US
Us Congress House Bill HB140

Us Congress 2023-2024 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB140 Compare Versions

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1+IB
2+Union Calendar No. 2
13 118THCONGRESS
24 1
35 STSESSION H. R. 140
4-AN ACT
6+[Report No. 118–5]
7+To amend title 5, United States Code, to prohibit Federal employees from
8+advocating for censorship of viewpoints in their official capacity, and
9+for other purposes.
10+IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
11+JANUARY9, 2023
12+Mr. C
13+OMER(for himself, Mr. JORDAN, and Mrs. RODGERSof Washington) in-
14+troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Over-
15+sight and Accountability
16+M
17+ARCH2, 2023
18+Additional sponsors: Mr. G
19+ROTHMAN, Mr. BIGGS, Mr. LANGWORTHY, Ms.
20+M
21+ACE, Mrs. LUNA, Mr. BURCHETT, Mr. HIGGINSof Louisiana, Mr. SES-
22+SIONS, Mr. EDWARDS, Mr. LATURNER, Mr. GOSAR, Mr. FRY, Mrs.
23+M
24+CCLAIN, and Ms. GREENEof Georgia
25+M
26+ARCH2, 2023
27+Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole
28+House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed
29+[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic]
30+[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on January 9, 2023]
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34+A BILL
535 To amend title 5, United States Code, to prohibit Federal
636 employees from advocating for censorship of viewpoints
737 in their official capacity, and for other purposes.
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841 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
9-tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 2
10-•HR 140 EH
11-SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1
12-This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protecting Speech 2
13-from Government Interference Act’’. 3
14-SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON FEDERAL EMPLOYEE CENSOR-4
15-SHIP. 5
42+tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
43+SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
44+This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protecting Speech from 4
45+Government Interference Act’’. 5
46+SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON FEDERAL EMPLOYEE CENSOR-6
47+SHIP. 7
1648 (a) I
17-NGENERAL.—Chapter 73 of title 5, United 6
18-States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-7
19-lowing: 8
20-‘‘SUBCHAPTER VIII—PROHIBITION ON 9
21-FEDERAL EMPLOYEE CENSORSHIP 10
22-‘‘§ 7381. Policy regarding Federal employee censor-11
23-ship 12
24-‘‘It is the policy of the Congress that employees act-13
25-ing in their official capacity should neither take action 14
26-within their authority or influence to promote the censor-15
27-ship of any lawful speech, nor advocate that a third party, 16
28-including a private entity, censor such speech. 17
49+NGENERAL.—Chapter 73 of title 5, United States 8
50+Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: 9
51+‘‘SUBCHAPTER VIII—PROHIBITION ON FEDERAL 10
52+EMPLOYEE CENSORSHIP 11
53+‘‘§ 7381. Policy regarding Federal employee censorship 12
54+‘‘It is the policy of the Congress that employees acting 13
55+in their official capacity should neither take action within 14
56+their authority or influence to promote the censorship of 15
57+any lawful speech, nor advocate that a third party, includ-16
58+ing a private entity, censor such speech. 17
2959 ‘‘§ 7382. Prohibition on Federal employee censorship 18
3060 ‘‘(a) I
3161 NGENERAL.—An employee may not— 19
32-‘‘(1) use the employee’s official authority to 20
33-censor any private entity, including outside of nor-21
34-mal duty hours and while such employee is away 22
35-from the employee’s normal duty post; or 23
62+‘‘(1) use the employee’s official authority to cen-20
63+sor any private entity, including outside of normal 21
64+duty hours and while such employee is away from the 22
65+employee’s normal duty post; or 23
3666 ‘‘(2) engage in censorship of a private entity— 24
37-‘‘(A) while the employee is on duty; 25 3
38-•HR 140 EH
67+‘‘(A) while the employee is on duty; 25
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3971 ‘‘(B) in any room or building occupied in 1
4072 the discharge of official duties by an individual 2
4173 employed or holding office in the Government of 3
4274 the United States or any agency or instrumen-4
4375 tality thereof; 5
4476 ‘‘(C) while wearing a uniform or official in-6
4577 signia identifying the office or position of the 7
4678 employee; 8
4779 ‘‘(D) while using any vehicle owned or 9
48-leased by the Government of the United States 10
49-or any agency or instrumentality thereof; or 11
50-‘‘(E) while using any information system 12
51-or information technology (as defined under 13
52-section 11101 of title 40). 14
80+leased by the Government of the United States or 10
81+any agency or instrumentality thereof; or 11
82+‘‘(E) while using any information system or 12
83+information technology (as defined under section 13
84+11101 of title 40). 14
5385 ‘‘(b) E
5486 XCEPTIONS FOR LAWENFORCEMENT FUNC-15
5587 TIONS ANDREPORTINGREQUIREMENTS.— 16
5688 ‘‘(1) I
57-N GENERAL.—Nothing in this section 17
58-shall be construed to prohibit an employee from en-18
59-gaging in lawful actions against unlawful speech 19
60-within the official authority of such employee for the 20
61-purpose of exercising legitimate law enforcement 21
62-functions. 22
89+N GENERAL.—Nothing in this section shall 17
90+be construed to prohibit an employee from engaging 18
91+in lawful actions within the official authority of such 19
92+employee for the purpose of exercising legitimate law 20
93+enforcement functions, including activities to— 21
94+‘‘(A) combat child pornography and exploi-22
95+tation, human trafficking, or the illegal trans-23
96+porting of or transacting in controlled sub-24
97+stances; and 25
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100+•HR 140 RH
101+‘‘(B) safeguarding, or preventing, the un-1
102+lawful dissemination of properly classified na-2
103+tional security information. 3
63104 ‘‘(2) R
64-EPORTING.— 23
105+EPORTING.— 4
65106 ‘‘(A) I
66-N GENERAL.—Not later than 72 24
67-hours before an employee exercises a legitimate 25 4
68-•HR 140 EH
69-law enforcement function under paragraph (1) 1
70-to take any action to censor any unlawful 2
71-speech (in this paragraph referred to as a ‘cen-3
72-sorship action’), and consistent with subpara-4
73-graph (D), the head of the agency that employs 5
74-the employee shall submit, to the Office of Spe-6
75-cial Counsel and the chair and ranking member 7
76-of the committees of Congress described under 8
77-subparagraph (B), a report that includes— 9
78-‘‘(i) an overview of the action, or ac-10
79-tions, to be taken, including a summary of 11
80-the action being taken and the rationale 12
81-for why a censorship action is necessary; 13
82-‘‘(ii) the name of the entity which the 14
83-action is being requested of; 15
84-‘‘(iii) the person and entity targeted 16
85-by the censorship action, including the as-17
86-sociated name or number of any account 18
87-used or maintained by the entity and a de-19
88-scription of the specific speech content tar-20
89-geted; 21
90-‘‘(iv) the agency’s legal authority for 22
91-exercising the law enforcement function; 23
92-‘‘(v) the agency employee or employ-24
93-ees involved in the censorship action, in-25 5
94-•HR 140 EH
95-cluding their position and any direct super-1
96-visor; 2
97-‘‘(vi) a list of other agencies that have 3
98-been involved, consulted, or communicated 4
99-with in coordination with the censorship 5
100-action; and 6
101-‘‘(vii) a classified annex, if the agency 7
102-head deems it appropriate. 8
107+N GENERAL.—Not later than 72 hours 5
108+before an employee exercises a legitimate law en-6
109+forcement function to take any action to censor 7
110+any lawful speech (in this paragraph referred to 8
111+as a ‘censorship action’), but not including any 9
112+such action relating to activities described under 10
113+subparagraph (A) or (B) of paragraph (1), the 11
114+head of the agency that employs the employee 12
115+shall submit, to the Office of Special Counsel and 13
116+the chair and ranking member of the committees 14
117+of Congress described under subparagraph (B), a 15
118+report that includes— 16
119+‘‘(i) an overview of the action, or ac-17
120+tions, to be taken, including a summary of 18
121+the action being taken and the rationale for 19
122+why a censorship action is necessary; 20
123+‘‘(ii) the name of the entity which the 21
124+action is being requested of; 22
125+‘‘(iii) the person and entity targeted by 23
126+the censorship action, including the associ-24
127+ated name or number of any account used 25
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131+or maintained by the entity and a descrip-1
132+tion of the specific speech content targeted; 2
133+‘‘(iv) the agency’s legal authority for 3
134+exercising the law enforcement function; 4
135+‘‘(v) the agency employee or employees 5
136+involved in the censorship action, including 6
137+their position and any direct supervisor; 7
138+‘‘(vi) a list of other agencies that have 8
139+been involved, consulted, or communicated 9
140+with in coordination with the censorship ac-10
141+tion; and 11
142+‘‘(vii) a classified annex, if the agency 12
143+head deems it appropriate. 13
103144 ‘‘(B) C
104-OMMITTEES.—The committees of 9
105-Congress described under this subparagraph are 10
106-the following: 11
107-‘‘(i) The Committee on Oversight and 12
108-Accountability, the Committee on the Judi-13
109-ciary, the Permanent Select Committee on 14
110-Intelligence, and the Committee on Energy 15
111-and Commerce of the House of Represent-16
112-atives. 17
113-‘‘(ii) The Committee on Homeland Se-18
114-curity and Governmental Affairs, the Com-19
115-mittee on the Judiciary, Select Committee 20
116-on Intelligence, and the Committee on 21
117-Commerce, Science, and Transportation of 22
118-the Senate. 23
145+OMMITTEES.—The committees of 14
146+Congress described under this subparagraph are 15
147+the following: 16
148+‘‘(i) The Committee on Oversight and 17
149+Accountability, the Committee on the Judi-18
150+ciary, and the Committee on Energy and 19
151+Commerce of the House of Representatives; 20
152+and 21
153+‘‘(ii) The Committee on Homeland Se-22
154+curity and Governmental Affairs, the Com-23
155+mittee on the Judiciary, and the Committee 24
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159+on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 1
160+of the Senate. 2
119161 ‘‘(C) C
120-LARIFICATION OF OFFICE OF SPE -24
121-CIAL COUNSEL REPORTING REQUIREMENTS .— 25 6
122-•HR 140 EH
123-The reporting requirements in this paragraph 1
124-do not apply to the Office of Special Counsel’s 2
125-advisory and enforcement functions under sub-3
126-chapter II of chapter 12. 4
127-‘‘(D) R
128-EPORTING REQUIREMENTS FOR 5
129-CERTAIN ACTIONS.— 6
130-‘‘(i) Any censorship action relating to 7
131-combating child pornography and exploi-8
132-tation, human trafficking, or the illegal 9
133-transporting of or transacting in controlled 10
134-substances shall be exempt from the re-11
135-porting requirement under this paragraph. 12
136-‘‘(ii) With respect to any censorship 13
137-action related to safeguarding, or pre-14
138-venting the unlawful dissemination of, 15
139-properly classified national security infor-16
140-mation, subparagraph (A) shall be applied 17
141-by substituting ‘Not later than 72 hours 18
142-after’ for ‘Not later than 72 hours before’. 19
162+LARIFICATION OF OFFICE OF SPECIAL 3
163+COUNSEL REPORTING REQUIREMENTS .—The re-4
164+porting requirements in this paragraph do not 5
165+apply to the Office of Special Counsel’s advisory 6
166+and enforcement functions under subchapter II 7
167+of chapter 12. 8
143168 ‘‘(c) P
144-ENALTIES.— 20
169+ENALTIES.— 9
145170 ‘‘(1) I
146-N GENERAL.—An employee who violates 21
147-this section shall be subject to— 22
148-‘‘(A) disciplinary action consisting of re-23
149-moval, reduction in grade, debarment from 24 7
150-•HR 140 EH
151-Federal employment for a period not to exceed 1
152-10 years, suspension, or reprimand; 2
153-‘‘(B) an assessment of a civil penalty not 3
154-to exceed $1,000; or 4
155-‘‘(C) any combination of the penalties de-5
156-scribed in subparagraph (A) or (B). 6
171+N GENERAL.—An employee who violates 10
172+this section shall be subject to— 11
173+‘‘(A) disciplinary action consisting of re-12
174+moval, reduction in grade, debarment from Fed-13
175+eral employment for a period not to exceed 5 14
176+years, suspension, or reprimand; 15
177+‘‘(B) an assessment of a civil penalty not to 16
178+exceed $1,000; or 17
179+‘‘(C) any combination of the penalties de-18
180+scribed in subparagraph (A) or (B). 19
157181 ‘‘(2) A
158-PPLICATION TO SENIOR GOVERNMENT 7
159-OFFICIALS.—Paragraph (1)(B) shall be applied by 8
160-substituting ‘$50,000’ for ‘$1,000’ for any employee 9
161-who is— 10
162-‘‘(A) paid from an appropriation for the 11
163-White House Office; or 12
164-‘‘(B) appointed by the President, by and 13
165-with the advice and consent of the Senate. 14
182+PPLICATION TO SENIOR GOVERNMENT OF -20
183+FICIALS.—Paragraph (1)(B) shall be applied by sub-21
184+stituting ‘$10,000’ for ‘$1,000’ for any employee who 22
185+is— 23
186+‘‘(A) paid from an appropriation for the 24
187+White House Office; or 25
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191+‘‘(B) appointed by the President, by and 1
192+with the advice and consent of the Senate; 2
166193 ‘‘(d) E
167-NFORCEMENT.— 15
168-‘‘(1) I
169-N GENERAL.—Except as provided in para-16
170-graph (2) and subsection (c)(2), this section shall be 17
171-enforced in the same manner as subchapter III of 18
172-this chapter. 19
173-‘‘(2) A
174-PPLICATION.—Notwithstanding any other 20
175-provision of law, including section 1215(b), the Spe-21
176-cial Counsel may, in lieu of sending a report to the 22
177-President under section 1215(b), seek civil monetary 23
178-penalties under subsection (c)(2) pursuant to section 24
179-1215(a). This paragraph shall not be construed to 25 8
180-•HR 140 EH
181-limit or otherwise affect the President’s authority to 1
182-enforce any disciplinary action against an employee 2
183-described under subsection (c)(2). 3
184-‘‘(e) R
185-EPORT.— 4
186-‘‘(1) I
187-N GENERAL.—Not later than 240 days 5
188-after the date of the enactment of this section, and 6
189-annually thereafter, the Attorney General, in con-7
190-sultation with the Assistant Attorney General for 8
191-Civil Rights and the Office of Special Counsel, shall 9
192-submit to the committees of Congress described in 10
193-subsection (b)(2)(B) a report evaluating the compli-11
194-ance by the Federal Government with this section, 12
195-including a description of any action by the head of 13
196-an agency or department in the executive branch 14
197-to— 15
198-‘‘(A) consult with any third parties about 16
199-censorship by employees in the executive 17
200-branch; or 18
201-‘‘(B) engage in any activity prohibited 19
202-under this section. 20
203-‘‘(2) S
204-UNSET.—This subsection shall terminate 21
205-on the date that is 10 years after the date of the 22
206-enactment of this subsection. 23
207-‘‘(f) A
208-NNUALTRAINING.—Not less than annually, the 24
209-head of each employing agency shall provide mandatory 25 9
210-•HR 140 EH
211-training on this section and the requirements of this sec-1
212-tion to each agency employee. 2
213-‘‘(g) D
214-EFINITIONS.—In this subchapter— 3
215-‘‘(1) the term ‘censor’ or ‘censorship’ means in-4
216-fluencing or coercing, or directing another to influ-5
217-ence or coerce, for— 6
218-‘‘(A) the removal or suppression of lawful 7
219-speech, in whole or in part, from or on any 8
220-interactive computer service; 9
221-‘‘(B) the addition of any disclaimer, infor-10
222-mation, or other alert to lawful speech being ex-11
223-pressed on an interactive computer service; or 12
224-‘‘(C) the removal or restriction of access of 13
225-any person or entity on an interactive computer 14
226-service generally available to the public, unless 15
227-such person or entity is engaged in unlawful 16
228-speech or criminal activities on such service; 17
229-‘‘(2) the term ‘employee’ has the meaning given 18
230-that term in section 7322; 19
231-‘‘(3) the term ‘interactive computer service’ has 20
232-the meaning given that term in section 230(f) of the 21
233-Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 230(f)); 22
234-‘‘(4) the term ‘lawful speech’ means speech pro-23
235-tected by the First Amendment of the Constitution; 24
236-and 25 10
237-•HR 140 EH
238-‘‘(5) the term ‘unlawful speech’ means speech 1
239-not protected by the First Amendment of the Con-2
240-stitution.’’. 3
194+NFORCEMENT.—This section shall be enforced in 3
195+the same manner as subchapter III of this chapter. 4
196+‘‘(e) D
197+EFINITIONS.—In this subchapter— 5
198+‘‘(1) the term ‘censor’ or ‘censorship’ means in-6
199+fluencing or coercing, or directing another to influ-7
200+ence or coerce, for— 8
201+‘‘(A) the removal or suppression of lawful 9
202+speech, in whole or in part, from or on any 10
203+interactive computer service; 11
204+‘‘(B) the addition of any disclaimer, infor-12
205+mation, or other alert to lawful speech being ex-13
206+pressed on an interactive computer service; or 14
207+‘‘(C) the removal or restriction of access of 15
208+any person or entity on an interactive computer 16
209+service generally available to the public, unless 17
210+such person or entity is engaged in unlawful 18
211+speech or criminal activities on such service; 19
212+‘‘(2) the term ‘employee’ has the meaning given 20
213+that term in section 7322; 21
214+‘‘(3) the term ‘interactive computer service’ has 22
215+the meaning given that term in section 230(f) of the 23
216+Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 230(f)); and 24
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220+‘‘(4) the term ‘lawful speech’ means speech pro-1
221+tected by the First Amendment of the Constitution.’’. 2
241222 (b) C
242-LERICALAMENDMENT.—The table of sections 4
243-for chapter 73 of title 5, United States Code, is amended 5
244-by adding at the end the following: 6
223+LERICALAMENDMENT.—The table of sections for 3
224+chapter 73 of title 5, United States Code, is amended by 4
225+adding at the end the following: 5
245226 ‘‘SUBCHAPTER VIII—PROHIBITION ON FEDERAL EMPLOYEE CENSORSHIP
246227 ‘‘7381. Policy regarding Federal employee censorship.
247228 ‘‘7382. Prohibition on Federal employee censorship.’’.
248-(c) INCLUDINGCENSORSHIPACTIVITIESUNDERJU-7
249-RISDICTION OFOFFICE OFSPECIALCOUNSEL.—Strike 8
250-paragraph (1) of section 1216(a) of title 5, United States 9
251-Code, and insert the following: 10
252-‘‘(1) political activity and censorship prohibited 11
253-under subchapter III and subchapter VIII of chapter 12
254-73, relating to political and censorship activities, re-13
255-spectively, by Federal employees;’’. 14
229+(c) INCLUDINGCENSORSHIPACTIVITIESUNDERJU-6
230+RISDICTION OFOFFICE OFSPECIALCOUNSEL.—Strike 7
231+paragraph (1) of section 1216(a) of title 5, United States 8
232+Code, and insert the following: 9
233+‘‘(1) political activity and censorship prohibited 10
234+under subchapter III and subchapter VIII of chapter 11
235+73, relating to political and censorship activities, re-12
236+spectively, by Federal employees;’’. 13
256237 (d) R
257-ULE OFCONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this Act 15
258-or any amendment made by this Act should be interpreted 16
259-as prohibiting a lawful action by a Federal agency to en-17
260-force a Federal law or regulation (including any action to 18
261-enforce a Federal law or regulation addressing obscene 19
262-matters), to establish or enforce the terms and conditions 20
263-of Federal financial assistance, or to prohibit a Federal 21
264-employee from using an official Federal account on an 22
265-interactive computer service to communicate an official 23 11
266-•HR 140 EH
267-policy position, and relevant information, to the public, or 1
268-provide information through normal press and public af-2
269-fairs relations. 3
270-(e) S
271-EVERABILITY.—If any provision of this Act or 4
272-any amendment made by this Act, or the application of 5
273-a provision of this Act or an amendment made by this 6
274-Act to any person or circumstance, is held to be unconsti-7
275-tutional, the remainder of this Act, and the application 8
276-of the provisions to any person or circumstance, shall not 9
277-be affected by the holding. 10
278-SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS. 11
279-The Congress finds that inspectors general should not 12
280-less than annually for the next seven years publicly report 13
281-the number of complaints and tips received, the number 14
282-of investigations opened, and statistics on how investiga-15
283-tions were managed and their disposition by that inspector 16
284-general related to compliance with this Act and the 17
285-amendments made by this Act. 18
286-Passed the House of Representatives March 9,
287-2023.
288-Attest:
289-Clerk. 118
238+ULE OFCONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this Act or 14
239+any amendment made by this Act should be interpreted as 15
240+prohibiting a lawful action by a Federal agency to enforce 16
241+a Federal law or regulation, to establish or enforce the terms 17
242+and conditions of Federal financial assistance, or to pro-18
243+hibit a Federal employee from using an official Federal ac-19
244+count on an interactive computer service to communicate 20
245+an official policy position, and relevant information, to the 21
246+public, or provide information through normal press and 22
247+public affairs relations. 23
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251+(e) SEVERABILITY.—If any provision of this Act or 1
252+any amendment made by this Act, or the application of 2
253+a provision of this Act or an amendment made by this Act 3
254+to any person or circumstance, is held to be unconstitu-4
255+tional, the remainder of this Act, and the application of 5
256+the provisions to any person or circumstance, shall not be 6
257+affected by the holding. 7
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261+2
262+118
290263 TH
291264 CONGRESS
292265 1
293266 ST
294267 S
295268 ESSION
296269
297270 H. R. 140
298-AN ACT
271+[Report No. 118–5]
272+A BILL
299273 To amend title 5, United States Code, to prohibit
300274 Federal employees from advocating for censor-
301275 ship of viewpoints in their official capacity, and
302276 for other purposes.
277+M
278+ARCH
279+2, 2023
280+Reported with an amendment, committed to the Com-
281+mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union,
282+and ordered to be printed
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