An Act to Protect and Compensate Public Utility Whistleblowers
Maine Legislature, Session 132, LD 1963
Committee: Energy, Utilities and Technology
Sponsors: TIPPING
Amends: 35-A MRSA §1316

Legislative Document
No. 1963
S.P. 770
In Senate, May 13, 2025
An Act to Protect and Compensate Public Utility Whistleblowers
(EMERGENCY)
Reference to the Committee on Energy, Utilities and Technology suggested and ordered 
printed.
DAREK M. GRANT
Secretary of the Senate
Presented by Senator TIPPING of Penobscot.
Cosponsored by Senators: BENNETT of Oxford, GROHOSKI of Hancock, Representatives: 
FAIRCLOTH of Bangor, FRIEDMANN of Bar Harbor, WARREN of Scarborough, WEBB of 
Durham.
Emergency preamble.  Whereas, acts and resolves of the Legislature do not 
become effective until 90 days after adjournment unless enacted as emergencies; and
Whereas, public utilities are uniquely granted a monopoly, contrary to free-market 
principles, and instead voluntarily submit to regulation as an alternative to the discipline of 
competition; and
Whereas, regulation depends on the ability of regulators to detect and deter 
imprudence, which can increase utility profits and rates and reduce service quality; and
Whereas, utility regulators and the public have faced an increasingly complex 
challenge since utility holding companies were deregulated in 2005 after being regulated 
nationally for 70 years and since utility restructuring began at about the same time; and
Whereas, those most aware of and able to report imprudence are courageous and 
ethical employees and contractors of public utilities, acting in the public interest; and
Whereas, utility whistleblower activity to date has not occurred in this State, 
suggesting that the State's utilities are performing flawlessly or that whistleblowers are too 
afraid to come forward; and
Whereas, the federal Securities and Exchange Commission provides protection and 
incentives to shareholders of publicly traded companies and requires financial disclosures, 
but 2 utilities in this State have recently been exempted from these Securities and Exchange 
Commission whistleblower and transparency requirements; and
Whereas, these Securities and Exchange Commission protections and incentives have 
resulted in robust protections for shareholders, as well as compensation for whistleblowers 
of between 10% and 30% of resulting savings, adding up to hundreds of millions of dollars 
awarded to multiple courageous Americans in the past 3 years alone; and
Whereas, all utility customers in this State deserve protections similar to the 
shareholders of United States corporations and deserve that these protections be established 
as soon as possible; and
Whereas, in the judgment of the Legislature, these facts create an emergency within 
the meaning of the Constitution of Maine and require the following legislation as 
immediately necessary for the preservation of the public peace, health and safety; now, 
therefore,
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  35-A MRSA §1316, as repealed and replaced by PL 2023, c. 405, Pt. A, 
§124, is amended to read:
§1316.  Testimony presented by employees of public utilities, competitive electricity 
providers, affiliated interests or utility contractors to legislative committees, 
the Public Utilities Commission and the Public Advocate Maine Public Utility 
Whistleblower Protection Act
1.  Definitions.  As used in this section, unless the context otherwise indicates, the 
following terms have the following meanings.
A.  "Employee" means a person who currently performs or formerly performed a 
service for wages or other remuneration under a contract of hire, expressed or implied, 
for a public utility, competitive electricity provider, affiliated interest or utility 
contractor.
A-1.  "Affiliated interest" has the same meaning as in section 707, subsection 1, 
paragraph A.
B.  "Employer" means a public utility, competitive electricity provider, affiliated 
interest or utility contractor licensed to do business in this State with one or more 
employees.
C.  "Legislative committee" means a joint standing committee or a joint select 
committee of the Legislature, a task force, commission or council or any other 
committee established by the Legislature and composed wholly or partly of Legislators 
for the purpose of conducting legislative business.
D.  "Own time" means an employee's vacation or personal time, earned as a condition 
of employment.
E.  "Utility contractor" means a person that provides goods or services to a public utility 
or competitive electricity provider.
F.  "Whistleblower" means an employee or utility contractor who testifies or provides 
information regarding potentially imprudent or illegal activity by an employer that may 
cause higher rates, reduced service quality, reduced competition, increased pollution, 
harm to an employee or other harm to the public interest.
1-A.  Short title.  This section may be known and cited as "the Maine Public Utility 
Whistleblower Protection Act."
2.  Right of employees to provide testimony.  Employees have the right to represent 
themselves and to testify before or provide information to a legislative committee, the 
commission or the Public Advocate on their own time.  An employee who complies with 
this section may not be denied the right to testify before or provide information to a 
legislative committee, the commission or the Public Advocate.
2-A.  Right of utility contractors to provide testimony.  A utility contractor has the 
right to testify before or provide information to a legislative committee, the commission or 
the Public Advocate.
3.  Discharge of, threats to or discrimination against employees for testimony 
presented to legislative committees, the commission or the Public Advocate.  A 
supervisor may not discharge, threaten or otherwise discriminate against an employee 
regarding the employee's compensation, terms, conditions, location or privileges of 
employment because the employee, in compliance with this section, in good faith testifies 
before or provides information to a legislative committee, the commission or the Public 
Advocate regarding the operation of the business of a public utility or competitive 
electricity provider or because the employee brings the subject matter of the testimony or 
information to the attention of a person having supervisory authority.
This subsection does not apply to an employee who has testified before or provided 
information to a legislative committee, the commission or the Public Advocate unless the 
employee has first brought the subject matter of the testimony or information in writing to 
the attention of a person having supervisory authority with the employer and has allowed 
the employer a reasonable time to address the subject matter of the testimony or 
information.  If appropriate, the employer shall respond in writing.
4.  Exceptions.  The protections created in subsections 3 and 9 do not apply to 
testimony or information that, upon reasonable inquiry by the employee or utility 
contractor, would be found to be false found by the commission or a court of law to have 
been intentionally or knowingly false.
5.  Civil actions for injunctive relief or other remedies by employees.  An employee 
who alleges a violation of rights under this section and who has made reasonable efforts to 
exhaust all grievance procedures, as provided for in the contract of employment or that 
otherwise may be available at the employee's place of employment, may bring a civil 
action, including an action for injunctive relief, within 90 days after the occurrence of that 
alleged violation or after the grievance procedure or similar process terminates.  The action 
may be brought in the Superior Court for the county where the alleged violation occurred, 
the county where the complainant resides or the county where the person against whom the 
civil complaint is filed resides.  An employee must establish each element of the employee's 
case by a preponderance of the evidence.
5-A.  Civil actions for injunctive relief or other remedies by utility contractors.  A 
utility contractor that alleges a violation of rights under this section may bring a civil action, 
including an action for injunctive relief, within 90 days after the occurrence of that alleged 
violation.  The action may be brought in the Superior Court for the county where the alleged 
violation occurred, the county where the complainant resides or the county where the 
person against whom the civil complaint is filed resides.  A utility contractor must establish 
each element of the utility contractor's case by a preponderance of the evidence.
6.  Remedies ordered by court.  A court, in rendering a judgment in an action brought 
pursuant to this section, may order reinstatement of the employee, the payment of back 
wages, full reinstatement of fringe benefits and seniority rights or any combination of these 
remedies.  If an employee or utility contractor is the prevailing party, a court shall award 
the employee or utility contractor all or a portion of the costs of litigation, including 
reasonable attorney's fees and witness fees.
7.  Agreements.  This section does not diminish or impair the rights of a person under 
any collective bargaining agreement. A public utility, competitive electricity provider or 
affiliated interest may not enter into an agreement preventing employees from exercising 
their rights to testify before or provide information to a legislative committee, the 
commission or the Public Advocate pursuant to this section.
8.  Jury trial; common-law rights.  Any action brought under this section may be 
heard by a jury.  Nothing in this section derogates any common-law rights of an employee 
or employer.
9.  Contracts with utility contractors.  If a utility contractor, in compliance with this 
section and in good faith, testifies before or provides information to a legislative committee, 
the commission or the Public Advocate, a public utility or competitive electricity provider 
may not respond to such action by the utility contractor by:
A.  Terminating or threatening to terminate a contract with the utility contractor; or
B.  Harming or threatening to harm the utility contractor financially.
10.  Notice of rights required Whistleblower training and assessment.  A public 
utility and a competitive electricity provider shall notify the public utility's and the 
competitive electricity provider's employees, affiliated interests and utility contractors of 
their rights under this section An employer shall provide employees a live or recorded 
training and awareness assessment pertaining to the rights and responsibilities of 
whistleblowers under this section. The employer shall provide the training and assessment 
to all employees at least once every 2 years. The whistleblower training and assessment 
must be provided by the Office of the Public Advocate or by its designee. Assessment 
results must be reported in the aggregate to the commission and in the annual report of the 
Office of the Public Advocate.
11.  Penalties.  The commission may shall impose penalties for violations of this 
section.  This subsection does not apply in the case of an employee of a utility contractor 
alleging a violation under subsection 3.
12.  Rulemaking.  The commission may adopt rules to implement this section.  Rules 
adopted pursuant to this subsection are routine technical rules as defined in Title 5, chapter 
375, subchapter 2‑A.
13.  Anonymous reporting.  The commission shall provide a secure hotline or portal 
for a whistleblower reporting potentially imprudent or illegal activity. If a whistleblower 
using the hotline or portal chooses to remain anonymous, the commission shall take all 
reasonable steps to protect the anonymity of the whistleblower.
14.  Investigation.  The commission or its designee may investigate a report made 
under this section. Materials related to an investigation that in the judgment of the 
commission may compromise the identity of a whistleblower must be treated as 
confidential and may be shared only with the Office of the Public Advocate and a 
contracted investigator.
15.  Limitation.  An anonymous report under subsection 13 may not be relied upon as 
the evidentiary basis for any penalty, rate reduction or disallowance by the commission.
16.  Compensation.  A whistleblower may petition the commission for and may be 
awarded financial compensation totaling between 10% and 30% of the administrative 
penalty or savings to ratepayers. In establishing the amount of the award, the commission 
shall consider the extent to which the whistleblower report was instrumental in leading to 
the administrative penalty or savings to ratepayers.
Emergency clause.  In view of the emergency cited in the preamble, this legislation 
takes effect when approved.
SUMMARY
This bill increases protections for public utility whistleblowers and allows the Public 
Utilities Commission to provide financial compensation for information leading to an 
administrative penalty or savings to utility customers. It requires that public utilities, 
competitive electricity providers and their affiliated interests and contractors provide 
training to all employees at least once every 2 years on the rights and responsibilities of 
whistleblowers. It provides that the Public Utilities Commission may investigate a 
whistleblower report while protecting the whistleblower's anonymity. The bill does not 
permit penalty, rate reduction or the disallowance of cost recovery against a utility based 
on an anonymous report.