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--- version:Introduced+++ version:(document, no version)@@ -1,848 +1,10 @@-2026 STATE OF WYOMING 26LSO-0319+Wyoming GRANITE Act. 26LSO-0319, 1.0- 1 HB0070+ HB0070+FISCAL NOTE-HOUSE BILL NO. HB0070+The fiscal impact is indeterminable due to an unknown number of cases.-Wyoming GRANITE Act.--Sponsored by: Representative(s) Singh, Guggenmos, Heiner-and Wharff--A BILL--for--1 AN ACT relating to civil procedure; creating the Wyoming-2 Guaranteeing Rights Against Novel International Tyranny and-3 Extortion (GRANITE) Act; creating a cause of action against-4 foreign states and international organizations regarding-5 foreign censorship laws that violate specific-6 constitutional provisions; providing for standing,-7 jurisdiction, venue, alternative service of process and a-8 statute of limitations; providing remedies; imposing joint-9 and several liability; prohibiting the state from-10 recognizing, enforcing or cooperating with certain foreign-11 judgments; creating a cause of action against the state for-12 the recognition, enforcement or cooperation with certain-13 foreign judgments; providing civil penalties; providing-14 definitions; providing legislative findings; making-2026 STATE OF WYOMING 26LSO-0319-- 2 HB0070--1 conforming amendments; requiring rulemaking; and providing-2 for effective dates.-3-4 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:-5-6 Section 1.-7-8 (a) The legislature finds that:-9-10 (i) Wyoming has a strong public policy favoring-11 robust protection of speech, association and innovation,-12 including in the fields of digital communication,-13 blockchain and internet services and relies on a-14 predictable legal environment for persons engaged in those-15 activities in this state;-16-17 (ii) Foreign states and international-18 organizations increasingly seek to restrict, penalize or-19 compel disclosure of speech that occurs wholly within the-20 United States by threatening or attempting to enforce-21 foreign censorship laws;-22-2026 STATE OF WYOMING 26LSO-0319-- 3 HB0070--1 (iii) For example, the United Kingdom's-2 communications regulatory agency, the Office of-3 Communications, sent a letter to the United States based-4 platform 4chan threatening fines of not more than twenty-5 five million dollars ($25,000,000.00) or ten percent (10%)-6 of that company's total worldwide revenue for noncompliance-7 with the United Kingdom's Online Safety Act. In addition,-8 the Brazilian supreme court Justice Alexandre de Moraes-9 ordered the United States based platforms X (formerly known-10 as Twitter) and Trump Media and Technology Group to censor-11 user accounts and disclose user data or the Brazilian-12 supreme court may order the shutdown of the platforms and-13 impose significant penalties;-14-15 (iv) These extraterritorial efforts taken by-16 foreign states and international organizations conflict-17 with the United States constitution and the Wyoming-18 constitution by chilling the speech of Wyoming residents,-19 including residents who operate in digital innovation-20 sectors like blockchain and decentralized technologies;-21-22 (v) Wyoming has a compelling state interest in-23 safeguarding the free exchange of ideas and protecting its-2026 STATE OF WYOMING 26LSO-0319-- 4 HB0070--1 citizens and business entities against foreign coercion and-2 intimidation;-3-4 (vi) Censorship by foreign states and-5 international organizations threatens Wyoming's leadership-6 in decentralized finance and digital assets;-7-8 (vii) In order to effectively deter foreign-9 states and international organizations from enforcing-10 foreign censorship laws in Wyoming, there needs to be-11 meaningful civil remedies and joint and several liability-12 across foreign states, agencies and instrumentalities of-13 foreign states, international organizations and foreign-14 officials. Agencies and instrumentalities of foreign states-15 and foreign officials may be immune from judgment or-16 liability while foreign states and international-17 organizations often maintain assets or commercial-18 relationships within the United States;-19-20 (viii) Foreign censorship laws enforced by-21 foreign states or international organizations-22 characteristically restrict expression based on content,-23 viewpoint or speaker identity in ways that would be-2026 STATE OF WYOMING 26LSO-0319-- 5 HB0070--1 presumptively unconstitutional under the first amendment to-2 the United States constitution, Article 1, Section 20 of-3 the Wyoming constitution and Article 1, Section 21 of the-4 Wyoming constitution;-5-6 (ix) It is appropriate to place the burden on-7 foreign states and international organizations to-8 demonstrate that the foreign states' or international-9 organizations' enforcement of foreign censorship laws would-10 satisfy strict scrutiny rather than requiring Wyoming-11 residents and business entities to prove the-12 unconstitutionality of foreign speech restrictions because-13 these foreign censorship laws are fundamentally-14 incompatible with the constitutional protections afforded-15 by the United States and Wyoming constitutions;-16-17 (x) Foreign states and international-18 organizations have increasingly sought to criminalize-19 constitutionally protected speech by issuing criminal-20 foreign judgments, arrest warrants and extradition requests-21 that deprive persons in the United States from lawful-22 expression that is constitutionally protected in the United-23 States. The dual criminality requirement in most United-2026 STATE OF WYOMING 26LSO-0319-- 6 HB0070--1 States mutual legal assistance treaties reflects the-2 principle that the United States should not lend its-3 sovereign power to enforce foreign judgments that-4 criminalize conduct that is lawful in the United States.-5 Wyoming has a compelling state interest in ensuring its-6 legal infrastructure is not used to circumvent this-7 principle;-8-9 (xi) Foreign states and international-10 organizations have exploited procedural mechanisms,-11 including service of process through mutual legal-12 assistance treaties, upon registered agents and through-13 private process servers to advance foreign censorship-14 proceedings against citizens of the United States. Even-15 ministerial cooperation may result in substantial foreign-16 penalties for constitutionally protected speech, which-17 facilitates the clearance of procedural hurdles in the-18 foreign jurisdiction. Wyoming's registered agent system and-19 private process servers should not serve as vectors for-20 foreign censorship proceedings and service of process-21 effectuated through any means should not result in-22 recognition of any resulting foreign judgment in this-23 state;-2026 STATE OF WYOMING 26LSO-0319-- 7 HB0070--1-2 (xii) This act operates defensively to protect-3 persons within Wyoming from coercion, rather than-4 offensively to regulate foreign conduct. Congress has-5 endorsed this approach through the federal SPEECH Act, 28-6 U.S.C. §§ 4101–4105, which prohibits recognition of foreign-7 defamation judgments that are inconsistent with the first-8 amendment to the United States constitution. This act-9 extends that principle to the broader category of foreign-10 censorship, consistent with Wyoming's sovereign authority-11 to determine which foreign judgments Wyoming's courts will-12 recognize and enforce;-13-14 (xiii) The executive branch of the United States-15 has not established a comprehensive policy to protect-16 United States persons from enforcement of foreign-17 censorship laws by foreign states and international-18 organizations. This act aims to protect state residents-19 from enforcement of foreign censorship laws and does not-20 conflict with any existing federal law or policy;-21-22 (xiv) When a foreign state or international-23 organization transmits an enforcement demand, fine or-2026 STATE OF WYOMING 26LSO-0319-- 8 HB0070--1 threat to a person in Wyoming the tortious act is completed-2 upon receipt. The harm occurs in Wyoming when the person-3 receives and understands the communication and experiences-4 the coercive effect of the communication;-5-6 (xv) Wyoming seeks to establish itself as a-7 welcoming home for digital innovation and digital-8 infrastructure. Wyoming has a compelling state interest in-9 protecting digital innovation and digital infrastructure-10 located within the state, including servers, data centers-11 and other digital infrastructure from enforcement of-12 foreign censorship laws;-13-14 (xvi) No foreign state or international-15 organization has legitimate discretion to enforce foreign-16 censorship laws against persons or speech protected by the-17 first amendment of the United States constitution. The-18 suppression of constitutionally protected expression-19 violates fundamental rights recognized by the United-20 Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the United-21 Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political-22 Rights and the first amendment to the United States-23 constitution. Foreign state's and international-2026 STATE OF WYOMING 26LSO-0319-- 9 HB0070--1 organization's enforcement of foreign censorship laws is-2 conduct that falls outside any discretionary function-3 exception to foreign sovereignty immunity.-4-5 Section 2. W.S. 1-44-101 through 1-44-108 are created-6 to read:-7-8 CHAPTER 44-9 WYOMING GRANITE ACT-10-11 1-44-101. Short title.-12-13 This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the-14 "Wyoming Guaranteeing Rights Against Novel International-15 Tyranny and Extortion (GRANITE) Act."-16-17 1-44-102. Purposes.-18-19 (a) The purposes of this chapter are to:-20-21 (i) Protect the constitutional rights of Wyoming-22 residents and business entities from the extraterritorial-23 application of foreign censorship laws by establishing an-2026 STATE OF WYOMING 26LSO-0319-- 10 HB0070--1 in-state forum, with clear and predictable jurisdictional-2 rules and effective remedies that are consistent with-3 federal law;-4-5 (ii) Promote Wyoming's economy by fostering a-6 safe harbor for digital innovation and by ensuring that-7 foreign threats do not deter investment in Wyoming business-8 entities.-9-10 1-44-103. Definitions.-11-12 (a) As used in this chapter:-13-14 (i) "Enforce" means to give effect to, carry out-15 or seek compliance with a foreign censorship law, including-16 by formal legal process, economic pressure, indirect-17 coercion through affiliates or intermediaries or any other-18 means;-19-20 (ii) "Foreign censorship law" means any law,-21 rule, judgment, order, subpoena, administrative action or-22 formal demand of a foreign state or international-23 organization that:-2026 STATE OF WYOMING 26LSO-0319-- 11 HB0070--1-2 (A) Is final, binding and enforceable under-3 the law of that foreign state or country where the-4 international organization is headquartered;-5-6 (B) Has the primary purpose or a-7 substantial effect of restricting, penalizing or compelling-8 disclosure regarding expression, expressive conduct or-9 expressive association;-10-11 (C) Targets expression, expressive conduct-12 or expressive association based on its content, viewpoint-13 or speaker identity or compels disclosure that would-14 reasonably chill that expression, expressive conduct or-15 expressive association; and-16-17 (D) Would be unenforceable in this state-18 because it conflicts with the protections of the first-19 amendment of the United States constitution, Article 1,-20 Section 20 of the Wyoming constitution or Article 1,-21 Section 21 of the Wyoming constitution.-22-2026 STATE OF WYOMING 26LSO-0319-- 12 HB0070--1 (iii) "Foreign judgment" means any judgment,-2 decree, order or similar determination issued by a foreign-3 state or international organization that is final, binding-4 and enforceable under the laws of that foreign state or-5 country where the international organization is-6 headquartered;-7-8 (iv) "Foreign state" means as defined in 28-9 U.S.C. § 1603(a). "Foreign state" shall include an agency-10 or instrumentality of a foreign state as defined in 28-11 U.S.C. § 1603(b);-12-13 (v) "International organization" means:-14-15 (A) As defined in 22 U.S.C. § 288;-16-17 (B) An organization with which the United-18 States has official relations, including any supranational-19 organization, intergovernmental organization or-20 multilateral institution; or-21-2026 STATE OF WYOMING 26LSO-0319-- 13 HB0070--1 (C) Any member state, organ, agency,-2 commission, court or instrumentality of an organization-3 described in subparagraph (A) or (B) of this paragraph.-4-5 (vi) "Threaten" means to communicate an intent-6 to enforce a foreign censorship law, including by sending-7 or directing any notice, demand, subpoena, request or-8 similar communication to a person by any medium;-9-10 (vii) "United States person" means a person who-11 is a citizen or permanent resident of the United States or-12 any business entity organized under the laws of the United-13 States or any state or territory thereof;-14-15 (viii) "United States related revenue" means-16 gross revenue from the sales of goods, provision of-17 services or conduct of business operations in or directed-18 to the United States, as determined under generally-19 accepted accounting principles, for the most recent twelve-20 (12) month period ending on the last day of the defendant's-21 fiscal year preceding the commencement of the cause of-22 action under W.S. 1-44-104(a). For purposes of this-23 paragraph, "defendant" shall include the named entity and-2026 STATE OF WYOMING 26LSO-0319-- 14 HB0070--1 any parent, subsidiary or affiliate of the entity under-2 common control that participated in the relevant-3 transactions;-4-5 (ix) "Wyoming resident" means a natural person-6 who is domiciled in this state;-7-8 (x) "Wyoming business entity" means a business-9 entity that:-10-11 (A) Is incorporated, organized or created-12 under the laws of this state; or-13-14 (B) Has its principal place of business in-15 this state.-16-17 1-44-104. Cause of action; statute of limitations;-18 construction.-19-20 (a) A plaintiff described in W.S. 1-44-105(a) shall-21 have a cause of action, to the extent permitted by federal-22 law and subject to subsections (b) and (c) of this section,-23 against any foreign state, international organization or-2026 STATE OF WYOMING 26LSO-0319-- 15 HB0070--1 any officer, employee or other person thereof acting within-2 the scope of their official duties who has threatened to-3 enforce, attempted to enforce or enforced a foreign-4 censorship law against the plaintiff in a manner that would-5 violate the first amendment of the United States-6 constitution, Article 1, Section 20 of the Wyoming-7 constitution or Article 1, Section 21 of the Wyoming-8 constitution.-9-10 (b) The cause of action under subsection (a) of this-11 section shall apply only to the extent permitted by federal-12 law, including the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act and the-13 International Organizations Immunities Act and any-14 applicable headquarters agreement, treaty or executive-15 order.-16-17 (c) Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to:-18-19 (i) Waive the sovereign immunity of any foreign-20 state or international organization;-21-2026 STATE OF WYOMING 26LSO-0319-- 16 HB0070--1 (ii) Limit any exceptions to sovereign immunity-2 available to the plaintiff under the federal Foreign-3 Sovereign Immunities Act;-4-5 (iii) Limit any right of a defendant to remove-6 the case from state court to federal court as provided by-7 federal law;-8-9 (iv) Limit any defense available to the-10 defendant under federal law;-11-12 (v) Regulate foreign states or international-13 organizations or to conflict with the foreign affairs-14 powers of the United States.-15-16 (d) A cause of action brought under subsection (a) of-17 this section shall be commenced not later than four (4)-18 years after the latest of the following dates:-19-20 (i) The date of a foreign state's or-21 international organization's threat to enforce, attempt to-22 enforce or enforcement of a foreign censorship law;-23-2026 STATE OF WYOMING 26LSO-0319-- 17 HB0070--1 (ii) The date of the last in a series of related-2 threats, attempts or enforcement actions by a foreign state-3 or international organization arising from the same-4 investigation or proceeding;-5-6 (iii) The date the plaintiff discovered or-7 reasonably could have discovered a foreign state's or-8 international organization's threat to enforce, attempt to-9 enforce or enforcement of a foreign censorship law.-10-11 1-44-105. Standing; jurisdiction; venue; alternative-12 service of process.-13-14 (a) A civil cause of action brought under W.S.-15 1-44-104(a) may be brought by:-16-17 (i) A Wyoming resident;-18-19 (ii) A natural person who is physically present-20 in this state when a foreign state or international-21 organization threatens to enforce, attempts to enforce or-22 enforces a foreign censorship law against the natural-2026 STATE OF WYOMING 26LSO-0319-- 18 HB0070--1 person and who was specifically targeted by the foreign-2 censorship law while physically present in this state;-3-4 (iii) A Wyoming business entity; or-5-6 (iv) Any United States person whose protected-7 expression, expressive conduct or expressive association-8 originates from or is hosted on servers physically located-9 in this state.-10-11 (b) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a-12 Wyoming court may exercise personal jurisdiction over any-13 foreign state or international organization that threatens-14 to enforce, attempts to enforce or enforces a foreign-15 censorship law against a person with standing under-16 subsection (a) of this section, consistent with the United-17 States constitution and the Wyoming constitution.-18-19 (c) Notwithstanding W.S. 1-5-107, an action initiated-20 under W.S. 1-44-104(a) may be brought in:-21-22 (i) The district court of the county where the-23 plaintiff resides or is located;-2026 STATE OF WYOMING 26LSO-0319-- 19 HB0070--1-2 (ii) The district court where the communication-3 that threatened to enforce, attempted to enforce or-4 enforced a foreign censorship law was received; or-5-6 (iii) The first judicial district court in-7 Laramie county.-8-9 (d) Except as provided by subsection (e) of this-10 section, upon a motion by the plaintiff, a court may-11 authorize an alternative method of service of process that-12 is reasonably calculated to give actual notice to an-13 international organization, including:-14-15 (i) Service by email to email addresses that-16 were used to transmit the threat to enforce, attempt to-17 enforce or enforcement of a foreign censorship law;-18-19 (ii) Service on the United States counsel of-20 record for the international organization;-21-2026 STATE OF WYOMING 26LSO-0319-- 20 HB0070--1 (iii) Service by publishing on a website-2 maintained by an international organization, if the-3 international organization is evading notice;-4-5 (iv) Any other means of service that is-6 permitted by law or treaty.-7-8 (e) Service of process on:-9-10 (i) A foreign state shall comply with 28 U.S.C.-11 § 1608;-12-13 (ii) An international organization as defined in-14 22 U.S.C. § 288 shall comply with 28 U.S.C. § 1608 and any-15 applicable headquarters agreements, treaties and-16 established procedures for providing service of process.-17-18 1-44-106. Presumptions; rebuttal.-19-20 (a) A court shall presume that a foreign censorship-21 law violates the first amendment of the United States-22 constitution, Article 1, Section 20 of the Wyoming-2026 STATE OF WYOMING 26LSO-0319-- 21 HB0070--1 constitution and Article 1, Section 21 of the Wyoming-2 constitution.-3-4 (b) A defendant may rebut the presumption under-5 subsection (a) of this section by proving by clear and-6 convincing evidence that:-7-8 (i) The foreign censorship law, on its face and-9 as applied to the plaintiff's expression, expressive-10 conduct or expressive association, would satisfy strict-11 scrutiny under the first amendment to the United States-12 constitution, Article 1, Section 20 of the Wyoming-13 constitution and Article 1, Section 21 of the Wyoming-14 constitution; and-15-16 (ii) The threatened enforcement, attempted-17 enforcement or enforcement of the foreign censorship law-18 does not burden expression, expressive conduct or-19 expressive association that is protected under the first-20 amendment to the United States constitution, Article 1,-21 Section 20 of the Wyoming constitution and Article 1,-22 Section 21 of the Wyoming constitution.-23-2026 STATE OF WYOMING 26LSO-0319-- 22 HB0070--1 1-44-107. Remedies; liability.-2-3 (a) Upon proof by a preponderance of the evidence-4 that a defendant threatened to enforce, attempted to-5 enforce or enforced a foreign censorship law against a-6 plaintiff in violation of the first amendment of the United-7 States constitution, Article 1, Section 20 of the Wyoming-8 constitution or Article 1, Section 21 of the Wyoming-9 constitution, the court:-10-11 (i) Shall award the prevailing plaintiff:-12-13 (A) Actual damages as proven by the-14 plaintiff or nominal damages if actual damages are not-15 proven by the plaintiff;-16-17 (B) Statutory damages of one million-18 dollars ($1,000,000.00) per violation, as adjusted for-19 inflation under subsection (c) of this section or ten-20 percent (10%) of the defendant's annual United States-21 related revenue, whichever is greater. Statutory damages-22 imposed under this subparagraph shall not be less than the-23 amount of any fine or penalty imposed by a foreign state or-2026 STATE OF WYOMING 26LSO-0319-- 23 HB0070--1 international organization regarding the foreign censorship-2 law. The amount of the fine or penalty imposed by a foreign-3 state or international organization under this paragraph-4 shall be calculated in United States currency;-5-6 (C) Reasonable attorney fees and costs.-7-8 (ii) May award the prevailing plaintiff-9 declaratory judgment.-10-11 (b) The remedies provided under this section shall be-12 cumulative and shall be in addition to any other remedies-13 available at law or in equity. The statutory damages-14 provided under subparagraph (a)(i)(B) of this section shall-15 be compensatory damages that are intended to compensate-16 plaintiffs for harms that are inherently difficult to-17 quantify, including chilling effects on protected-18 expression, reputational harm, self-censorship costs and-19 litigation costs incurred in defending against enforcement-20 of foreign censorship laws and shall not be punitive-21 damages.-22-2026 STATE OF WYOMING 26LSO-0319-- 24 HB0070--1 (c) The court shall adjust any statutory damages-2 granted under subparagraph (a)(i)(B) of this section for-3 inflation. The court shall calculate the adjustment for-4 inflation by multiplying the statutory damages amount of-5 one million dollars ($1,000,000.00) by the ratio of the-6 seasonally adjusted M2 money supply value published in the-7 federal reserve statistical release H.6 for the month of-8 July 2026 to the seasonally adjusted M2 money supply value-9 for the month that the cause of action was decided. The-10 court shall use the most recent M2 money supply values-11 published by the board of governors of the United States-12 federal reserve system in the federal reserve statistical-13 release H.6, seasonally adjusted. If the board of governors-14 of the United States federal reserve system ceases to-15 publish the seasonally adjusted M2 money supply data, then-16 the court shall adjust the statutory damages amount of one-17 million dollars ($1,000,000.00) by using a reasonably-18 comparable monetary aggregate or price index published by-19 the board of governors of the United States federal reserve-20 system or the federal bureau of labor statistics that-21 preserves the real value of the statutory damages amount to-22 the extent practicable.-23-2026 STATE OF WYOMING 26LSO-0319-- 25 HB0070--1 (d) Except as required by federal law, including the-2 Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act and the International-3 Organizations Immunities Act, all defendants liable under-4 subsection (a) of this section shall be jointly and-5 severally liable for all damages incurred by the plaintiff.-6-7 1-44-108. Nonrecognition of foreign judgements;-8 noncooperation with foreign judgments and extradition-9 requests; penalties; cause of action.-10-11 (a) Except as provided by federal law and otherwise-12 provided by this subsection, no court of this state shall-13 recognize, enforce or give effect to any foreign judgment,-14 order, subpoena, administrative action, fine, penalty or-15 similar measure that imposes liability or compels actions-16 based on expression, expressive conduct or expressive-17 association that would be protected by the first amendment-18 of the United States constitution, Article 1, Section 20 of-19 the Wyoming constitution or Article 1, Section 21 of the-20 Wyoming constitution. A court may sever and may recognize,-21 enforce or give effect to any foreign judgment, order,-22 subpoena, administrative action, fine, penalty or similar-23 measure that does not impose liability or compel action-2026 STATE OF WYOMING 26LSO-0319-- 26 HB0070--1 based on expression, expressive conduct or expressive-2 association that would be protected by the first amendment-3 of the United States constitution, Article 1, Section 20 of-4 the Wyoming constitution or Article 1, Section 21 of the-5 Wyoming constitution.-6-7 (b) Except as required by federal law, the state, its-8 political subdivisions and its employees acting within the-9 scope of their official duties shall not provide assistance-10 or cooperation in collecting, enforcing or giving effect to-11 any foreign judgment, order, subpoena, administrative-12 action, fine, penalty or similar measure that imposes-13 liability or compels actions based on expression,-14 expressive conduct or expressive association that would be-15 protected by the first amendment of the United States-16 constitution, Article 1, Section 20 of the Wyoming-17 constitution or Article 1, Section 21 of the Wyoming-18 constitution.-19-20 (c) Any person who knowingly violates subsection (b)-21 of this section is liable for a civil penalty of not more-22 than ten thousand dollars ($10,000.00) for each violation.-2026 STATE OF WYOMING 26LSO-0319-- 27 HB0070--1 This civil penalty may be recovered in any action brought-2 by the attorney general or district attorney.-3-4 (d) The state and its political subdivisions shall-5 not indemnify or reimburse a person who violated subsection-6 (b) of this section for a civil penalty imposed under-7 subsection (c) of this section.-8-9 (e) Except as required by federal law, no court of-10 this state shall recognize, enforce or give effect to any-11 foreign criminal judgment, conviction, sentence, warrant or-12 similar order that imposes criminal liability based in-13 whole or in part on expression, expressive conduct or-14 expressive association that would be protected by the first-15 amendment of the United States constitution, Article 1,-16 Section 20 of the Wyoming constitution or Article 1,-17 Section 21 of the Wyoming constitution.-18-19 (f) Except as required by federal law, the state, its-20 political subdivisions and its employees acting within the-21 scope of their official duties shall not:-22-2026 STATE OF WYOMING 26LSO-0319-- 28 HB0070--1 (i) Arrest, detain or surrender any person-2 pursuant to a foreign extradition request, international-3 arrest warrant or similar process when the underlying-4 offense is based on expression, expressive conduct or-5 expressive association that would be protected by the first-6 amendment of the United States constitution, Article 1,-7 Section 20 of the Wyoming constitution or Article 1,-8 Section 21 of the Wyoming constitution;-9-10 (ii) Provide any other assistance or cooperation-11 to any foreign state or international organization in-12 investigating, prosecuting, sanctioning or punishing any-13 person for expression, expressive conduct or expressive-14 association that would be protected by the first amendment-15 of the United States constitution, Article 1, Section 20 of-16 the Wyoming constitution or Article 1, Section 21 of the-17 Wyoming constitution;-18-19 (iii) Honor or execute a request under a mutual-20 legal assistance treaty, letters, rogatory or other-21 international agreement or mechanism if the request seeks-22 service of process, evidence testimony or any other-23 assistance in connection with a proceeding based on-2026 STATE OF WYOMING 26LSO-0319-- 29 HB0070--1 expression, expressive conduct or expressive association-2 that would be protected by the first amendment of the-3 United States constitution, Article 1, Section 20 of the-4 Wyoming constitution or Article 1, Section 21 of the-5 Wyoming constitution.-6-7 (g) This section shall apply regardless of the manner-8 in which service of process was effectuated in a foreign-9 proceeding.-10-11 (h) Any person that is subject or may be subject to a-12 foreign judgment, order, extradition request or foreign-13 proceeding that is based on expression, expressive conduct-14 or expressive association that would be protected by the-15 first amendment of the United States constitution, Article-16 1, Section 20 of the Wyoming constitution or Article 1,-17 Section 21 of the Wyoming constitution may bring a cause of-18 action against the state, its political subdivisions and-19 its employees acting within the scope of their official-20 duties in any court of competent jurisdiction in this state-21 for:-22-2026 STATE OF WYOMING 26LSO-0319-- 30 HB0070--1 (i) A declaratory judgment that the foreign-2 judgement, order, extradition request or proceeding is-3 unenforceable under this section; or-4-5 (ii) Injunctive relief prohibiting any person-6 from seeking to enforce a foreign judgment, order,-7 extradition request or proceeding in this state or-8 prohibiting any person from taking action that is-9 prohibited by this section.-10-11 (j) The state shall waive sovereign immunity for-12 claims brought under subsection (h) of this section seeking-13 declaratory or injunctive relief. The waiver under this-14 subsection shall not extend to claims brought under-15 subsection (h) of this section against the state for-16 monetary damages.-17-18 (k) If the plaintiff prevails in a civil cause of-19 action brought under subsection (h) of this section, the-20 court may:-21-22 (i) Award reasonable attorney fees and costs;-23-2026 STATE OF WYOMING 26LSO-0319-- 31 HB0070--1 (ii) Impose civil penalties as provided by this-2 section.-3-4 (m) The attorney general shall promulgate rules to-5 provide guidance to state and local law enforcement-6 regarding implementation of this section, including-7 procedures for identifying foreign judgments, foreign-8 criminal judgments, orders, subpoenas, administrative-9 actions, fines and penalties from foreign states and-10 international organizations that may impose liability or-11 compel action based on expression, expressive conduct or-12 expressive association that would be protected by the first-13 amendment of the United States constitution, Article 1,-14 Section 20 of the Wyoming constitution or Article 1,-15 Section 21 of the Wyoming constitution.-16-17 Section 3. W.S. 1-5-107 is amended to read:-18-19 1-5-107. Actions against nonresidents and foreign-20 corporations.-21-22 An action, other than one (1) of those mentioned in W.S.-23 1-5-101 through 1-5-104 and 1-44-104, against a nonresident-2026 STATE OF WYOMING 26LSO-0319-- 32 HB0070--1 of this state or a foreign corporation, whether or not-2 codefendants reside in Wyoming, may be brought in any-3 county where the cause of action arose or where the-4 plaintiff resides.-5-6 Section 4. The attorney general shall promulgate all-7 rules necessary to implement this act.-8-9 Section 5.-10-11 (a) Except as provided in subsection (b) of this-12 section, this act is effective July 1, 2026.-13-14 (b) Sections 4 and 5 of this act are effective-15 immediately upon completion of all acts necessary for a-16 bill to become law as provided by Article 4, Section 8 of-17 the Wyoming Constitution.-18-19 (END)+Prepared by: Pierre Chesnais, LSO Phone: 777-7881+(Information provided by Claire Smith, Supreme Court, 777-7502; April+Christensen, Attorney General's Office, 777-7840)
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