diff --git a/.github/workflows/validate-pr.yml b/.github/workflows/validate-pr.yml
index 8e195dc95..849ead8eb 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/validate-pr.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/validate-pr.yml
@@ -18,16 +18,18 @@ jobs:
       - name: Checkout
         uses: actions/checkout@v4
       - name: Verify PR Title
-        # Pass untrusted values (the PR title) via the environment rather than
-        # direct ${{ }} interpolation, so they are treated as data and cannot
-        # inject shell commands.
+        # Pass untrusted values (the PR title and branch refs) via the
+        # environment rather than direct ${{ }} interpolation, so they are
+        # treated as data and cannot inject shell commands.
         env:
           PR_TITLE: ${{ github.event.pull_request.title }}
           BASE_REF: ${{ github.base_ref }}
+          HEAD_REF: ${{ github.head_ref }}
         run: |
           title="$PR_TITLE"
           title_upper=$(echo "$title" | tr '[:lower:]' '[:upper:]')
           base_ref="$BASE_REF"
+          head_ref="$HEAD_REF"
 
           # Define regex patterns for different types of PR titles
           MAIN2DEV_REGEX="^MAIN2DEV[[:space:]]*:?[[:space:]]*@W-[[:digit:]]{8,9}@.*MERGING.+[[:digit:]]{1,2}\.[[:digit:]]{1,2}\.[[:digit:]]{1,2}.*"
@@ -35,7 +37,7 @@ jobs:
           PR_INTO_DEV_OR_RELEASE_REGEX="^(FIX|CHANGE|NEW)([[:space:]]*\([^)]+\))?[[:space:]]*:?[[:space:]]*@W-[[:digit:]]{8,9}@.+"
 
           # Validate PR title based on base_ref and head_ref
-          if [[ "$base_ref" == "dev" && "${{ startsWith(github.head_ref, 'm2d/') }}" == "true" ]]; then
+          if [[ "$base_ref" == "dev" && "$head_ref" == m2d/* ]]; then
             if [[ ! "$title_upper" =~ $MAIN2DEV_REGEX ]]; then
               echo "::error::Invalid PR title: '$title'. Please follow the format: Main2Dev @W-XXXXXXXX@ Merging.*\d+\.\d+\.\d+"
               exit 1
@@ -45,7 +47,7 @@ jobs:
               echo "::error::Invalid PR title: '$title'. Please follow the format: RELEASE @W-XXXXXXXX@ Summary"
               exit 1
             fi
-          elif [[ "$base_ref" == "dev" || "${{ startsWith(github.base_ref, 'release-') }}" == "true" ]]; then
+          elif [[ "$base_ref" == "dev" || "$base_ref" == release-* ]]; then
             if [[ ! "$title_upper" =~ $PR_INTO_DEV_OR_RELEASE_REGEX ]]; then
               echo "::error::Invalid PR title: '$title'. Please follow the format: FIX|CHANGE|NEW (__) @W-XXXXXXXX@ Summary"
               exit 1
diff --git a/package-lock.json b/package-lock.json
index e1a88ad4c..aee2a8277 100644
--- a/package-lock.json
+++ b/package-lock.json
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 {
 	"name": "@salesforce/plugin-code-analyzer",
-	"version": "5.15.0",
+	"version": "5.16.0",
 	"lockfileVersion": 3,
 	"requires": true,
 	"packages": {
 		"": {
 			"name": "@salesforce/plugin-code-analyzer",
-			"version": "5.15.0",
+			"version": "5.16.0",
 			"license": "BSD-3-Clause",
 			"dependencies": {
 				"@oclif/core": "^4.13.5",
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index aef301a70..c4dfe08be 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
 	"name": "@salesforce/plugin-code-analyzer",
 	"description": "Salesforce Code Analyzer is a unified tool to help Salesforce developers analyze their source code for security vulnerabilities, performance issues, best practices, and more.",
-	"version": "5.15.0",
+	"version": "5.16.0",
 	"author": "Salesforce Code Analyzer Team",
 	"bugs": "https://github.com/forcedotcom/code-analyzer/issues",
 	"type": "module",