Anti-SLAPP law challenges expected in next session

With nearly two years until the next legislative session, opponents of Texas’ anti-SLAPP statute have already announced they will try again in 2025 to roll back important protections in the law.

Texans for Lawsuit Reform, an influential group that pushes for business-friendly changes to the court system, told its members in a newsletter last month that changes to the statute will be a “priority” next session.

​The state’s anti-SLAPP law protects Texans from lawsuits that are designed to chill their First Amendment rights. The statute is often used by media organizations to win quick dismissal of defamation suits. (SLAPP stands for Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation.)

TPA and other media organizations helped defeat a similar push to amend the statute during this year’s legislative session. Senate Bill 896 would have eliminated a key protection that pauses court proceedings in certain cases while the defendant appeals an anti-SLAPP ruling.

Such a change could have forced the parties in a SLAPP suit—which often target media organizations and journalists—to continue fighting a case in the trial court, while the same case is being considered on appeal. These parallel proceedings would lead to confusion in the courts and substantially higher legal bills for litigants, including media organizations.

​SB 896 was pushed by a top conservative donor, with support from key legislators in both chambers. After the bill sailed through the Texas Senate, TPA worked with the Texas Association of Broadcasters and other policy and business groups to oppose the bill in the Texas House.

More than two dozen groups testified against the bill in the House Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence Committee. TPA and its allies contacted every member of that committee, the Calendars committee and ultimately every member of the House to express the media’s concerns with the bill.

While the Judiciary Committee ultimately approved of SB 896, the opposition spearheaded by TPA and its allies helped ensure the bill never reached on the House floor.   

​But proponents of SB 896 are already gearing up to resurrect the bill in the next session.

The donor who pushed the bill has indicated his willingness to keep fighting, and Texans for Lawsuit Reform has elevated the effort to a “priority” going into 2025.

​TPA will continue to fight against this legislation and any additional bills that aim to weaken the anti-SLAPP law. In advance of the next legislative session, members are encouraged to learn more about how the anti-SLAPP law benefits media organizations and to alert TPA leadership to any SLAPP suits filed against your organization, or other SLAPP suits in your coverage area.

TPA also encourages our members to contact their state representatives and state senators before the next session and ask them to fight any efforts to weaken Texas’ anti-SLAPP statute.