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Senate Bill Expands Whistleblower Protections For State Employees

Republican Sen. Harry Brown is sponsoring a bill that would add protections for state employees who talk to legislative investigators. Photo courtesy NCGA

The North Carolina Senate is taking a look at tweaking whistleblower protections for state workers. This comes after Governor Roy Cooper's administration discouraged state employees from talking to investigators hired by lawmakers.

Senate Bill 127 cleared the Judiciary Committee on Tuesday. It would add whistleblower protections for employees who provide information to agents conducting inquiries on behalf of legislative panels.

The News and Observer reports the bill was inspired by a legislative committee's investigation into the Cooper administration's approval of permits for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. The panel hired private investigators to interview Department of Environmental Quality employees about the permit process.

Republican Senator Harry Brown is co-chair of that committee and sponsored the whistleblower bill.

He says has still not received any assurance from DEQ they would not take retaliatory action against employees who speak to investigators.

Brown says his bill expands protections currently provided by the state.

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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