SENATE BILL No. 428

      An Act relating to certain communications by employees of state agencies; prohibiting
      certain acts and providing remedies; amending K.S.A. 75-2973 and repealing the existing
      section.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Kansas:

    Section 1. K.S.A. 75-2973 is hereby amended to read as follows:
75-2973. (a) This section shall be known and may be cited as the Kansas
whistleblower act.

    (b) As used in this section:

    (1) ``Auditing agency'' means the (A) legislative post auditor, (B) any
employee of the division of post audit, (C) any firm performing audit
services pursuant to a contract with the post auditor, or (D) any state
agency or federal agency or authority performing auditing or other over-
sight activities under authority of any provision of law authorizing such
activities.

    (2) ``Disciplinary action'' means any dismissal, demotion, transfer,
reassignment, suspension, reprimand, warning of possible dismissal or
withholding of work.

    (3) ``State agency'' and ``firm'' have the meanings provided by K.S.A.
46-1112 and amendments thereto.

    (c) No supervisor or appointing authority of any state agency shall
prohibit any employee of the state agency from discussing the operations
of the state agency or other matters of public concern, including matters
relating to the public health, safety and welfare either specifically or gen-
erally, with any member of the legislature or any auditing agency.

    (b) (d) No supervisor or appointing authority of any state agency shall:

    (1) Prohibit any employee of the state agency from reporting any
violation of state or federal law or rules and regulations to any person,
agency or organization; or

    (2) require any such employee to give notice to the supervisor or
appointing authority prior to making any such report.

    (c) (e) This section shall not be construed as:

    (1) Prohibiting a supervisor or appointing authority from requiring
that an employee inform the supervisor or appointing authority as to leg-
islative or auditing agency requests for information to the state agency or
the substance of testimony made, or to be made, by the employee to
legislators or the auditing agency, as the case may be, on behalf of the
state agency;

    (2) permitting an employee to leave the employee's assigned work
areas during normal work hours without following applicable rules and
regulations and policies pertaining to leaves, unless the employee is re-
quested by a legislator or legislative committee to appear before a legis-
lative committee or by an auditing agency to appear at a meeting with
officials of the auditing agency;

    (3) authorizing an employee to represent the employee's personal
opinions as the opinions of a state agency; or

    (4) prohibiting disciplinary action of an employee who discloses in-
formation which: (A) The employee knows to be false or which the em-
ployee discloses with reckless disregard for its truth or falsity, (B) the
employee knows to be exempt from required disclosure under the open
records act or (C) is confidential or privileged under any other provision
of law statute or court rule.

    (d) (f) Any officer or employee of a state agency who is in the clas-
sified service and has permanent status under the Kansas civil service act
may appeal to the state civil service board whenever the officer or em-
ployee alleges that disciplinary action was taken against the officer or
employee in violation of this act or in any court of law or administrative
hearing. The appeal shall be filed within 30 days of 90 days after the
alleged disciplinary action. Procedures governing the appeal shall be in
accordance with subsections (f) and (g) of K.S.A. 75-2949 and amend-
ments thereto and K.S.A. 75-2929d through 75-2929g and amendments
thereto. If the board finds that disciplinary action taken was unreasonable,
the board shall modify or reverse the agency's action and order such relief
for the employee as the board considers appropriate. If the board finds
a violation of this act, it may require as a penalty that the violator be
suspended on leave without pay for not more than 30 days or, in cases of
willful or repeated violations, may require that the violator forfeit the
violator's position as a state officer or employee and disqualify the violator
for appointment to or employment as a state officer or employee for a
period of not more than two years. The board may award the prevailing
party all or a portion of the costs of the proceedings before the board,
including reasonable attorney fees and witness fees. The decision of the
board in such cases pursuant to this subsection may be appealed by any
party pursuant to law. On appeal, the court may award the prevailing
party all or a portion of the costs of the appeal, including reasonable
attorney fees and witness fees.

    (e) (g) Each state agency shall prominently post a copy of this act in
locations where it can reasonably be expected to come to the attention
of all employees of the state agency.

    (f) As used in this section ``disciplinary action'' means any dismissal,
demotion, transfer, reassignment, suspension, reprimand, warning of pos-
sible dismissal or withholding of work.

    (g) (h) Any officer or employee who is in the unclassified service
under the Kansas civil service act who alleges that disciplinary action has
been taken against such officer or employee in violation of this section
may bring a civil an action for appropriate injunctive relief, or actual
damages, or both pursuant to the act for judicial review and civil enforce-
ment of agency actions within 90 days after the occurrence of the alleged
violation. A court, in rendering a judgment in an action brought pursuant
to this act, shall order, as the court considers appropriate, reinstatement
of the officer or employee, the payment of back wages, full reinstatement
of fringe benefits and seniority rights, actual damages, or any combination
of these remedies. A The court may also award such officer or employee
award the prevailing party in the action all or a portion of the costs of
litigation the action, including reasonable attorney fees and witness fees.

    (i) Nothing in this section shall be construed to authorize disclosure
of any information or communication that is confidential or privileged
under statute or court rule.

    Sec. 2. K.S.A. 75-2973 is hereby repealed.

    Sec. 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its
publication in the Kansas register.

I hereby certifiy that the above Bill originated in the
Senate, and passed that body

__________________________________

__________________________________

President of the Senate.

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Secretary of the Senate.

Passed the House __________________________

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Speaker of the House.

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Chief Clerk of the House.

Approved__________________________________

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Governor.