Sens. Sam Slom and Laura Thielen urged their colleagues to repair in conference committee the “convoluted” version of a bill to set the state’s Shield Law in stone.

House Bill 622 originally set out to simply remove the sunset provision of a law that protects journalists from revealing their sources or turning over their notes. It has worked without issue for the past five years.

But the Senate Judiciary and Labor Committee, chaired by Sen. Clayton Hee, amended it last week to limit who would qualify as a journalist and under what circumstances the privilege would be granted.

Thielen, who cast the only “no” vote on the Senate floor Tuesday, said she disagreed with the definitions inserted into the bill that limit or eliminate protections for online journalists.

“We’re looking for a new model across our nation,” she said.

Slom said this Senate version is “so convoluted that there have been some harsh words written about it in the industry,” to the point that a coalition of media outlets would rather have no bill.

He supported the bill with reservations only with the hope that it is changed in conference committee later this month.

Hee defended the changes made to the bill. He provided similar examples as he did during his committee hearing, citing a Supreme Court case and recommendations from the attorney general’s office and a Judiciary rules committee.

Hee said the changes would rein in the “reckless abandon of so-called journalists.”

Hee backed away from a statement he made during the committee hearing, where he said the amendments were in part based on recommendations from the ACLU. On the floor Monday he said, “this bill represents the assistance and help of the ACLU.”

Read the most recent Civil Beat commentary on the issue here.

— Nathan Eagle