Committee reviews Municipal Employee Whistleblower Act; amendments add definitions and narrow some protections

The House Committee on Local Government held a hearing on House Bill 2,160, the Municipal Employee Whistleblower Act, which would extend statutory protections to municipal employees who report certain unlawful conduct. Committee staff and municipal associations described the bill as substantially similar to Senate Bill 120 but amended to add definitions and narrow one disclosure pathway.

Committee reviser Charles briefed members and said the House substitute removed a protection that had allowed disclosure of "a substantial and specific danger to public health or safety to any person, agency, or organization," and added definitions for malfeasance and misappropriation. "As you recall, Senate Bill 120 and also House Bill 2,160... is that 1 of the protections that are extended to municipal employees under both bills is disclosing malfeasance or misappropriation of money," Charles said. He read the committee’s defined terms: malfeasance as "unlawful conduct committed by any member of the…