Senate ‘Protect Commerce’ Bill Would Silence Whistleblowers, Critics Say | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's note: The author of this post is Barry Smith, who is an author for the Carolina Journal, John Hood Publisher.

    Backers of S.B. 648 say secret videos, documents must be turned over quickly

    RALEIGH     Lawmakers are considering a bill that critics say would stifle the actions of whistleblowers trying to uncover wrongdoing by North Carolina businesses.

    The bill, Senate Bill 648, introduced by Sen. Brent Jackson, R-Sampson, would create an employment fraud civil offense. It would be unlawful for a potential whistleblower to fail to disclose information for the purpose of gaining employment that the applicants may produce recordings or images within the business.

    It also would require any such recordings or documentation to be turned over to law enforcement agencies within 24 hours. Failure to do so would be a crime.

    Initial violations would be subject to a $10,000 fine. Subsequent violations would be subject to $50,000 fines.

    The bill has passed the Senate Commerce Committee and now resides in the Senate Rules Committee. If approved there, it could hit the Senate floor later in the week.

    Gary Salamido, vice president of government affairs for the North Carolina Chamber, which supports the bill, said the bill is aimed at trying to deter people who want to damage a business from getting a job with the company.

    Nancy Perry, senior vice president for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said the bill would move North Carolina in the wrong direction.

    Perry said the legislation would hamper efforts by people who want to expose abuses. Opponents have said that had this legislation been in effect in 2007, animal abuse at a turkey farm in Raeford might not have been uncovered, and hidden-camera investigations of the Butterball turkey farms in 2011 and 2012 might have gone undetected.

    Salamido said that the bill seeks to prevent people from photographing or photocopying images or documents and selling or providing it to competitors.

    He said that if someone is trying to expose wrongdoing, then that evidence should be turned over to authorities immediately.

    "An active investigation could be triggered by turning over that evidence," Salamido said. "Why would you not want to stop that issue right away? Why would you wait?"

    Perry said that the bill is clearly targeted at whistleblowers. A lot of people conducting investigations need to perform actions that would be prohibited in the legislation, she said.

    The bill makes it illegal for a person seeking employment to fail to disclose that he or she is trying to gain access to create or produce photographs or video or audio recordings. It also prohibits a person from copying or downloading data, records, or other documents, including images and email.

    Perry said the provision requiring documents to be turned over to local authorizes within 24 hours could hamper ongoing investigations.

    "So often when there are abuses of the animals, it can be dismissed as one bad apple," Perry said. "Showing a pattern in an ongoing problem is really critical to bringing enforcement of that problem."

    Monday, Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam vetoed a bill containing a similar reporting provision passed by that state's legislature. Haslam, a Republican, cited constitutional concerns by the state's attorney general. The Tennessee bill would have required people obtaining the documents to turn them over to law enforcement within 48 hours, instead of the 24 hours in the bill before the N.C. Senate.