PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce.
Congressional Research Service
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People & committees
Rep. Allen, Rick W. [R-GA-12] · R–GA
Legislative record
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Referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce.
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We also preserved the text version used in the PlainBill explanation below.
No related bills are listed in this snapshot. This does not establish whether the proposal has appeared in earlier Congresses.
Source last updated: Jul 21, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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PlainBill explanation
Based on the full Introduced in House · 2025-03-21 text. This explanation has not received human editorial review. This overview describes the proposal’s major provisions; it does not establish what its real-world effects would be.
The proposed Secret Ballot Protection Act would require a National Labor Relations Board secret-ballot election before an employer could recognize or bargain collectively with a union. The union would need selection by a majority of employees in the appropriate bargaining unit. Relationships recognized before enactment would be exempt from the new recognition and representative-selection requirements. The bill would also require secret-ballot elections to determine whether a union no longer represents a bargaining unit.
This Act may be cited as the Secret Ballot Protection Act.
or to recognize or bargain collectively with a labor organization that has not been selected by a majority of employees in a unit appropriate for such purposes in a secret ballot election conducted by the Board in accordance with section 9.
The amendment made by paragraph (1) shall not apply to collective bargaining relationships that were recognized before the date of enactment of this Act.
The Board shall conduct a secret ballot election to determine whether a labor organization certified or recognized by an employer as the representative for the purposes of collective bargaining is no longer the representative of a unit as defined in paragraph (1).
Section 2 presents Congress's proposed findings that secret ballots protect employee choice and that private recognition agreements threaten that choice. These are the bill's stated reasons for changing the law, not demonstrated effects.
Congress finds that—
the fundamental democratic right to choose by secret ballot is the only method that ensures a choice free of coercion, intimidation, irregularity, or illegality;
the recognition of a labor organization by way of a private agreement, rather than a secret ballot election supervised by a neutral third party, threatens an employee’s right, codified in the National Labor Relations Act, to choose whether or not to be represented by a labor organization;
Section 3(a) would add a prohibition to the National Labor Relations Act against employers recognizing or bargaining collectively with a union unless a majority of employees in the appropriate bargaining unit selected it in a Board-conducted secret-ballot election, subject to the exemption for relationships recognized before enactment.
Section 8(a)(2) of the National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 158(a)(2)) is amended by inserting before the colon the following: or to recognize or bargain collectively with a labor organization that has not been selected by a majority of employees in a unit appropriate for such purposes in a secret ballot election conducted by the Board in accordance with section 9.
(2) Application The amendment made by paragraph (1) shall not apply to collective bargaining relationships that were recognized before the date of enactment of this Act.
Section 3(b) would add a corresponding prohibition against a union causing or attempting to cause an employer to recognize or bargain collectively with a union representative without the required majority selection in a Board-conducted secret-ballot election, subject to the exemption for relationships recognized before enactment.
(8) to cause or attempt to cause an employer to recognize or bargain collectively with a representative of a labor organization that has not been selected by a majority of employees in a unit appropriate for such purposes in a secret ballot election conducted by the Board in accordance with section 9.
(2) Application The amendment made by paragraph (1) shall not apply to collective bargaining relationships that were recognized before the date of enactment of this Act.
Section 3(c)(1) would change the Act's representative-selection language to require designation or selection through a secret-ballot election conducted by the Board under section 9. Section 3(c)(3) exempts relationships recognized before enactment from that amendment.
Section 9(a) of the National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 159(a)), is amended— (A) by inserting (1) after (a); and (B) by inserting after designated or selected the following: by a secret ballot election conducted by the Board in accordance with this section.
(3) Application The amendment made by paragraph (1) shall not apply to collective bargaining relationships that were recognized before the date of enactment of this Act.
Sections 3(a)(2), 3(b)(2) and 3(c)(3) exempt collective bargaining relationships recognized before enactment from the new employer-recognition, union-recognition and representative-selection requirements. This transition protection uses the enactment date, rather than a fixed calendar date.
(2) Application The amendment made by paragraph (1) shall not apply to collective bargaining relationships that were recognized before the date of enactment of this Act.
(3) Application The amendment made by paragraph (1) shall not apply to collective bargaining relationships that were recognized before the date of enactment of this Act.
For decertification—determining that a union no longer represents a bargaining unit—the Board would have to conduct a secret-ballot election. Section 3(c)'s exemption for existing relationships applies to paragraph (1), the selection requirement, rather than paragraph (2), this decertification requirement.
(2) Decertification Such section is further amended by adding at the end the following: (2) The Board shall conduct a secret ballot election to determine whether a labor organization certified or recognized by an employer as the representative for the purposes of collective bargaining is no longer the representative of a unit as defined in paragraph (1).
(3) Application The amendment made by paragraph (1) shall not apply to collective bargaining relationships that were recognized before the date of enactment of this Act.
Section 3(d) would amend section 9(c)(1) by replacing language about an employer declining to recognize a representative with “by a representative,” changing a cross-reference from section 9(a) to subsection (a), and deleting a passage beginning with “alleging” and ending with “defined in section 9(a).” The supplied source does not reproduce the surrounding existing law, so these textual changes alone do not establish their full procedural effects.
(d) Conforming amendments Section 9(c)(1) of such Act (29 U.S.C. 159(c)(1)) is amended— (1) in subparagraph (A)— (A) in clause (i), by striking and that their employer declines to recognize their representative as the representative defined in section 9(a) and inserting by a representative; and (B) in clause (ii), by striking section 9(a); and inserting subsection (a),; and (2) in subparagraph (B), by striking alleging and all that follows through defined in section 9(a).
The National Labor Relations Board would have to review and revise all regulations issued before enactment to implement the amendments, within six months after enactment.
Not later than 6 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the National Labor Relations Board shall review and revise all regulations promulgated before such date to implement the amendments made in this Act to the National Labor Relations Act.
The supplied action snapshot, updated July 21, 2025, records introduction in the House and referral to the House Committee on Education and Workforce on March 21, 2025. It does not establish subsequent legislative action or enactment.
Source snapshot updated 2025-07-21T19:44:15Z. 2025-03-21: Referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce. 2025-03-21: Introduced in House
A closer look
Reviewed version: Introduced in House · 2025-03-21. These findings describe provisions and who may benefit; they are not judgments of waste, corruption, or motive.
This review covers the supplied bill text. “None identified” does not rule out provisions in later versions or accompanying reports and disclosures.
Provisions outside the bill’s main subject, or policy changes attached to appropriations.
None identified in the reviewed text
No provision unrelated to the bill's main subject or policy change attached to appropriations was identified after reviewing the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion is limited to that version and does not establish absence in other versions or accompanying materials.
Spending directed to particular recipients or places outside ordinary competitive or formula-based allocation.
None identified in the reviewed text
No congressionally directed spending for particular recipients or places was identified after reviewing the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion is limited to that version; formal earmark disclosures and accompanying materials were not supplied, and other versions are not assessed.
Narrow exceptions, exemptions, or preferential treatment that warrant a closer look.
Findings to examine
An express transition exemption warrants scrutiny as a targeted exception to the main policy. This classification does not imply improper purpose or determine whether the exemption is justified.
Collective bargaining relationships recognized before enactment, and the employers and unions participating in them, receive an exemption from the bill's new recognition and representative-selection requirements. Sections 3(a)(2) and 3(b)(2) exempt those relationships from the corresponding employer and union restrictions, and section 3(c)(3) exempts them from the selection amendment. This gives a defined pre-enactment group different treatment under the bill's central policy. The section 3(c) exemption does not extend to paragraph (2)'s decertification-election requirement.
(2) Application The amendment made by paragraph (1) shall not apply to collective bargaining relationships that were recognized before the date of enactment of this Act. (b) Election required
(2) Application The amendment made by paragraph (1) shall not apply to collective bargaining relationships that were recognized before the date of enactment of this Act. (c) Secret ballot election required
(3) Application The amendment made by paragraph (1) shall not apply to collective bargaining relationships that were recognized before the date of enactment of this Act.
(2) Decertification Such section is further amended by adding at the end the following: (2) The Board shall conduct a secret ballot election to determine whether a labor organization certified or recognized by an employer as the representative for the purposes of collective bargaining is no longer the representative of a unit as defined in paragraph (1).
Full text preserved for this analysis. Legislative record snapshot: Jul 21, 2025. How PlainBill uses AI