AUSTIN — Government whistleblower protections would be expanded under a bill the Texas House passed Wednesday.
The state has a loophole in its Whistleblower Act that bars government entities from retaliating against public employees who report violations of law in good faith, Rep. Chris Turner, D-Grand Prairie, said.
Current law doesn’t protect a city employee who reports a city council member for violating the law. Turner’s House Bill 1232 would extend protections to public employees who report an elected official employed by a government entity.
“This bill is a narrow bill that protects state and local public servants who report violations of law by elected officials,” Turner said Wednesday.
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At a committee hearing earlier this month, a former Denton employee testified that he was fired after reporting a city council member for leaking documents.
“I am exactly the type of person the Whistleblower Act and this legislation should protect,” said Mike Grim, former executive manager of Denton Municipal Electric.
Grim was one of two Denton Municipal Electric employees who were fired 10 months after reporting a then-city council member to the city attorney in 2016 for allegedly unlawfully leaking private vendor information on a controversial power plant to a reporter.
Termination letters indicated they were fired...
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