Senator Andrew Mathews (Princeton) today presented his bipartisan bill to strengthen whistleblower protections for public employees. The bill is one of many proposals promised by Republicans to address rampant waste, fraud, and abuse of taxpayer funds.  

  

The legislation aims to expand whistleblower protections to ease public employees’ concerns regarding retaliation when bringing forward information about potential waste, fraud, and abuse. This, in turn, improves the ability of legislators, oversight bodies, and law enforcement agencies to investigate and take corrective action.   

  

“The amount of fraud that has gained public attention has been growing throughout the years, but, the good news is, we’ve recently seen bipartisan support to combat the misuse of taxpayer funds,” Mathews said. “While we currently have some protections in law, fears over retaliation in the workplace still exist today as some employees have even expressed concern for testifying in support of this bill today, so I question if current law goes far enough.”  

  

The proposal expands the number of people to whom a whistleblower can report to, including:   

·         The employer  

·         Any governmental body  

·         Law enforcement officials  

·         The legislative auditor  

·         A member of the legislature  

·         A constitutional officer  

  

The bill was passed in the labor committee with no opposition and will be referred to the state government committee.