II 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2949 

To improve motor vehicle safety by encouraging the sharing of certain 

information. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 20, 2014 

Mr. THUNE (for himself, Mr. NELSON, Mr. HELLER, Mrs. MCCASKILL, and 

Ms. KLOBUCHAR) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To improve motor vehicle safety by encouraging the sharing 

of certain information. 

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. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Motor Vehicle Safety 

5 Whistleblower Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. MOTOR VEHICLE SAFETY WHISTLEBLOWER INCEN7 TIVES AND PROTECTIONS. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter IV of chapter 301 of 

9 title 49, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 

10 end the following: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 30172. WHISTLEBLOWER INCENTIVES AND PROTEC2 TIONS. 

3 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

4 ‘‘(1) COVERED ACTION.—The term ‘covered ac5 tion’ means any administrative or judicial action, in6 cluding any related administrative or judicial action, 

7 brought by the Secretary or the Attorney General 

8 under this chapter that in the aggregate results in 

9 monetary sanctions exceeding $1,000,000. 

10 ‘‘(2) MONETARY SANCTIONS.—The term ‘mone11 tary sanctions’ means monies, including penalties 

12 and interest, ordered or agreed to be paid. 

13 ‘‘(3) ORIGINAL INFORMATION.—The term 

14 ‘original information’ means information that— 

15 ‘‘(A) is derived from the independent 

16 knowledge or analysis of an individual; 

17 ‘‘(B) is not known to the Secretary from 

18 any other source, unless the individual is the 

19 original source of the information; and 

20 ‘‘(C) is not exclusively derived from an al21 legation made in a judicial or an administrative 

22 action, in a governmental report, a hearing, an 

23 audit, or an investigation, or from the news 

24 media, unless the individual is a source of the 

25 information. 


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1 ‘‘(4) PART SUPPLIER.—The term ‘part supplier’ 

2 means a manufacturer of motor vehicle equipment. 

3 ‘‘(5) SUCCESSFUL RESOLUTION.—The term 

4 ‘successful resolution’ includes any settlement or ad5 judication of a covered action. 

6 ‘‘(6) WHISTLEBLOWER.—The term ‘whistle7 blower’ means any employee or contractor of a 

8 motor vehicle manufacturer, part supplier, or dealer9 ship who voluntarily provides to the Secretary origi10 nal information relating to any motor vehicle defect, 

11 noncompliance, or any violation or alleged violation 

12 of any notification or reporting requirement of this 

13 chapter which is likely to cause unreasonable risk of 

14 death or serious physical injury. 

15 ‘‘(b) AWARDS.— 

16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—If the original information 

17 that a whistleblower provided to the Secretary led to 

18 the successful resolution of a covered action, the 

19 Secretary, subject to subsection (c) and under the 

20 regulations promulgated under subsection (i), may 

21 pay an award or awards to 1 or more whistleblowers 

22 in an aggregate amount of not more than 30 per23 cent, in total, of collected monetary sanctions. 

24 ‘‘(2) PAYMENT OF AWARDS.—Any amount pay25 able under paragraph (1) shall be paid from the 


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1 monetary sanctions collected, and any monetary 

2 sanctions so collected shall be available for such pay3 ment. 

4 ‘‘(c) DETERMINATION OF AWARDS; DENIAL OF

5 AWARDS.— 

6 ‘‘(1) DETERMINATION OF AWARDS.— 

7 ‘‘(A) DISCRETION.—The determination of 

8 whether, to whom, or in what amount to make 

9 an award shall be in the discretion of the Sec10 retary. 

11 ‘‘(B) CRITERIA.—In determining an award 

12 made under subsection (b), the Secretary shall 

13 take into consideration— 

14 ‘‘(i) if appropriate, whether a whistle15 blower reported or attempted to report the 

16 information internally to an applicable 

17 motor vehicle manufacturer, part supplier, 

18 or dealership; 

19 ‘‘(ii) the significance of the original 

20 information provided by the whistleblower 

21 to the successful resolution of the covered 

22 action; 

23 ‘‘(iii) the degree of assistance provided 

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1 resentative of the whistleblower in the cov2 ered action; and 

3 ‘‘(iv) such additional factors as the 

4 Secretary considers relevant. 

5 ‘‘(2) DENIAL OF AWARDS.—No award under 

6 subsection (b) shall be made— 

7 ‘‘(A) to any whistleblower who is convicted 

8 of a criminal violation related to the covered ac9 tion for which the whistleblower otherwise could 

10 receive an award under this section; 

11 ‘‘(B) to any whistleblower who, acting 

12 without direction from an applicable motor ve13 hicle manufacturer, part supplier, or dealership, 

14 or agent thereof, deliberately causes or substan15 tially contributes to the alleged violation of a 

16 requirement of this chapter; 

17 ‘‘(C) to any whistleblower who submits in18 formation to the Secretary that is based on the 

19 facts underlying the covered action submitted 

20 previously by another whistleblower; or 

21 ‘‘(D) to any whistleblower who fails to pro22 vide the original information to the Secretary in 

23 such form as the Secretary may require by reg24 ulation. 


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1 ‘‘(d) REPRESENTATION.—A whistleblower who makes 

2 a claim for an award under subsection (b) may be rep3 resented by counsel. 

4 ‘‘(e) NO CONTRACT NECESSARY.—No contract with 

5 the Secretary is necessary for any whistleblower to receive 

6 an award under subsection (b). 

7 ‘‘(f) APPEALS.— 

8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Any determination made 

9 under this section, including whether, to whom, or in 

10 what amount to make an award, shall be in the dis11 cretion of the Secretary. 

12 ‘‘(2) APPEALS.—Any determination made by 

13 the Secretary under this section may be appealed by 

14 a whistleblower to the appropriate court of appeals 

15 of the United States not later than 30 days after the 

16 determination is issued by the Secretary. 

17 ‘‘(3) REVIEW.—The court shall review the de18 termination made by the Secretary in accordance 

19 with section 706 of title 5, United States Code. 

20 ‘‘(g) PROTECTION OF WHISTLEBLOWERS; CON21 FIDENTIALITY.— 

22 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding section 

23 30167, and except as provided in paragraphs (2) 

24 and (3) of this subsection, the Secretary, and any 

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1 tation, shall not disclose any information, including 

2 information provided by a whistleblower to the Sec3 retary, which could reasonably be expected to reveal 

4 the identity of a whistleblower, except in accordance 

5 with the provisions of section 552a of title 5, United 

6 States Code, unless and until required to be dis7 closed to a defendant or respondent in connection 

8 with a public proceeding instituted by the Secretary 

9 or any entity described in paragraph (3). For pur10 poses of section 552 of title 5, United States Code, 

11 this paragraph shall be considered a statute de12 scribed in subsection (b)(3)(B) of that section. 

13 ‘‘(2) EFFECT.—Nothing in this subsection is 

14 intended to limit the ability of the Attorney General 

15 to present such evidence to a grand jury or to share 

16 such evidence with potential witnesses or defendants 

17 in the course of an ongoing criminal investigation. 

18 ‘‘(3) AVAILABILITY TO GOVERNMENT AGEN19 CIES.— 

20 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Without the loss of its 

21 status as confidential in the hands of the Sec22 retary, all information referred to in paragraph 

23 (1) may, in the discretion of the Secretary, 

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1 poses of this chapter and in accordance with 

2 subparagraph (B), be made available to the fol3 lowing: 

4 ‘‘(i) The Department of Justice. 

5 ‘‘(ii) An appropriate department or 

6 agency of the Federal Government, acting 

7 within the scope of its jurisdiction. 

8 ‘‘(B) MAINTENANCE OF INFORMATION.— 

9 Each entity described in subparagraph (A) shall 

10 maintain information described in that subpara11 graph as confidential, in accordance with the 

12 requirements in paragraph (1). 

13 ‘‘(h) PROVISION OF FALSE INFORMATION.—A whis14 tleblower who knowingly and willfully makes any false, fic15 titious, or fraudulent statement or representation, or who 

16 makes or uses any false writing or document knowing the 

17 same to contain any false, fictitious, or fraudulent state18 ment or entry, shall not be entitled to an award under 

19 this section and shall be subject to prosecution under sec20 tion 1001 of title 18. 

21 ‘‘(i) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 1 year after the 

22 date of enactment of the Motor Vehicle Safety Whistle23 blower Act, the Secretary shall promulgate regulations to 

24 implement the requirements of this section.’’. 

25 (b) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.— 


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1 (1) ORIGINAL INFORMATION.—Information sub2 mitted to the Secretary of Transportation by a whis3 tleblower in accordance with the regulations to im4 plement the requirements of section 30172, United 

5 States Code, shall not lose its status as original in6 formation solely because the whistleblower submitted 

7 the information prior to the effective date of the reg8 ulations if that information was submitted after the 

9 date of enactment of this Act. 

10 (2) AWARDS.—A whistleblower may receive an 

11 award under section 30172, United States Code, re12 gardless of whether the violation underlying the cov13 ered action occurred prior to the date of enactment 

14 of this Act. 

15 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—The table of con16 tents of subchapter IV of chapter 301 of title 49, United 

17 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol18 lowing: 

‘‘30172. Whistleblower incentives and protections.’’. 

Æ 


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