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S. 795, a Bill to Enhance Whistleblower Protection for Contractor and Grantee Employees 1 (May 27, 2016)

handle is hein.congrec/cbo2934 and id is 1 raw text is: 




                 CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE
                            COST ESTIMATE

                                                                   May  27, 2016


                                    S. 795
                 A bill to enhance  whistleblower   protection
                    for contractor  and grantee  employees

         As ordered reported by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security
                  and Governmental Affairs on February 10, 2016


S. 795 would amend federal law to permanently extend legal protections to certain
nonfederal employees (contractors, subcontractors, grantees, and others employed by
entities that receive federal funds) who report waste, fraud, or abuse involving federal
funds. Specifically, under the bill, anyone who reports the misuse of federal funds could
not be demoted, discharged, or discriminated against because of the disclosure. The current
four-year pilot program that extends those same protections ends in December 2016.

The cost to implement S. 795 would depend on the number of whistleblower claims made
by those nonfederal employees. Evidence from the pilot program that currently protects
certain non-federal employees from such discrimination suggests that the number of such
claims brought by nonfederal employees has totaled less than 20 for each of the 26 major
federal agencies. CBO estimates that implementing S. 795 would cost about $3,000 to
investigate each claim, or about $5 million over the 2017-2021 period. Any such spending
would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds. Enacting the bill could affect
direct spending by agencies not funded through annual appropriations; therefore,
pay-as-you-go procedures apply. CBO estimates, however, that any net increase in
spending by those agencies would be negligible. Enacting S. 795 would not affect
revenues.

CBO  estimates that enacting S. 795 would not increase net direct spending or on-budget
deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2027.

S. 795 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the
Unfunded Mandates  Reform Act and would not affect the budgets of state, local, or tribal
governments.

The CBO  staff contact for this estimate is Matthew Pickford. The estimate was approved
by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy Assistant Director for Budget Analysis.

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