The Idaho Senate voted 27-8 on Thursday to advance a bill that would define “domestic terrorism” in Idaho as activities done in cooperation with foreign groups.
According to Senate Bill 1220’s statement of purpose, the bill would define domestic terrorism, redefine terrorism, and make sure that someone can’t be called a domestic terrorist or terrorist in Idaho without going through the proper legal process.
The bill sponsor, Senate Majority Leader Kelly Anthon, R-Burley, said the purpose of the legislation is to protect free speech.
“You have the right to say things that people don’t like,” Anthon said during the Senate debate. “(People) have a right to assemble and protest the government for their grievances, even when you don’t like the group. There’s a lot of these groups I don’t like, but they have a constitutional right to do it.”
Anthon said the bill was inspired by the government casting suspicion on parents who protested policies at school board meetings during the COVID-19 pandemic. Anthon used Moms of Liberty, who the Southern Poverty Law Center defines as a far-right anti-government organization, as an example of a group who would be protected under the legislation.