WASHINGTON, D.C.— U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) and U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Commerce, Science, and transportation Committee, today reintroduced legislation (S. 304), the Motor Vehicle Safety Whistleblower Act. The bill creates incentives for employees from the automotive sector to voluntarily provide information on faulty products to the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to prevent serious physical injuries and death. Commerce Committee members Sens. Dean Heller (R-Nev.), Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) joined Thune and Nelson as original cosponsors.

The Thune-Nelson bill would allow employees or contractors of motor vehicle manufacturers, part suppliers, and dealerships to receive up to 30 percent of the monetary penalties resulting from a DOT or U.S. Department of Justice enforcement action that totals more than $1 million if they share original information not previously known to the DOT relating to any motor vehicle defect, noncompliance, or any violation of reporting requirements that is likely to cause risk of death or serious injury.

“This legislation rewards whistleblowers who bring information exposing serious consumer safety hazards in the auto industry to light,” said Thune. “As we have witnessed with the record recalls last year, including nearly 30 million from General Motors alone there has been a serious lack of accountability and responsibility for known safety defects. Had these defects been brought to light earlier, tragic incidents could have been avoided. This bill adds a common sense mechanism to better protect the traveling public.”

“The more people we can get to come forward to report dangerous safety defects, the more lives we can hopefully save,” said Nelson.

The Thune-Nelson bill takes into account whether or not the whistleblower had the opportunity to report the problems internally, as well as the significance of the information. It will also protect whistleblowers’ identities. The legislation, which was first introduced last November, is modeled after existing statutory whistleblower protections that encourage individuals to share information with the Internal Revenue Service and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Click here for the text of S. 304.

###