[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4954 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4954

 To amend the Fair Housing Act to provide sanctions for the filing of 
                          certain complaints.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            August 12, 1994

 Mrs. Maloney introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                       Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Fair Housing Act to provide sanctions for the filing of 
                          certain complaints.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Free Speech Protection Act of 
1994''.

SEC. 2. FAIR HOUSING ACT AMENDMENT.

    Section 810 of the Fair Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 3610) is amended by 
adding at the end the following:
    ``(i) Sanctions for Impermissible Complaints.--
            ``(1) Generally.--If the Secretary determines that a 
        complaint filed under this section is an impermissible 
        complaint, the Secretary--
                    ``(A) shall promptly dismiss the complaint; and
                    ``(B) may impose appropriate sanctions on the 
                person filing the complaint, including the assessment 
                of all costs (including attorney's fees) incurred by 
                the respondent as a result of the filing.
            ``(2) Definition of Impermissible Complaint.--For the 
        purposes of this subsection, an impermissible complaint is a 
        complaint filed under subsection (a) that is--
                    ``(A) frivolous; or
                    ``(B) filed for the purpose of harassing or 
                intimidating a person or a class of persons from 
                exercising a right protected under the Constitution to 
                engage in free speech, free press, or free assembly, or 
                to petition government for the redress of 
                grievances.''.
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