United States S 3963: COVID–19 Whistleblower Protection Act
Status: Introduced in Senate (as of 2020-06-15)
State: United States · Session: 116 · Bill: S 3963
Subjects: Administrative remedies, Alternative dispute resolution, mediation, arbitration, Appropriations, Cardiovascular and respiratory health, Civil actions and liability, Congressional oversight, Emergency medical services and trauma care, Employment discrimination and employee rights, Evidence and witnesses, Government ethics and transparency, public corruption, Government information and archives, Government studies and investigations, Health programs administration and funding, Infectious and parasitic diseases, Public contracts and procurement, Right of privacy, State and local government operations
Sponsors: Kamala D. Harris, Amy Klobuchar, Bernard Sanders, DIANNE FEINSTEIN, EDWARD J. MARKEY, Elizabeth A. Warren, Jeff Merkley, Mazie K. Hirono, RICHARD J. DURBIN, RON WYDEN, Richard Blumenthal, Sherrod Brown, Tammy Baldwin, Tina Smith
Bill Text
II 116THCONGRESS 2 DSESSION S. 3963 To protect certain whistleblowers seeking to ensure accountability and over- sight of the Nation’s COVID–19 pandemic response, and for other pur- poses. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE15, 2020 Ms. H ARRIS(for herself, Ms. WARREN, Mr. MARKEY, Ms. HIRONO, Mr. W YDEN, Ms. BALDWIN, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. B LUMENTHAL, Mr. DURBIN, and Ms. SMITH) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs A BILL To protect certain whistleblowers seeking to ensure account- ability and oversight of the Nation’s COVID–19 pan- demic response, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘COVID–19 Whistle-4 blower Protection Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6 In this Act— 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:17 Jun 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3963.IS S3963 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 3963 IS (1) the term ‘‘abuse of authority’’ means an ar-1 bitrary and capricious exercise of authority by a con-2 tracting officer or employee that adversely affects 3 the rights of any individual, or that results in per-4 sonal gain or advantage to the officer or employee 5 or to preferred other individuals; 6 (2) the term ‘‘CARES Act’’ means the CARES 7 Act (Public Law 116–136); 8 (3) the term ‘‘Coronavirus pandemic-related 9 program, project, or activity’’— 10 (A) means a program, project, or activity 11 of the executive branch of the Federal Govern-12 ment authorized under or carried out using 13 amounts made available under an Act to re-14 spond to or to provide aid or assistance to ad-15 dress, relief from, or funding to address the 16 outbreak of COVID–19 that is enacted before, 17 on, or after the date of enactment of this Act; 18 and 19 (B) includes any program, project, or ac-20 tivity of the executive branch of the Federal 21 Government authorized under or carried out 22 using amounts made available under— 23 (i) the Paycheck Protection Program 24 and Health Care Enhancement Act (Public 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:17 Jun 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3963.IS S3963 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 3963 IS Law 116–139), or an amendment made by 1 that Act; 2 (ii) the CARES Act, or an amend-3 ment made by that Act; 4 (iii) the Families First Coronavirus 5 Response Act (Public Law 116–127), or an 6 amendment made by that Act; or 7 (iv) the Coronavirus Preparedness and 8 Response Supplemental Appropriations 9 Act, 2020 (Public Law 116–123), or an 10 amendment made by that Act; 11 (4) the term ‘‘covered funds’’ means any con-12 tract, subcontract, grant, subgrant, loan, loan guar-13 antee, or other payment for which— 14 (A) the Federal Government provides any 15 portion of the funds or property that is pro-16 vided, requested, or demanded; and 17 (B) any portion of the funds are appro-18 priated or otherwise made available under or to 19 carry out a Coronavirus pandemic-related pro-20 gram, project, or activity; 21 (5) the term ‘‘employee’’— 22 (A) except as provided under subparagraph 23 (B), means an individual performing services on 24 behalf of an employer, including any individual 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:17 Jun 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3963.IS S3963 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 3963 IS working for an employer under a contract with 1 such employer (including a contractor, subcon-2 tractor, or agent of an employer); and 3 (B) does not include any Federal employee 4 or member of the uniformed services (as that 5 term is defined in section 101(a)(5) of title 10, 6 United States Code); 7 (6) the term ‘‘non-Federal employer’’— 8 (A) means any employer— 9 (i) with respect to covered funds— 10 (I) the contractor, subcontractor, 11 grantee, subgrantee, or recipient, as 12 the case may be, if the contractor, 13 subcontractor, grantee, subgrantee, or 14 recipient is an employer; and 15 (II) any professional membership 16 organization, certification or other 17 professional body, any agent or li-18 censee of the Federal Government, or 19 any person acting directly or indi-20 rectly in the interest of an employer 21 receiving covered funds; or 22 (ii) wit
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