118TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 4250 
AN ACT 
To maintain the free flow of information to the public by 
establishing appropriate limits on the federally compelled 
disclosure of information obtained as part of engaging 
in journalism, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protect Reporters from 
Exploitative State Spying Act’’ or the ‘‘PRESS Act’’. 
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) COVERED JOURNALIST.—The term ‘‘covered 
journalist’’ means a person who regularly gathers, 
prepares, collects, photographs, records, writes, 
edits, reports, investigates, or publishes news or in-
formation that concerns local, national, or inter-
national events or other matters of public interest 
for dissemination to the public. 
(2) COVERED SERVICE PROVIDER.— 
(A) IN
GENERAL.—The term ‘‘covered 
service provider’’ means any person that, by an 
electronic means, stores, processes, or transmits 
information in order to provide a service to cus-
tomers of the person. 
(B) 
INCLUSIONS.—The 
term 
‘‘covered 
service provider’’ includes— 
(i) a telecommunications carrier and a 
provider of an information service (as such 
terms are defined in section 3 of the Com-
munications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 153)); 
(ii) a provider of an interactive com-
puter service and an information content
provider (as such terms are defined in sec-
tion 230 of the Communications Act of 
1934 (47 U.S.C. 230)); 
(iii) a provider of remote computing 
service (as defined in section 2711 of title 
18, United States Code); and 
(iv) a provider of electronic commu-
nication service (as defined in section 2510 
of title 18, United States Code) to the 
public. 
(3) DOCUMENT.—The term ‘‘document’’ means 
writings, recordings, and photographs, as those 
terms are defined by Federal Rule of Evidence 1001 
(28 U.S.C. App.). 
(4) FEDERAL ENTITY.—The term ‘‘Federal en-
tity’’ means an entity or employee of the judicial or 
executive branch or an administrative agency of the 
Federal Government with the power to issue a sub-
poena or issue other compulsory process. 
(5) 
JOURNALISM.—The 
term 
‘‘journalism’’ 
means 
gathering, 
preparing, 
collecting, 
photographing, recording, writing, editing, reporting, 
investigating, or publishing news or information that 
concerns local, national, or international events or
other matters of public interest for dissemination to 
the public. 
(6) PERSONAL ACCOUNT OF A COVERED JOUR-
NALIST.—The term ‘‘personal account of a covered 
journalist’’ means an account with a covered service 
provider used by a covered journalist that is not pro-
vided, administered, or operated by the employer of 
the covered journalist. 
(7) PERSONAL TECHNOLOGY DEVICE OF A COV-
ERED JOURNALIST.—The term ‘‘personal technology 
device of a covered journalist’’ means a handheld 
communications device, laptop computer, desktop 
computer, or other internet-connected device used by 
a covered journalist that is not provided or adminis-
tered by the employer of the covered journalist. 
(8) 
PROTECTED
INFORMATION.—The 
term 
‘‘protected information’’ means any information 
identifying a source who provided information as 
part of engaging in journalism, and any records, 
contents of a communication, documents, or infor-
mation that a covered journalist obtained or created 
as part of engaging in journalism. 
(9) SPECIFIED OFFENSE AGAINST A MINOR.— 
The term ‘‘specified offense against a minor’’ has 
the meaning given that term in section 111(7) of the