Representative Bob Good (R., Va.) on Wednesday reintroduced legislation that would effectively decrease the number of businesses that would fall under the jurisdiction of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).
The NLRB currently has authority over retail business with an annual revenue of more than $500,000 and non-retailers with an annual revenue over $50,000. Good argues these standards, first set in 1958, are low and outdated and therefore give the NLRB broad authority over a large number of businesses.
The Small Businesses Before Bureaucrats Act would update the jurisdictional standards to $5 million for retail business and $500,000 for non-retail businesses. The move would free a significant number of businesses from NLRB oversight. Going forward, the thresholds would grow with the economy because they would be multiplied by the personal consumption expenditure per capita.
“Small businesses are the lifeblood of our economy and the backbone of our communities,” Good said in a statement provided to National Review. “The NLRB has used outdated standards to impose greater power over businesses which never should have been regulated by the Federal Government in the first place.”
“Unelected bureaucrats should not be empowered to cripple small business owners with burdensome regulations and tilt the playing field in favor of union bosses,” he added. “Our nation’s small businesses should be able to operate as freely as possible without government intervention. My legislation is a step towards helping them do just that.”
Good first introduced the legislation in May 2022, when Democrats controlled the House. It received support from Americans for Prosperity, Heritage Action, Americans for Tax Reform, and Institute for the American Worker.
The NLRB, which is an independent agency that operates outside of White House control, was created to act as a neutral arbiter for business disputes. But Republicans have warned the Biden administration has weaponized the board against small businesses at the direction of labor unions. President Biden became the first chief executive in 70 years to use his authority to force out existing NRLB executives in favor of pro-union appointees who would advance his political agenda.
Jennifer Abruzzo, the general counsel of the NLRB, assumed her role in July 2021 and has since taken a number of actions prioritizing unions’ concerns at the expense of laborers, including an attempt to ban secret ballots in workplace elections on whether to unionize. She has instead suggested requiring employers to negotiate with union officials who have “authorization cards” that have been signed off on by most employees on-site.
Last year, she issued a memo that, if adopted, would strip employers of the right to communicate their opposition to union attempts to organize employees — overturning 75 years of NLRB precedent.