Live Panel - Zoom
Scheduled:
July 29, 2021
4:00 PM EST

Zoom Link (click on the title of the panel below to go to the live panel):
https://filmfestivalflix.com/zoom-meetings/working-more-effectively-with-congress/

The goal for this workshop is analogous to that for the OSC panel – grounding in realistic expectations, tactics for best obtaining support, and success stories that illustrate the potential. It also will include an introduction to the impressive body of work to help whistleblowers most effectively navigate Congress from the House Office of Whistleblower Ombuds during its first year. Finally, it will review the most significant of 36 campaigns by the Make It Safe Coalition this Congress for stronger free speech laws, including – 1) the Whistleblower Protection Improvement Act to finish the work left undone in the 2012 Whistleblower Protection Improvement Act. This Congress is our campaign for the final teeth that finally make the WPA a credible free speech shield. 2) Covid 19 WPA – to provide more teeth for all contractor whistleblowers, such as protection against civil and criminal liability. 3) Law enforcement whistleblower protections to enforce new controls on police abuses; 4) Overhaul of the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection; 5) Restoration and upgrade of corporate whistleblower rights in the Dodd Frank Act; and 6) makeover of Intelligence Community whistleblower rights. Panelists will come from staff who are the front lines of working relationships with whistleblowers. Invited panelists will come from a pool that includes staff from the House and Senate Whistleblower Caucuses, the House Whistleblower Ombuds, and from the minority and majority staffs of the congressional committees that oversee the WPA -- Senate Homeland Security Committee and House Committee on Oversight and Reform.

Panelists:
Tom Devine (Moderator)

Rachel Marshall – Senator Jackie Speier’s Office and a front lines leader both for nearly all the significant pending legislation and for casework.

Danny Boatright – Senator Grassley’s Office and Judiciary Committee, who specializes in working with/overseeing OIG’s, including their partnerships with whistleblowers.

Shanna Devine – Director, House Whistleblower Ombuds, who will summarize insights for best working relationships based on their standards and training for congressional offices working with wbers, and summarize their website’s resources for whistleblowers to better understand their rights.