Ridiculous.
I know one bill I would support for sure and it’s way over due:
Make the impeding of traffic or the blocking of any road, bridge or highway for the purposes of political or social protest to be punishable by a minimum of five years in jail for a first offense with no chance of probation, conditional discharge or parole.
Right....you can take it out of their welfare check.
Good luck getting gmany of those basement dwellers to pay up. The law better let them go after the assets of Mom and Dad. Or force them to post a multimillion dollar bond in advance.
Rioters not taxpayers should be responsible for any cleanup.
If they had to pay out of their pocket, they would think twice before assaulting police.
You have a right to peaceably assemble. You don’t have a right to riot.
Slippery slope. I can think of a lot of “what if’s” in this situation. I think if there are violent actions by someone then maybe. But only if they are found guilty by trial first.
when you sign up to be a Protester you have to give your Credit Card number ,LOL
George Soros is going to complain about this.
Save the time and effort.
Just bill and fine George Soros.
Go after the deep-pocket organizers.
I don’t see how you argue that this doesn’t restrict free speech. How quickly would the courts step in?
To expand:
Is it unheard of for innocent people to arrested just because they are near group of offenders. Or just because the police in one location favor one group over another. Maybe they are given orders on who to arrest by the mayor of Charlottesville or the governor of Virginia. Maybe they are never actually proven to be guilty. And yet they get the bill.
This is no different than asset forfeiture.
Given the conditional at the end, “a person is responsible for public safety response costs incurred . . . (if) the person is convicted of a felony or misdemeanor offense,” I am mostly okay with this, although it would be better restricted to felonies only. If you are going to cost a jurisdiction money, you should be extra scrupulous to obey all laws. I worry though about frivolous or even completely fake prosecutions to shake people down, but a corrupt system will always find a way to do that so it’s not a reason to avoid an otherwise good law.
About damned time.
Awesome; keep the BLM/ANTIFA/PETA/GREENIE==COMMIE mobs at bay.
Free speech would still be free.
Violent “speech” would have a fee.
As a Pennsylvania taxpayer I like that idea—a lot!
They ought to get jail time too. The Constitution guarantees the right to protest peacefully. Anything else is a crime.
A very bad bill I hope it is never enacted.
Excellent bill.
Not for protestors.
Only if they commit a crime.
Peaceful, lawful protest is an American tradition whether you agree with them or not.