The Republican Florida lawmaker sponsoring a hotly debated defamation bill is pushing back against right-leaning critics who claim the legislation will lead to doom for conservative media in the Sunshine State.
"There's been a lot of articles that have come out that keep saying this lowers the standard or makes it easier to sue or allows for more types of lawsuits. It does not," Rep. Alex Andrade of Pensacola told Fox News Digital.
Andrade has been on the receiving end of attacks in recent weeks for championing HB 757, the bill detractors allege will lower the standard for defamation in an effort to target liberal media outlets, something Andrade derides as a "false premise" and that it was "never the intent."
"The intent is to allow these cases to be resolved much faster and seek the most judicious, efficient resolution for these cases possible and to protect valid voices and opinions," Andrade says.
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