Portantino Bill Would Protect Legislative Whisteblowers

In a measure that would protect legislative staffers from workplace retaliation, Assemblyman Anthony Portantino (D-La Cañada Flintridge) is seeking to offer the same protections to legislative whistleblowers as those already in place for other state agencies, his office announced Monday.

Under AB 1378, anyone found guilty of retaliating against a legislative employee who's blowing the whistle on government fraud and abuse could face fines up to $10,000 and spend a year in county jail.

“Workers should know that when they do the right thing they won’t have to face the threat of retaliation,'' Portantino said in a press release, adding that legislative staffers were exempted from previous measures barring retaliation against whistleblowers.

"Repealing this exemption shows we are serious about finding waste and fraud. It’s the right thing to do,” he said.

Portantino's bill comes days after the state Assembly released records detailing spending by individual legislator offices, following a

Last year, Portantino cast the lone Democratic vote against the state budget, after which he claimed Assembly Speaker . This led to questions about the lower chamber's spending and the lawsuit, filed by the Los Angeles Times and the Sacramento Bee, requesting the records. On Friday, the Sacramento Bee reported the release of the documents on its website.

Judge Timothy Frawley in the case last month, with a written opinion that largely dismissed the arguments of the Assembly that the spending records should be kept hidden from the public.