117th CONGRESS 1st Session |
To amend title 5, United States Code, to protect Federal employees from retaliation for the lawful use of Federal records, and for other purposes.
March 18, 2021
Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney of New York (for herself and Mr. Connolly) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform
To amend title 5, United States Code, to protect Federal employees from retaliation for the lawful use of Federal records, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
This Act may be cited as the “Federal Employee Access to Information Act”.
SEC. 2. Protections against retaliation for lawful use of Federal records by Federal employees.
(a) Protection against retaliation.—Section 2302(b)(9) of title 5, United States Code, is amended—
(1) in subparagraph (C), by striking “or” at the end;
(2) in subparagraph (D), by inserting “or” after the semicolon; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
“(E) the employee or applicant for employment—
“(i) making a request for information pursuant to section 552 (commonly referred to as the ‘Freedom of Information Act’) or subsection (d) of section 552a (commonly referred to as the ‘Privacy Act of 1974’); or
“(ii) pursuing any administrative or judicial action with respect to such request, including seeking assistance or to engage in dispute resolution, as described in section 552.”.
(1) TITLE 5.—Sections 1214, 1215(a)(3)(B), 1221, 2302, and 7703 of title 5, United States Code, are amended by striking “or (D)” in each instance and inserting “(D), or (E)”.
(2) WHISTLEBLOWER PROTECTION ENHANCEMENT ACT OF 2012.—Section 116(b)(1)(A) of the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2012 (Public Law 112–199) is amended by striking “or (D)” and inserting “(D), or (E)”.