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Who cares
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Sponsors
2 Co-sponsors
History
- Substituted by A7951
- Ordered to third reading cal.1906
- Committee discharged and committed to rules
- Referred to civil service and pensions
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
Enacts the "public employee whistleblower protection act"; repealer
Signed by Governor · Sponsor Peter Abbate
Full text
The text isn't available here yet. Check nysenate.gov.
Sponsor's memo
BILL NUMBER:S4628
Title of bill
An act to repeal paragraph (b) of subdivision 2 of section 75-b of the civil service law relating to enacting the "public employee whistleblower protection act"
Purpose or general idea of bill
To remove the requirement that public employee whistleblowers first notify their supervisors of the improper activity, in order to protect employees where it is the supervisors themselves who are engaged in the improper activity which the whistleblower seeks to report.
Summary of specific provisions
Paragraph (b) of subdivision 2 of section 75-b of the civil service law is repealed.
Justification
A public employee is required to make a good faith effort to first disclose to his or her appointing authority or designee information regarding an alleged violation of the law or improper government activity under the current "whistleblower law." However, this requirement fails to address cases where the employee's superior or another senior administrator may be involved in unethical activity, making reporting ill advised. According to the Commission on Public Integrity, over the years there have been cases where state employees requested anonymity when reporting unethical conduct to avoid retaliation, have refused to cooperate with investigations out of fear of reprisal or, at least in one reported case, been summarily fired, This act would modify the civil service law to remove the early disclosure requirement and thereby protect whistleblowers and enable them to expose improper actions by their superiors.
Legislative history
2014: S4084 Referred to Civil Service and Pensions A.8014 (2010).
Fiscal implications
None.
Effective date
This act shall take effect immediately.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.