Defamation Bill Faces Claims of Back-Door Dealings, Unconstitutionality

TALLAHASSEE, FL—The bill sponsor for a defamation bill threatening increased penalties for journalists and news outlets faced bizarre allegations of secret, back-door dealings in Wednesday's House Judiciary Committee, while the bill itself faced down claims of unconstitutionality.

Proposed by Republican Rep. Alex Andrade, HB 757 presumes that if a reporter published a false statement by an anonymous source, they acted with “actual malice” — which is the standard in a defamation lawsuit. Critics worry this will lead to increased lawsuits, specifically against news outlets, and have a chilling effect on whistleblowers.

Chris Smith, the owner of Gulf Coast Gun and Outdoors, spoke against the bill in public testimony. Before getting to the bill matter, he alleged that Rep. Andrade's law firm was currently in the process of suing him for defamation and that this measure "makes it a little easier for his law firm to sue me...it hits home that he's filing this bill,"

"This bill is unconstitutional, it goes against free speech. We don't want to be the state that goes against free speech," he said, turning to the bill's actual provisions. "The people of Florida have the right to have an opinion about their representatives, this is a constitutional right,"

"No one wants to be talked about, but everyone has a right to their opinion without legal or financial consequences," He added.

Rep. Andrade denied any personal connection to the lawsuit against Smith before stating that his bill was necessary to hold the media accountable. "There's a lawsuit being filed by another attorney in my firm that I have nothing to do with, it's not at all related to defamation. This bill would have no effect on that lawsuit that that gentleman just brought up," he said.

In an interview last week with conservative radio host and former U.S. Representative Trey Radel, Andrade denied claims that his bill would lead to extraneous lawsuits against journalists, stating: "If this made it easier to sue I wouldn't file it. It's extremely easy for someone to file a lawsuit. But like, as a lawyer, I also know if I bring a frivolous defamation lawsuit, I'm on the hook for attorney fees and costs."

HB 757 represents Andrade's second attempt in two years to get a defamation bill passed—last year, his bill was killed before its last committee. However, Wednesday's 14-7 vote in favor of the legislation pushed HB 757 out of its final committee stop, effectively sending it to the House Floor.