Congress·In Committee·H.R. 3203

Journalist Protection Act

Journalist Protection Act: Penalties for Assaulting Reporters

May 5, 2025·View on Congress.gov·Read full text

This bill is one vehicle in a longer effort. See the full story across every version.View effort →

Next up: A house committeeNo action in 14 months

The Journalist Protection Act is currently in the early stages of the legislative process. It was recently sent to the House Committee on the Judiciary for review. There are no upcoming votes scheduled at this time, but the bill remains active.

Legislative Progress

House

Senate

President

Law

Unlikely to pass

This bill was introduced by a member of the minority party and faces a difficult path in a divided Congress where similar proposals have failed before.

How we got here

This bill’s path across every version that has carried it.

Reintroduced
Reintroduced from H.R. 3121 (118th), which died when its Congress ended.
H.R. 3121 (118th) →

Key Points

This bill creates new federal penalties for anyone who intentionally assaults a journalist. It covers people working for newspapers, news websites, TV stations, and radio programs.
Attackers could face up to 3 years in prison for causing bodily injury. If the assault causes serious injury, the prison time could increase to 6 years.
The law would apply when a journalist is attacked while doing their job or if the attacker is trying to stop them from reporting on public events.
The goal is to protect the safety of people who gather and share news with the public. It treats these attacks as federal crimes rather than just local matters.

Impact Analysis

Govbase has not yet run an impact analysis on this legislation.

Milestones

2 milestones2 actions

May 5, 2025House

Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.

May 5, 2025

Introduced in House

The bill was officially filed and given a number. It now enters the legislative queue.

No votes or news coverage recorded for this bill yet.

Source Information

Document Type

Congressional Bill

Official Title

Journalist Protection Act

Bill NumberHR 3203

Congress119th Congress

ChamberHouse of Representatives

Latest ActionReferred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.

Data Sources

Congress.gov

Official legislative information

Read Full Bill Text

Sponsor

Cosponsors

(1)

D: 1

Analysis generated by AI. Always verify with official sources.