Overall, the Pennsylvania Uniform Protected Public Expression Act (PUPEPA) was signed into law by the Governor on July 17, 2024, bringing modern Anti-SLAPP protections to the state. Prior to the adoption of PUPEPA, Pennsylvania did not have any Anti-SLAPP legislation in place, making this new law a welcome addition to protect the free expression rights of individuals in the state. The PUPEPA is a hybrid substantive/procedural statute, with the Assembly adopting some portions as statutory law and the Supreme Court expected to promulgate the rest as procedural rules.
The Pennsylvania Assembly did not simply adopt the Uniform Protected Public Expression Act (UPEPA) as is due to the state Constitution’s provision that procedural rules can only be adopted by the Supreme Court. The UPEPA provides the substantive right to be free of meritless litigation in public expression cases, framing it as a procedural statute. Therefore, the PUPEPA was necessary for Pennsylvania to effectively enforce Anti-SLAPP protections, with the Supreme Court expected to follow suit by promulgating the remaining provisions as procedural rules.
Pennsylvania, like other states that have adopted the UPEPA, has included some custom provisions, known as “non-uniform provisions”. While experimentation by states can lead to improved laws, it is important for these non-uniform provisions to align with the overall purpose of the UPEPA. The PUPEPA expands on certain sections of the UPEPA, including a definitional section, an expanded list of excluded actions, and other provisions that were left to the courts’ discretion in the UPEPA. Additionally, the terms used in the PUPEPA differ slightly from the UPEPA.
Despite the non-uniform provisions, the PUPEPA remains faithful to the UPEPA in substance and structure, providing Pennsylvania with a high-quality Anti-SLAPP statute. This new law marks a significant improvement in protecting individuals’ right to free expression in the state, where such protections were previously lacking. It will be interesting to see how the non-uniform provisions of the PUPEPA are interpreted in the future, as Pennsylvania continues to enforce and uphold its Anti-SLAPP protections.
