H.R. 1210, Protecting Taxpayers’ Wallets Act

H.R. 1210 would require federal labor unions to reimburse agencies for any federal resources or employee time used for union business. Under the bill, unions that fail to make those reimbursements would be prohibited from conducting most operations until payment, including accrued interest, is made. Employees who do not report time spent on union business could face disciplinary action. H.R. 1210 also would require that each agency’s inspector general regularly report on those reimbursements.

In March 2025, the Administration revoked collective bargaining rights for employees at some agencies. Based on historic rates of union membership, CBO estimates that administrative change would affect about 70 percent of federal unions. Accordingly, CBO expects that union membership will fall below historical levels.

After factoring in that action, CBO estimates that the government could collect about $600 million in fees over the 2025-2035 period from unaffected unions, assuming they continue normal operations. However, CBO expects that fees of that magnitude would strain union budgets, prompting them to reduce their use of federal resources and time. CBO also expects that unions and federal employees would comply with the reimbursement and reporting requirements under the bill. On that basis, CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 1210 would increase offsetting receipts, that is, reduce direct spending, by $43 million over the 2025-2035 period.

Based on the cost of similar activities, CBO estimates that the administrative costs associated with collecting fees and reporting activities would total $10 million over the 2025-2030 period. Any related spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds.

Enacting H.R. 1210 could affect direct spending by some agencies that are allowed to use fees, receipts from the sale of goods, and other collections to cover operating costs. CBO estimates that any net changes in direct spending by those agencies would be negligible because most of them can adjust amounts collected to reflect changes in operating costs.

The costs of the legislation, detailed in Table 1, fall within budget function 800 (general government).

The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Emma Uebelhor. The estimate was reviewed by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy Director of Budget Analysis.