Grants an affirmative defense for certain privileged communications, including communications made by an individual, without malice, regarding an incident of sexual assault, harassment, or discrimination.

Plain-English Summary

This bill would provide legal protection for people who report incidents of sexual assault, harassment, or discrimination. Specifically, it creates what's called an "affirmative defense," which means that if someone is sued for making statements about these kinds of incidents, they can use this protection to defend themselves in court — as long as they made those statements honestly and without the intention of harming someone's reputation.

The key condition is that the communication must be made without malice, meaning the person reporting or discussing the incident must be acting in good faith rather than trying to deliberately hurt someone. If that standard is met, the law would treat those communications as "privileged," which is a legal term meaning the statements are protected and generally cannot be the basis of a successful lawsuit against the person who made them.

This bill would most directly affect people who have experienced or witnessed sexual assault, harassment, or discrimination and want to speak up about it — whether to an employer, a government agency, or others. Currently, people in these situations may fear being sued for defamation or similar claims after speaking out. This legislation aims to reduce that fear by giving them a clear legal shield. It would also affect people accused of wrongdoing, as it sets boundaries around what legal recourse they have against those who report them.

The bill has been introduced in the Rhode Island Senate and referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee, where it will be reviewed before any further action is taken.