Under the Dome | We Need to Kill Gavin Newsom's Bill in the Senate | Vol. 86
Volume 86
We Need to Kill Gavin Newsom's Bill in the Senate
We need everyone to call Lt. Governor Burt Jones and their State Senator ASAP! This bill could come up in the Senate at any time!
Call Lt. Governor Burt Jones and tell him to VOTE NO on SB 9!
Call your State Senator and tell them to VOTE NO on SB 9!
(Talking points if asked: legislating how one campaigns is not proper role of government, government playing this role is dangerous and infringement on 1st amendment rights, “affiliation” is too broad a term, criminal component is unacceptable as we already have defamation laws, making this activity a felony crime is insane, jail time is insane.) Just for starters… I could go all day.
Lt. Governor Burt Jones Number is (404) 656-5030
CLICK HERE TO FIND YOUR STATE SENATOR’S NUMBER
California has passed a similar bill, which Gavin Newsom has said he wants to use to arrest Elon Musk. More on that below, but feel free to say the following to Lt. Governor Burt Jones and your State Senator:
“Please ensure that Gavin Newsom’s anti-free speech deepfake law, which he wants to use to arrest Elon Musk, never becomes law in Georgia. Please do everything you can to prevent it from becoming law.”
This is our last chance to kill this bill in the General Assembly. How did your House Representative vote? See below:
This is our last chance to kill the bill so please take a few minutes and make these calls!
More information:
HB 986 from last year, Rep. Brad Thomas’ attempt to enact Gavin Newsom’s anti-free speech legislation which Newsom has said he wants to use to arrest Elon Musk, is back as SB 9. When SB 9 passed the Senate, it was a different bill. It has since been gutted and this bill from last year, that died in the Senate, is back following shady tactics by Rep. Brad Thomas. What does the bill do? I will give you a short explanation here, scroll further to see a broader explanation:
The bill would make it a crime to publish, broadcast, stream, or upload a video recording, video file, audio recording, or audio file, still image, or still image within 90 days of an election that is perceived to be deceptive by means of appearing to be real when it is not. The future of AI presents troubling possibilities. If we lose our first amendment in the process of preventing deception, we have lost that which we sought to protect. This bill is a grave risk to free speech, making it where someone could be thrown in prison for something as simple as posting memes that were then deemed to have interfered in an election. For the sake of freedom, we oppose the bill. This is why we have defamation laws. We do not need to criminalize speech. I will expand on the dangers more below, but here is the CALL TO ACTION:
Call your State Sentor and tell them to VOTE NO on SB 9!
(Talking points if asked: legislating how one campaigns is not proper role of government, government playing this role is dangerous and infringement on 1st amendment rights, “affiliation” is too broad a term, criminal component is unacceptable as we already have defamation laws, making this activity a felony crime is insane, jail time is insane.) Just for starters… I could go all day.
Now, the deep dive if you are interested:
What is the bill?
Luckily, defamation is illegal currently. If someone claims you said something, and it is false, you can file a lawsuit against them for defaming you. There is currently free speech but there is also currently accountability if someone tells lies which cause harm. Unfortunately, liberals and RINOs are seeking to roll back free speech by throwing people in prison for publishing what they call “materially deceptive media.”
Gavin Newsom signed a bill last year which he claims can be used to arrest Elon Musk and anyone who shares parody online.
Gavin Newsom is leading the way on barring media he deems “deceptive,” and has already stated he would like to use the law to arrest Elon Musk for posting parody.
Despite being in a Republican trifecta, we have Republicans in Georgia trying to enact Gavin Newson’s policies and arrest people for what they deem as “materially deceptive media.” The government will ultimately decide what counts as deceptive, just like they decided COVID-19 policy critiques were deceptive. Except this time you will be in real jail, not just Facebook jail.
A donkey and a RINO have formed a tyrannical dream team. RINO Brad Thomas, with help from his Senate counterpart John Albers, Committee Chairman Todd Jones, and Rep. Darlene Taylor who they’ve pawned the measure off to, has made it his mission to pass Gavin Newsom’s anti-free speech laws here in Georgia. If RINO Brad Thomas successfully passed Gavin Newsom’s anti-free speech laws, which Newsom wants to use to arrest Elon Musk, then Fani Willis could start arresting people for memes, much like President Trump and 18 others were arrested two years ago on political charges. Because of this, the Babylon Bee is actually suing California over this law.
This is reminiscent of Douglass Mackey, a gentleman who has been convicted and sentenced to time behind bars for posting memes about Hillary Clinton and her supporters in 2016. The federal government claimed his memes about texting to vote were a deliberate attempt to suppress the black vote via misinformation, stating memes are commonly a source of misinformation. Clearly, giving the government a gateway to do more of these prosecutions is not the right move.
RINO Brad Thomas’ efforts to enact Gavin Newsom’s new law here in Georgia must be stopped. Last year his bill was HB 986. With your help, we prevented it from passing. This session, however, it is now SB 9. We must keep the pressure up. Feel free to say the following to your State Representatives and State Senators:
“Please ensure that Gavin Newsom’s anti-free speech deepfake law, which he wants to use to arrest Elon Musk, never becomes law in Georgia. Please do everything you can to prevent it from becoming law.”
Here is some information on the legislation from this most recent session:
Who is eligible to be prosecuted under this bill?
The bill defines “person,” which means a person eligible to be prosecuted under this bill, as any employee, staff member, or other similarly affiliated individual of a political party, political body, candidate, campaign committee, political action committee, or any other political committee. Such term shall not include a broadcaster, cable provider, online service, streaming platform, or any employees or agents thereof, who otherwise would not fall under this definition of person except for their sale of advertising to a person as defined in this paragraph.
Considering the free speech implications of this bill, even a single person being eligible is a bad thing. This means that regardless of the parameters put around who is eligible, the bill is bad. The issue never was who was eligible, it is the conduct which would constitute a crime and the ability it would give government officials to go after citizens for merely speaking out. Regardless, the parameters can swallow up a large amount of people.
Not only does this bill make employees and staff members of a political party, political body, candidate, campaign committee, political action committee, or any other political committee eligible for prosecution under this bill, it would also make anyone “similarly affiliated” eligible for prosecution.
Affiliation is such a low bar; it could encompass many different people. From political party volunteers to even potentially the activists who fill the Georgia State Capitol to promote or oppose legislation.
The crime.
The bill states that a person commits the offense of fraudulent election interference if he or she, with knowledge of its falsity, publishes, broadcasts, streams, or uploads materially deceptive media within 90 days of an election with the intent to deceive one or more electors for the purpose of:
o Significantly influencing a candidate's chance of being elected in such election;
o Creating confusion about the administration of such election; or
o Otherwise influencing the result of such referendum.
Much like the Douglass Mackey situation, if the government deems it so, someone absolutely could be prosecuted for merely posting memes if they are affiliated with the wrong group or individual.
The bill states that aperson commits the offense of solicitation of fraudulent election interference when he or she, with the intent that a violation of this new law be committed, commands, encourages, or requests any individual to commit a violation proscribed by the bill.
The punishment.
The first violation is now a misdemeanor.
For subsequent violations, the punishment for violations of this bill is quite steep.
· The person will be guilty of a felony.
· Minimum 2 years in prison, maximum of 5 years in prison.
· A fine up to $50,000.
The state elections board.
Prior to a prosecution being initiated, a referral must come from the state elections board. Perhaps for now this will suffice…maybe. We have some good members on our State Election Board. If Democrats ever were to get control of the state elections board, that is a scary thought. Even when it comes to the issues in the 2020 election, though, it was largely Republicans who were the problem rather than Democrats. So even then, I am not super confident. Look at how our Republican Governor refuses to acknowledge that there is anything wrong with the actions of Fani Willis. Point being, this is not something we should leave to chance.
As always, let us know if we can assist you in any way on this matter. This bill needs to die!
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