Sen. Mark Christensen introduced LB 1170, known as Paycheck Protection, legislation that will protect hard working Nebraskans from having their bank accounts plundered by Big Labor.

‘Paycheck Protection’ is legislation that institutes a firewall between union membership dues, originally intended to fund the administration of local union operations, and political activities within labor organizations. Paycheck Protection simply gives union members a choice, a choice to fund or not fund, the non-administration aspects of their union while still retaining their membership.

Political Partisanship
According to the James Madison Institute, labor reform experts believe as much as 80 percent of union dues are spent on non-administrative related activity. And according to analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics, Big Labor gives more than 90% of its political support to only one political party.

Over 90% of union members are not Democrats, and certainly over 90% of union members will not vote for a purely Democrat ticket at local, state and federal elections. The basic premise of Paycheck Protection is to protect union members from funding political activities that they do not support.

Freedom and Fairness
No one should be forced into contributing to political causes. Yet, union members are directly contributing to candidates not of their choosing, but the choosing of Union leadership. Paycheck Protection is about putting all organizations on equal footing. Unions, just like every other organization that seeks to promote a political agenda, ought to solicit voluntary support from their members through a registered PAC instead of benefiting from the ease of funding via automatic deductions from members’ paychecks.

Paycheck Protection is Not ‘anti-union’
This is not an effort designed to eliminate unions. Rather it’s about providing workers the ability to protect themselves from financially supporting political candidates that they otherwise wouldn’t support. The unions that effectively present their case as to why political activity should occur will more than likely earn the financial support of a number of its members.

Contact Sen. Christensen and let him know you support protecting Nebraskan's paychecks by clicking here or calling (402) 471-2805.

Read LB 1170 by clicking here.