Gov. Spencer Cox just signed HB267 into law — this is a historic win for worker freedom. The legislation, sponsored by State Rep. Jordan Teuscher and State Senator Kirk Cullimore and championed by Utah Senate President Stuart Adams and Utah House Speaker Mike Schultz, empowers individual workers to have more freedom. With this pro-worker law, Utah is cementing itself as a leader in the nation for supporting worker freedom and a positive economic environment where both workers and job creators can thrive.
At its core, the legislation increases accountability for unions and ensures fairness across the board for all workers. Thankfully, these reforms are thoughtfully designed to modernize labor relations and ensure the will of each individual worker is prioritized.
These reforms include several measures worth applauding.
The bill addresses concerns about the inherent conflict in public-sector bargaining, where government officials negotiate with unions utilizing taxpayer funds. Unlike private-sector bargaining, public-sector negotiations lack market-based checks and balances, which lead to unchecked government growth and burdens on taxpayers.
This change allows public employees to work directly with their employers instead of having to go through a union to discuss their employment, including things like salary, benefits and performance. This means that public employees can bargain and discuss their employment, compensation and career track directly with their employer instead of having to rely on the union to do their bargaining for them. This puts the worker fully in charge of their career and enhances autonomy for all workers.
Additionally, the bill includes transparency measures with public reporting requirements on union operations, including detailed financial disclosures. These measures allow members to see what is spent on representation, politics and lobbying, enabling them to make informed decisions about their membership and if the union represents their values or not.
Release time, a special type of leave, allows employees to work for unions while being paid with public dollars. We firmly believe that taxpayers shouldn’t fund private entities’ activities, and this legislation now ensures that taxpayer dollars cannot fund union work performed by government employees. The union now has to pay for union activities out of their own coffers, instead of having Utah taxpayers foot the bill.
Another significant improvement for public school employees is that Utah’s Division of Risk Management will now offer optional professional liability insurance to public school employees to help ensure that teachers have more affordable coverage options that will not require union membership. So now, public school teachers can decide whether a union is best for them without fear that their choice might impact their professional liability insurance coverage.
Despite the rhetoric, government unions will still exist in Utah and public employees can still choose to join them. Workers who agree with union spending can support their unions wholeheartedly, while those who do not are free to decline membership and can negotiate their job requirements directly with their employer. The difference now is that these unions will no longer have a monopoly in representing public employees, including Utah public employees who did not want the representation in the first place.
House Bill 267 empowers Utah’s 39,000 public sector employees to make meaningful, informed choices about union membership and ultimately gives them more control over their hard-earned paychecks.
This legislation represents a balanced and thoughtful approach to modernize labor relations and protect the rights of Utah workers and taxpayers alike.