IIB 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 140 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 14, 2023 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and 

Governmental Affairs 

AN ACT 

To amend title 5, United States Code, to prohibit Federal 

employees from advocating for censorship of viewpoints 

in their official capacity, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protecting Speech 

3 from Government Interference Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON FEDERAL EMPLOYEE CENSOR5 SHIP. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 73 of title 5, United 

7 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol8 lowing: 

9 ‘‘SUBCHAPTER VIII—PROHIBITION ON 

10 FEDERAL EMPLOYEE CENSORSHIP 

11 ‘‘§ 7381. Policy regarding Federal employee censor12 ship 

13 ‘‘It is the policy of the Congress that employees act14 ing in their official capacity should neither take action 

15 within their authority or influence to promote the censor16 ship of any lawful speech, nor advocate that a third party, 

17 including a private entity, censor such speech. 

18 ‘‘§ 7382. Prohibition on Federal employee censorship 

19 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—An employee may not— 

20 ‘‘(1) use the employee’s official authority to 

21 censor any private entity, including outside of nor22 mal duty hours and while such employee is away 

23 from the employee’s normal duty post; or 

24 ‘‘(2) engage in censorship of a private entity— 

25 ‘‘(A) while the employee is on duty; 


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1 ‘‘(B) in any room or building occupied in 

2 the discharge of official duties by an individual 

3 employed or holding office in the Government of 

4 the United States or any agency or instrumen5 tality thereof; 

6 ‘‘(C) while wearing a uniform or official in7 signia identifying the office or position of the 

8 employee; 

9 ‘‘(D) while using any vehicle owned or 

10 leased by the Government of the United States 

11 or any agency or instrumentality thereof; or 

12 ‘‘(E) while using any information system 

13 or information technology (as defined under 

14 section 11101 of title 40). 

15 ‘‘(b) EXCEPTIONS FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT FUNC16 TIONS AND REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.— 

17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Nothing in this section 

18 shall be construed to prohibit an employee from en19 gaging in lawful actions against unlawful speech 

20 within the official authority of such employee for the 

21 purpose of exercising legitimate law enforcement 

22 functions. 

23 ‘‘(2) REPORTING.— 

24 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 72 

25 hours before an employee exercises a legitimate 


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1 law enforcement function under paragraph (1) 

2 to take any action to censor any unlawful 

3 speech (in this paragraph referred to as a ‘cen4 sorship action’), and consistent with subpara5 graph (D), the head of the agency that employs 

6 the employee shall submit, to the Office of Spe7 cial Counsel and the chair and ranking member 

8 of the committees of Congress described under 

9 subparagraph (B), a report that includes— 

10 ‘‘(i) an overview of the action, or ac11 tions, to be taken, including a summary of 

12 the action being taken and the rationale 

13 for why a censorship action is necessary; 

14 ‘‘(ii) the name of the entity which the 

15 action is being requested of; 

16 ‘‘(iii) the person and entity targeted 

17 by the censorship action, including the as18 sociated name or number of any account 

19 used or maintained by the entity and a de20 scription of the specific speech content tar21 geted; 

22 ‘‘(iv) the agency’s legal authority for 

23 exercising the law enforcement function; 

24 ‘‘(v) the agency employee or employ25 ees involved in the censorship action, inVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:51 Mar 15, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H140.RFS H140

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1 cluding their position and any direct super2 visor; 

3 ‘‘(vi) a list of other agencies that have 

4 been involved, consulted, or communicated 

5 with in coordination with the censorship 

6 action; and 

7 ‘‘(vii) a classified annex, if the agency 

8 head deems it appropriate. 

9 ‘‘(B) COMMITTEES.—The committees of 

10 Congress described under this subparagraph are 

11 the following: 

12 ‘‘(i) The Committee on Oversight and 

13 Accountability, the Committee on the Judi14 ciary, the Permanent Select Committee on 

15 Intelligence, and the Committee on Energy 

16 and Commerce of the House of Represent17 atives. 

18 ‘‘(ii) The Committee on Homeland Se19 curity and Governmental Affairs, the Com20 mittee on the Judiciary, Select Committee 

21 on Intelligence, and the Committee on 

22 Commerce, Science, and Transportation of 

23 the Senate. 

24 ‘‘(C) CLARIFICATION OF OFFICE OF SPE25 CIAL COUNSEL REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.— 


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1 The reporting requirements in this paragraph 

2 do not apply to the Office of Special Counsel’s 

3 advisory and enforcement functions under sub4 chapter II of chapter 12. 

5 ‘‘(D) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS FOR

6 CERTAIN ACTIONS.— 

7 ‘‘(i) Any censorship action relating to 

8 combating child pornography and exploi9 tation, human trafficking, or the illegal 

10 transporting of or transacting in controlled 

11 substances shall be exempt from the re12 porting requirement under this paragraph. 

13 ‘‘(ii) With respect to any censorship 

14 action related to safeguarding, or pre15 venting the unlawful dissemination of, 

16 properly classified national security infor17 mation, subparagraph (A) shall be applied 

18 by substituting ‘Not later than 72 hours 

19 after’ for ‘Not later than 72 hours before’. 

20 ‘‘(c) PENALTIES.— 

21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—An employee who violates 

22 this section shall be subject to— 

23 ‘‘(A) disciplinary action consisting of re24 moval, reduction in grade, debarment from 


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1 Federal employment for a period not to exceed 

2 10 years, suspension, or reprimand; 

3 ‘‘(B) an assessment of a civil penalty not 

4 to exceed $1,000; or 

5 ‘‘(C) any combination of the penalties de6 scribed in subparagraph (A) or (B). 

7 ‘‘(2) APPLICATION TO SENIOR GOVERNMENT

8 OFFICIALS.—Paragraph (1)(B) shall be applied by 

9 substituting ‘$50,000’ for ‘$1,000’ for any employee 

10 who is— 

11 ‘‘(A) paid from an appropriation for the 

12 White House Office; or 

13 ‘‘(B) appointed by the President, by and 

14 with the advice and consent of the Senate. 

15 ‘‘(d) ENFORCEMENT.— 

16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para17 graph (2) and subsection (c)(2), this section shall be 

18 enforced in the same manner as subchapter III of 

19 this chapter. 

20 ‘‘(2) APPLICATION.—Notwithstanding any other 

21 provision of law, including section 1215(b), the Spe22 cial Counsel may, in lieu of sending a report to the 

23 President under section 1215(b), seek civil monetary 

24 penalties under subsection (c)(2) pursuant to section 

25 1215(a). This paragraph shall not be construed to 


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1 limit or otherwise affect the President’s authority to 

2 enforce any disciplinary action against an employee 

3 described under subsection (c)(2). 

4 ‘‘(e) REPORT.— 

5 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 240 days 

6 after the date of the enactment of this section, and 

7 annually thereafter, the Attorney General, in con8 sultation with the Assistant Attorney General for 

9 Civil Rights and the Office of Special Counsel, shall 

10 submit to the committees of Congress described in 

11 subsection (b)(2)(B) a report evaluating the compli12 ance by the Federal Government with this section, 

13 including a description of any action by the head of 

14 an agency or department in the executive branch 

15 to— 

16 ‘‘(A) consult with any third parties about 

17 censorship by employees in the executive 

18 branch; or 

19 ‘‘(B) engage in any activity prohibited 

20 under this section. 

21 ‘‘(2) SUNSET.—This subsection shall terminate 

22 on the date that is 10 years after the date of the 

23 enactment of this subsection. 

24 ‘‘(f) ANNUAL TRAINING.—Not less than annually, the 

25 head of each employing agency shall provide mandatory 


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1 training on this section and the requirements of this sec2 tion to each agency employee. 

3 ‘‘(g) DEFINITIONS.—In this subchapter— 

4 ‘‘(1) the term ‘censor’ or ‘censorship’ means in5 fluencing or coercing, or directing another to influ6 ence or coerce, for— 

7 ‘‘(A) the removal or suppression of lawful 

8 speech, in whole or in part, from or on any 

9 interactive computer service; 

10 ‘‘(B) the addition of any disclaimer, infor11 mation, or other alert to lawful speech being ex12 pressed on an interactive computer service; or 

13 ‘‘(C) the removal or restriction of access of 

14 any person or entity on an interactive computer 

15 service generally available to the public, unless 

16 such person or entity is engaged in unlawful 

17 speech or criminal activities on such service; 

18 ‘‘(2) the term ‘employee’ has the meaning given 

19 that term in section 7322; 

20 ‘‘(3) the term ‘interactive computer service’ has 

21 the meaning given that term in section 230(f) of the 

22 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 230(f)); 

23 ‘‘(4) the term ‘lawful speech’ means speech pro24 tected by the First Amendment of the Constitution; 

25 and 


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1 ‘‘(5) the term ‘unlawful speech’ means speech 

2 not protected by the First Amendment of the Con3 stitution.’’. 

4 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

5 for chapter 73 of title 5, United States Code, is amended 

6 by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘SUBCHAPTER VIII—PROHIBITION ON FEDERAL EMPLOYEE CENSORSHIP

‘‘7381. Policy regarding Federal employee censorship. 

‘‘7382. Prohibition on Federal employee censorship.’’. 

7 (c) INCLUDING CENSORSHIP ACTIVITIES UNDER JU8 RISDICTION OF OFFICE OF SPECIAL COUNSEL.—Strike 

9 paragraph (1) of section 1216(a) of title 5, United States 

10 Code, and insert the following: 

11 ‘‘(1) political activity and censorship prohibited 

12 under subchapter III and subchapter VIII of chapter 

13 73, relating to political and censorship activities, re14 spectively, by Federal employees;’’. 

15 (d) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this Act 

16 or any amendment made by this Act should be interpreted 

17 as prohibiting a lawful action by a Federal agency to en18 force a Federal law or regulation (including any action to 

19 enforce a Federal law or regulation addressing obscene 

20 matters), to establish or enforce the terms and conditions 

21 of Federal financial assistance, or to prohibit a Federal 

22 employee from using an official Federal account on an 

23 interactive computer service to communicate an official 


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1 policy position, and relevant information, to the public, or 

2 provide information through normal press and public af3 fairs relations. 

4 (e) SEVERABILITY.—If any provision of this Act or 

5 any amendment made by this Act, or the application of 

6 a provision of this Act or an amendment made by this 

7 Act to any person or circumstance, is held to be unconsti8 tutional, the remainder of this Act, and the application 

9 of the provisions to any person or circumstance, shall not 

10 be affected by the holding. 

11 SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS. 

12 The Congress finds that inspectors general should not 

13 less than annually for the next seven years publicly report 

14 the number of complaints and tips received, the number 

15 of investigations opened, and statistics on how investiga16 tions were managed and their disposition by that inspector 

17 general related to compliance with this Act and the 

18 amendments made by this Act. 

Passed the House of Representatives March 9, 

2023. 

Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, 

Clerk. 


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