I 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2572 
To strengthen the Notification and Federal Employee Antidiscrimination and 
Retaliation Act of 2002, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 21, 2009 
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas (for herself and Mr. MORAN of Virginia) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Over-
sight and Government Reform, and in addition to the Committee on the 
Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in 
each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic-
tion of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To strengthen the Notification and Federal Employee Anti-
discrimination and Retaliation Act of 2002, and for other 
purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Congressional Disclo-
sures Protections Act of 2009’’. 
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SEC. 2. ALTERNATIVE REMEDY FOR RETALIATION AGAINST 
WHISTLEBLOWERS MAKING DISCLOSURES TO 
CONGRESS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter II of chapter 72 of 
title 5, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 
end the following: 
‘‘§ 7212. Alternative remedy 
‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section— 
‘‘(1) the term ‘compensatory damages’ means 
damages awarded to a complaining party for each 
‘action’, which shall be synonymous with ‘cause of 
action’ or ‘claim’, as prescribed by title VII of the 
Civil Rights Act of 1991; 
‘‘(2) the term ‘covered disclosure’ means a dis-
closure of information— 
‘‘(A) made by an employee to either House 
of Congress or to a committee or Member or 
staff thereof; and 
‘‘(B) which the employee reasonably be-
lieves evidences— 
‘‘(i) a violation of any law (including 
title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964), 
rule, or regulation; or 
‘‘(ii) gross mismanagement, a gross 
waste of funds, an abuse of authority, or 
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a substantial and specific danger to public 
health or safety; 
‘‘(3) the term ‘employee’ means an individual as 
defined by section 2105 and any other individual, in-
cluding permanent, temporary, full or part time em-
ployees or applicants, independent contractors, med-
ical or other staff, professionals with institutional 
privileges, individuals paid by temporary services, or 
individuals performing services for an organization 
that in whole or in part is a contractor, grantee or 
other recipient if the United States government pro-
vides any portions of the money or property which 
is requested or demanded; and 
‘‘(4) the term ‘interfered with or denied’ in-
cludes 
any 
personnel 
action 
in 
section 
2302(a)(2)(A); implementation or enforcement of 
any nondisclosure policy, form or agreement in viola-
tion of this section; and investigation or prosecution 
of any alleged violation of title 18 provisions other 
than those prohibiting crimes of violence, moral tur-
pitude or espionage. 
‘‘(b) ALTERNATIVE
REMEDY.—An employee ag-
grieved by a violation of section 7211 with respect to a 
covered disclosure may within a year of the alleged viola-
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tion bring an action at law and equity in the appropriate 
district court of the United States— 
‘‘(1) which shall have jurisdiction over such an 
action without regard to the amount in controversy 
and which action shall, at the request of any party 
to such action, be tried by the court with a jury; and 
‘‘(2) in any proceeding under this subsection, a 
court— 
‘‘(A) shall apply the standards set forth in 
section 1221(e); and 
‘‘(B) shall award triple lost wages, bene-
fits, reinstatement, costs including reasonable 
expert witness fees, triple attorney fees, triple 
compensatory damages including emotional dis-
tress and lost reputation, and equitable, injunc-
tive, and any other relief that the court con-
siders appropriate. 
‘‘(c) CHOICE
OF REMEDIES.—Except in the cir-
cumstance described in subsection (b)(1)(B), the com-
mencement of an action under this subsection bars the em-
ployee from pursuing (or further pursuing) any remedy 
otherwise available under section 1221 or 7701 with re-
spect to the personnel action involved.’’. 
(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 
for chapter 72 of title 5, United States Code, is amended 
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by inserting after the item relating to section 7211 the 
following: 
‘‘7212. Alternative remedy.’’. 
(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 
this Act shall take effect on the date of enactment of this 
Act and shall apply with respect to any personnel action 
(as defined by section 2302(a)(2)(A) of title 5, United 
States Code) occurring on or after such date of enactment. 
SEC. 3. RIGHT OF REPRESENTATION. 
Section 1212(a) of title 5, United States Code, is 
amended— 
(1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph 
(5); 
(2) by striking the period at the end of para-
graph (6) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 
(3) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(7) upon request, furnish such legal represen-
tation as an employee may require in a proceeding 
in which such employee seeks relief under section 
7212 of title 5.’’. 
SEC. 4. AMENDMENT TO NO FEAR ACT. 
Paragraph (3) of section 203(a) of the Notification 
and Federal Employee Antidiscrimination and Retaliation 
Act of 2002 (5 U.S.C. 2301 note) is amended to read as 
follows: 
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‘‘(3) the amount of money required to be reim-
bursed by such agency under section 201 in connec-
tion with each of such cases, including for salaries 
or pay, travel costs, and any other expenses, sepa-
rately identifying the aggregate amount of such re-
imbursements attributable to the payment of attor-
ney’s fees, if any, and separately identifying the 
total dollar amount by fiscal year of any reimburse-
ment for which an agency remains liable under sec-
tion 201;’’. 
Æ 
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