II 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3676 

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 

JULY 17, 2006 

Mr. GRASSLEY 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) IN GENERAL.—Part A of title II of the Congres7 sional Accountability Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1311 et seq.) 

8 is amended— 


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

2 STANDARDS,’’ and all that follows and inserting 

3 ‘‘AND OTHER PROTECTIONS AND BENEFITS’’; 

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

5 and 

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

7 ‘‘SEC. 207. RIGHTS AND PROTECTIONS UNDER WHISTLE8 BLOWER PROTECTION RULES. 

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

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

11 take or fail to take, or threaten to take or fail to 

12 take, a personnel action (within the meaning of 

13 chapter 23 of title 5, United States Code) with re14 spect to any covered employee or applicant for em15 ployment because of— 

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

17 covered employee or applicant which the em18 ployee or applicant reasonably believes evi19 dences— 

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

21 regulation; or 

22 ‘‘(ii) gross mismanagement, a gross 

23 waste of funds, an abuse of authority, or 

24 a substantial and specific danger to public 

25 health or safety; 


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1 if such disclosure is not specifically prohibited 

2 by law and if such information is not specifi3 cally required by Executive order or the rules of 

4 the Senate or the House of Representatives to 

5 be kept secret in the interest of national de6 fense or the conduct of foreign affairs; or 

7 ‘‘(B) any disclosure to the General Coun8 sel, or to the Inspector General of a legislative 

9 or executive agency or another employee des10 ignated by the head of the legislative or execu11 tive agency to receive such disclosures, of infor12 mation which the employee or applicant reason13 ably believes evidences— 

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

15 regulation; or 

16 ‘‘(ii) gross mismanagement, a gross 

17 waste of funds, an abuse of authority, or 

18 a substantial and specific danger to public 

19 health or safety. 

20 ‘‘(2) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this sec21 tion and for purposes of applying the procedures es22 tablished under title IV for the consideration of al23 leged violations of this section— 


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

2 an employee of the Government Accountability 

3 Office or Library of Congress; and 

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

5 the Government Accountability Office and the 

6 Library of Congress. 

7 ‘‘(b) REMEDY.—The remedy for a violation of sub8 section (a) shall be such remedy as would be appropriate 

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

10 Code, with respect to a prohibited personnel practice de11 scribed in section 2302(b)(8) of such title. 

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

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

14 to section 304, issue regulations to implement this 

15 section. 

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

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

18 substantive regulations promulgated by the Merit 

19 Systems Protection Board to implement chapters 12 

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

21 extent that the Board of Directors of the Office of 

22 Compliance may determine, for good cause shown 

23 and stated together with the regulation, that a modi24 fication of such regulations would be more effective 


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1 for the implementation of the rights and protections 

2 under this section.’’. 

3 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

4 (1) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of con5 tents for part A of title II of the Congressional Ac6 countability Act of 1995 is amended— 

7 (A) in the item relating to part A, by strik8 ing ‘‘FAIR LABOR STANDARDS,’’ and 

9 all that follows and inserting ‘‘AND OTHER 

10 PROTECTIONS AND BENEFITS’’; 

11 (B) by redesignating the item relating to 

12 section 207 as relating to section 208; and 

13 (C) by inserting after the item relating to 

14 section 206 the following: 

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

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

16 the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 (2 

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

18 the following: 

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

20 States Code.’’. 

Æ 


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