IB 

Union Calendar No. 2 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 140 

[Report No. 118–5] 

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. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 9, 2023 

Mr. COMER (for himself, Mr. JORDAN, and Mrs. RODGERS of Washington) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Accountability 

MARCH 2, 2023 

Additional sponsors: Mr. GROTHMAN, Mr. BIGGS, Mr. LANGWORTHY, Ms. 

MACE, Mrs. LUNA, Mr. BURCHETT, Mr. HIGGINS of Louisiana, Mr. SESSIONS, Mr. EDWARDS, Mr. LATURNER, Mr. GOSAR, Mr. FRY, Mrs. 

MCCLAIN, and Ms. GREENE of Georgia 

MARCH 2, 2023 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on January 9, 2023] 


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A BILL 

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. 


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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protecting Speech from 

5 Government Interference Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON FEDERAL EMPLOYEE CENSOR7 SHIP. 

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

9 Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: 

10 ‘‘SUBCHAPTER VIII—PROHIBITION ON FEDERAL 

11 EMPLOYEE CENSORSHIP 

12 ‘‘§ 7381. Policy regarding Federal employee censorship 

13 ‘‘It is the policy of the Congress that employees acting 

14 in their official capacity should neither take action within 

15 their authority or influence to promote the censorship of 

16 any lawful speech, nor advocate that a third party, includ17 ing 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 cen21 sor any private entity, including outside of normal 

22 duty hours and while such employee is away from the 

23 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 or 

11 any agency or instrumentality thereof; or 

12 ‘‘(E) while using any information system or 

13 information technology (as defined under section 

14 11101 of title 40). 

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

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

18 be construed to prohibit an employee from engaging 

19 in lawful actions within the official authority of such 

20 employee for the purpose of exercising legitimate law 

21 enforcement functions, including activities to— 

22 ‘‘(A) combat child pornography and exploi23 tation, human trafficking, or the illegal trans24 porting of or transacting in controlled sub25 stances; and 


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1 ‘‘(B) safeguarding, or preventing, the un2 lawful dissemination of properly classified na3 tional security information. 

4 ‘‘(2) REPORTING.— 

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

6 before an employee exercises a legitimate law en7 forcement function to take any action to censor 

8 any lawful speech (in this paragraph referred to 

9 as a ‘censorship action’), but not including any 

10 such action relating to activities described under 

11 subparagraph (A) or (B) of paragraph (1), the 

12 head of the agency that employs the employee 

13 shall submit, to the Office of Special Counsel and 

14 the chair and ranking member of the committees 

15 of Congress described under subparagraph (B), a 

16 report that includes— 

17 ‘‘(i) an overview of the action, or ac18 tions, to be taken, including a summary of 

19 the action being taken and the rationale for 

20 why a censorship action is necessary; 

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

22 action is being requested of; 

23 ‘‘(iii) the person and entity targeted by 

24 the censorship action, including the associ25 ated name or number of any account used 


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1 or maintained by the entity and a descrip2 tion of the specific speech content targeted; 

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

4 exercising the law enforcement function; 

5 ‘‘(v) the agency employee or employees 

6 involved in the censorship action, including 

7 their position and any direct supervisor; 

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

9 been involved, consulted, or communicated 

10 with in coordination with the censorship ac11 tion; and 

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

13 head deems it appropriate. 

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

15 Congress described under this subparagraph are 

16 the following: 

17 ‘‘(i) The Committee on Oversight and 

18 Accountability, the Committee on the Judi19 ciary, and the Committee on Energy and 

20 Commerce of the House of Representatives; 

21 and 

22 ‘‘(ii) The Committee on Homeland Se23 curity and Governmental Affairs, the Com24 mittee on the Judiciary, and the Committee 


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1 on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

2 of the Senate. 

3 ‘‘(C) CLARIFICATION OF OFFICE OF SPECIAL

4 COUNSEL REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.—The re5 porting requirements in this paragraph do not 

6 apply to the Office of Special Counsel’s advisory 

7 and enforcement functions under subchapter II 

8 of chapter 12. 

9 ‘‘(c) PENALTIES.— 

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

11 this section shall be subject to— 

12 ‘‘(A) disciplinary action consisting of re13 moval, reduction in grade, debarment from Fed14 eral employment for a period not to exceed 5 

15 years, suspension, or reprimand; 

16 ‘‘(B) an assessment of a civil penalty not to 

17 exceed $1,000; or 

18 ‘‘(C) any combination of the penalties de19 scribed in subparagraph (A) or (B). 

20 ‘‘(2) APPLICATION TO SENIOR GOVERNMENT OF21 FICIALS.—Paragraph (1)(B) shall be applied by sub22 stituting ‘$10,000’ for ‘$1,000’ for any employee who 

23 is— 

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

25 White House Office; or 


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

2 with the advice and consent of the Senate; 

3 ‘‘(d) ENFORCEMENT.—This section shall be enforced in 

4 the same manner as subchapter III of this chapter. 

5 ‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this subchapter— 

6 ‘‘(1) the term ‘censor’ or ‘censorship’ means in7 fluencing or coercing, or directing another to influ8 ence or coerce, for— 

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

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

11 interactive computer service; 

12 ‘‘(B) the addition of any disclaimer, infor13 mation, or other alert to lawful speech being ex14 pressed on an interactive computer service; or 

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

16 any person or entity on an interactive computer 

17 service generally available to the public, unless 

18 such person or entity is engaged in unlawful 

19 speech or criminal activities on such service; 

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

21 that term in section 7322; 

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

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

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


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1 ‘‘(4) the term ‘lawful speech’ means speech pro2 tected by the First Amendment of the Constitution.’’. 

3 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections for 

4 chapter 73 of title 5, United States Code, is amended by 

5 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.’’. 

6 (c) INCLUDING CENSORSHIP ACTIVITIES UNDER JU7 RISDICTION OF OFFICE OF SPECIAL COUNSEL.—Strike 

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

9 Code, and insert the following: 

10 ‘‘(1) political activity and censorship prohibited 

11 under subchapter III and subchapter VIII of chapter 

12 73, relating to political and censorship activities, re13 spectively, by Federal employees;’’. 

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

15 any amendment made by this Act should be interpreted as 

16 prohibiting a lawful action by a Federal agency to enforce 

17 a Federal law or regulation, to establish or enforce the terms 

18 and conditions of Federal financial assistance, or to pro19 hibit a Federal employee from using an official Federal ac20 count on an interactive computer service to communicate 

21 an official policy position, and relevant information, to the 

22 public, or provide information through normal press and 

23 public affairs relations. 


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

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

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

4 to any person or circumstance, is held to be unconstitu5 tional, the remainder of this Act, and the application of 

6 the provisions to any person or circumstance, shall not be 

7 affected by the holding. 


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kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
Union Calendar No. 2 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 140 

[Report No. 118–5] 

A BILL 

To amend title 5, United States Code, to prohibit 

for other purposes. ship of viewpoints in their official capacity, and Federal employees from advocating for censorMARCH 2, 2023 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Comand ordered to be printed mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS