Heinert attempts to create new law to criminalize speaking against politicians. This should not happen in America.

Democrat State Senator Troy Heinert has introduced a measure in the State Senate that might seem acceptable to its sponsors on the surface, but ultimately comes off as an anti-speech measure designed by politicians to prevent already protected criticism of elected officials:

SENATE BILL NO. 139
Introduced by: Senators Heinert and Kennedy and Representative Saba

FOR AN ACT ENTITLED, An Act to prohibit the publication of false information in certain political advertisements.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF SOUTH DAKOTA:
Section 1. That chapter 12-26 be amended by adding a NEW SECTION to read:
No person may knowingly make, publish, broadcast, circulate or cause the making, publication, broadcast, or circulation in any letter, circular, advertisement, poster, or in any other communication any false statement designed to affect the vote on any issue submitted to the electors at any election or relating to any candidate for election to public office.

A violation of this section is a Class 1 misdemeanor.

Section 2. That chapter 12-26 be amended by adding a NEW SECTION to read:
No person may recklessly make, publish, broadcast, circulate or cause the making, publication, broadcast, or circulation in any letter, circular, advertisement, poster, or in any other communication any false statement designed to affect the vote on any issue submitted to the electors at any election or relating to any candidate for election to public office.

A violation of this section is a Class 2 misdemeanor.

Any person convicted of a violation under this section shall be assessed a civil penalty at the time of sentencing in addition to, and not in substitution for, any other penalties provided by law for the offense in the amount of one hundred dollars for each violation. The civil penalty shall be deposited in the state general fund.

Follow the measure here.

There are already protections – and remedies – in law regarding defamatory speech. And when it comes to public officials, the law has previously determined that there’s a lot of leeway when it comes to speech about public officials, because it’s important to not infringe on our rights to free speech.

But that’s the opposite of what this bill does. For a politician to attempt to level the playing field in the favor in this manner is troubling, to say the least.

Heinert’s bill is demanding that a new speech ban be placed into law, and to associate it with a new criminal penalty.  Yes, Senator Heinert and his fellow Democrats are actually demanding that people be prosecuted criminally if their opponent says bad things about them.

The measure purports to ban the publication of false information… but who decides what is false information, and what isn’t?

Threatening a lawsuit because you disagree with how a political opponent characterizes you or your measure is one thing. In fact, it’s par for the course. It happens all the time. But what Heinert is proposing is beyond the pale.  Heinert’s measure would create a new class of laws granting criminal penalties for speaking out against politicians.  That in and of itself should scare the pants off of anyone for how that measure would affect free speech in our country.

Not only should this bill be slammed in public and as part of the legislative process, but I predict this bill is going to come back to haunt the sponsors of this measure in the next election. As it should.

Involving the full force of the state to criminally prosecute political speech against a politician because you might disagree with is abhorrent, and not what we do in America.