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H.R. 277 119th Congress House

Matthew Lawrence Perna Act of 2025

Official title: To amend title 18, United States Code, to provide protections for nonviolent political protesters, and for other purposes.

Introduced: January 9, 2025 See on congress.gov
Crime and Law Enforcement Administrative remediesCivil actions and liabilityCriminal investigation, prosecution, interrogationCriminal procedure and sentencing
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Detention of personsDue process and equal protectionProtest and dissent
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 Everywhere this bill has been 2 steps
Introduced
In committee
Reported out
Passed House
Passed Senate
To President
Became law
Jan 9, 2025
Introduced in House
Jan 9, 2025
Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Intelligence (Permanent Select), for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
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What's happening now January 9, 2025

Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Intelligence (Permanent Select), for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.

 Plain-English summary Congressional Research Service

Matthew Lawrence Perna Act of 2025

This bill limits certain actions by the federal government related to the criminal prosecution and sentencing of individuals who are charged with a political protest offense. A political protest offense is a federal criminal offense that arises out of protest activities and is not a crime of violence. The bill also makes other changes that apply more broadly to curtail certain investigations and prosecutions of federal criminal offenses.

With respect to individuals who are charged with a political protest offense, the bill

  • prohibits pretrial detention, 
  • generally requires the federal criminal trial to begin within 70 days of being charged or making an initial appearance before the court, and
  • expresses the sense of Congress that the sentence imposed should be consistent with the minimum sentence provided by the guideline range applicable to the defendant.

With respect to investigations and prosecutions of federal criminal offenses more broadly, the bill

  • makes the United States potentially liable for malicious overprosecution committed by federal investigative or law enforcement officers,
  • limits the use of a national security authority (e.g., the Central Intelligence Agency) against a U.S. citizen,
  • requires federal agencies to disclose whether the United States is or was investigating or surveilling a U.S. citizen when that information is requested under the Freedom of Information Act, and 
  • allows a defendant on trial for a criminal offense in the District of Columbia to change the venue of the trial to the U.S. district court that covers his or her primary residence.
 Bill text 1 version

Source documents hosted by congress.gov.

 Committees of jurisdiction 2
 Lobbying activity 1

Registered lobbyists who named this bill in their disclosure filings. Source: federal Lobbying Disclosure Act filings.

  • PUBLIC CITIZEN
    for PUBLIC CITIZEN · District of Columbia · 1st Quarter 2025 (Jan 1 - Mar 31)

Bodies those filers lobbied

A filing lists the bills it worked on and the parts of government it contacted in separate sections, so these are the bodies those filers named anywhere in the filing, not a per-bill breakdown.

 Cosponsors 1
All 1 Republican 1
R
Massie, Thomas
Kentucky · Jan 9, 2025
Cite this page click to expand
APA
U.S. Congress. (2026). H.R. 277: Matthew Lawrence Perna Act of 2025. 119th Congress. Open America. https://openamerica.io/bill/119-HR-277/
MLA
"H.R. 277: Matthew Lawrence Perna Act of 2025." 119th Congress, 2026, Open America, https://openamerica.io/bill/119-HR-277/.
Bluebook (legal)
H.R. 277, 119th Cong. (2026), https://openamerica.io/bill/119-HR-277/.
Markdown link
[H.R. 277: Matthew Lawrence Perna Act of 2025](https://openamerica.io/bill/119-HR-277/)
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