A bill that would expand state employee and state agency whistleblower protections for contractors was passed unanimously by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday.
Senate Bill 947, authored by Senate Minority Leader Scott Wilk (R-Santa Clarita), would expand protections of the California Whistleblower Protection Act. Currently, the Act protects state employees, University of California employees, California State University employees, court employees, and applicants for such employment for having made a protected disclosure against acts of reprisal, retaliation, threats, coercion or other similar acts. Under SB 947, which was introduced in February, the protections would be expanded to include private entities awarded no-bid contracts over $5 million and their employees.
The bill was amended Tuesday before the vote from private entities awarded no-bid contracts over $25 million and their employees, greatly increasing the scope of contractors who would be protected.
Wilk wrote the bill due to contractors working for the state experiencing wrongdoings by state agencies and entities in recent years. Most notably, contractors from Perkin Elmer who were working at the Valencia Branch Laboratory with a contract worth nearly $2 billion had blown the whistle on COVID-19 testing activities that failed to provide timely and adequate testing results. Despite bringing the matter to public attention, the state quickly dropped the contract with Perkin Elmer over the whistleblowing,...
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