II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 1352
To secure the rights of public employees to organize, act concertedly, and
bargain collectively, which safeguard the public interest and promote
the free and unobstructed flow of commerce, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
APRIL8, 2025
Ms. H
IRONO(for herself, Ms. ALSOBROOKS, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr.
B
LUMENTHAL, Ms. BLUNTROCHESTER, Mr. BOOKER, Ms. CANTWELL,
Mr. C
OONS, Ms. DUCKWORTH, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. FETTERMAN, Mr.
G
ALLEGO, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Mr. HEINRICH, Mr. KAINE, Mr. KIM, Ms.
K
LOBUCHAR, Mr. LUJA´N, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. MERKLEY, Mr. MURPHY,
Mrs. M
URRAY, Mr. PADILLA, Mr. PETERS, Mr. REED, Ms. ROSEN, Mr.
S
ANDERS, Ms. SLOTKIN, Mr. SCHATZ, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr. SCHUMER, Ms.
S
MITH, Mr. VANHOLLEN, Ms. WARREN, Mr. WELCH, Mr. WHITE-
HOUSE, and Mr. WYDEN) introduced the following bill; which was read
twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and
Pensions A BILL
To secure the rights of public employees to organize, act
concertedly, and bargain collectively, which safeguard the
public interest and promote the free and unobstructed
flow of commerce, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Public Service Free-2
dom to Negotiate Act of 2025’’. 3
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 4
(a) I
NGENERAL.—In this Act: 5
(1) A
PPROPRIATE UNIT.—The term ‘‘appro-6
priate unit’’ means a group of public employees or 7
a group of supervisory employees appropriate for 8
collective bargaining that share a community of in-9
terest, as demonstrated by factors including whether 10
such group— 11
(A) has a bargaining history or history of 12
prior organization; and 13
(B) reflects the desires of the employees 14
who are seeking or proposing representation by 15
a labor organization regarding the employees to 16
be included in such bargaining unit. 17
(2) A
UTHORITY.—The term ‘‘Authority’’ means 18
the Federal Labor Relations Authority. 19
(3) C
OLLECTIVE BARGAINING .—The term ‘‘col-20
lective bargaining’’, used with respect to public em-21
ployees, supervisory employees, and public employ-22
ers, means the performance of the mutual obligation 23
of the representative of a public employer and the 24
exclusive representative of an appropriate unit of 25
public and supervisory employees of the employer to 26
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meet at reasonable times and to consult and bargain 1
in a good-faith effort to reach agreement with re-2
spect to wages, hours, and other terms and condi-3
tions of employment affecting such employees and to 4
execute a written document incorporating any collec-5
tive bargaining agreement reached, but the obliga-6
tion referred to in this paragraph does not compel 7
either party to agree to a proposal or to make a con-8
cession (as described in section 8(d) of the National 9
Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 158(d))). 10
(4) C
ONFIDENTIAL EMPLOYEE .—The term 11
‘‘confidential employee’’ means an employee of a 12
public employer who acts in a confidential capacity 13
with respect to an individual who formulates or ef-14
fectuates management policies in the field of labor- 15
management relations. 16
(5) C
OVERED PERSON .—The term ‘‘covered 17
person’’ means an individual or a labor organization. 18
(6) E
MERGENCY SERVICES EMPLOYEE .—The 19
term ‘‘emergency services employee’’ means— 20
(A) a public employee providing out-of-hos-21
pital emergency medical care, including an 22
emergency medical technician, paramedic, or 23
first responder; or 24
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(B) a public employee providing other serv-1
ices in response to emergencies that have the 2
potential to cause death or serious bodily in-3
jury, including an employee in fire protection 4
activities (as defined in section 3(y) of the Fair 5
Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 6
203(y))). 7
(7) L
ABOR ORGANIZATION .—The term ‘‘labor 8
organization’’ means any organization of any kind 9
that is not under the control directly or indirectly by 10
a public employer in which such employees partici-11
pate and which exists for the purpose, in whole or 12
in part, of dealing with public employers concerning 13
grievances, labor disputes, wages, rates of pay, hours 14
of employment, or conditions of work. 15
(8) L
AW.—The term ‘‘law’’, used with respect 16
to a State or a political subdivision thereof, includes 17
the application of the laws of such State or such po-18
litical subdivision, including any regulations or ordi-19
nances issued by such State or such political subdivi-20
sion. 21
(9) L
AW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER .—The term 22
‘‘law enforcement officer’’ has the meaning given 23
such term in section 1204 of the Omnibus Crime 24
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Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 1
10284). 2
(10) M
ANAGEMENT EMPLOYEE .—The term 3
‘‘management employee’’ means an individual em-4
ployed by a public employer in a position the duties 5
and responsibilities of which require the individual to 6
formulate or determine the policies of the public em-7
ployer. 8
(11) P
UBLIC EMPLOYEE .—The term ‘‘public 9
employee’’— 10
(A) means an individual, employed by a 11
public employer, who in any workweek is en-12
gaged in commerce or is employed in an enter-13
prise engaged in commerce; 14
(B) includes an individual who is tempo-15
rarily transferred to a supervisory or manage-16
ment position; and 17
(C) does not include— 18
(i) a supervisory employee; 19
(ii) a management employee; 20
(iii) a confidential employee; or 21
(iv) an elected official. 22
(12) P
UBLIC EMPLOYER .—The term ‘‘public 23
employer’’ means an entity that— 24
(A) employs not less than 1 individual; 25
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(B) is engaged in commerce; and 1
(C) is either— 2
(i) a State or the political subdivision 3
of a State; or 4
(ii) any authority, agency, school dis-5
trict, board or other entity controlled and 6
operated by an entity described in clause 7
(i). 8
(13) S
UBSTANTIALLY PROVIDES .—The term 9
‘‘substantially provides’’, used with respect to the 10
rights and procedures described in section 3(b), 11
means providing rights and procedures that are 12
equivalent to or greater than each of the rights and 13
procedures described in such section. 14
(14) S
UPERVISORY EMPLOYEE .—The term ‘‘su-15
pervisory employee’’ means an individual, employed 16
by a public employer, who in any workweek is en-17
gaged in commerce or is employed in an enterprise 18
engaged in commerce and who— 19
(A) has the authority in the interest of the 20
employer, if the exercise of such authority is 21
not merely routine or clerical in nature but re-22
quires the consistent exercise of independent 23
judgment, to— 24
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(i) hire, promote, reward, transfer, 1
furlough, lay off, recall, suspend, dis-2
cipline, or remove public employees; 3
(ii) adjust the grievances of public 4
employees; or 5
(iii) effectively recommend any action 6
described in clause (i) or (ii); and 7
(B) devotes a majority of time at work to 8
exercising the authority under subparagraph 9
(A). 10
(b) F
AIRLABORSTANDARDS ACT OF 1938 11
T
ERMS.—The terms ‘‘commerce’’, ‘‘employ’’, ‘‘enterprise 12
engaged in commerce’’, and ‘‘State’’ have the meanings 13
given such terms in section 3 of the Fair Labor Standards 14
Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 203). 15
(c) S
TATELAW.—If any term defined in this section 16
has a substantially equivalent meaning to a term (or a 17
substantially equivalent term) under applicable State law 18
on the date of the enactment of this Act, such term (or 19
substantially equivalent term) and meaning under such 20
applicable State law shall apply with respect to the term 21
defined under this Act with respect to such State. 22
SEC. 3. FEDERAL MINIMUM STANDARDS. 23
(a) D
ETERMINATION.— 24
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(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 1
after the date of enactment of this Act (except as 2
provided in paragraph (4)(C)), the Authority shall 3
make a determination for each State as to whether 4
the laws of such State substantially provide for each 5
of the rights and procedures under subsection (b) 6
and not later than 30 days after the enactment of 7
this Act, the Authority shall establish procedures for 8
the implementation of this section. 9
(2) C
ONSIDERATION OF ADDITIONAL OPIN -10
IONS.—In making the determination under para-11
graph (1), the Authority shall consider the opinions 12
of affected public employees, supervisory employees, 13
labor organizations, and public employers. In the 14
case where the Authority is notified by an affected 15
public employer and labor organization that both 16
parties agree that the law applicable to such em-17
ployer and labor organization substantially provides 18
for the rights and procedures described in subsection 19
(b), the Authority shall give such agreement weight 20
to the maximum extent practicable in making the 21
Authority’s determination under paragraph (1). 22
(3) L
IMITED CRITERIA.—In making the deter-23
mination described in paragraph (1), the Authority 24
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may only consider the criteria described in sub-1
section (b). 2
(4) S
UBSEQUENT DETERMINATIONS .— 3
(A) I
N GENERAL.—A determination made 4
pursuant to paragraph (1) shall remain in ef-5
fect unless and until the Authority issues a sub-6
sequent determination, in accordance with the 7
procedures set forth in subparagraph (B). 8
(B) R
EQUEST.—A public employee, super-9
visory employee, public employer, or a labor or-10
ganization may submit to the Authority a writ-11
ten request for a subsequent determination with 12
respect to whether a material change of State 13
law has occurred. 14
(C) I
SSUANCE.—If satisfied that a mate-15
rial change in State law has occurred, the Au-16
thority shall issue a subsequent determination 17
described under paragraph (1) not later than 18
30 days after receipt of such request. 19
(5) J
UDICIAL REVIEW.—Any covered person or 20
public employer aggrieved by a determination of the 21
Authority under this paragraph (1) may, during the 22
60-day period beginning on the date on which the 23
determination was made, petition any United States 24
Court of Appeals in the circuit in which the covered 25
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person or public employer resides or transacts busi-1
ness or in the Court of Appeals for the District of 2
Columbia Circuit, for judicial review. In any judicial 3
review of a determination made by the Authority de-4
scribed in paragraph (1), the procedures contained 5
in subsections (c) and (d) of section 7123 of title 5, 6
United States Code, shall be followed. 7
(6) R
ULE OF CONSTRUCTION .—In making the 8
determination described in paragraph (1), the Au-9
thority shall, as relevant, consider any requirement 10
imposed by a consent decree entered into by the De-11
partment of Justice before, on, or after the date of 12
enactment of this Act as substantially providing for 13
the rights and procedures under subsection (b). 14
(b) F
EDERALMINIMUMSTANDARD.—The collective 15
bargaining rights and procedures under this subsection 16
are as follows: 17
(1) A right of public employees and supervisory 18
employees— 19
(A) to self-organization; 20
(B) to form, join, or assist a labor organi-21
zation or to refrain from any such activity; 22
(C) to bargain collectively through rep-23
resentatives of their own choosing; and 24
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(D) to engage in other concerted activities 1
for the purpose of collective bargaining or other 2
mutual aid (including the filing of joint, class, 3
or collective legal claims) or protection. 4
(2) A requirement for public employers to— 5
(A) recognize the labor organization of its 6
public employees and supervisory employees 7
(freely chosen in an election by a majority of 8
such employees voting in the appropriate unit 9
or chosen by voluntary recognition if that meth-10
od is permitted under State law) without re-11
quiring an election to recertify or decertify a 12
labor organization that is already recognized as 13
the representative of such employees unless not 14
less than 30 percent of such employees in the 15
bargaining unit freely sign a petition to decer-16
tify such labor organization— 17
(i) not earlier than the date that is 1 18
year after the date of the election (or after 19
a voluntary recognition if permitted under 20
State law) of the representative; 21
(ii) not earlier than 1 year after the 22
expiration of a valid collective bargaining 23
agreement; 24
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(iii) not during the term of a valid col-1
lective bargaining agreement (except as 2
permissible under clause (iv)); or 3
(iv) during the 30-day period begin-4
ning on the date that is 90 days before the 5
end of a valid existing contract; 6
(B) collectively bargain with such recog-7
nized labor organization; and 8
(C) commit any agreements with such rec-9
ognized labor organization to writing in a con-10
tract or memorandum of understanding. 11
(3) An interest impasse resolution mechanism, 12
such as fact-finding, mediation, arbitration, or com-13
parable procedures that culminate in binding resolu-14
tion. 15
(4) Payroll deduction of labor organization fees 16
for any duly chosen representative of a public em-17
ployee or supervisory employee pursuant to the 18
terms of an agreement between the labor organiza-19
tion and such public or supervisory employee, which 20
shall remain in effect until revoked by such employee 21
in accordance with its terms. 22
(5) The prohibition of practices that interfere 23
with, restrain, or coerce public or supervisory em-24
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ployees in the exercise of rights guaranteed in para-1
graph (1) or regulations issued thereunder. 2
(6) The enforcement of all relevant rights and 3
procedures provided by State law and enumerated in 4
this subsection. 5
(7) The enforcement of all rights and proce-6
dures provided by any written contract or memo-7
randum of understanding between a labor organiza-8
tion and a public employer, through— 9
(A) a State agency, if the State so chooses; 10
(B) at the election of an aggrieved party, 11
the State courts, if so permitted under State 12
law; or 13
(C) a grievance resolution procedure culmi-14
nating in binding arbitration negotiated in such 15
contract or memorandum. 16
(c) C
OMPLIANCE WITHRIGHTS AND PROCE-17
DURES.—If the Authority determines under subsection 18
(a)(1) that the laws of a State substantially provide each 19
of the rights and procedures described in subsection (b), 20
then subsection (d) shall not apply and this Act shall not 21
preempt the laws of such State. 22
(d) F
AILURETOSUBSTANTIALLYPROVIDE.— 23
(1) I
N GENERAL.—If the Authority determines 24
under subsection (a)(1) that the laws of a State do 25
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not substantially provide for each of the rights and 1
procedures described in subsection (b), then such 2
State shall be subject to the rules and activities of 3
the Authority under section 4 beginning on the later 4
of— 5
(A) the date that is 2 years after the date 6
of enactment of this Act; 7
(B) the date that is the last day of the 8
first regular session of the legislature of the 9
State that begins after the date of the enact-10
ment of this Act; or 11
(C) in the case of a State receiving a sub-12
sequent determination described under sub-13
section (a)(4), the date that is the last day of 14
the first regular session of the legislature of the 15
State that begins after the date the Authority 16
made the determination. 17
(2) P
ARTIAL FAILURE.—If the Authority deter-18
mines under subsection (a)(1) that a State does not 19
substantially provide for each of the rights and pro-20
cedures described in subsection (b) because the 21
State fails to substantially provide for all of such 22
rights and procedures with respect to any public or 23
supervisory employees, the Authority shall identify— 24
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(A) the categories of public or supervisory 1
employees of such State that shall be subject to 2
the rules and activities of the Authority under 3
section 4, pursuant to section 7(b)(4), begin-4
ning on the applicable date under paragraph 5
(1); 6
(B) the categories of public employees and 7
supervisory employees of such State that shall 8
not be subject to the rules and activities of the 9
Authority under section 4; 10
(C) the categories of rights and procedures 11
described in subsection (b) for which the State 12
does not substantially provide for certain public 13
employees and supervisory employees; and 14
(D) the categories of rights and procedures 15
described in such subsection for which the State 16
substantially provides for all employees. 17
SEC. 4. MINIMUM STANDARDS ADMINISTERED BY THE FED-18
ERAL LABOR RELATIONS AUTHORITY. 19
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 20
date of enactment of this Act, the Authority shall issue 21
rules and take such actions that the Authority determines 22
appropriate to establish and administer collective bar-23
gaining rights and procedures that substantially provide 24
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for the minimum standards described in section 3(b) for 1
States described in section 3(d). 2
(b) R
OLE OF THEFEDERALLABORRELATIONSAU-3
THORITY.— 4
(1) I
N GENERAL.—In carrying out subsection 5
(a), the Authority shall— 6
(A) provide for the rights and procedures 7
described in paragraphs (1) through (5) of sec-8
tion 3(b); 9
(B) supervise or conduct elections to deter-10
mine whether a labor organization has been 11
chosen as an exclusive representative by a ma-12
jority of the public employees and supervisory 13
employees voting in such election in an appro-14
priate unit; 15
(C) determine the appropriateness of units 16
for labor organization representation; 17
(D) conduct hearings and resolve com-18
plaints concerning violations of this Act or any 19
rule or order issued by the Authority pursuant 20
to this Act; 21
(E) resolve exceptions to the awards of ar-22
bitrators that violate or exceed the scope of 23
public policy of this Act; and 24
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(F) take such other actions as are nec-1
essary and appropriate to effectively administer 2
this Act, including issuing subpoenas requiring 3
the attendance and testimony of witnesses and 4
the production of documentary or other evi-5
dence from any place in the United States, ad-6
ministering oaths, taking or ordering the taking 7
of depositions, ordering responses to written in-8
terrogatories, and receiving and examining wit-9
nesses. 10
(2) R
ULE OF CONSTRUCTION .—In providing for 11
the rights and procedures under paragraph (1)(A), 12
nothing in this Act shall be construed as super-13
seding, or creating or imposing any requirement in 14
conflict with, any consent decree entered into by the 15
Department of Justice before, on, or after the date 16
of enactment of this Act. 17
(c) E
NFORCEMENT.— 18
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Authority may issue an 19
order directing compliance by any covered person or 20
public employer found to be in violation of this sec-21
tion, and may petition any United States Court of 22
Appeals with jurisdiction over the parties, or the 23
United States Court of Appeals for the District of 24
Columbia Circuit, to enforce any such final orders 25
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issued pursuant to this section or pursuant to rules 1
issued under this section, and for appropriate tem-2
porary relief or a restraining order. Any covered per-3
son or public employer aggrieved by an order issued 4
by the Authority under this section may, during the 5
60-day period beginning on the date on which the 6
order was issued petition any United States Court of 7
Appeals in the circuit which the covered person or 8
public employer resides or transacts business or in 9
the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia 10
Circuit, for judicial review. Any petition or appeal 11
under this section shall be conducted in accordance 12
with subsections (c) and (d) of section 7123 of title 13
5, United States Code. 14
(2) P
RIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION.— 15
(A) F
ILING A CIVIL ACTION.—Unless the 16
Authority has filed an order of enforcement as 17
provided in paragraph (1), any party may, after 18
the 180-day period following the filing of a 19
charge with the Authority pursuant to the rules 20
of the Authority under this section, file a civil 21
action against any named State administrator 22
in an appropriate district court of the United 23
States to enjoin such administrator to enforce 24
compliance— 25
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(i) with this Act or the rules issued by 1
the Authority under this section; or 2
(ii) to enforce compliance with any 3
order issued by the Authority. 4
(B) T
IMING.—Any civil action brought 5
under subparagraph (A) shall be brought not 6
later than the earlier of— 7
(i) the date that is 180 days after the 8
expiration of the 180-day period in sub-9
paragraph (A); or 10
(ii) the date that is 180 days after the 11
date that the Authority dismisses a charge 12
described in subparagraph (A). 13
(C) N
OTICE.—The party shall serve notice 14
of the Federal lawsuit to the Authority. 15
(D) J
URISDICTION AND ATTORNEYS ’ 16
FEES.—A district court shall have jurisdiction 17
over the civil action filed under subparagraph 18
(A) without regard to the amount in con-19
troversy or the citizenship of the parties and 20
may award reasonable attorneys’ fees. 21
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SEC. 5. LOCKOUTS AND EMPLOYEE STRIKES PROHIBITED 1
WHEN EMERGENCY OR PUBLIC SAFETY SERV-2
ICES IMPERILED. 3
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Subject to subsection (b), any em-4
ployer, emergency services employee, or law enforcement 5
officer, subject to the rules and activities of the Authority 6
under section 4, may not engage in a lockout, strike, or 7
any other organized job action of which a reasonably prob-8
able result is a measurable disruption of the delivery of 9
emergency or public safety services. No labor organization 10
may cause or attempt to cause a violation of this sub-11
section. 12
(b) N
OPREEMPTION.—Nothing in this section shall 13
be construed to preempt any law of any State or political 14
subdivision of any State with respect to strikes by emer-15
gency services employees or law enforcement officers. 16
SEC. 6. EXISTING COLLECTIVE BARGAINING UNITS AND 17
AGREEMENTS. 18
The enactment of this Act shall not invalidate any 19
certification, recognition, result of an election, collective 20
bargaining agreement, or memorandum of understanding 21
that— 22
(1) has been issued, approved, or ratified by 23
any public employee relations board or commission, 24
or by any State or political subdivision or an agent 25
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or management official of such State or political 1
subdivision; and 2
(2) is in effect on the day before the date of en-3
actment of this Act. 4
SEC. 7. EXCEPTIONS. 5
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Authority shall not make a 6
determination under section 3(a)(1) that the laws of a 7
State do not substantially provide for the rights and proce-8
dures under section 3(b) on the basis that relevant State 9
laws— 10
(1) permit a public or supervisory employee to 11
appear on the employee’s own behalf with respect to 12
the relationship of the public employee with the pub-13
lic employer involved; 14
(2) do not cover public or supervisory employees 15
of the State militia or national guard; 16
(3) do not apply to a political subdivision of a 17
State if— 18
(A) such political subdivision has a popu-19
lation of fewer than 5,000 people or employs 20
fewer than 25 public employees; and 21
(B) the State in which such political sub-22
division is located notifies the Authority that 23
such subdivision is exempt from such laws be-24
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•S 1352 IS
fore the date on which the Authority makes the 1
determination; or 2
(4) do not require bargaining with respect to 3
pension or retirement income benefits. 4
(b) C
OMPLIANCE.— 5
(1) A
CTIONS OF STATES.—Nothing in this Act 6
shall be construed to require a State to rescind or 7
preempt the laws of any political subdivision of the 8
State if such laws substantially provide for the 9
rights and procedures described in section 3(b). 10
(2) A
CTIONS OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUM -11
BIA.—Nothing in this Act or in the rules issued 12
under this Act shall be construed— 13
(A) to require the District of Columbia to 14
rescind— 15
(i) section 501 of the District of Co-16
lumbia Government Comprehensive Merit 17
Personnel Act of 1978 (1–605.01, D.C. 18
Official Code), establishing the Public Em-19
ployee Relations Board of the District of 20
Columbia; or 21
(ii) section 502 of such Act (1– 22
605.02, D.C. Official Code), establishing 23
the power of the Board; 24
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•S 1352 IS
(B) to preempt the laws described in sub-1
paragraph (A); or 2
(C) to limit or alter the powers of the gov-3
ernment of the District of Columbia pursuant 4
to the District of Columbia Home Rule Act 5
(Public Law 93–198; 87 Stat. 774). 6
(3) A
CTIONS OF THE AUTHORITY .—Nothing in 7
this Act shall be construed to preempt— 8
(A) the laws of any State or political sub-9
division of a State that substantially provide for 10
the rights and procedures described in section 11
3(b); 12
(B) the laws of any State or political sub-13
division of a State that substantially provide for 14
the rights and procedures described in section 15
3(b), solely because such laws provide that a 16
contract or memorandum of understanding be-17
tween a public employer and a labor organiza-18
tion must be presented to a legislative body as 19
part of the process for approving such contract 20
or memorandum of understanding; or 21
(C) the laws of any State or political sub-22
division of a State that permit or require a pub-23
lic employer to recognize a labor organization 24
on the basis of signed authorizations executed 25
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•S 1352 IS
by employees designating the labor organization 1
as their representative. 2
(4) L
IMITED ENFORCEMENT POWER .—In the 3
case of a law described in section 3(d)(2), the Au-4
thority shall only exercise the authority under sec-5
tion 4 with respect to the categories of public or su-6
pervisory employees for whom State law does not 7
substantially provide the rights and procedures de-8
scribed in section 3(b). 9
SEC. 8. SEVERABILITY. 10
If any provision of this Act or the application thereof 11
to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remain-12
der of this Act, or the application of that provision to per-13
sons or circumstances other than those as to which it is 14
held invalid, is not affected thereby. 15
SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 16
There are authorized to be appropriated such sums 17
as may be necessary to carry out this Act. 18
Æ
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