John Hostettler: “this amendment is simple, straightforward, and necessary for the NLRB, the National Labor Relations Board, to do its…”

“this amendment is simple, straightforward, and necessary for the NLRB, the National Labor Relations Board, to do its job. The National Labor Relations Board currently has jurisdiction over many labor disputes that involve enterprises that impact interstate commerce. The board has traditionally addressed cases that substantially affect interstate commerce. In 1959, Congress endorsed this notion and enacted legislation known as the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act. Congress essentially gave discretion to the NLRB to decline cases where its jurisdiction was not warranted. However, this law did provide thresholds whereby the Board could not decline to assert its jurisdiction. These standards were based on raw dollar amounts and are based, for the most part, on the gross annual receipts of a business entity. Quite simply, the level at which the NLRB's jurisdiction over businesses kicks in is based on a business' economic activity and the thresholds vary depending upon the nature of the business. The reason for my amendment is that most of these thresholds have not been modified since the law was enacted in 1959. Clearly, the legislative method for determining jurisdiction is outdated and therefore overly burdensome to many small businesses that should never have been affected. My amendment merely indexes these thresholds for inflation.”