(C) Iowa Capital Dispatch
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Bill clears the House to expedite First Amendment cases [1]

['Robin Opsahl', 'More From Author', '- February']

Date: 2023-02

A bill strengthening legal protections for First Amendment rights passed the Iowa House Thursday.

House File 177 is known as an anti-SLAPP bill, which addresses “strategic lawsuits against public participation.” These are lawsuits filed not necessarily in expectation of winning the case, but to intimidate news organizations and members of the public from reporting or speaking on certain issues, lawmakers said. Filing these lawsuits is a way to coerce people without the money or time to take on a drawn-out legal battle from publicly discussing the issue.

If the legislation passes, a judge can use an expedited process to decide lawsuits involving First Amendment rights on matters of public concern.

Rep. Steven Holt, R-Denison, brought forward the legislation, citing a 2018 case where a Carroll police officer sued the Carroll Times Herald for reporting on his sexual relationships with teenagers. The officer admitted to having sexual relationships with the young girls but sued the paper for libel. The court case took over a year and cost over $100,000. The reporter in the case, Jared Strong, now works for Iowa Capital Dispatch.

“This legislation is about protecting our small town newspapers and media outlets,” Holt said.

Anti-SLAPP legislation was also discussed in the 2021 legislative session, but was not brought to the floor. This year’s bill and previous versions use language by the Uniform Law Commission, a bipartisan nonprofit drafting legislation so laws can be applied consistently from state to state.

The bill advanced with bipartisan support on a 94-1 vote. Rep. Megan Srinivas, D-Des Moines, thanked Holt for bringing the measure forward.

“It is critical that we protect our journalists, and journalists especially in the small communities throughout our state,” Srinivas said. “They are the bread and butter of getting information — and so much important information — out to our communities.”

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