Union members win direct vote on leadership under secret ballot mandate
H.R. 6136 — PURE Act · Filed by Randy Fine (R-FL) · 1 cosponsor · Introduced Nov 19, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill amends the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act to remove language that currently permits union officers to be elected either by secret ballot OR by convention delegates or by officers already elected by secret ballot. The bill strikes those alternatives, leaving only secret ballot as the lawful method for electing certain union officers. The change takes effect 18 months after enactment.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is a procedural mandate requiring secret ballot elections for union officers, removing alternative selection methods. This is a structural governance reform, not a financial or regulatory carve-out.
What the text implies
- The 18-month implementation window may create transition challenges for unions currently operating under alternative election structures, potentially triggering legal disputes over interim governance.
- The bill does not specify which union officer positions are covered — the scope depends entirely on how Section 401 of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act defines 'certain union officers,' which is not quoted in this bill.
- Removal of convention-delegate and appointed-officer pathways may reduce the influence of regional or sectional union leadership in national officer selection, centralizing power toward direct membership voting.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Union members gain a direct democratic right to elect their officers by secret ballot, eliminating pathways that allowed leadership selection by convention delegates or sitting officers without rank-and-file participation. This strengthens internal union democracy and member voice.
Named in the bill
Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959, Section 401, union officers, union members
Where it stands
1 cosponsor: 1 Republicans.
- Nov 19, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Nov 19, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Education and Workforce · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
2 lobbying clients named this bill on 4 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $2,210,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 82 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 41% of bills with at least one filing.
Randy Fine, the sponsor, reported $449,160 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- AFL-CIO — $1,520,000 on 2 filings
- National Treasury Employees Union — $690,000 on 2 filings
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (658 characters) on Oct 26, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,580 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-26.
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