A bill that supporters say will shield Iowans from lawsuits meant to silence critics has cleared the legislature and is headed to the governor.
Republican Representative Steven Holt of Denison started working on the legislation seven years ago when a local newspaper was sued for reporting on a local policeman.
“I was just corresponding back and forth with Doug Burns this morning from the Carroll newspaper who spent $100,000 defending himself in court after telling the truth and he basically lost his newspaper as a result of it,” Holt said, “so this is very important legislation.”
The bill gives a defendant the ability to immediately ask an Iowa judge to dismiss a lawsuit that impedes their freedom of speech or freedom of the press. The House has previously passed four bills to address so-called SLAPP actions — SLAPP stands for “Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation.”
“Thirty-four other states have this language in place from the Uniform Law Commission,” Holt said earlier this year. “I am proud that in a bipartisan way this chamber has been anti-SLAPP before anti-SLAPP was cool.”
This is the first year the Iowa Senate considered the legislation. Senator Jeff Reichman of Montrose was the only senator to speak during debate of the bill. “It’s designed to provide for early dismissal from meritless lawsuits filed against people for the exercise of First Amendment rights,” Reichman said.
Today, the House unanimously accepted a small change in the bill and to send it to the governor.