California Acts of the 2008 Legislative Session
AJR 60, Chapter 102
BILL NUMBER: AJR 60 CHAPTERED 07/25/08 RESOLUTION CHAPTER 102 FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE JULY 25, 2008 ADOPTED IN SENATE JULY 7, 2008 ADOPTED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 12, 2008 INTRODUCED BY Assembly Members Evans and Leno (Coauthors: Senators McClintock and Migden) MAY 8, 2008 Relative to a speech shield law for America's journalistsLEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AJR 60, Evans. Speech: Shield law for journalists.
This measure would respectfully urge the Congress of the United States to enact a shield law for America's journalists.
WHEREAS, A free press is vital to the publication of important news within our society so that our government is accountable to its citizens; and WHEREAS, A journalist's promise of confidentiality to a source is often the only way the public can learn about waste, fraud, and abuse in government and the private sector, and the forced disclosure of confidential sources and information will cause individuals to refuse to talk to journalists, resulting in a chilling effect on the free flow of information and the public's right to know; and WHEREAS, The most famous confidential source in United States history, W. Mark Felt, also known as Deep Throat, voluntarily revealed his identity as a resident of Santa Rosa 33 years after the Watergate scandal revealed corruption in the highest levels of the Nixon White House; and WHEREAS, Shield laws promote the free flow of information to the public and prevent government from making journalists its investigative agents by prohibiting courts from holding journalists in contempt for refusing to disclose unpublished news sources or information received from those sources; and WHEREAS, California's shield law was first enacted in 1935 and later incorporated as subdivision (b) of Section 2 of Article I of the California Constitution in 1980 to provide that a journalist may not be held in contempt for refusing to disclose a news source or unpublished information gathered for news purposes; and WHEREAS, California's shield law was broadened in 2000 to also provide that no testimony or other evidence given by a journalist under subpoena in a civil or criminal proceeding may be construed as a waiver of immunity rights provided by the California Constitution, that a journalist subpoenaed in any civil or criminal proceeding shall be given at least five days' notice, except in exigent circumstances, and...
