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Us Congress Senate Bill SB511

Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB511 Compare Versions

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11 II
22 119THCONGRESS
33 1
44 STSESSION S. 511
55 To amend chapter 71 of title 5, United States Code, to charge labor organiza-
66 tions for the agency resources and employee time used by such labor
77 organizations, and for other purposes.
88 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
99 FEBRUARY11, 2025
1010 Ms. E
1111 RNST(for herself and Mr. SCOTTof Florida) introduced the following
1212 bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland
1313 Security and Governmental Affairs
1414 A BILL
1515 To amend chapter 71 of title 5, United States Code, to
1616 charge labor organizations for the agency resources and
1717 employee time used by such labor organizations, and
1818 for other purposes.
1919 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
2020 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
2121 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
2222 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protecting Taxpayers’ 4
2323 Wallets Act of 2025’’. 5
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2727 SEC. 2. CHARGING LABOR ORGANIZATIONS FOR USE OF 1
2828 FEDERAL RESOURCES. 2
2929 (a) I
3030 NGENERAL.—Subchapter IV of chapter 71 of 3
3131 title 5, United States Code, is amended by inserting after 4
3232 section 7135 the following: 5
3333 ‘‘§ 7136. Charging labor organizations for use of Fed-6
3434 eral resources 7
3535 ‘‘(a) D
3636 EFINITIONS.—In this section: 8
3737 ‘‘(1) A
3838 GENCY BUSINESS.—The term ‘agency 9
3939 business’ means work performed by employees on 10
4040 behalf of an agency or under the direction and con-11
4141 trol of the agency. 12
4242 ‘‘(2) A
4343 GENCY RESOURCES PROVIDED FOR 13
4444 UNION USE.—The term ‘agency resources provided 14
4545 for union use’— 15
4646 ‘‘(A) means the resources of an agency, 16
4747 other than the time of employees in a duty sta-17
4848 tus, that such agency provides to labor rep-18
4949 resentatives for purposes pertaining to matters 19
5050 covered by this chapter, including agency office 20
5151 space, parking space, equipment, and reim-21
5252 bursement for expenses incurred while on union 22
5353 time or otherwise performing non-agency busi-23
5454 ness; and 24
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5858 ‘‘(B) does not include any resource to the 1
5959 extent that the resource is used for agency busi-2
6060 ness. 3
6161 ‘‘(3) L
6262 ABOR ORGANIZATION .—Notwithstanding 4
6363 section 7103, the term ‘labor organization’ means a 5
6464 labor organization recognized as an exclusive rep-6
6565 resentative of employees of an agency under this 7
6666 chapter or as a representative of agency employees 8
6767 under any system established by the Transportation 9
6868 Security Administration Administrator pursuant to 10
6969 section 111(d) of the Aviation and Transportation 11
7070 Security Act (49 U.S.C. 44935 note). 12
7171 ‘‘(4) H
7272 OURLY RATE OF PAY.—The term ‘hourly 13
7373 rate of pay’ means the total cost to an agency of em-14
7474 ploying an employee in a pay period or pay periods, 15
7575 including wages, salary, and other cash payments, 16
7676 agency contributions to employee health and retire-17
7777 ment benefits, employer payroll tax payments, paid 18
7878 leave accruals, and the cost to the agency for other 19
7979 benefits, divided by the number of hours that em-20
8080 ployee worked in that pay period or pay periods. 21
8181 ‘‘(5) I
8282 NTEREST RATE.—The term ‘interest rate’ 22
8383 means the average market yield of outstanding mar-23
8484 ketable obligations of the United States having ma-24
8585 turities of 30 years, plus 1 percentage point. 25
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8989 ‘‘(6) LABOR REPRESENTATIVE .—The term 1
9090 ‘labor representative’ means an employee of an agen-2
9191 cy serving in any official or other representative ca-3
9292 pacity for a labor organization (including as any of-4
9393 ficer or steward of a labor organization) that is the 5
9494 exclusive representative of employees of such agency 6
9595 under this chapter or is the representative of em-7
9696 ployees under any system established by the Trans-8
9797 portation Security Administration Administrator 9
9898 pursuant to section 111(d) of the Aviation and 10
9999 Transportation Security Act (49 U.S.C. 44935 11
100100 note). 12
101101 ‘‘(7) U
102102 NION TIME.—The term ‘union time’ 13
103103 means the time an employee of an agency who is a 14
104104 labor representative for a labor organization spends 15
105105 performing non-agency business while on duty, ei-16
106106 ther in service of that labor organization or other-17
107107 wise acting in the capacity as an employee represent-18
108108 ative, including official time authorized under sec-19
109109 tion 7131. 20
110110 ‘‘(b) F
111111 EES FORUSE OFAGENCYRESOURCES.— 21
112112 ‘‘(1) I
113113 N GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 22
114114 provision of this chapter, the head of each agency 23
115115 shall charge each labor organization recognized as 24
116116 an exclusive representative of employees of that 25
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120120 agency a fee each calendar quarter for the use of the 1
121121 resources of that agency during that quarter. 2
122122 ‘‘(2) F
123123 EE CALCULATION.—The amount of the 3
124124 fee the head of an agency charges a labor organiza-4
125125 tion under paragraph (1) with respect to a calendar 5
126126 quarter shall be equal to the amount that is the sum 6
127127 of— 7
128128 ‘‘(A) the value of the union time of each 8
129129 labor representative for that labor organization 9
130130 while employed by that agency in that quarter; 10
131131 and 11
132132 ‘‘(B) the value of agency resources pro-12
133133 vided for union use to that labor organization 13
134134 by that agency in that quarter. 14
135135 ‘‘(3) T
136136 IMING.— 15
137137 ‘‘(A) N
138138 OTICE.—Not later than 30 days 16
139139 after the end of each calendar quarter, the head 17
140140 of each agency shall submit to each labor orga-18
141141 nization charged a fee by that agency head 19
142142 under paragraph (1) with respect to that cal-20
143143 endar quarter a notice stating the amount of 21
144144 that fee. 22
145145 ‘‘(B) D
146146 UE DATE.—Payment of a fee 23
147147 charged under paragraph (1) is due not later 24
148148 than 60 days after the date on which the labor 25
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152152 organization charged the fee receives a notice 1
153153 under subparagraph (A) with respect to that 2
154154 fee. 3
155155 ‘‘(4) P
156156 AYMENT.— 4
157157 ‘‘(A) I
158158 N GENERAL.—Payment of a fee 5
159159 charged under paragraph (1) shall be made to 6
160160 the head of the agency that charged the fee. 7
161161 ‘‘(B) T
162162 RANSFER TO GENERAL FUND .—The 8
163163 head of an agency shall transfer each payment 9
164164 of a fee charged under paragraph (1) that the 10
165165 agency head receives to the general fund of the 11
166166 Treasury. 12
167167 ‘‘(c) V
168168 ALUEDETERMINATIONS.— 13
169169 ‘‘(1) I
170170 N GENERAL.—The head of an agency 14
171171 charging a labor organization a fee under subsection 15
172172 (b) shall determine the value of union time used by 16
173173 labor representatives and the value of agency re-17
174174 sources provided for union use for the purposes of 18
175175 paragraph (2) of that subsection in accordance with 19
176176 this subsection. 20
177177 ‘‘(2) V
178178 ALUES.—For the purposes of paragraph 21
179179 (2) of subsection (b), with respect to a fee charged 22
180180 to a labor organization by the head of an agency 23
181181 under paragraph (1) of that subsection— 24
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185185 ‘‘(A) the value of the union time of a labor 1
186186 representative during a calendar quarter is 2
187187 equal to amount that is the product of the 3
188188 hourly rate of pay of that labor representative 4
189189 paid by that agency and the number of hours 5
190190 of union time of that labor representative dur-6
191191 ing that calendar quarter during which that 7
192192 labor representative was on duty as an em-8
193193 ployee of that agency; and 9
194194 ‘‘(B) that agency head shall determine the 10
195195 value of agency resources provided for union 11
196196 use during a calendar quarter using rates es-12
197197 tablished by the General Services Administra-13
198198 tion, where applicable, or to the extent that 14
199199 those rates are inapplicable to the use of those 15
200200 resources, the market rate for the use of those 16
201201 resources, except that with respect to resources 17
202202 used for both agency business and for purposes 18
203203 pertaining to matters covered by this chapter, 19
204204 only the value of the portion of the use of those 20
205205 resources for the business of that labor organi-21
206206 zation shall be included. 22
207207 ‘‘(3) D
208208 ETERMINATIONS NOT SUBJECT TO RE -23
209209 VIEW.—No determination of the head of an agency 24
210210 described in paragraph (1) may be determined to be 25
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214214 an unfair labor practice or subject to collective bar-1
215215 gaining or grievance procedures under this chapter, 2
216216 or otherwise contested or appealed. 3
217217 ‘‘(d) E
218218 NFORCEMENT AND PENALTIES.— 4
219219 ‘‘(1) P
220220 ENALTIES.— 5
221221 ‘‘(A) I
222222 N GENERAL.—If a labor organization 6
223223 does not pay a fee charged to that labor organi-7
224224 zation under subsection (b)(1) on or before the 8
225225 date on which payment for that fee becomes 9
226226 due, during the period beginning on the date on 10
227227 which that payment becomes due and ending on 11
228228 the date on which every fee charged to that 12
229229 labor organization under that subsection is fully 13
230230 paid— 14
231231 ‘‘(i) the amount of that fee shall be 15
232232 increased at a rate equal to the interest 16
233233 rate; 17
234234 ‘‘(ii) the head of each agency shall— 18
235235 ‘‘(I) beginning on the date that is 19
236236 90 days after the date on which that 20
237237 period begins— 21
238238 ‘‘(aa) deny that labor orga-22
239239 nization and the labor represent-23
240240 atives for that labor organization 24
241241 any further union time; 25
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245245 ‘‘(bb) cease providing and 1
246246 the deny further use of agency 2
247247 resources provided for union use 3
248248 by that labor representatives for 4
249249 the business of that labor organi-5
250250 zation; and 6
251251 ‘‘(cc) not be subject to— 7
252252 ‘‘(AA) any grievance 8
253253 procedures or binding arbi-9
254254 tration invoked by that labor 10
255255 organization under section 11
256256 7121; or 12
257257 ‘‘(BB) any unfair labor 13
258258 practice complaints or pro-14
259259 ceedings under this chapter 15
260260 pertaining to that labor or-16
261261 ganization or employees rep-17
262262 resented by that labor orga-18
263263 nization; 19
264264 ‘‘(II) beginning on the date that 20
265265 is 180 days after the date on which 21
266266 that period begins— 22
267267 ‘‘(aa) terminate all allot-23
268268 ments made by or on behalf of 24
269269 the agency with respect to that 25
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273273 labor organization under section 1
274274 7115; and 2
275275 ‘‘(bb) not authorize any al-3
276276 lotments described in item (aa) 4
277277 with respect to that labor organi-5
278278 zation; and 6
279279 ‘‘(III) on the date that is 365 7
280280 days after the date on which that pe-8
281281 riod begins, inform the Authority and 9
282282 that labor organization that such pe-10
283283 riod has reached a duration of 365 11
284284 days; and 12
285285 ‘‘(iii) on the date that is 380 days 13
286286 after the date on which that period begins, 14
287287 the Authority shall terminate the certifi-15
288288 cation of that labor organization as the ex-16
289289 clusive representative of employees of that 17
290290 agency. 18
291291 ‘‘(B) E
292292 XCLUSIVE REPRESENTATIVE PROHI -19
293293 BITION.—A labor organization for which the 20
294294 Authority terminates a certification as the ex-21
295295 clusive representatives of employees of an agen-22
296296 cy under subparagraph (A)(iii) may not be cer-23
297297 tified as the exclusive representative of any em-24
298298 ployee of that agency unless that labor organi-25
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302302 zation pays all fees charged to that labor orga-1
303303 nization by the head of that agency under sub-2
304304 section (b)(1), including any increases to those 3
305305 fees under subparagraph (A)(i). 4
306306 ‘‘(C) R
307307 ULE OF CONSTRUCTION .—Subpara-5
308308 graph (A)(ii)(I)(cc) may not be construed as— 6
309309 ‘‘(i) tolling any statutory or contrac-7
310310 tual deadline for the filing of a grievance, 8
311311 complaint of an unfair labor practice, or 9
312312 proceeding to binding arbitration; or 10
313313 ‘‘(ii) preventing or limiting an agency 11
314314 from filing any grievance against a labor 12
315315 organization or advancing such a grievance 13
316316 to binding arbitration. 14
317317 ‘‘(2) T
318318 IME TRACKING.— 15
319319 ‘‘(A) I
320320 N GENERAL.—Each agency shall 16
321321 track the use of union time by labor representa-17
322322 tives using the applicable time and attendance 18
323323 tracking system of that agency. 19
324324 ‘‘(B) F
325325 AILURE TO RECORD.— 20
326326 ‘‘(i) I
327327 N GENERAL.—A labor represent-21
328328 ative who uses union time and fails to 22
329329 record that use in the applicable time and 23
330330 attendance tracking system shall be consid-24
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334334 ered absent without leave and subject to 1
335335 appropriate adverse action. 2
336336 ‘‘(ii) W
337337 ILLFUL OR REPEATED FAIL -3
338338 URES.—A failure of a labor representative 4
339339 described in clause (i) shall constitute an 5
340340 impairment to the efficient of the service if 6
341341 that failure is willful or occurs in the same 7
342342 fiscal year as another such failure by that 8
343343 labor representative. 9
344344 ‘‘(iii) L
345345 IMITED REVIEW.—Adverse ac-10
346346 tion taken against an employee under 11
347347 clause (i)— 12
348348 ‘‘(I) may not be determined to be 13
349349 an unfair labor practice or subject to 14
350350 grievance procedures or binding arbi-15
351351 tration under section 7121; and 16
352352 ‘‘(II) notwithstanding any other 17
353353 provision of law, shall be sustained on 18
354354 appeal if the determination of the 19
355355 agency to take that adverse action 20
356356 against that employee is supported by 21
357357 substantial evidence. 22
358358 ‘‘(3) P
359359 AYMENT REQUIRED .—The head of an 23
360360 agency may not forgive, reimburse, waive, or in any 24
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364364 other manner reduce any fee charged under this sec-1
365365 tion. 2
366366 ‘‘(4) C
367367 OMPLIANCE.—Not later than 2 years 3
368368 after the date of enactment of this section, and every 4
369369 2 years thereafter, the Inspector General of each 5
370370 agency shall— 6
371371 ‘‘(A) conduct an evaluation of the compli-7
372372 ance of that agency and each relevant labor or-8
373373 ganization with the requirements of this section, 9
374374 including the accuracy with which labor rep-10
375375 resentatives recorded the use of union time, the 11
376376 promptness with which fees under subsection 12
377377 (b) were charged and paid, and the valuation of 13
378378 agency resources provided for union use by that 14
379379 agency pursuant to subsection (c)(2)(B); and 15
380380 ‘‘(B) submit to the head of that agency, 16
381381 the Committee on Homeland Security and Gov-17
382382 ernmental Affairs of the Senate, and the Com-18
383383 mittee on Oversight and Government Reform of 19
384384 the House of Representatives a report on the 20
385385 findings of the evaluation required by subpara-21
386386 graph (A).’’. 22
387387 (b) C
388388 LERICALAMENDMENT.—The table of sections 23
389389 for subchapter IV of chapter 71 of title 5, United States 24
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393393 Code, is amended by inserting after the item relating to 1
394394 section 7135 the following: 2
395395 ‘‘7136. Charging labor organizations for use of Federal resources.’’.
396396 Æ
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