File under: 1. Police get more rights than anyone else 2. First-Amendment-impaired state congresscritters need to be thwapped (painfully, repeatedly, for several hours) with a cluestick 3. Remember, the city of Kirkland threatened Politech with a lawsuit -- even before this bill took effect: http://www.politechbot.com/kirkland/
Thanks once again to the fine folks at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and Davis Wright Tremaine, who helped out at the time. -Declan --- Date: Thu, 28 Mar 2002 16:25:31 -0800 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: Elena Luisa Garella <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: Hilarious: Washington bill declares war on Bill Sheehan's website This ridiculous bill, aimed squarely at Bill Sheehan's www.justicefiles.org website, passed Washington's Senate and House unanimously. It is now waiting for Governor Locke's signature. Can you count the constitutional problems? --Elena Garella See http://www.leg.wa.gov/wsladm/billinfo/dspBillSummary.cfm?billnumber=6700 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON: {+ NEW SECTION. +} Sec. 1. A person or organization shall not,with the intent to harm or intimidate, sell, trade, give, publish,distribute, or otherwise release the residential address, residential telephone number, birthdate, or social security number of any law enforcement-related, corrections officer-related, or court-related employee or volunteer, or someone with a similar name, and categorize them as such, without the express written permission of the employee or volunteer unless specifically exempted by law or court order. {+ NEW SECTION. +} Sec. 2. (1) Whenever it appears that any person or organization is engaged in or about to engage in any act that constitutes or will constitute a violation of section 1 of this act,the prosecuting attorney or any person harmed by an alleged violation of section 1 of this act may initiate a civil proceeding in superior court to enjoin such violation, and may petition the court to issue an order for the discontinuance of the dissemination of information in violation of section 1 of this act. (2) An action under this section shall be brought in the county in which the violation is alleged to have taken place, and shall be commenced by the filing of a verified complaint, or shall be accompanied by an affidavit. (3) If it is shown to the satisfaction of the court, either by verified complaint or affidavit, that a person or organization is engaged in or about to engage in any act that constitutes a violation of section 1 of this act, the court may issue a temporary restraining order to abate and prevent the continuance or recurrence of the act. (4) The court may issue a permanent injunction to restrain, abate, or prevent the continuance or recurrence of the violation of section 1 of this act. The court may grant declaratory relief, mandatory orders, or any other relief deemed necessary to accomplish the purposes of the injunction. The court may retain jurisdiction of the case for the purpose of enforcing its orders. {+ NEW SECTION. +} Sec. 3. Any law enforcement-related, corrections officer-related, or court-related employee or volunteer who suffers damages as a result of a person or organization selling, trading, giving, publishing, distributing, or otherwise releasing the residential address, residential telephone number, birthdate, or social security number of the employee or volunteer in violation of section 1 of this act may bring an action against the person or organization in court for actual damages sustained, plus attorneys' fees and costs. {+ NEW SECTION. +} Sec. 4. Sections 1 through 3 of this act are each added to chapter 4.24 RCW. --- END -- -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Politech dinner in SF on 4/16: http://www.politechbot.com/events/cfp2002/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------
