Unions fight PAC law again

A long and bitter battle over a state law banning payroll contributions to union-sponsored political action committees heated up again Wednesday when several public employee unions filed a federal lawsuit, two years after suing over the issue in state court.

The unions claim a new version of the Voluntary Contributions Act approved early this year by the Legislature violates the First and 14th amendments to the U.S. Constitution as well as contradicts part of a federal law recently upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Filing jointly were the Utah Education Association, the Utah AFL-CIO, the American Federation of Teachers-Utah, the Utah School Employees Association, the Professional Firefighters of Utah and Local 1004 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

The act prohibits labor organizations — which it defines as all unions not governed by the National Labor Relations Act or the Railroad Labor Act — from using membership dues for political purposes. Unions must set up separate political action committees for political contributions — funds that cannot draw on membership dues.

It also forbids labor organizations from requiring members to pay into any funds used for political purposes.

Lawmakers passed the original bill in 2001, saying they wanted to stop what they claimed was government facilitating the use of taxpayer money to fund political lobbying.

The suit charges these prohibitions violate constitutional protections on free speech, freedom to petition the government, free association and the "equal protection" clause of the 14th Amendment.

It names as defendants Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff and Lt. Gov. Gayle F. McKeachnie.

"The state has spent over three-quarters of a million dollars trying to prohibit public employees from speaking to their members and the public using dues dollars on matters of essential interest to them," UEA executive director Susan Kuziak said. "We could have hired 17 reading specialists to help the neediest kids. We could have put almost $1,000 into every school building for supplies for kids."

Paul Murphy, spokesman for the attorney general's office, said late Wednesday his office had not yet seen the lawsuit and therefore had no comment.

The revised law was passed by the 2003 Legislature, partially as a result of a state court judgment regarding the 2001 version of the VCA.