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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2013 - 2014
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | January 11, 2013 10:25 AM |
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| From: | Representative Brian L. Ellis |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Reintroduction of HB 105 to amend Whistleblower Law |
| Please find attached legislation that I am reintroducing from last session (HB 105) to amend the Whistleblower Law (Act 169 of 1986) to expand its coverage and increase its penalties. The Whistleblower Law provides protection from retaliation for public employees who report fraud, waste, or abuse of public moneys from the Commonwealth or any of its political subdivisions. There are two problems with the current law that I believe exist. First, it only protects public employees, and not employees of private-sector companies that may be administering a public contract. Secondly, the penalties are archaic and need to be updated. My legislation expands coverage of the law to include employees of companies that are performing services for public bodies with public monies. It would seem logical that much of the fraud, waste, and abuse, of tax dollars occurs in the fulfillment of public contracts by private entities. My legislation also updates the civil fines for employers that illegally retaliate against “whistleblowers” from a fine of up to $500 to a fine of up to $10,000. In addition, my legislation allows a court to suspend a public employee from public service for up to 7 years (up from the law’s current 6 month suspension) if it determines that that employee intentionally discouraged the disclosure of criminal activity. It is important to note that this legislation was passed unanimously by the House the last two terms, although the Senate never took action on it. The public expects that our tax dollars be spent wisely and not be wasted. My legislation offers a strong tool to uncover fraud, waste, and abuse of public monies. Previous Cosponsors: Ellis, Gergely, Adolph, Aument, Baker, Barbin, Bear, Benninghoff, Boyd, B. Boyle, Brennan, Briggs, Brooks, Burns, Buxton, Caltagirone, Carroll, Causer, Christiana, Cohen, D. Costa, P. Costa, Cox, Creighton, Cruz, Cutler, Day, Deasy, Denlinger, Depasquale, Deweese, Farry, Fleck, Freeman, Gabler, Galloway, George, Gibbons, Gingrich, Goodman, Grell, Grove, Hahn, Harper, Harris, Hornaman, Hutchinson, Josephs, Kauffman, M.K. Keller, Killion, Knowles, Kortz, Mahoney, Major, Marshall, Marsico, Matzie, Metcalfe, Metzgar, Miccarelli, Millard, Miller, Mundy, Murphy, Mustio, Oberlander, M. O'brien, O'neill, Pashinski, Payton, Peifer, Pickett, Pyle, Quigley, Quinn, Rapp, Readshaw, Reed, Reese, Reichley, Roae, Ross, Sabatina, Samuelson, Santarsiero, Santoni, Saylor, Scavello, Shapiro, S. H. Smith, Sonney, Stevenson, Sturla, Swanger, J. Taylor, Turzai, Vereb, Vulakovich, Wagner, Watson, White, K. Smith And Clymer |
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| View Attachment | ||
Introduced as HB118