August, 17 2011, 10:45am EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Kirsten Stade (202) 265-7337
States Strengthening Their Whistleblower Laws
Red and Blue States See Whistleblowers as Tool for Cutting Waste and Fraud
WASHINGTON
Across the country, states are steadily expanding and improving their legal protections for state employees who blow the whistle on waste, fraud and abuse, according to a new analysis released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). In 2010, ten states measurably strengthened whistleblower protections while in 2011 another ten states have already done so.
Since 2006, when PEER first rated state disclosure laws, more than 40 states have broadened or toughened their whistleblower laws. No state has weakened or repealed a whistleblower law.
The most dramatic changes during 2011 came in three states, Connecticut, New Hampshire and Tennessee, which adopted an array of provisions to, among other things, 1) expand the type of issues (such as waste of funds) on which employees may make protected disclosures; 2) lengthen the time period for filing complaints of retaliation; and 3) shift the burden of proof back to the employing agency once the employee has made his or her initial case. All of these changes remove legal obstacles for whistleblowers to safely report wrongdoing or successfully combat official harassment after they have blown the whistle. At the same time, states such as Arizona, Kansas and Nevada adopted minor improvements.
"Cash-strapped states see whistleblowers as protectors of taxpayers' pocketbooks," stated PEER Staff Counsel Kathryn Douglass, who compiled the state legislation updates. "This trend transcends red and blue state divisions - whistleblower protection has become a non-partisan, good government issue."
As a result of this trend, many states now afford their employees stronger statutory shields than those covering federal workers, due to a continuing Congressional stalemate stalling federal whistleblower reform legislation for more than a dozen years. Safeguards available in several states that are denied to federal civil servants include statutory shields for government scientists confronting suppression or manipulation of technical findings; "anti-gag" provisions forbidding non-disclosure orders; and several states allow whistleblowers the option of a jury trial, a legal route largely foreclosed to federal workers.
"States are truly breaking new ground in providing safe channels for reporting problems and extending enforceable civil rights against reprisal to those who do so," added Douglass. "These experiments appear to show that states benefit from greater transparency and that strong whistleblower laws pose no threat to the efficient administration of the people's business."
PEER has completed a detailed analysis (displayed on its website) of every state's laws, ranking each on 32 factors affecting the scope of coverage, usefulness and strength of remedies. By these measures, California, the District of Columbia and Tennessee have the strongest whistleblower laws while Georgia, Indiana and South Dakota have the weakest.
Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) is a national alliance of local state and federal resource professionals. PEER's environmental work is solely directed by the needs of its members. As a consequence, we have the distinct honor of serving resource professionals who daily cast profiles in courage in cubicles across the country.
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CBO Provides 'Stark Preview of Healthcare Under Donald Trump'
Millions of Americans could lose coverage if the GOP allows the Affordable Care Act's enhanced premium tax credits to expire.
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As Congress negotiates the extension of Affordable Care Act tax credits, a nonpartisan government analysis warned this week that letting the ACA subsidies expire next year would cause millions of Americans to lose health coverage in the years ahead.
The American Rescue Plan Act "reduced the maximum amount eligible enrollees must contribute toward premiums for health insurance purchased through the marketplaces established by the Affordable Care Act, and it extended eligibility to people whose income is above 400% of the federal poverty level," wrote Congressional Budget Office (CBO) Director Phillip Swagel.
His Thursday letter came in response to an inquiry from U.S. Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) along with Reps. Richard Neal (D-Mass.) and Lauren Underwood (D-Ill.) about "the effects on health insurance coverage and premiums that will result from not extending—either for one year or permanently—the expanded premium tax credit structure."
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"If Congress fails to act, healthcare will become out of reach for millions of Americans, leaving middle-class families to struggle and choose between seeing a doctor or keeping a roof over their heads or groceries in the fridge."
The analysis comes as the world braces for GOP control of Congress and the White House, with President-elect Donald Trump set to be sworn in next month. Since President Barack Obama signed the ACA—also known as Obamacare—in 2010, elected Republicans including Trump have repeatedly tried to gut or fully repeal the law.
In response to the CBO report, Wyden said, "This is a stark preview of healthcare under Donald Trump: higher insurance premiums for families who buy health coverage on their own, and more uninsured Americans who can't afford health insurance at all."
"Republicans have an opportunity to end their ideological crusade against the Affordable Care Act and work in a bipartisan manner to make healthcare more affordable for working families, but instead they seem poised to hand another big tax break to corporations and the wealthy," warned Wyden, the outgoing Senate Finance Committee chair.
In September, Shaheen and Underwood introduced a bill to make the ACA's enhanced premium tax credits permanent. Shaheen said Thursday that the "new data from CBO confirms what we feared: if Congress fails to extend these tax credits, healthcare costs will skyrocket for millions of families and 3.8 million Americans will lose coverage entirely."
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Advocacy groups echoed demands for Congress to at least extend the subsidies following the CBO's findings.
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"Instead of helping hardworking families, Republicans have opposed measures to lower healthcare costs and have instead focused on delivering tax breaks to big corporations and the wealthiest Americans," he continued. "Health coverage gives people peace of mind knowing they won't go bankrupt over an injury or illness. Democrats stand ready to extend the tax credits to ensure everyone has access to affordable healthcare. It's time for Republicans to get on board."
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"Taking into account the cuts in premium assistance, nonpartisan organizations, such as the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, report that people will experience estimated premium increases ranging from 41% to 218%, with a median increase of 91%—a near doubling of their monthly costs," he explained.
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Citing several unnamed sources, The Washington Postreported Friday afternoon that Democrats on Capitol Hill privately proposed a deal to extend the ACA subsidies by a year, which "accompanied a broader package of healthcare proposals submitted to Republicans on Thursday night ahead of year-end spending negotiations."
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Despite efforts to salvage the ACA subsidies due to the pain and economic suffering that would follow if they are not extended, progressives across the board continue to argue that Obamacare—which sends billions of federal dollars to the private insurance industry—is a far inferior solution compared with Medicare for All, which would cover everyone in the United States at a lower overall cost than the current system.
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Between 2015-24, the total wealth of billionaires increased by 121%, from $6.3 trillion to $14 trillion.
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The number of billionaires rose from 1,757 to 2,682 over the past decade, while the wealthiest people in the world boasted significant gains over just the past year.
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As Common Dreams reported this week, the top 12 U.S. billionaires now control $2 trillion. The wealth of the four richest people in the U.S.—Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg—has hit $1 trillion.
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Critics of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's pick to run the Social Security Administration, Frank Bisignano, warned this week that the Wall Street veteran may not be the best choice to run an agency that provides one of America's most important social safety nets.
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