Wyoming First Amendment Protection Act.

26LSO-0355
2026
STATE OF WYOMING
26LSO-0355
ENGROSSED
3.0

HOUSE BILL NO. HB0103

Wyoming First Amendment Protection Act.

Sponsored by: Representative(s) Ottman and Heiner

A BILL

for

AN ACT relating to civil procedure; creating the Wyoming First Amendment Protection Act; providing immunity from lawsuits based on the constitutional rights of freedom of petition, freedom of assembly, religious freedom and expression of speech; specifying procedures and limitations for lawsuits based on public participation; providing legislative findings; specifying applicability; and providing for an effective date.

Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:

Section 1
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W.S. 1
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44
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101 through 1
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107 are created to read:

CHAPTER 44
LAWSUITS AGAINST PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

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101.

Short title.

This act shall be known and may be cited as the "Wyoming First Amendment Protection Act."

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102.

Definitions.

(a)

As used in this chapter:

(i)

"Court" means any state or federal judicial forum, any agency of the state or its political subdivisions while conducting a contested case hearing and any arbitration proceeding. For the purposes of the immunity established in W.S. 1
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103, "court" includes any forum adjudicating a claim arising under Wyoming law;

(ii)

"Person" includes an individual, partnership, corporation, joint stock company or any other association or entity, public or private;

(iii)

"Privileged activities" means the exercise of the right to petition, the right of freedom of speech, the right to assemble and the right of religious freedom under the laws of Wyoming and the United States;

(iv)

"SLAPP" means a strategic lawsuit against public participation.

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103.

Strategic lawsuits against public participation; immunity from suit.

(a)

If an action of any kind is brought against a person in any court and the action impacts or arises from one (1) or more privileged activities, the person against whom the action is brought shall be entitled to immunity from suit on account of the person's privileged activity, except as otherwise provided in this section. This immunity protects against the burdens of litigation itself, not merely against ultimate liability.

(b)

The immunity from suit conferred in subsection (a) of this section shall include but is not limited to the following privileged activities:

(i)

Any written or oral statement made in connection with or reporting on an issue under consideration or review by a legislative, executive, judicial, quasi
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judicial, administrative or other governmental entity or in any official proceeding authorized by law, including pre
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litigation communications and demand letters;

(ii)

Any written or oral statement made in a place open to the public or a public forum in connection with an issue of public interest or concern;

(iii)

Any other conduct or communication that seeks to influence, inform, facilitate or comment on a matter of public interest or concern and that seeks to procure governmental or public involvement or action.

(c)

The immunity from suit conferred in subsection (a) of this section may be raised in any dispositive motion during a lawsuit or in any other pretrial motion that is available under the rules of the court and where the immunity may be raised. Upon the filing of a motion asserting the immunity from suit conferred in subsection (a) of this section, the court shall determine the immunity. If the party against whom an immunity motion is filed moves to dismiss that party's own claims or amend the party's complaint after a motion asserting immunity is filed under this section, the motion to dismiss or amend shall not moot the immunity motion, and the court may deem the motion to dismiss or amend as evidence that the immunity motion is meritorious.

(d)

A person who asserts the immunity from suit conferred in this section and for whom the immunity is denied may file an interlocutory appeal for review of the immunity separate from the merits of the underlying action. Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to limit the authority of the Wyoming supreme court to adopt rules to govern these appeals.

(e)

The immunity from suit granted in this section may be overcome if the person's conduct:

(i)

Was knowingly false and defamatory or was made in reckless disregard of the truth, including willful ignorance or a refusal to investigate;

(ii)

Constituted a true threat, incitement to imminent lawless action, obscenity, child pornography or any other established category of expression that falls entirely outside constitutional protection; or

(iii)

Was defamatory against a private figure, whether per quod defamation, per se defamation or defamation by implication that does not involve a matter of public concern, was at least negligent and the statements at issue were factually false.

(f)

The party not asserting immunity may overcome the immunity asserted under this section by presenting sufficient evidence that an exception under subsection (e) of this section applies.

In determining whether an immunity asserted under this section may be overcome, the court shall only consider the pleadings, the motion, any response or reply to the motion and any supporting or opposing affidavits or declarations stating the facts upon which the asserted immunity or exception to the immunity is based. The court shall construe any disputed material facts in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party.

(g)

The immunity from suit under this section shall apply regardless of any cause of action, claim or counterclaim asserted under the laws of this state.

(h)

A person asserting the immunity from suit under this section may request a stay of all or part of the proceedings. The court shall consider granting a stay to effectuate the purposes of this chapter. The party opposing the stay bears the burden of demonstrating that denial is necessary to prevent manifest injustice to that party.

(j)

No governmental entity and no public employee or officer acting within the course and scope of the employee's or officer's official duties or no other person acting on behalf of and under color of authority of a governmental entity shall assert or be granted the immunity from suit conferred in this section for claims related to the entity's exercise of governmental power or the employee's or officer's official conduct.

(k)

Any action dismissed based on the immunity from suit provided in this section shall be a dismissal with prejudice and shall be deemed an adjudication on the merits.

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104.

Strategic lawsuits against public participation immunity; attorney fees and costs; prevailing party.

(a)

The court shall award reasonable attorney fees, costs and all reasonable expenses incurred to any person who successfully asserts the immunity from suit provided in W.S. 1
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103. For purposes of this subsection, fees, costs and expenses shall include all reasonable costs and expenses incurred in defending against the entire action, including any appeals and all work undertaken to obtain, enforce and collect an award under this section.

(b)

For purposes of this section, a party that successfully asserts the immunity from suit provided in W.S. 1
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103 against a governmental entity or employee or officer of a governmental entity shall be entitled to be awarded reasonable attorney fees, costs and expenses from the governmental entity in accordance with this section.

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105.

Discretionary fees; nonmoving party for immunity.

If a party invokes the immunity from suit provided in W.S. 1
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103 and the court finds that the assertion of immunity is frivolous, made in bad faith or was brought solely for the purpose of delay or harassment, the court may award reasonable attorney fees and costs to the nonmoving party that the party incurred in responding to the assertion of immunity from suit.

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106.

Strategic lawsuits; countersuit and counterclaims.

(a)

A SLAPP
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back cause of action shall exist against any person who brings an action or claim against another person, where:

(i)

The action or claim impacts or arises from one (1) or more privileged activities of the person against whom the action or claim is brought;

(ii)

The lawsuit or claim was brought against the person for conduct or speech that was in furtherance of any of the rights and freedoms protected by the first amendment to the United States constitution or article 1, sections 19, 20 or 21 of the Wyoming constitution; and

(iii)

The lawsuit or claim was:

(A)

Brought to harass, intimidate or punish the person for exercising first amendment rights;

(B)

Brought to inhibit the exercise of first amendment rights;

(C)

Brought in reckless disregard of the fact that the lawsuit or claim would have the effect of harassment, intimidation or punishment of the exercise of first amendment rights or the inhibition of the exercise of those rights; or

(D)

Continued for any of the reasons specified in this paragraph after factual or legal development made the lawsuit or claim no longer viable.

(b)

A cause of action under this section accrues upon the filing of the underlying action or claim. The cause of action may be asserted as a counterclaim in the underlying action without awaiting resolution of any motion asserting immunity from suit, or may be brought as a separate action during or after the underlying action. In the event that a party filed a motion invoking the immunity from suit and the nonmoving party withdrew the claim before the immunity was adjudicated, there shall be a presumption that the suit was a SLAPP suit, and thus SLAPP
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back liability is established.

(c)

Remedies available to a person prevailing in a lawsuit under this section shall include:

(i)

Compensatory damages, including but not limited to damages for emotional distress and damages to reputation. Damages awarded under this paragraph shall be proportionate to the portion of the initial lawsuit to which the immunity from suit would have applied;

(ii)

Statutory damages of not less than five thousand dollars ($5,000.00) and not more than one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000.00);

(iii)

Reasonable attorney fees and costs, including attorney fees and costs incurred defending the initial lawsuit, if those attorney fees and costs were not awarded under W.S. 1
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104, and the difference between any attorney fees incurred in a prior lawsuit under this chapter involving the same parties and the amount of attorney fees actually awarded.

(d)

Any resident of this state against whom an action is brought outside this state for claims that would have been subject to this chapter if brought in the courts of Wyoming may bring a lawsuit specified in this section against the person who brought the foreign action, whether in this state or in any other jurisdiction in which personal jurisdiction and venue are applicable.

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107.

Applicability.

(a)

This chapter shall be construed broadly to effectuate the purpose of protecting the constitutional rights of free speech, petition, assembly and the freedom of religion.

(b)

The immunity from suit available under this chapter is in addition to, and not in lieu of, any other immunity, privilege or defense available under the United States constitution, the Wyoming constitution, state law, federal law or the common law.

(c)

The immunity from suit provided in this chapter is substantive law of the state of Wyoming. In federal courts and foreign jurisdictions, any procedural provisions of this chapter are severable from the substantive immunity from suit provided in this chapter.

Section 2.

(a)

The legislature finds and declares that:

(i)

The rights to speak freely on matters of public concern, to assemble, to petition and of religious freedom are fundamental constitutional rights protected by the first amendment to the United States constitution and article 1, sections 19, 20 and 21 of the Wyoming constitution;

(ii)

Lawsuits or other legal actions filed for the purpose of chilling, punishing or retaliating against the legitimate exercise of these rights are commonly known as strategic lawsuits against public participation;

(iii)

Strategic lawsuits against public participation threaten the full enjoyment of constitutional rights and impose undue financial and emotional burdens on citizens;

(iv)

It is in the public interest to grant immunity from suit, similar to the qualified immunity afforded to public officials acting within their official duties and discretionary authority, to persons who exercise these constitutional rights, unless that exercise falls outside of constitutional protection;

(v)

The immunity from strategic lawsuits against public participation is only truly effective when it is a substantive immunity from suit rather than a limited procedural mechanism;

(vi)

The immunity from suit established by this act is substantive law of the state of Wyoming that defines the scope of state
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law claims and shall apply wherever these claims are adjudicated;

(vii)

This immunity from suit would be irrevocably lost without the right to an interlocutory appeal.

Section 3.

(a)

This act shall apply to:

(i)

All causes of action accruing on and after the effective date of this act;

(ii)

Any action pending on the effective date of this act, if:

(A)

The action is based on privileged activities as defined by W.S. 1
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102(a)(ii);

(B)

No dispositive motion has been ruled upon as of the effective date of this act; and

(C)

The court, in its discretion, determines that the application of this act would not cause manifest injustice to any party.

Section 4.

This act is effective July 1, 2026.

(END)

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HB0103