a report to 
Congress containing recommendations for determining whether conditions 
exist requiring the appointment of a board of inquiry pursuant to 
section 206(b) of the Labor Management Relations Act, 1947, using the 
data required to be collected in accordance with subsection (a), or any 
other metric recommended by the Director.

SEC. 4. CLASSIFICATION OF PORTS INTO REGIONS.

    Not later than 60 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the 
Secretary of Transportation shall classify the Nation's maritime ports 
as belonging to one of the following four metric identification 
regions:
            (1) West Coast.
            (2) East Coast.
            (3) Gulf Coast.
            (4) Great Lakes.
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