representative laurel lee

Representative Laurel Lee (R-FL) fiercely fought back against critics of Supreme Court justices who practice judicial originalism in a recent House Judiciary Committee hearing. Speaking as a former judge, Rep. Lee noted that the Supreme Court's legitimacy "does not depend on whether people agree with every decision. It depends on whether judges interpret and apply […]

Representative Laurel Lee (R-FL) has introduced legislation to reduce the federal court litigation backlog, allowing judges to focus on cases better handled by state courts. Specifically, Rep. Lee's Federal Diversity Jurisdiction Modernization Act raises the amount-in-controversy threshold from $75,000 to $500,000. What that means is, if a plaintiff from one state is filing a lawsuit against […]

Representative Laurel Lee (R-FL) is celebrating the passage of her Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery (HEAR) Act into law, which allows Holocaust survivors and their descendants the opportunity to recover plundered cultural artifacts. The HEAR Act modifies existing laws so that claims of stolen art are decided on their merits rather than dismissed on legal technical grounds. Throughout […]

President Donald Trump delivered his State of the Union address Tuesday night to glowing approval from Republican lawmakers, including Representatives Aaron Bean (R-FL), John Rutherford (R-FL), Laurel Lee (R-FL), and Vern Buchanan (R-FL). Rep. Bean said in a statement, "One year ago, President Trump returned to office with a plan to restore prosperity, secure our […]

Representative Laurel Lee (R-FL) discussed the Make Elections Great Again Act (MEGA) in a recent House Administration Committee hearing. The MEGA Act is very similar to the more well-known SAVE Act, which requires proof of citizenship to vote, but with provisions pertaining to election administration as well, such as stricter voter roll maintenance, enforcing Election Day ballot collection, and […]

Senator Ashley Moody (R-FL) has introducing the Senate companion bill to Representative Laurel Lee's (R-FL) Combating Online Predators Act, which passed the House of Representatives in December. As The Floridian recently covered, the Combating Online Predators Act strengthens federal law by explicitly criminalizing threats to distribute child sexual abuse material (CSAM), also known as sextortion. According to […]

Representative Laurel Lee (R-FL) spoke in favor of the bipartisan Disrupt Explicit Forged Images and Non-Consensual Edits Act (DEFIANCE) at a recent press conference featuring socialite and media personality Paris Hilton. The bill, introduced with Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), allows victims of "deepfakes" to take legal action against producers, distributors, and solicitors of these images and […]

Representative Laurel Lee (R-FL) questioned former law enforcement officer Scott Dexter during a recent House Crime and Federal Government Surveillance Subcommittee hearing on the Minnesota welfare fraud scandal. Dexter, according to his testimony, was part of a team attached to the Minnesota Department of Human Services to investigate fraud in the Child Care Assistance Program […]

Representative Laurel Lee (R-FL) has introduced bipartisan legislation establishing a universal "customer stay" rule to protect small businesses in patent litigation. In a press release, Rep. Lee explained that retailers and other end users, such as hospitals and pharmacies, are increasingly targeted in patent lawsuits for selling or using products they did not manufacture, such […]

The longest government shutdown in American history has finally come to an end with a House vote on the new continuing resolution (CR), passed by the Senate. The final vote was 222 in favor and 209 against, with six Democrats voting yea alongside Republicans. Notably, two Republicans voted nay, along with 207 Democrats. President Donald Trump […]

Representative Laurel Lee (R-FL) celebrated the reinstatement of furloughed federal employees to process agricultural visas in a recent statement, sharing that "food security is national security." With the government shutdown nearing 40 days, many federal employees have been furloughed, including those who process H-2A visas. These visas are temporary admissions of foreign agricultural workers for […]

Representative Laurel Lee (R-FL) discussed the need for a federal standard on the regulation of artificial intelligence (AI) in a recent House Judiciary hearing. Rep. Lee asked hearing witness Kevin Frazier, AI Innovation and Law Fellow at the University of Texas School of Law, to elaborate on the reference he made to Louis Brandeis's "laboratories […]

Representative Laurel Lee (R-FL) blasted Democrats such as Governors Gavin Newsom (D-CA) and J.B. Pritzker (D-IL) for their refusal to accept assistance from President Donald Trump in cracking down on violent crime in a recent appearance on Fox News's Sunday Night in America, saying it "defies logic." Rep. Lee reminded host Trey Gowdy that "there […]

Representative Laurel Lee (R-FL) discussed the impact of the United Kingdom's Online Safety Act (OSA) and Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act (DMCC), along with the European Union's (EU) Digital Services Act (DSA) and Digital Markets Act (DMA), affect Americans' free speech and innovation in a recent House Judiciary hearing. As Rep. Lee said, these […]

Representative Laurel Lee (R-FL) is introducing bipartisan legislation with Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) to improve airline transparency surrounding delayed flights. Simply put, Rep. Lee's Frequent Logistics Information for Grounded and Held Travelers (FLIGHT) Act requires airlines to announce to passengers when a flight is delayed by more than 15 minutes and then provide further information […]

Representative Laurel Lee (R-FL) is introducing a bill that eases regulations surrounding the use of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in a marine context. Specifically, Rep. Lee's Cutting LNG Bunkering Red Tape Act addresses the common practice of "bunkering," wherein ships that use LNG as fuel transfer it between each other over water. During the Biden […]

Representative Laurel Lee (R-FL) discussed protecting America's pipelines from cyberattacks in a recent House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing, where witnesses argued that this was the greatest threat to the nation's critical infrastructure. "My home state of Florida is a large producer of electricity and relies heavily on pipelines to deliver energy," Rep. Lee began, […]

Representative Laurel Lee (R-FL) is teaming up with Representative Joe Neguse (D-CO) to introduce a bipartisan bill protecting and strengthening oversight of military absentee ballots. Specifically, Rep. Lee's Supporting Military Voters Act directs the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to compile an in-depth report detailing the federal government's efforts to implement the directives outlined in the […]