The Citizen Participation Act will:

• Establish a policy encouraging public participation in debate and discouraging civil lawsuits, called SLAPPs, which attempt to silence the public’s constitutional rights to speak out on public issues.
• Provide for an expedited procedure to dismiss Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation 
• Suspend discovery until a decision on the motion to dismiss and appeals.
• Provide attorneys’ fees to the victim and possible sanctions against the filer of the SLAPP and their attorneys.

• Are usually civil complaints or counterclaims against an individual who exercised free speech activities protected by the First Amendment.
• Are often brought by corporations, real estate developers, or other entities who are opposing public interest issues including protection of the environment.

 
“Americans by the thousands are being sued, simply for exercising one of our most cherished rights: the right to communicate our views to our government officials, to ‘speak out’ on public issues.”  Source:  SLAPPs: Getting Sued For Speaking Out by George W. Pring and Penelope Canan (1996).

Individuals Have Been Sued for the Following Constitutionally Protected Actions:

• writing a letter to a newspaper
• reporting misconduct by public officials 
• speaking at public meetings
• filing complaints over proposed environmentally destructive developments
• filing complaints with officials over violations of health and safety laws
• "whistle blowing" in corporations
• circulating a petition 
• lobbying for legislation
• peacefully demonstrating

• Developers, builders and contractors, large companies, landfill owners, city and county governments, and logging firms are just a few of the entities that file SLAPPs. 
• These lawsuits are strategic and make use of litigation to politically intimidate people and organizations speaking out about a certain issue. 

• “Eco-SLAPPs” are quite common—environmentalists and environmental groups are being sued for speaking out against things such as harmful development, pollution, logging and neighborhood toxic waste sites. 
• The Sierra Club alone has been SLAPPed at least ten times. Other groups, such as The Nature Conservancy, are also frequent targets of SLAPPs. Often, however, small state or local groups find themselves at the brunt of corporate anger, and due to small budgets, are most affected by SLAPPs. 
• Even neighborhood activists and mainstream, middle class Americans who are attempting to protect their neighbors and families are singled out by business interests and are SLAPPed. 
• These people are negatively affected by these suits because they are often so intimidated, frustrated, and emotionally influenced by the process that they frequently decide not to be publicly active in the future, even though the suits are often unsuccessful. Not only does this silence those involved, but those that hear of the suits may be so affected that they decide not to ever participate in public governmental processes. 
• Former President George Bush, as quoted in SLAPPs: Getting Sued For Speaking Out by George W. Pring and Penelope Canan (1996), stated:  “No obstacle is more chilling than the fear of personal liability… [T]he fear of lawsuits, which place an individual’s bank account and home at risk, has increasingly deterred volunteer activity.” 

• Twenty states have already enacted legislation discouraging SLAPPs and procedurally protecting the victims of SLAPPs. 
• Congress has even jumped in and voiced its opposition to SLAPPs: in the mid-80s Congress introduced legislation encouraging states to enact anti-SLAPP legislation. Since SLAPPs involve issues of state law such as tort claims for interference with contractual rights, state-- rather than federal-- legislation is necessary to address the problem. 
• State anti-SLAPP legislation significantly deters suits from being filed and greatly assists victims with expedited dismissals and other procedural safeguards. Every state needs anti-SLAPP legislation in order to be true to the principles of a democracy. 

• Allowing for full public participation and input in decisions made by governmental entities is both a Republican and Democratic principle. Progressives and conservatives both believe in and benefit from a participatory government. 
• Participating in decisions that affect us is a fundamental freedom that we have as Americans and that we have proudly displayed to the world for over 200 years (one of the reasons the Revolutionary War was fought was so that Americans could criticize their English rulers). Americans believe in the democratic system that gives us this right. 
• If our voices are stifled, our constitutional rights will be infringed upon and the ultimate result is censorship. We cannot let this occur.