The PRO Act: What It Proposes and Its Current Status

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The PRO Act is the common name for a series of federal bills titled the Protecting the Right to Organize Act. These proposals seek major changes to federal labor law, but a proposal and an enacted statute are legally different things.

The current PRO Act remains proposed legislation

In the 119th Congress, the House version is H.R. 20 and the Senate version is S. 852, both titled the Richard L. Trumka Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2025. Congress.gov records both bills as introduced on March 5, 2025.

H.R. 20 was referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce, while S. 852 was referred to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. As of August 9, 2026, each bill’s Congress.gov tracker remains at the introduced stage.

That status means the PRO Act has not amended the United States Code. Provisions in the bill text describe what would change if a bill completed the legislative process and became law; they do not presently create duties, penalties, or rights.

What the 2025 proposal would change

The 2025 text proposes amendments to the National Labor Relations Act, the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947, and the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959. Its overall purpose is to expand protections for organizing and collective bargaining and to alter enforcement mechanisms.

Among its proposed changes, H.R. 20 would revise the federal definitions used to distinguish employees, supervisors, and independent contractors. The bill uses an ABC-style test for whether an individual is excluded as an independent contractor for National Labor Relations Act purposes.

The proposal would also add restrictions involving employer-required meetings about union activity, replacement of striking workers, and agreements that waive joint, class, or collective claims before a dispute arises. It would expand remedies and civil penalties for specified unfair labor practices.

Union elections and first contracts are central to the proposal

The bill text would alter National Labor Relations Board representation proceedings and election procedures. It would also create a proposed timetable for bargaining over a first collective-bargaining agreement after a union is recognized or certified.

Under the proposal, unresolved first-contract bargaining could proceed from bargaining to mediation and then to binding arbitration under specified time periods. Those procedures are part of the proposed bill text, not the current general rule for every newly certified bargaining unit.

The PRO Act would address state right-to-work laws

Existing section 14(b) of the National Labor Relations Act permits states and territories to prohibit agreements requiring union membership as a condition of employment. Laws adopted under that authority are commonly called right-to-work laws.

The PRO Act proposes allowing a collective-bargaining agreement to require represented employees to pay fees covering representation costs, notwithstanding state law. Because the proposal is not enacted, it has not displaced existing section 14(b) or any state law authorized by that section.

The 2021 PRO Act passed only the House

H.R. 842 in the 117th Congress passed the House on March 9, 2021 by a vote of 225 to 206. It was received in the Senate and referred to committee, but Congress.gov does not record Senate passage or enactment.

An earlier version, H.R. 2474 in the 116th Congress, also passed the House in February 2020 without becoming law. Those votes are important legislative history, but they do not make either expired bill operative today.

Existing federal labor law remains the starting point

Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act currently protects covered employees’ rights to organize, form or join labor organizations, bargain collectively, engage in other concerted activity for mutual aid or protection, and refrain from those activities subject to the statute. Section 8 identifies employer and labor-organization unfair labor practices.

The proposed PRO Act would modify that existing framework rather than create federal organizing law from nothing. A broader National Labor Relations Act overview explains the statute that currently governs while Congress considers possible amendments.

How to read a PRO Act status update

The bill number and Congress matter because proposals expire when a Congress ends unless enacted and may be reintroduced with changes. A statement that the PRO Act “passed” may refer only to one chamber in 2020 or 2021, not passage by both chambers and presidential approval.

For current status, the Congress.gov tracker and action history distinguish introduction, committee activity, chamber passage, presentation to the president, and enactment. As of the creation date of this article, the 2025 House and Senate proposals remain at the introduced stage.

Sources

• Congress.gov record for H.R. 20 in the 119th Congress
• Text of H.R. 20, the 2025 PRO Act proposal
• Congress.gov record for S. 852 in the 119th Congress
• Text of S. 852, the 2025 Senate proposal
• Congress.gov record for the 2021 PRO Act
• Congress.gov record for the 2019 PRO Act
• 29 U.S.C. § 157, employee organizing rights
• 29 U.S.C. § 158, unfair labor practices
• 29 U.S.C. § 164, state right-to-work authority