SB 173: Criminal penalties for protests that disturb legislative or other government meetings

Would create new criminal penalties for individuals protesting convenings of the legislature or other meetings of government officials. The bill expands “disorderly conduct” to include a person that recklessly causes public inconvenience, annoyance, or alarm by making “unreasonable noises” at an official meeting or in a private place that can be heard at an official meeting. Similarly, disorderly conduct is defined to include obstructing pedestrian traffic at an official meeting or refusing to leave an official meeting when asked by law enforcement. The bill also increases the penalty for disorderly conduct with it punishable by a $750 fine on the first offense (an infraction), up to 3 months in jail if one had been warned to cease prohibited conduct (Class C misdemeanor), up to 6 months for a second offense (Class B misdemeanor), and up to 1 year for a third offense (Class A misdemeanor). Accordingly, if adopted, the bill could, for instance, be used to penalize silent protesters who refuse to leave a legislative committee meeting. An earlier version of the bill explicitly made it unlawful to commit even a “single, loud outburst, absent other disruptive conduct, that does not exceed five seconds in length”. (See full text of bill here)

Status: enacted

Introduced 24 Feb 2020; Approved by Senate 5 March 2020; Approved by House 12 March 2020; Signed by Governor 30 March 2020