Local Lawmaker Resurrects Bill to Protect Whistleblowers

LAKE ELSINORE, CA- A Riverside County lawmaker Thursday re-introduced a bill seeking to establish protections for legislative staffers who report ethics or other breaches by their bosses.

Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez, R-Lake Elsinore, said Assembly Bill 1788 was needed to “ensure there is a zero tolerance policy when it comes to corruption.”

“We must create an environment where legislative staff feels comfortable reporting unethical behavior without fear of retribution,” she said.

AB 1788 is a repeat of AB 289, the “Legislative Employee Whistleblower Protection Act,” which was axed by the Senate Committee on Appropriations after its chairman, Sen. Ricardo Lara, D-South Gate, refused to bring the measure up for a vote. AB 289 had received unanimous support in the Assembly last May.

Melendez asked for her colleagues to “put the integrity of the government ahead of politics” and approve AB 1788.

It would entitle legislators’ staff members to the same protections afforded employees in state agencies and the courts under the Whistleblower Protection Act of 1999.

According to the proposal, staffers would be free to file ethics complaints or other official allegations of wrongdoing by lawmakers without fear of retaliation.

Melendez said she wanted provisions of existing law to be universally applied, so that any member of the Legislature or his or her agent would be subject to penalties for using “official authority or influence for the purpose of intimidating, threatening, coercing or commanding” a whistleblower who might be dissuaded from exposing misdeeds.

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Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez represents the 67th Assembly District, which includes the communities of Lake Elsinore, Canyon Lake, Murrieta, Menifee, Wildomar and a portion of Hemet. It also includes the Riverside County unincorporated areas of Lake Mathews, Good Hope, Nuevo, and Winchester.

– By City News Service.

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