<Home
Michigan House Republicans
Democrat leadership backs Glenn whistleblower protection bill
RELEASE|September 17, 2020

Lawmaker’s IT reform legislation wins unanimous Senate vote on same day

LANSING – Rep. Annette Glenn, R-Midland, appeared Wednesday to have broken a year-long partisan log jam between competing versions of Democratic and Republican legislation to strengthen protections for state employee whistleblowers who report misuse of state funds, violations of state law, or other official misconduct by the state agencies for whom they work.


The House Government Operations Committee – comprised of top legislative leaders of each party – unanimously approved Glenn’s House Bill 5981, which would create an official State Employee Ombudsman to receive and refer whistleblower complaints to appropriate administrative or law enforcement authorities while protecting the identity of state employees submitting the complaints.


“A couple instances I could imagine state employees coming forward to report mismanagement of funds or misconduct within a state department,” Glenn told committee members in testimony explaining her bill, “are the Flint water crisis and the Unemployment Insurance Agency fraud, which included money changing hands in order to move someone’s application up in line.”


“Unfortunately,” Glenn said, “state employees do still fear they will lose their jobs or be reprimanded if they come forward with information or allegations that could help improve the way departments operate, save state tax dollars, and potentially even save lives.”


After her testimony, Glenn –  the sole sponsor of the bill – was questioned by House Democratic Leader Christine Greig, D-Farmington Hills, and House Democratic Floor Leader Yousef Rabhi, D-Ann Arbor, who last year had cosponsored a similar Democratic version of the legislation.


Greig noted in her questioning that the bill’s passage would fulfill a recommendation by an oversight panel appointed to investigate the Flint water crisis, but asked Glenn for an estimate of the new ombudsman’s impact on the state budget.


Glenn, who serves as chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Military & Veterans Affairs, responded that the new state employee whistleblower ombudsman would cost an estimated $300,000 a year, pointing to the similar cost of a new veterans ombudsman office created by lawmakers.


“But honestly, if this had helped prevent the Flint water crisis, it would have saved us a lot more money than the $300,000,” Glenn said. “I look at this as one of those cases where it’s worth the money now to save money later and have more transparency in government. Solve issues when they’re small instead of waiting until they’re large.”


The total cost to state taxpayers of the Flint water crisis could exceed $1 billion for providing bottled water to city residents, replacing corroded water lines, and paying damages agreed to in settlement of a lawsuit by Flint residents.

 
Glenn also assured Rabhi that she was happy to discuss with him, before final passage by the House, possible changes to further strengthen the bill’s protections against disclosing a whistleblower’s identity.

 
After her response to their questions, both Democratic leaders voted in favor of Glenn’s legislation.


Glenn noted, as reported by the Midland Daily News on July 31st, that “Gov. Whitmer vetoed a bill that would’ve offered protection to state employees who report suspicious activity, which passed the House and Senate with unanimous bipartisan support.” https://www.ourmidland.com/news/article/Glenn-introduces-plan-to-nbsp-create-ombudsman-to-15448565.php  

“My legislation is taking another run at reform from a different angle,” Glenn said at the time, “not only helping create greater transparency between state government and the taxpayers who fund it, but ensuring whistleblowers who report bureaucratic misconduct or incompetence to the new ombudsman in confidence are protected from reprisal.”


Senate unanimously approves Glenn’s IT reform

Also Wednesday, the state Senate unanimously approved Glenn’s legislation to reform the state’s Information Technology software procurement process, part of a bipartisan five-piece legislative package introduced by two other House Republicans and three House Democrats.


Glenn’s House Bill 5494 would require the state to establish and document a process for accounting for and monitoring project costs, including cost overruns, change orders, and projects that exceed one fiscal year, in alignment with industry best practices; ensure that spending is accurately tracked and accounted for, including total project costs and spending for contractors, state employees, hardware, software, and maintenance; ensure that the legislature is informed of changes to the scope or budget of a project as required by law, and ensure that appropriations specific to system-related contracts or projects are only spent on the development and maintenance of that particular system.


The legislative package was the product of a bipartisan Information Technology Task Force, to which Glenn was appointed last year by Speaker of the House Lee Chatfield.


Glenn told the Midland Daily News in February that “there is a long list of the state’s IT failures with projects that cost millions more than they should, all while delivering poor service to customers.”

https://www.ourmidland.com/news/article/Midland-lawmaker-issues-IT-task-force-report-15040240.php

“Some of the issues I feel strongly about are helping put an end to human trafficking and helping children in abusive homes get the help they need,” Glenn said at the time. “That’s why I was alarmed when I learned the system related to trafficking and child abuse cases through the Department of Health and Human Services system cost $231 million in the past several years, yet continued to have persistent and significant errors.”


She also noted that 40,000 Michigan residents were victimized and wrongfully accused of fraud between 2013 and 2015 by a faulty computer system used by the Unemployment Insurance Agency, and that a failed Secretary of State computer system overhaul started in 2005 resulted in service issues, lawsuits, and cost overruns.

Glenn’s bill and the rest of the bipartisan IT reform package now go to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for her expected signature.

PHOTO INFORMATION: Rep. Annette Glenn, R-Midland, is shown before the House Government Operations Committee on Wednesday, explaining her bill to protect state employee whistleblowers.

Michigan House Republicans

© 2009 - 2024 Michigan House Republicans. All Rights Reserved.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.