MARIE CUSICK / STATEIMPACT PENNSYLVANIA
Protesters gathered in January to ceremonially burn the environmental impact statement for the Atlantic Sunrise pipeline.

By , of TheIntercept.com

A NEW BILL INTRODUCED by seven Pennsylvania Republican state lawmakers could force protesters arrested at demonstrations to pay for police overtime and other fees related to the action.

The bill, SB 754, has been introduced by Rep. Scott Martin of Lancaster County; his district has been the site of anti-pipeline protests aimed at the Atlantic Sunrise natural gas pipeline.

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Under the terms of the bill, “a person is responsible for public safety response costs incurred by a State agency or political subdivision as a result of the State agency’s or political subdivision’s response to a demonstration if, in connection with the demonstration, the person is convicted of a felony or misdemeanor offense.”

In other words, they could be on the hook for costs, such as police overtime, medical or emergency response, or other basic public services associated with protests. Whatever felony or misdemeanor offense the protester was convicted of would come with its own independent penalty.

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Elizabeth Randol, the legislative director at the Pennsylvania American Civil Liberties Union, raised two separate concerns about the bill. First, she warned, it could end up punishing protesters for acts they didn’t commit. “People can be fined and charged, liable for costs associated with a particular crime they committed. That’s normal,” she noted. “What’s different is that it expands it … to allow the government entity, like say, a state or it could be the National Guard, it could be the police department, to determine, to leave it up to them as to whether or not they want to attempt to recover additional costs that are associated with the protest but that are not necessarily related to the specific crime that the individual was convicted of.”

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She also warned that the legislation singles out protesters. After all, police and emergency personnel respond to all sorts of situations. “Public protests are very strictly protected in constitutional law,” Randol noted. “We’re all sensitive to costs and to what that does to a tax bill or the kind of stress and strain it puts on our first responders. But you can’t have those costs be borne on the back of people who are protesting and engaging in their First Amendment protected rights to speech and assembly.”

Read the rest of the story here.