House Bill 3549

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    Florida House of Representatives - 1998                HB 3549

        By Representative Littlefield






  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to government; creating the

  3         "Citizen Participation in Government Act" and

  4         providing for its purposes; providing immunity

  5         from civil liability; providing procedures for

  6         the judiciary to respond to lawsuits relating

  7         to the constitutional right to petition the

  8         government for redress of grievances; defining

  9         terms; providing an effective date.

10

11         WHEREAS, the framers of our constitutions, recognizing

12  citizen participation in government as an inalienable right

13  essential to the survival of democracy, secured its protection

14  through the right to petition the government for redress of

15  grievances in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and

16  Section 5 of Article I of the State Constitution, and

17         WHEREAS, the communications, information, opinions,

18  reports, testimony, claims, and arguments provided by citizens

19  to their government are essential to wise government decisions

20  and public policy in protecting the public health, safety, and

21  welfare, in providing effective law enforcement, and in

22  ensuring the efficient operation of government programs, and

23  are essential to the credibility and trust afforded government

24  and the preservation of our republican form of government

25  through representative democracy, and

26         WHEREAS, civil lawsuits and counterclaims, often

27  involving millions of dollars, have been and are being filed

28  against countless citizens, businesses, and organizations

29  because of their valid exercise of their right to petition,

30  including seeking relief, influencing action, informing,

31

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  1  communicating, and otherwise participating with government

  2  bodies, officials, or employees or the electorate, and

  3         WHEREAS, such lawsuits, called "Strategic Lawsuits

  4  Against Public Participation" or "SLAPPs," are typically

  5  dismissed as unconstitutional, but often not before the

  6  defendants are put to great expense, harassment, and

  7  interruption of their duties, and

  8         WHEREAS, the number of such lawsuits has increased

  9  significantly over the past 30 years, and

10         WHEREAS, these lawsuits are an abuse of the judicial

11  process and are used to censor, intimidate, or punish

12  citizens, businesses, and organizations for involving

13  themselves in public affairs, and

14         WHEREAS, controlling these lawsuits will make a major

15  contribution to lawsuit reform, and

16         WHEREAS, the threat of financial liability, litigation

17  costs, destruction of one's business, loss of one's home, and

18  other personal losses from groundless lawsuits seriously

19  affects government, commerce, and individual rights by

20  significantly diminishing public participation in government,

21  in public discourse, and in voluntary public service, and

22         WHEREAS, while courts have recognized the harm from

23  such lawsuits and have discouraged them, protection of these

24  fundamental rights has been inadequate, and

25         WHEREAS, while some citizen communications to

26  government inevitably will be false or unsound or made out of

27  self interest or in bad faith, it is essential in our

28  democracy that the constitutional rights of citizens to

29  participate fully in the process of government be uniformly,

30  consistently, and comprehensively protected and encouraged,

31  NOW, THEREFORE,

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    Florida House of Representatives - 1998                HB 3549

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  1  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

  2

  3         Section 1.  Short title.--This act may be cited as the

  4  "Citizen Participation in Government Act."

  5         Section 2.  Declaration of purposes.--The purposes of

  6  this act are to:

  7         (1)  Protect and encourage citizen participation in

  8  government to the maximum extent permitted by law;

  9         (2)  Create a more equitable balance between the rights

10  of persons to file lawsuits and to trial by jury and the

11  rights of persons to petition, speak out, associate, and

12  otherwise participate in their governments;

13         (3)  Support the operations of and assure the

14  continuation of representative government in this country for

15  the protection and regulation of public health, safety, and

16  welfare by protecting public participation in government

17  programs and public policy decisions;

18         (4)  Establish a balanced, uniform, comprehensive

19  process for speedy adjudication of "Strategic Lawsuits Against

20  Public Participation" as a major contribution to lawsuit

21  reform; and

22         (5)  Provide for attorney's fees, costs, and damages

23  for persons whose citizen participation rights have been

24  violated by the filing of a "Strategic Lawsuit Against Public

25  Participation" against them.

26         Section 3.  Immunity.--An act in furtherance of the

27  constitutional right to petition, including seeking relief,

28  influencing action, informing, communicating, and otherwise

29  participating in the processes of government, is immune from

30  civil liability, regardless of its intent or purpose, except

31

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  1  when not aimed at procuring any governmental or electoral

  2  action, result, or outcome.

  3         Section 4.  Applicability.--This act applies to any

  4  motion to dispose of a claim in a judicial proceeding on the

  5  grounds that the claim is based on, relates to, or is in

  6  response to any act of the moving party in furtherance of the

  7  moving party's rights as provided in section 3.

  8         Section 5.  Required Procedures.--On the filing of any

  9  motion under section 4:

10         (1)  The motion must be treated as one for summary

11  judgment in which:

12         (a)  The trial court uses a time period appropriate to

13  preferred or expedited motions; and

14         (b)  The moving party has a right of expedited appeal

15  from a trial court order denying such a motion or from a trial

16  court's failure to rule on such a motion in expedited fashion;

17         (2)  Discovery is suspended, pending decision on the

18  motion and appeals;

19         (3)  The responding party has the burden of proof, of

20  going forward with the evidence, and of persuasion on the

21  motion;

22         (4)  The court must make its determination based upon

23  the facts contained in the pleadings and affidavits filed;

24         (5)  The court must grant the motion and dismiss the

25  judicial claim, unless the responding party has produced clear

26  and convincing evidence that the acts of the moving party are

27  not immunized from liability by section 3;

28         (6)  Any government body to which the moving party's

29  acts were directed or the Attorney General may intervene to

30  defend or otherwise support the moving party in the suit;

31

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  1         (7)  The court must award a moving party who is

  2  dismissed, without regard to any limits under state law:

  3         (a)  Costs of litigation, including reasonable

  4  attorney's fees and expert witness fees incurred in connection

  5  with the motion; and

  6         (b)  Such additional sanctions upon the responding

  7  party, its attorneys, or law firms as it finds will be

  8  sufficient to deter repetition of such conduct and comparable

  9  conduct by others similarly situated; and

10         (8)  A person damaged or injured by reason of a claim

11  filed in violation of his or her rights under section 3 may

12  seek relief in the form of a claim for actual or compensatory

13  damages, as well as punitive damages, attorney's fees, and

14  costs from the person or persons responsible.

15         Section 6.  Definitions.--As used in this act, the

16  term:

17         (1)  "Government" means a branch, department, agency,

18  instrumentality, official, employee, agent, or other person

19  acting under color of law of the United States, a state, or

20  subdivision of a state or other public authority, including

21  the electorate.

22         (2)  "State" means a state, the District of Columbia,

23  the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and each territory and

24  possession of the United States.

25         (3)  "Judicial claim" or "claim" means any lawsuit,

26  cause of action, claim, cross-claim, counterclaim, or other

27  judicial pleading or filing requesting relief.

28         (4)  "Motion" means any motion to dismiss, for summary

29  judgment, for judgment on the pleadings, to strike, demurrer,

30  or any other judicial pleading filed to dispose of a judicial

31  claim.

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    Florida House of Representatives - 1998                HB 3549

    517-147-98






  1         (5)  "Moving party" means any person on whose behalf

  2  the motion provided in section 4 is filed seeking dismissal of

  3  the judicial claim.

  4         (6)  "Responding party" means any person against whom

  5  the motion provided in section 4 is filed.

  6         Section 7.  This act shall take effect upon becoming a

  7  law.

  8

  9            *****************************************

10                          SENATE SUMMARY
    Creates the "Citizen Participation in Government Act."
11  Provides immunity from civil liability for any act in
    furtherance of the constitutional right to petition the
12  government for redress of grievances. Provides procedures for
    the judiciary to handle lawsuits dealing with the right to
13  petition government.

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