“The Chamber of Commerce opposed the bill then. They oppose this modest change now.”

I was speaking on the House floor, in response to another delegate’s point that the Chamber opposed the SLAPP bill I was defending.

Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation are brought to intimidate opponents, usually an individual or a neighborhood association, not to win in court.

I sponsored the SLAPP bill when we passed it six years ago. I drafted the amendments to it this week.

Four years ago, I introduced legislation that would authorize a court to act before fraud or voter suppression stains the electoral process. The court can intervene if there are reasonable grounds to believe someone is about to violate the law.

For the first time, this legislation will be debated on the Senate floor. By a 6-5 margin, a Senate committee gave it a favorable report last night.

Today, I spoke to one of the Democrats on that panel. I was amazed to learn that he had voted against my bill because he feared that it would be used to harass groups doing voter registration.

I told him the bill is modeled on a provision in the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965. He assured me he’d switch his vote.