October 2, 2025
| TO: Indian Gaming Association Member Tribes FROM: Ernest L. Stevens Jr., Chairman Jason Giles, Executive Director RE: Urgent Alert! H.R. 1723, Tribal Labor Sovereignty Act Mark Up September 17, 2025 Date: September 18, 2025 |
| Yesterday, the House Education & Workforce Committee passed H.R. 1723, the Tribal Labor Sovereignty Act (TLSA). Please contact your members of Congress to urge support of H.R. 1723, Tribal Labor Sovereignty Act, to restore the original treatment of Tribal governments as exempt governments under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). The TLSA will reverse the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) misguided 2004 decision in San Manuel Indian Bingo and Casino by clarifying that Tribal governments and governmental enterprises are excluded from the application of the NLRA. The NLRA expressly exempts governmental employers, including the United States and “State or political subdivision” employers, including business enterprises operated by these entities. The NLRB has interpreted the NLRA’s government exemption for “State or political subdivisions” to also implicitly include the District of Columbia and all U.S. territories and possessions. In 1976, the Board in Fort Apache Timber Company interpreted this exemption to also include Tribal governments and on-reservation commercial enterprises owned and operated by Tribal governments. However, in 2004, the NLRB overturned Fort Apache, ruling that the NLRA applies to Indian gaming enterprises owned and operated by Tribal governments. The Board in San Manuel Indian Bingo and Casino reasoned that the Tribe’s casino is a “purely commercial enterprise” that “employs significant numbers of non-Indians” and “caters to a non-Indian clientele that lives off the reservation.” The Ninth Circuit upheld the NLRB San Manuel ruling in 2007. The Tribal Labor Sovereignty Act would amend the NLRA to treat Tribes rightfully as sovereigns by excluding Tribes and Tribal government-owned and operated enterprises in the same manner as enterprises owned and operated by all other sovereigns within the United States, including States, State political subdivisions (counties, cities, municipalities), the District of Columbia, and all U.S. territories and possessions. Attached for your use is a model letter to send to your congressional delegation. Please contact Danielle Her Many Horses, Deputy Director/General Counsel, at dhermanyhorses@indiangaming.org if you have any questions regarding this alert. |
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