S. 448 (111th): Free Flow of Information Act of 2009

Introduced:
Feb 13, 2009 (111th Congress, 2009–2010)
Sponsor:
Sen. Arlen Specter [D-PA]
Status:
Died (Reported by Committee)

The bill’s title was written by the bill’s sponsor. S. stands for Senate bill.

(About Ads | Go Ad-Free for $5)
Status

This bill was introduced on December 10, 2009, in a previous session of Congress, but was not enacted.

Progress
Introduced Feb 13, 2009
Referred to Committee Feb 13, 2009
Reported by Committee Dec 10, 2009
Cosponsors
15 cosponsors (11D, 3R, 1I) (show)
Committees

Senate Judiciary

The committee chair determines whether a bill will move past the committee stage.

Full Title

A bill to maintain the free flow of information to the public by providing conditions for the federally compelled disclosure of information by certain persons connected with the news media.

Summary

No summaries available.

Text

Read Bill Text »

Last updated Feb 13, 2009.
28 pages

Primary Source

View on THOMAS (The Library of Congress)

GovTrack gets most information from THOMAS, which is updated generally one day after events occur. Activity since the last update may not be reflected here.

Citation

Click a format for a citation suggestion:

GovTrack’s Bill Summary

We don’t have a summary available yet.

Library of Congress Summary

The summary below was written by the Congressional Research Service, which is a nonpartisan division of the Library of Congress.

2/13/2009--Introduced.
Free Flow of Information Act of 2009 - Prohibits a federal entity from compelling a covered person (journalists and their employers, etc.) to testify or produce any document relating to protected information unless a court makes specified determinations by a preponderance of the evidence, including that all reasonable alternative sources have been exhausted, that the testimony or document sought is essential, and that nondisclosure would be contrary to the public interest, taking into account both the public interest in compelling disclosure and the public interest in gathering news and maintaining the free flow of information.
Requires the content of compelled testimony or documents to be limited and narrowly tailored.
Creates exceptions relating to alleged criminal or tortious conduct, prevention of death, kidnapping, or substantial bodily injury, prevention of terrorist activity, or prevention of national security harm.
Applies this Act to communications service providers with regard to:
(1) a communication to which a covered person is a party;
(2) any document relating to such a communication; or
(3) the contents of such a communication.
Sets forth notice requirements.
Permits a court to delay notice to a covered person upon determining that such notice would pose a substantial threat to the integrity of a criminal investigation.
Declares that this Act does not supersede, dilute, or preclude any law or court decision compelling or not compelling disclosure by a covered person or communications service provider of information identifying a source who provided information without a confidentiality promise made as part of engaging in journalism or records, communication data, documents, or information obtained without a confidentiality promise.

House Republican Conference Summary

The summary below was written by the House Republican Conference, which is the caucus of Republicans in the House of Representatives.

No summary available.

House Democratic Caucus Summary

The House Democratic Caucus does not provide summaries of bills.

So, yes, we display the House Republican Conference’s summaries when available even if we do not have a Democratic summary available. That’s because we feel it is better to give you as much information as possible, even if we cannot provide every viewpoint.

We’ll be looking for a source of summaries from the other side in the meanwhile.

The bill contains the following citations to other parts of U.S. law:

United States Code

The United States Code is the compilation of permanent laws enacted by Congress. Temporary and other non-permanent laws do not appear in the United States Code. (About half of the United States Code is the law itself, called positive law. The other half is merely a compilation of the laws but has no legal significance.)