H.R. 4250 · 118th Congress

PRESS Act

Introduced on Jun 21, 2023 by Kevin Kiley (R-CA-3). 19 cosponsors, 10 of them from another party. Latest action (Jan 22, 2024): Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

Stage
Passed one chamber
Introduced
Jun 21, 2023
Cosponsors
19
10 from the other party
Policy area
Science, Technology, Communications
Open in the Congress explorerCongress.govAlert me

Progress

The furthest stage the measure reached. Simple and concurrent resolutions do not go to the President.

  1. Introduced
  2. Reported by committee
  3. Passed one chamber
  4. 4Passed both chambers
  5. 5Sent to the President
  6. 6Became law

Official title

To maintain the free flow of information to the public by establishing appropriate limits on the federally compelled disclosure of information obtained as part of engaging in journalism, and for other purposes.

Subjects

  • Computers and information technology
  • Criminal investigation, prosecution, interrogation
  • Evidence and witnesses
  • Internet, web applications, social media
  • News media and reporting
  • Telephone and wireless communication

Summary

The Congressional Research Service has not summarized this measure yet.

Sponsor and cosponsors

Cosponsors by party as of the day they signed on. Original cosponsors signed on the day of introduction.

Kevin KileyR-CA-3Sponsor

Democrats · 10

Republicans · 9

Roll calls

Recorded votes on the measure. Most measures move by voice vote or unanimous consent, which record no individual positions.

No recorded roll call on this measure: it moved by voice vote or unanimous consent, or has not reached the floor.

History

Every action as published, oldest first. Roll calls link to how each member voted.

  1. Jun 21, 2023Introduced in House
  2. Jun 21, 2023Introduced in House
  3. Jun 21, 2023 · HouseReferred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
  4. Jul 19, 2023 · HouseOrdered to be Reported by the Yeas and Nays: 23 - 0.
  5. Jul 19, 2023 · HouseCommittee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held
  6. Dec 5, 2023Reported by the Committee on Judiciary. H. Rept. 118-299.
  7. Dec 5, 2023 · HouseReported by the Committee on Judiciary. H. Rept. 118-299.
  8. Dec 5, 2023 · HousePlaced on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 242.
  9. Jan 16, 2024 · HouseMr. Kiley moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill.
  10. Jan 16, 2024 · HouseConsidered under suspension of the rules. (consideration: CR H143-145)
  11. Jan 16, 2024 · HouseDEBATE - The House proceeded with forty minutes of debate on H.R. 4250.
  12. Jan 16, 2024 · HouseAt the conclusion of debate, the chair put the question on the motion to suspend the rules. Mr. Kiley objected to the vote on the grounds that a quorum was not present. Further proceedings on the motion were postponed. The point of no quorum was considered as withdrawn.
  13. Jan 18, 2024 · HouseConsidered as unfinished business. (consideration: CR H229)
  14. Jan 18, 2024Passed/agreed to in House: On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill Agreed to by voice vote. (text: 1/16/2024 CR H143)
  15. Jan 18, 2024 · HouseOn motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill Agreed to by voice vote. (text: 1/16/2024 CR H143)
  16. Jan 18, 2024 · HouseMotion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.
  17. Jan 22, 2024 · SenateReceived in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

Committees

Committees and subcommittees the measure was referred to.

Agencies in its committees' jurisdiction

Analisa's mapping of committee jurisdiction to federal agencies; the bill may touch others, or none of these.

Who lobbied on it

Organizations whose lobbying reports (LD-2) name this measure. Spending is what they reported for those quarters on all issues, not on this measure alone.

  1. Protect the 1st, Inc.11 reports
    $325K reported (all issues)
  2. Project for Privacy and Surveillance Accountability, Inc.10 reports
    $680K reported (all issues)
  3. Hearst Corporation5 reports
    $450K reported (all issues)Federal contractor: HEARST MEDIA PRODUCTION GROUP LLC$5.6M in contracts, FY2026AI match · 99%
  4. NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BROADCASTERS5 reports
    $14.9M reported (all issues)Federal contractor: NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BROADCASTERSAI match · 100%
  5. NEWS MEDIA ALLIANCE5 reports
    $2.3M reported (all issues)
  6. PEN AMERICA5 reports
    $40K reported (all issues)
  7. Freedom of the Press Foundation4 reports
    $40K reported (all issues)
  8. NATIONAL ASSN OF BROADCASTERS4 reports
    $240K reported (all issues)Federal contractor: NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BROADCASTERSAI match · 100%
  9. PARAMOUNT GLOBAL4 reports
    $6M reported (all issues)
  10. American Civil Liberties Union3 reports
    $1.3M reported (all issues)
  11. ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUNDATION2 reports
    $20K reported (all issues)
  12. Demand Progress Action, Inc1 report
    $20K reported (all issues)
  13. NEWS CORPORATION1 report
    $200K reported (all issues)
  14. X Corp. (formerly Twitter, Inc.)1 report
    $160K reported (all issues)

Reports filed in 2023, 2024.

Sources and method

Every figure on this page traces to these records.

  • Bill status: bills and resolutions, sponsors, actions, subjects and CRS summaries (U.S. Government Publishing Office (GovInfo), from Congress.gov (Library of Congress))GovInfo Bill Status bulk data (Congress.gov; summaries by the Congressional Research Service) · data current to Oct 6, 2026 · loaded Oct 6, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Members of Congress, their terms, committees and identifiers (The @unitedstates project (from the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress, the House and the Senate))unitedstates/congress-legislators: legislators, committees and current committee membership · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: CC0 1.0 (public domain dedication)
  • House roll-call votes (Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives)Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives, roll-call vote records · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Senate roll-call votes and DW-NOMINATE scores (Voteview (UCLA Department of Political Science))Lewis, Jeffrey B., Keith Poole, Howard Rosenthal, Adam Boche, Aaron Rudkin, and Luke Sonnet (2026). Voteview: Congressional Roll-Call Votes Database. https://voteview.com/ · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Free to use with the required citation
  • Lobbying disclosures (LD-1 registrations, LD-2 quarterly reports, LD-203 contribution reports) (Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives)Clerk of the House, Lobbying Disclosure Act filings (organizations only; lobbyists' names are not loaded) · data current to Oct 6, 2026 · loaded Oct 6, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Positions are shown only where a roll call recorded them; voice votes and unanimous consent record none.
  • Money and votes are shown side by side; neither explains the other.