The California State Assembly passed a piece of legislation called the “Stop Nick Shirley Act,” which critics say limits journalism. The bill passed 57-19.
The bill was authored by the wife of California Attorney General Rob Bonta, Mia Bonta. While the bill initially aimed to prohibit the personal information of “any designated immigration support services provider, employee, or volunteer, or other individuals residing at the same home address” online with the intention of inciting another individual to “cause imminent great bodily harm to the designated immigration support services provider,” the legislation was amended to say that people may not post information of a program participant “specifically intending to incite a third person to cause imminent great bodily harm to such an individual that is likely to occur imminently or threatening to cause imminent great bodily harm to such an individual.”
A section was also removed that stated a person “shall not publicly post or publicly display on the internet the home address of a program participant who has made a written demand of that person, business, or association to not disclose the home address of the program participant.”
After the bill passed, citizen journalist Nick Shirley wrote on X, “This bill puts journalists at civil risk for investigating fraud and makes it harder to expose fraud in ‘immigration support services,’ including NGOs, nonprofits and health care facilities that receive hundreds of millions from the state of California each year.”
“This bill would have made it criminal to expose fake hospices in LA or the Somali ‘learning center’ in Minnesota if they then claim ‘reasonable fear’ and the business owner gives a written demand not to post the video,” he continued. “Plain and simple, California is trying to make it harder to expose fraud and scare individuals from investigating fraud in their communities, as they could be sued for an injunction to remove the video + forced to pay their attorney fees + minimum $4,000 in damages.”
