S. 3493 (112th): Free Press Act of 2012

Introduced:
Aug 02, 2012 (112th Congress, 2011–2013)
Sponsor:
Sen. Jon Kyl [R-AZ]
Status:
Died (Referred to Committee)

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

(About Ads | Advertise Here)
Status

This bill was introduced on August 2, 2012, in a previous session of Congress, but was not enacted.

Progress
Introduced Aug 02, 2012
Referred to Committee Aug 02, 2012
Cosponsors
none
Committees

Senate Judiciary

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

Full Title

A bill to protect first amendment rights of journalists and internet service providers by preventing States and the United States from allowing meritless lawsuits arising from acts in furtherance of those rights, commonly called "Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation" or "SLAPPs", and for other purposes.

Summary

No summaries available.

Text

Read Bill Text »

Last updated Aug 02, 2012.
11 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.

8/2/2012--Introduced.
Free Press Act of 2012 - Amends the federal judicial code to authorize a representative of the news media to file a special motion to dismiss any claim asserted against such representative in a civil action if the claim arises from an oral or written statement or other expression that is on a matter of public concern or that relates to a public official or figure (thereby establishing a judicial procedure to seek dismissal of what are commonly referred to as "Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation" [SLAPPs]). Places the burden on the party asserting the claim, after such a motion is properly brought, to prove the claim is legally sufficient and supported by facts sufficient to sustain a favorable judgment.
Requires the dismissal with prejudice of any such claim challenged with a motion to dismiss for which the party asserting the claim fails to meet that burden.
Prohibits such a special motion to dismiss from being filed against a claim:
(1) brought by the federal government or a state attorney general, or
(2) arising out of a statement offering or promoting the sale of the goods or services of the person making the statement.
Authorizes a person whose personally identifying information is sought in connection with a claim that arises in whole or in part from an oral or written statement or other expression that is on a matter of public concern or that relates to a public official or figure, or a person from whom such information is sought in connection with such a claim, to file a special motion to quash the request or order to produce the information.
Places a similar burden of proof on the party making the request for such information, after a special motion to quash is properly brought, to show that the claim is legally sufficient and supported by appropriate evidence.
Permits a civil action in a state court that raises a claim arising out of speech on public issues to be removed to federal court by a party who seeks to file a special motion to dismiss asserting a colorable defense based on the Constitution or laws of the United States. Allows the removal of a state court proceeding to federal court by a party who seeks to file a special motion to quash, but only with respect to the proceeding to quash the request for personally identifying information and not the remainder of the civil action.

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.)