On February 5, 2009, Arizona House Representative Jerry Weiers ignored his oath of office and responsibility to the people of Arizona by introducing HB 2380 for its first reading by the Committee on Military Affairs and Public Safety. Since then, the bill has been read a second time and received five yes votes during a committee vote. No one voted against the bill although three lawmakers were absent during the vote. Additionally, the bill appears to have cleared the Rules Committee and is currently awaiting a full vote on the House floor.

HB 2380 is an onerous piece of legislation that, if passed, will create a special class of individuals. Those individuals will then be empowered to have you charged with a felony, at their sole discretion, if you dare to publish certain information about them online without their consent and don't remove it on demand.

In other words, the bill creates special privileges and immunities for a small group of well connected individuals that violates the right to freedom of speech, freedom of the press and equal protection while at the same time creating yet another legal liability for the rest of us. What's especially ironic is that the special class of individuals created by the bill consists of many who already enjoy far more protection under the law than practically everyone else - namely peace officers, prosecutors, judges, and public defenders.

So what does HB 2380 explicitly violate? Let's start with the following laws that limit all government activity in the State of Arizona:

* Freedom of speech and the press - Article 2, Section 6 of the Arizona Constitution
* Equal privileges and immunities - Article 2, Section 13 of the Arizona Constitution
* First Amendment - U.S. Constitution
* 14th Amendment - U.S. Constitution

The broader issues associated with freedom of speech and the press can be further clarified with discussions related to the prohibition against prior restraint and content based regulation. Thanks to J.D. Tuccile over at Disloyal Opposition for some of the links appearing above.

Given the threat that HB 2380 poses to all of us, this page will serve as a clearing house for information, articles and commentaries related to HB 2380 as it works its way through the Arizona Legislature. As new information becomes available, it will be posted here.

Current links related to HB 2380, including detailed commentaries and criticisms appear below:

* Who’re YOU? It Only matters in a Police State - Freedom's Phoenix, March 2, 2009
* Arizona censorship law may get more muzzling power - Disloyal Opposition, February 24, 2009
* Bill would let red-faced officials tie media's hands - Arizona Republic, February 24, 2009
* HB 2380 - Current Status, Arizona Legislature

Finally, it needs to be pointed out that Representative Weiers was joined in his malfeasance by several additional members of the legislature who signed onto Jerry's bill as primary and co-sponsors. A complete list of these representatives of the (special) people appear below: