Opinion Contributors

The Colorado False Claims Act was just by Gov. Jared Polis on June 7. Come September, it has the potential to root out millions of dollars in fraud — and handsomely reward people who report it.

Whistleblowers have been everywhere this year. Looking at the headlines about Frances Haugen or the Theranos whistleblowers, it would be easy to presume that the majority of entities covering up wrongs are big tech companies. But you don’t have to work at a high-profile Silicon Valley company to be a whistleblower. Fraud happens in all kinds of companies and organizations.

It’s for this reason that the Colorado General Assembly passed the False Claims Act, which was signed by Governor Polis. This new law will allow whistleblowers to act on behalf of the government to stop fraud against the state or local governments by bringing forward evidence that a company or person is defrauding the government. For doing so, Colorado would reward that whistleblower up to 30% of any funds recouped. There is already a whistleblower reward program in Colorado, but it is limited to certain kinds of healthcare fraud.

If the new Colorado law proves as effective as the federal statute it was modeled after, tips from whistleblowers could return hundreds of millions of dollars to Colorado taxpayers. New Jersey netted $147 million in the first 10 years after the Garden State passed a similar law.

The expanded law opens up the opportunity for nearly anyone who discovers fraud in the...

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