Federal Employee Protection of Disclosures Act

A bill to amend chapter 23 of title 5, United States Code, to clarify the disclosures of information protected from prohibited personnel practices, require a statement in nondisclosure policies, forms, and agreements that such policies, forms, and agreements conform with certain disclosure protections, provide certain authority for the Special Counsel, and for other purposes.

12/17/2007--Passed Senate amended. Federal Employee Protection of Disclosures Act - Includes as a protected disclosure by a federal employee:
(1) any lawful disclosure an employee or applicant reasonably believes is credible evidence of waste, abuse, or gross mismanagement, without restriction as to time, place, form, motive, context, or prior disclosure; and
(2) any disclosure of information required to be kept secret in the interest of national defense or the conduct of foreign affairs that the employee or applicant reasonably believes is direct evidence of waste, abuse, or gross mismanagement if such disclosure is made to a Member or employee of Congress who is authorized to receive information of the type disclosed. Excludes disclosures pertaining to policy decisions that lawfully exercise discretionary authority unless the disclosing employee reasonably believes that there is evidence of a violation of law or government waste, fraud, or abuse. Provides for the discipline of employees for disclosures to congressional employees who are not authorized to receive such information.
Codifies the legal standard for determining whether a whistleblower has a reasonable belief that a disclosure evidences governmental waste, fraud, or abuse, or a violation of law. Provides that the following actions may not be taken against whistleblowers for protected disclosures:
(1) implementation or enforcement of any nondisclosure policy, form, or agreement;
(2) security clearance suspension or revocation; and
(3) investigation (other than routine nondiscretionary agency investigations) of an employee or applicant for employment.
Authorizes the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) to conduct an expedited review of cases charging retaliation for whistleblowing when the whistleblower's security clearance or access determination is suspended, revoked, or otherwise adversely affected. Requires an agency that improperly revokes a whistleblower's security clearance to report to Congress explaining its actions. Exempts an agency from this requirement if the agency can show by a preponderance of the evidence (currently, clear and convincing evidence is required) that it would have taken the same personnel action in the absence of the whistleblower disclosure.
Authorizes the President to exclude certain agencies engaged in the conduct of foreign intelligence or counterintelligence activities from whistleblower protections if such exclusion is made prior to any personnel action against the whistleblower. Expands the authority of MSPB to impose disciplinary action for prohibited personnel practices.
Authorizes the Office of Special Counsel to appear as amicus curiae (friend of the court) in any civil action involving prohibited personnel actions against whistleblowers or the Hatch Act.
Permits petitions for review of whistleblower actions to be filed in any court of appeals of competent jurisdiction (currently limited to the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit) for five years after enactment of this Act. Requires all federal agency nondisclosure policies, forms, and agreements to contain specified language preserving the right of federal employees to disclose certain protected information.
Amends the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to provide that, for purposes of provisions regarding the protection of voluntarily shared critical infrastructure information, a permissible use of independently obtained critical infrastructure information includes any lawful disclosure an employee or applicant reasonably believes is credible evidence of waste, fraud, abuse, or gross mismanagement, without restriction as to time, place, form, motive, context, or prior disclosure. Requires federal agencies to instruct employees on how to make a lawful disclosure of classified information to the Special Counsel, the Inspector General of an agency, Congress, or other agency employee designated to receive such information. Requires the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to report to specified congressional committees on the implementation of this Act. Requires MSPB's annual reports to include as an addendum:
(1) information relating to the outcome of cases in which violations were alleged; and
(2) the number of such cases filed in the regional and field offices, the number of petitions for review filed in such cases, and the outcomes of such cases.


... morehide bill summary

Sponsor

• Sen. Daniel Akaka [D, HI]
• and 12 Co-Sponsors
  • Sen. Thomas Carper [D, DE]
  • Sen. Susan Collins [R, ME]
  • Sen. Richard Durbin [D, IL]
  • Sen. Charles Grassley [R, IA]
  • Sen. Edward Kennedy [D, MA]
  • Sen. Frank Lautenberg [D, NJ]
  • Sen. Patrick Leahy [D, VT]
  • Sen. Carl Levin [D, MI]
  • Sen. Joseph Lieberman [I, CT]
  • Sen. Barbara Mikulski [D, MD]
  • Sen. Mark Pryor [D, AR]
  • Sen. George Voinovich [R, OH]
  close

Committees

• Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
• 1 more
  • Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
  close

Amendments

This bill has 1 amendments. See All AmendmentsHide All Amendments

Amendments to S.274

Number	Status	Purpose
S.Amdt.3801	Pass	To provide for reports by the Government Accountability Office and the Merit Systems Protection Board on cases making allegations of violations of section 2302(b)(8) or (9) of title 5, United States Code, relating to whistleblowers.

Bill Status

Make a Bill Status Widget

	OpenCongress widgets allow you to display information about bills and issue areas on your own website or blog. First, select which bill or issue you want to track, then customize the appearance of the panel, and finally paste a simple chunk of HTML into your site. Now your community will have an easy, up-to-date way to track the status of important bills and issues in Congress.

Introduced		Voted on by Senate		Voted on by House		Considered By President		Bill Becomes Law
January 11, 2007		December 17, 2007

Show All Actions (16 actions)Hide Actions

All Bill Actions

• Dec 17, 2007: Held at the desk.
• Dec 17, 2007: Received in the House.
• Passed by Unanimous Consent in the Senate on Dec 17, 2007. Passed Senate with an amendment by Unanimous Consent.
• Dec 17, 2007: Message on Senate action sent to the House.
• Dec 17, 2007: Measure laid before Senate by unanimous consent.
• Dec 17, 2007: The committee substitute as amended agreed to by Unanimous Consent.
• Nov 16, 2007: Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Reported by Senator Lieberman with an amendment in the nature of a substitute. With written report No. 110-232.
• Added to calendar on Nov 16, 2007: Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 513..
• Jun 13, 2007: Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Ordered to be reported with an amendment favorably.
• Added to calendar on Jun 13, 2007: Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Ordered to be reported with an amendment favorably..
• Jun 13, 2007: Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Date of scheduled consideration. SD-342. 10:00 a.m.
• Mar 30, 2007: Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs referred to Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of Columbia.
• Introduced on Jan 11, 2007.
• Jan 11, 2007: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S455-456)
• Jan 11, 2007: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
• Jan 11, 2007: Introductory remarks on measure. (CR S455-456)

---

Related Issue Areas:

• Government employees
• Actions and defenses
• Administrative remedies
• Appellate courts
• 41 more
• Armed forces
• Budgets
• Classified defense information
• Congress
• Congressional investigations
• Congressional oversight
• Congressional witnesses
• Defense policy
• Disciplining of employees
• Dismissal of employees
• Due process of law
• Employee rights
• Evidence (Law)
• Executive orders
• Federal employees
• Government attorneys
• Government information
• Government paperwork
• Governmental investigations
• Information leaking
• Infrastructure
• Infrastructure (Economics)
• Inspectors general
• Intelligence activities
• Judicial review
• Jurisdiction
• Labor
• Law
• Legal fees
• Merit Systems Protection Board
• Office of Special Counsel
• Parties to actions
• Personnel management
• Politics and government
• Presidents
• Promotions
• Security clearances
• Security measures
• Waste in government spending
• Whistle blowing
• Congressional reporting requirements

Data from the Congressional Research Service

Users tracking S.274 (4) are also tracking:

Show More User Statistics... Hide User Statistics

In the News

January 30, 2008 US Sen. Grassley: Questions Mukasey's commitment to protecting ...

One topic I’d like to discuss with the Attorney General is a letter he signed regarding the Federal Employee Protection Act (S.274). ...

Was this article useful? Yes or No

Source: IowaPolitics.com (press release), IA

Did you find this article useful? Your opinion counts - together, we're finding the very best news and blog coverage about Congress available on the web.

January 14, 2008 Kerry Urges Bush Administration to Protect SBA Whistleblowers

Last month, Senator Kerry joined the rest of the Senate in unanimously passing the Federal Employee Protection of Disclosures Act (S. 274), a bill that will ...

Was this article useful? Yes or No

Source: Trading Markets (press release), CA

Did you find this article useful? Your opinion counts - together, we're finding the very best news and blog coverage about Congress available on the web.

December 19, 2007 Senate approves stronger whistleblower protections

The bill (S. 274), introduced by Sens. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, and Susan Collins, R-Maine, seeks to reform the 1989 Whistleblower Protection Act, ...

Was this article useful? Yes or No

Source: Project on Government Oversight

Did you find this article useful? Your opinion counts - together, we're finding the very best news and blog coverage about Congress available on the web.

5 more articles...
See most useful news articles

Information made available by:

Blog Coverage

December 30, 2008 Tom_Coburn images,Tom_Coburn photos,Tom_Coburn videos,Tom_Coburn news

Since April 2007, Senator Coburn has been holding the Federal Employee Protection of Disclosures Act (S.274) from becoming law. This bill relates to so-called "whistleblowing," and would effectively reverse the Supreme Court's decision ...

Was this article useful? Yes or No

Source: blog.mediafetcher.com whats new

Did you find this article useful? Your opinion counts - together, we're finding the very best news and blog coverage about Congress available on the web.

December 17, 2008 MIR 2008, Dok.363, Rz. 1-52: Florian Lichtnecker - Zivilrechtliche ...

(2006), S. 274. [28] Fülbier in CR 2007, 515 (518). [29] Redeker, IT-Recht, 4. Aufl. (2007), Rn. 1103. [30] Stadler, Haftung für Informationen im Internet, 2. Aufl. (2005), Teil 2, Rn. 30 c. [31] vgl. OLG Hamburg vom 22.8.2006 – 7 U ...

Was this article useful? Yes or No

Source: MEDIEN INTERNET und RECHT

Did you find this article useful? Your opinion counts - together, we're finding the very best news and blog coverage about Congress available on the web.

December 16, 2008 H-Net Reviews

Überraschend für den kundigen Leser ist Rammelts Kapitel 6.5 über „Die reichskirchliche Verurteilung des Ibas im Jahre 553“ (S. 274). Das zweite Konzil von Konstantinopel im Jahre 553 verdammte die sogenannten „Drei Kapitel“, .

Was this article useful? Yes or No

Source: H-Review - Recent Reviews

Did you find this article useful? Your opinion counts - together, we're finding the very best news and blog coverage about Congress available on the web.

116 more posts...
See most useful blog posts

Information made available by: