Legislation to strengthen whistleblower protections for federal employees has been introduced in both the House and Senate numerous times over the past 13 years, only to be left without final action from Congress. It's all the more surprising, then, that the latest version of the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act (S. 743) likely will be approved by federal lawmakers before the end of the turbulent 112^th Congress and signed into law by President Obama.

S. 743 as passed by the House Sept. 28 did not include provisions that would give federal whistleblowers the right to jury trials and also left out strengthened protections for national security whistleblowers. But Obama in a presidential policy directive (PPD-19) issued Oct. 10 extended new whistleblower protections to federal national security employees, including employees of the 17 Intelligence Community agencies and those in other agencies who are eligible for access to classified information.

To understand why S. 743 is likely to become law, amending the Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989 for the first time since 1994, it is instructive to see who in Congress the Government Accountability Project, a prominent whistleblower group based in Washington, D.C., credited for the measure's success. In addition to the bill's sponsor, Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii), a long-time supporter of strengthened federal whistleblower rights, the group in a Sept. 28 statement thanked Reps. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and Todd Platts (R-Pa.), who has sponsored the House version of the bill for more than a decade. Other contributors, according to GAP, included House Democrats Chris Van Hollen (Md.) and Elijah Cummings (Md.), Senate Republicans Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), and Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

Although this disparate group of conservatives, liberals, and moderates do not agree on much, they share a common interest in ensuring that federal employees can speak out without fear of retribution when they see instances of fraud, waste, and abuse. Let's hope the 113^th Congress can find other areas of agreement that benefit both taxpayers and federal employees.

In other public sector news:

• The Merit Systems Protection Board issued a final rule implementing substantial revisions to its adjudicatory processes, including provisions that will require federal whistleblowers seeking redress for retaliation to elect one of three means of recovery.

•  The congressional Office of Compliance in its annual report on legislative branch compliance with federal laws said the number of discrimination, harassment, and retaliation claims raised against legislative agencies has risen sharply over the past five years. 

• The Governmental Accounting Standards Board released a fact sheet that GASB said was intended to dispel misperceptions about the government pension accounting standards (statements No. 67 and No. 68) it issued in August. 

• The Occupational Safety and Health Administration updated the factors it uses to measure how effectively states enforce workplace safety and health regulations.