House Bill 1333 in the Washington legislature that make words and speech illegal. The bill would create a state commission to implement recommendations from Attorney General Bob Ferguson, who encourages a new classification of criminal behavior that he calls “Domestic Violent Extremism.”
The Ferguson report says that words and speech, not just physical acts, can be dangerous to human life and health, and that law enforcement must focus on arresting those with certain ideas because they are “precursors to acts of domestic terrorism” such as “threats,” “online disinformation” and “white supremacist, antigovernment and other ideologies.”
It’s not specified which words and thoughts might become flagged by the state for “domestic terrorism,” but that would be a changing definition, as words are used in different ways through time. The word “patriot” could become a red-flag word under HB 1333.
“Domestic violent extremism encompasses various forms of extremist and political violence like threats, coercion, and intimidation, online disinformation, extremist recruitment and government infiltration efforts, and the general spread of extreme white supremacism and anti- government ideologies.”
The Executive Summary of the report says that people’s words and speech, not physical acts that are dangerous to human life and health, are the true target of the bill.
The Washington Policy Center offers four key takeaways from the bill:
- HB 1333 would criminalize thought and expression under an invented category of offenses called “domestic violent extremism.”
- Attorney General Bob Ferguson requested the bill in order to prosecute some people for words and speech, rather than for violent acts.
- Under the bill government officials would decide whose words and whose speech would be subject to criminal prosecution.
- The Attorney General’s office would increase surveillance of citizens for perceived violations of words and speech prohibitions.
- Citizens would be encouraged to report friends and neighbors to the state for officially-banned phrases, thoughts and expressions.
At the request of the attorney general, the bill has been introduced by Rep. Bill Ramos, a Democrat representing Issaquah.
The Biden Administration attempted a federal law that was similar to the Ramos bill in 2022, but it faced stiff resistance from constitutional scholars and free speech advocates.
HB 1333 would give the power to state government and far-reaching power to the attorney general and a politically charged commission to decide which words and speech would be subject to prosecution, and would encourage the surveillance of innocent citizens, while incentivizing people to turn in their friends and neighbors for using officially banned language or even physical expressions.
Read the Washington Policy Center bill summary at this link.
