I 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4925 

To improve whistleblower protections. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 9, 2006 

Mr. MARKEY (for himself and Mrs. MALONEY) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce, 

and in addition to the Committees on Armed Services, Government Reform, and the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by 

the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To improve whistleblower protections. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘Paul Revere Freedom to Warn Act’’. 

6 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 

7 this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 

Sec. 2. Discrimination against whistleblowers prohibited. 

Sec. 3. Enforcement action. 

Sec. 4. Remedies. 

Sec. 5. State secrets privilege. 


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Sec. 6. Criminal penalties. 

Sec. 7. Rights retained by covered individual. 

Sec. 8. Notification. 

Sec. 9. Definitions. 

Sec. 10. Effective date; applicability. 

1 SEC. 2. DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WHISTLEBLOWERS PRO2 HIBITED. 

3 It shall be unlawful for any person to discharge, de4 mote, suspend, reprimand, investigate, or take or fail to 

5 take any other personnel action that in any manner dis6 criminates against any covered individual, or in any other 

7 manner discriminate against any covered individual (in8 cluding by a denial, suspension, or revocation of a security 

9 clearance or by any other security access determination, 

10 or by denial of award of a Federal contract or sub11 contract), or to threaten or recommend the discharge, de12 motion, suspension, reprimand, investigation, other per13 sonnel action (or rejection of such action) that in any 

14 manner discriminates against any covered individual, or 

15 other manner of discrimination if such action, discrimina16 tion, or recommendation is due, in whole or in part, to 

17 any lawful act done, perceived to have been done, or in18 tended to be done by the covered individual— 

19 (1) to provide information, cause information to 

20 be provided, or otherwise assist in an investigation 

21 or proceeding regarding any conduct which the cov22 ered individual reasonably believes constitutes evi23 dence of a violation of any law, rule, or regulation, 


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1 a threat to national or homeland security, a substan2 tial and specific threat to public health or safety, or 

3 fraud, abuse of authority, waste, or mismanagement 

4 of public funds, if the information or assistance is 

5 provided to or the investigation is conducted by— 

6 (A) a Federal, State, or local regulatory or 

7 law enforcement agency (including an office of 

8 Inspector General under the Inspector General 

9 Act of 1978); 

10 (B) any Member of Congress, any com11 mittee of Congress, or the Government Ac12 countability Office; 

13 (C) any person with supervisory or mana14 gerial authority over the covered individual (or 

15 any other person who has the authority to in16 vestigate, discover, or terminate misconduct); or 

17 (D) a potential witness to or other person 

18 affected by or aware of the conduct described in 

19 this section; 

20 (2) to file, cause to be filed, testify, participate 

21 in, or otherwise assist in a proceeding or action filed 

22 or about to be filed relating to an alleged violation 

23 of any law, rule, or regulation; or 

24 (3) to refuse to violate or assist in the violation 

25 of any law, rule, or regulation. 


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1 SEC. 3. ENFORCEMENT ACTION. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—A covered individual who alleges 

3 discharge or other discrimination by any person in viola4 tion of section 2 may seek relief under section 4 by— 

5 (1) filing a complaint with the Secretary of 

6 Labor; or 

7 (2) if the Secretary has not issued a final deci8 sion within 180 days after the filing of the complaint 

9 and there is no showing that such delay is due to 

10 the bad faith of the claimant, bringing an action at 

11 law or equity for de novo review by a jury in the ap12 propriate district court of the United States, which 

13 shall have jurisdiction over such an action without 

14 regard to the amount in controversy. 

15 (b) PROCEDURE.— 

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—An action under subsection 

17 (a)(1) shall be governed under the rules and proce18 dures set forth in section 42121(b) of title 49, 

19 United States Code. 

20 (2) EXCEPTION.—Notification made under sec21 tion 42121(b)(1) of title 49, United States Code, 

22 shall be made— 

23 (A) to the person named in the complaint; 

24 and 

25 (B) to the person’s employer or, in the 

26 case of a Federal contractor or subcontractor, 


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1 to the instrumentality of the Government with 

2 which such contractor or subcontractor has en3 tered into, or submitted an offer to enter into, 

4 a contract. 

5 (3) BURDENS OF PROOF.—An action brought 

6 under subsection (a)(2) shall be governed by the 

7 legal burdens of proof set forth in section 42121(b) 

8 of title 49, United States Code. 

9 (4) STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS.—An action 

10 under subsection (a) shall be commenced not later 

11 than 6 years after the date on which the alleged vio12 lation occurred. 

13 SEC. 4. REMEDIES. 

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—A covered individual prevailing in 

15 any action under section 3(a) shall be entitled to all relief 

16 appropriate to make the covered individual whole. 

17 (b) DAMAGES.—Relief for any action under sub18 section (a) may include— 

19 (1) reinstatement with the same seniority status 

20 and employment grade or pay level (or the equiva21 lent) that the covered individual would have had, but 

22 for the discrimination; 

23 (2) compensatory damages, including the 

24 amount of any back pay, with interest; 


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1 (3) compensation for any special damages sus2 tained as a result of the discrimination, including 

3 litigation costs, expert witness fees, and reasonable 

4 attorneys fees; and 

5 (4) punitive damages in an amount not to ex6 ceed the greater of 3 times the amount of any mone7 tary damages awarded under this Act (apart from 

8 this paragraph) or $5,000,000. 

9 SEC. 5. STATE SECRETS PRIVILEGE. 

10 If, in any action brought under section 3(a)(2), the 

11 Government asserts as a defense the privilege commonly 

12 referred to as the ‘‘state secrets privilege’’ and the asser13 tion of such privilege prevents the plaintiff from estab14 lishing a prima facie case in support of the plaintiff’s 

15 claim, the court shall enter judgment for the plaintiff and 

16 shall determine the relief to be granted. 

17 SEC. 6. CRIMINAL PENALTIES. 

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—Any person violating section 2 

19 may be fined under title 18 of the United States Code, 

20 imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both. 

21 (b) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.—The Department 

22 of Justice shall (based on such periodic reports and other 

23 information from the Department of Labor as the Depart24 ment of Justice may require) submit to Congress an anVerDate Aug 31 2005 04:37 Mar 10, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4925.IH H4925

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1 nual report on the enforcement of subsection (a). Each 

2 such report shall— 

3 (1) identify each case in which formal charges 

4 under subsection (a) were brought; 

5 (2) describe the status or disposition of each 

6 such case; and 

7 (3) in any actions under section 3(a)(2) in 

8 which the covered individual was the prevailing party 

9 or the substantially prevailing party, indicate wheth10 er or not any formal charges under subsection (a) 

11 have been brought and, if not, the reasons therefor. 

12 SEC. 7. RIGHTS RETAINED BY COVERED INDIVIDUAL. 

13 Nothing in this Act shall be deemed to diminish the 

14 rights, privileges, or remedies of any covered individual 

15 under any Federal or State law, or under any collective 

16 bargaining agreement. The rights and remedies in this Act 

17 may not be waived by any agreement, policy, form, or con18 dition of employment. 

19 SEC. 8. NOTIFICATION. 

20 The provisions of this Act shall be prominently posted 

21 in any place of employment to which this Act applies. 

22 SEC. 9. DEFINITIONS. 

23 For purposes of this Act— 

24 (1) the term ‘‘covered individual’’ means an em25 ployee or a member of the uniformed services (as deVerDate Aug 31 2005 04:37 Mar 10, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4925.IH H4925

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1 fined by section 2101(3) of title 5, United States 

2 Code)— 

3 (A) serving in or under— 

4 (i) an Executive agency (as defined by 

5 section 105 of such title 5), a military de6 partment (as defined by section 103 of 

7 such title 5), or any other instrumentality 

8 of the Government (which, for purposes of 

9 this Act, includes the Department of 

10 Homeland Security, the Transportation Se11 curity Administration, and any other in12 strumentality of the Government, notwith13 standing any special personnel authorities 

14 which might be available to such instru15 mentality under law); 

16 (ii) a Federal contractor or subcon17 tractor; or 

18 (iii) the Federal National Mortgage 

19 Association, the Federal Home Loan Mort20 gage Corporation, and any other federally 

21 chartered entity; or 

22 (B) employed by an employer within the 

23 meaning of section 701(b) of the Civil Rights 

24 Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000e(b)); 

25 (2) the term ‘‘employee’’ means— 


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1 (A) with respect to an employer referred to 

2 in paragraph (1)(A)(i), an employee as defined 

3 by section 2105 of title 5, United States Code; 

4 and 

5 (B) with respect to an employer referred to 

6 in paragraph (1)(A)(ii) or (1)(B), any officer, 

7 partner, employee, or agent; 

8 such term, as defined by subparagraph (A), includes 

9 an individual holding a position in an instrumen10 tality of the Government identified in the parenthet11 ical matter under paragraph (1)(A); 

12 (3) the term ‘‘evidence’’ means information that 

13 meets the standard for admissibility under the Fed14 eral Rules of Evidence, or is used as part of the 

15 record in support of a finding in an investigative re16 port or decision by a government office with jurisdic17 tion; 

18 (4) the term ‘‘Federal contractor’’ means a per19 son who has entered into, or responded to a request 

20 for proposals or solicitation for bids to enter into, a 

21 contract with an instrumentality of the Government; 

22 (5) the term ‘‘lawful’’ means not specifically 

23 prohibited by law, except that, in the case of any in24 formation the disclosure of which is specifically pro25 hibited by Federal statute or specifically required by 


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1 Executive order to be kept secret in the interest of 

2 national defense or the conduct of foreign affairs, 

3 any disclosure of such information to any Member of 

4 Congress, committee of Congress, or other recipient 

5 authorized to receive such information, shall be 

6 deemed lawful; 

7 (6) the term ‘‘law, rule, or regulation’’ refers to 

8 a law of the United States and any rule or regula9 tion prescribed under any such law; 

10 (7) the term ‘‘person’’ means a corporation, 

11 partnership, State entity, business association of any 

12 kind, trust, joint-stock company, or individual; 

13 (8) the term ‘‘reasonably believes’’, with respect 

14 to information provided by a covered individual, 

15 means only that a disinterested observer with knowl16 edge of the essential facts known to and readily 

17 ascertained by the covered individual could conclude 

18 that the information constitutes evidence of conduct 

19 described under section 2(1); and 

20 (9) the term ‘‘subcontractor’’, with respect to a 

21 Federal contractor, means any person, other than 

22 the Federal contractor, who offers to furnish or fur23 nishes any supplies, materials, equipment, or serv24 ices of any kind under a contract with an instrumenVerDate Aug 31 2005 04:37 Mar 10, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4925.IH H4925

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1 tality of the Government or a subcontract (at any 

2 tier) entered into under such a contract. 

3 SEC. 10. EFFECTIVE DATE; APPLICABILITY. 

4 (a) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This Act shall take effect 90 

5 days after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

6 (b) APPLICABILITY.—This Act shall apply to— 

7 (1) any administrative or judicial proceeding 

8 pending on the effective date of this Act; and 

9 (2) any administrative or judicial proceeding 

10 brought on or after the effective date of this Act. 

Æ 


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