Litigate or legislate?

The General Assembly just passed a law requiring online platforms, such as Facebook, to keep records of who paid for political advertisements on their sites.

We acted in response to the ads bought by Russian agents, working at the behest of the Putin government, during the 2016 Presidential election.

Before I introduced my legislation, I sent the draft to the Attorney General’s Office, which advised me that it was constitutional.

Several of its provisions were amended onto the legislation that we passed, House Bill 981 and Senate Bill 875.

Late in the session, I attended a meeting with representatives of Facebook, newspapers, television, and radio.
Facebook said that this legislation could serve as a national model.

However, a newspaper representative asserted that the First Amendment prohibits the government from requiring the press to print anything, even a database of political advertisers on a newspaper’s online edition.

We decided not to revise the bill because an amendment would delay final action and possibly prevent the bill from passing.

Last week, Governor Hogan let this legislation become law without his signature.

He supported the intent of the bill, he wrote, but was concerned about the First Amendment issue.

The law could be challenged in court, stated Rebecca Snyder, executive director of the press association.

Whatever happens in court, we should also discuss whether the law could be amended to meet those First Amendment concerns next year in Annapolis.