II 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 586 

To amend the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 to apply whistleblower 

protections available to certain executive branch employees to legislative 

branch employees, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 15, 2011 

Mr. GRASSLEY (for himself and Mrs. MCCASKILL) introduced the following 

bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland 

Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 to 

apply whistleblower protections available to certain executive branch employees to legislative branch employees, 

and for other purposes. 

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

3 SECTION 1. APPLICATION OF WHISTLEBLOWER PROTEC4 TION RULES TO LEGISLATIVE BRANCH EM5 PLOYEES. 

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

7 ‘‘Congressional Whistleblower Protection Act of 2011’’. 


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1 (b) IN GENERAL.—Part A of title II of the Congres2 sional Accountability Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1311 et seq.) 

3 is amended— 

4 (1) in the heading, by striking ‘‘FAIR LABOR

5 STANDARDS,’’ and all that follows and inserting 

6 ‘‘AND OTHER PROTECTIONS AND BENEFITS’’; 

7 (2) by redesignating section 207 as section 208; 

8 and 

9 (3) by inserting after section 206 the following: 

10 ‘‘SEC. 207. RIGHTS AND PROTECTIONS UNDER WHISTLE11 BLOWER PROTECTION RULES. 

12 ‘‘(a) RIGHTS AND PROTECTIONS DESCRIBED.— 

13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—No employing office may 

14 take or fail to take, or threaten to take or fail to 

15 take, a personnel action (within the meaning of 

16 chapter 23 of title 5, United States Code) with re17 spect to any covered employee or applicant for em18 ployment because of— 

19 ‘‘(A) any disclosure of information by a 

20 covered employee or applicant which the em21 ployee or applicant reasonably believes evi22 dences— 

23 ‘‘(i) a violation of any law, rule, or 

24 regulation; or 


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1 ‘‘(ii) gross mismanagement, a gross 

2 waste of funds, an abuse of authority, or 

3 a substantial and specific danger to public 

4 health or safety; 

5 if such disclosure is not specifically prohibited 

6 by law and if such information is not specifi7 cally required by Executive order or the rules of 

8 the Senate or the House of Representatives to 

9 be kept secret in the interest of national de10 fense or the conduct of foreign affairs; or 

11 ‘‘(B) any disclosure to the General Coun12 sel, or to the Inspector General of a legislative 

13 or executive agency or another employee des14 ignated by the head of the legislative or execu15 tive agency to receive such disclosures, of infor16 mation which the employee or applicant reason17 ably believes evidences— 

18 ‘‘(i) a violation of any law, rule, or 

19 regulation; or 

20 ‘‘(ii) gross mismanagement, a gross 

21 waste of funds, an abuse of authority, or 

22 a substantial and specific danger to public 

23 health or safety. 

24 ‘‘(2) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this sec25 tion and for purposes of applying the procedures esVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:59 Mar 16, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S586.IS S586

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1 tablished under title IV for the consideration of al2 leged violations of this section— 

3 ‘‘(A) the term ‘covered employee’ includes 

4 an employee of the Government Accountability 

5 Office or Library of Congress; and 

6 ‘‘(B) the term ‘employing office’ includes 

7 the Government Accountability Office and the 

8 Library of Congress. 

9 ‘‘(b) REMEDY.—The remedy for a violation of sub10 section (a) shall be such remedy as would be appropriate 

11 if awarded under chapter 12 of title 5, United States 

12 Code, with respect to a prohibited personnel practice de13 scribed in section 2302(b)(8) of such title. 

14 ‘‘(c) REGULATIONS TO IMPLEMENT SECTION.— 

15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Board shall, pursuant 

16 to section 304, issue regulations to implement this 

17 section. 

18 ‘‘(2) AGENCY REGULATIONS.—The regulations 

19 issued under paragraph (1) shall be the same as the 

20 substantive regulations promulgated by the Merit 

21 Systems Protection Board to implement chapters 12 

22 and 23 of title 5, United States Code, except to the 

23 extent that the Board of Directors of the Office of 

24 Compliance may determine, for good cause shown 

25 and stated together with the regulation, that a modiVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:59 Mar 16, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S586.IS S586

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1 fication of such regulations would be more effective 

2 for the implementation of the rights and protections 

3 under this section.’’. 

4 (c) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

5 (1) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of con6 tents for part A of title II of the Congressional Ac7 countability Act of 1995 is amended— 

8 (A) in the item relating to part A, by strik9 ing ‘‘FAIR LABOR STANDARDS,’’ and all that 

10 follows and inserting ‘‘AND OTHER PROTEC11 TIONS AND BENEFITS’’; 

12 (B) by redesignating the item relating to 

13 section 207 as relating to section 208; and 

14 (C) by inserting after the item relating to 

15 section 206 the following: 

‘‘Sec. 207. Rights and protections under whistleblower protection rules.’’. 

16 (2) APPLICATION OF LAWS.—Section 102(a) of 

17 the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 (2 

18 U.S.C. 1302(a)) is amended by adding at the end 

19 the following: 

20 ‘‘(12) Section 2302(b)(8) of title 5, United 

21 States Code.’’. 

Æ 


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