H.B. 73 Public Employee Retaliatory Action Amendments

What this bill does

The bill would add filing a complaint with a professional licensing body to the list of actions treated as retaliation against state employees who report government wrongdoing. It would also shift the burden of proof in retaliation cases so the employer, rather than the employee, must show that it did not retaliate.

Plain-English summary written by AI from the sponsor’s presentation in committee and on the floor. Check the official text below.

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Every vote

• 71 yes, 0 no, 4 absentFinal House vote · Jan 23, 2026Who voted how
• 5 yes, 0 no, 2 absentSenate Government Operations and Political Subdivisions Committee: vote to approve it · Jan 28, 2026Who voted how
• 24 yes, 0 no, 5 absentFirst of two Senate votes · Feb 4, 2026Who voted how
• 24 yes, 0 no, 5 absentFinal Senate vote · Mar 5, 2026Who voted how

Hearings and debates

• Jan 23, 2026 House floor debate▶ Watch
  Transcript (7 turns)

  1. Reading Clerk17:48

     House Bill 73. Public Employee Matter. Reading. Just

  2. Speaker Pro Tem (presiding)17:52

     a moment. So we actually skipped a bill. We're gonna go back and do the go ahead matter. Reading Clerk

  3. Reading Clerk17:56

     House Bill 73, public Employee Retaliatory Action Amendments by Representative Walter.

  4. Speaker Pro Tem (presiding)18:04

     Representative Walter.

  5. Rep. R. Neil Walter18:07

     Thank you Mr. Speaker. Uh, appreciate working through that. Uh, brief confusion. We're, uh, appreciate the opportunity to talk about House Bill 73 public employee retaliation, retaliatory Action Amendments. Uh, this is a bill that was, uh, heard in, uh, rules review in general government. Um, uh, during the interim, uh, this bill is not creating a new section. We're adding one specific provision that would, uh, protect, uh, individuals who are reporting wrongdoing or, um, illegal activities, um, misuse of public funds. Uh, we're adding one provision that simply says that as, uh, that that if the action of reporting an individual to a, who has a license to their licensing body is done in a retaliatory manner or in an effort to stop them from reporting the illegal activity, then uh, that would also be covered under the, uh, retaliatory action Amendment statute. So it's very simple. Bill, that concludes my presentation.

  6. Speaker Pro Tem (presiding)19:11

     Thank you Representative Walter. Discussion to the bill. I see none. Representative Walter for summation. All waive. Thank you. Mr. Speaker Summation is waived. Voting is open on house Bill 73, public employee retaliatory election for action amendments. Seeing all present, having voted voting will be closed. House bill 73 having received 71 yay votes and zero nay votes passes the house will be transmitted to the Senate for their consideration. Representative Hansen.

  7. Rep. Leah Hansen20:51

     Thank you Speaker Pro tem. Point of uh, personal privilege.

• Jan 28, 2026 Senate Government Operations and Political Subdivisions Committee▶ Watch
  Transcript (17 turns)

  1. Chair Winterton (presiding)2:28:21

     Your time. Okay. We got House Bill 73, public employee retaliatory action amendments represented. Walters, you've been very, very patient to sit here the whole meeting. Oh,

  2. Rep. Neil Walter2:28:36

     Good. Uh, chair Winterton. I've been pacing out in the hall for an hour.

  3. Chair Winterton (presiding)2:28:40

     Well, you made room for somebody else. That's

  4. Rep. Neil Walter2:28:42

     Right. No, I'm, I'm joking. I'm very happy to be here. Appreciate the committee's time. I know you've had a long day today. I'm happy to be here for, uh, house Bill 73 public educ public employee Retaliatory Action Amendments. This is, bill was heard in the, uh, rules review and government oversight committee during interim. Um, it passed unanimously there. Uh, the bill's very simple. Uh, what it does is it adds one additional provision to the section of code that, uh, defines retaliatory action by an employer. So, if this, if an employee of the state or a, a state entity, if, uh, there's an individual that is reporting, uh, gross negligence, uh, misuse of public funds or et cetera, it adds one additional item. It says that adding, uh, sorry, filing a complaint against the employee to a person that licenses the employee to the practice of a profession, um, or perform other types of work, would be added so that an individual who is essentially acting as a whistleblower would be protected from having, um, their, uh, professional license targeted, targeted as a retaliatory act for reporting, um, for reporting that, uh, government abuse. That's all the bill does.

  5. Chair Winterton (presiding)2:29:57

     Thank you. All right. Back to the committee. Any, uh, clarifying questions? Seeing none. Let's, oh, okay. Senator Bus,

  6. Sen. Emily Buss2:30:08

     Um, does this also apply to like, mental health professionals that are state employed, like at the state mental health hospital?

  7. Rep. Neil Walter2:30:15

     So this employee, so this is a good question. It employee, it, it applies to any employee of the state. If they were to report, um, wrongdoing as a whistleblower, right? Then what would happen is they would, there would be, um, if, if there was a retaliatory act, for example, firing them would be retaliatory. Um, denying, uh, an earned promotion is one of the things that's, uh, provisioned there, reporting them to a li professional licensing body to try and have their license taken so they couldn't continue their employment. That would be considered a retaliatory act. That's the provision we added.

  8. Sen. Emily Buss2:30:51

     Okay. Um, I just wanted to bring forward, I received a few concerns from, uh, some mental health professionals about that because sometimes there are unethical mental health providers, um, and if they are reporting with something as a whistleblower, they're still not able to have something reported against their license, even if it's has nothing to do with being a whistleblower itself, if that makes sense.

  9. Rep. Neil Walter2:31:15speaker not certain

     Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Thank you for your question. I, I appreciate That.

  10. Chair Winterton (presiding)2:31:20

      Okay. We didn't see, is there anyone here in the public want to speak to this one? All right. Seeing none. Back to the committee.

  11. Sen. Evan J. Vickers2:31:30

      Senator Vickers, thank Mr. Chair. I would make a motion that we would favorably recommend HB 73 discussion.

  12. Chair Winterton (presiding)2:31:38

      Okay. Let's go back to the sponsor for summation.

  13. Rep. Neil Walter2:31:41speaker not certain

      Thank you, Mr. Chair. Waive. Senator Vickers, I'll waive as well. Okay.

  14. Chair Winterton (presiding)2:31:46

      All those in favor of house bill 73 out favorably say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay. That is unanimous.

  15. Rep. Neil Walter2:31:55speaker not certain

      Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Appreciate the senate, the, um, committee's time. Okay.

  16. Sen. Evan J. Vickers2:32:01

      One final motion. Motion to adjourn. Motion to adjourn.

  17. Chair Winterton (presiding)2:32:05

      Non-debatable. All in favor say aye. Aye. We are adjourned.

• Feb 4, 2026 Senate floor debate▶ Watch
  Transcript (7 turns)

  1. Rep. Neil Walter57:30

     Thank you Mr. President. Uh, this bill is a result of the General Government Oversight Committee and Rules Review Committee this last, uh, this last summer. Uh, as we're digging through trying to, um, deal with whistle blowing and retaliatory actions by employers, what we found is that there was a presumption, uh, in the code that made it such, that made it really difficult for an employee. Uh, it shifted the burden in an unnecessary way to an employee that made it hard for, uh, made it hard for the employee itself to ever prove that there was retaliatory action taken against the employer. And so the purpose of this bill is, uh, is to deal with, um, to deal with that complaint, uh, and deal with that burden, uh, that's placed on, uh, on the employee. Uh, with that, Mr. President, I'm happy to yield for, uh, questions.

  2. Sen. Ronald M. Winterton (presiding)58:26

     Thank you for that presentation. Is there discussion to this bill? There's none. So Senator McKay back to you for summation or a Motion. Thank you. And some

  3. Sen. Daniel McCay58:35

     I'll, um, uh, I I'll just highlight, uh, tomorrow, uh, uh, when we deal with this on third, there's an amendment that's being, uh, being drafted, uh, that puts some additional consideration in here for, uh, for dealing with employees, um, that, that is cleaning up an issue that, uh, we didn't draft as carefully as we could have last year. So that will be an amendment probably in the bill tomorrow. Um, but for that purpose, I'll, I'll make the motion that we move, uh, that we read House Bill 73 for a third time. And the question is, shall house bill 73 be read for a third time? Roll call vote.

  4. Unknown speaker59:14speaker not certain

     Senator Vickers Baldry Lewin Brammer Bus comore as Camilla Fillmore Fillmore Aye. Grover Harper Aye. Kinins Ipson Johnson. Aye. K Juab McKay Aye. Mikel Aye. Milner Musselman Owens pitcher Plum Rebe Sandal Aye. Stevenson Stratton Aye. Vickers Aye. Er Aye. Wilson. Aye.

  5. Sen. Ronald M. Winterton (presiding)1:00:01

     Winterton, president Adams House Bill 73. Having received 24 yay votes, zero na votes. Five Bing absent will be read for a third time. Senator Sandall.

  6. Sen. Derrin Sandall1:00:15

     Thank you Mr. President. Vote ProAm Motion to, to table on third house Bill 73. Yes. House Bill 73 for fiscal impact.

  7. Sen. Ronald M. Winterton (presiding)1:00:26

     Discussion on the motion to table on third saying None. All in favor of tabling on Thirds House. Bill 73 say, aye. Aye. Any opposed? I'll rule that passes. The bill is tabled on third house Bill,

• Mar 5, 2026 Senate floor debate▶ Watch
  Transcript (14 turns)

  1. Rep. R. Neil Walter1:56:07

     Thank you. This is actually a bill that came out of the, um, general Government Oversight Committee. Uh, when we met this last summer, uh, in working with, uh, some of the employees that were there for whistleblower purposes, we, um, uh, after they came forward to, uh, address some issues and report on issues that they were seeing, uh, they subsequently, um, had some issues come up with their licensing. Uh, and as a result, uh, of that licensing concern, uh, this brought up, you know, the prohibition or the idea that an employer might take retaliatory action at the state level against an employee or even at the local level trying to have their license taken away for some behavior that wasn't related to whistle blowing, but it looks like retaliation in the way the statute was drafted before. If this bill pa before this bill pa, um, before this bill was proposed, it says that this, uh, that it is the employee's responsibility or burden to prove that it wasn't retaliation. Well, we all know that that was very hard to prove. Uh, and it, this all, all this does is shifts that burden and makes it so that it's the employer's responsibility to prove that they're the ones that isn't, that aren't retaliating. Once you overcome that presumption, uh, it's easy to, uh, you know, then the, the, the court case would proceed on its merits. Um, and this was, uh, you know, came unanimously out of our committee. Uh, and I think is a very meaningful PO policy for, uh, to help protect state employees and local municipal county, you know, government employees throughout the state so that they're protected from retaliatory actions as a result of potentially losing their, their license, um, with, uh, to, you know, to for their profession. With that, Mr. President, I'm happy to yield for questions.

  2. Senate President (presiding)1:58:00

     Senator McKay you up? I have not seen anybody up for questions. Senator McKay?

  3. Sen. Daniel McCay1:58:06

     Yeah. Thank you very much. With that, Mr. President, I will, under suspension of the rules, I'll move that house. Bill 73 public employee retaliatory action Amendments pass.

  4. Senate President (presiding)1:58:14

     Thank you. And the question is, under suspended, the suspension of the rules shall house bill 73 pass, roll call vote.

  5. Senate clerk1:58:20

     Senator Vickers Baldry Bwin Reer Bus Cullimore Escamilla Fillmore Grover Harper Kins Ipson Johnson. Quan McKay. Mikel Milner Musselman Owens Pitcher Lum Rebi Sandal Stevenson Stratton Vickers. Weiler Wilson Wilson. Aye. Winterton Baldy aye. President Adams

  6. Senate President (presiding)1:59:07

     Aye. House bill 73, having received 24 yay votes, his zero nay votes, five being absent, passes his body and will be signed by the president returned to the house for the signature of the speaker. Senator Stevenson,

  7. Sen. Jerry W Stevenson1:59:28

     You I apologize for the fiasco. I actually, when I started this, I, we wrote the alcohol bill in place of the tobacco tax and, uh, it's pretty easy to get confused when you have a lot of vices you deal with. Um, Mr. President, I'm not,

  8. Senate President (presiding)1:59:45speaker not certain

     You, you, you're the, you're the man that can do it though, Senator. So

  9. Sen. Jerry W Stevenson1:59:48

     I need to introduce the six substitute and

  10. Senate President (presiding)1:59:51

      I'll listen. Okay, well, let's uncer first so we, okay. Let's Uncer circle. Uh, Okay. We have a motion to circle.

  11. Sen. Jerry W Stevenson1:59:56

      I'll bill three 30. Substitute house bill. Uh, 3 3 7. 3 3 7. Fifth. Substitute 3, 3, 7.

  12. Senate President (presiding)2:00:02

      All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Roll. That motion passes a fist substitutes there.

  13. Sen. Jerry W Stevenson2:00:08

      I'm going to introduce the six substitute, but all that does is take out the product of moist snuff, which is the cans that kids used to carry around their back pocket.

  14. Senate President (presiding)2:00:19speaker not certain

      Thank you. So motion to substitute. All in favor say Aye.