Civil procedure: civil actions; lawsuits for exercising rights to free expression; provide protections against. Creates new act.

Removed exemptions that previously barred protection against lawsuits filed by governmental units or their employees acting in official capacity, expanding protection to include these parties.

Reorganized the definition of eligible causes of action to clarify that protection applies to communications in governmental proceedings and exercises of constitutional rights on matters of public concern.

Added automatic discovery stays and expedited judicial review timelines to reduce the burden and cost of defending against SLAPP suits.

Reformatted bill structure and renumbered sections from introduction to final version, removing page headers and footers from the original draft.

Minor formatting adjustment in the bill title line, changing 'HOUSE BILL NO. 4045' indentation from 15 spaces to 14 spaces.

Line break adjustment in the purpose section between 'retributive' and the following text, removing the gap that appeared in the House version.

Updated internal tracking identifiers from 'APH_1' (House) to 'APS_1' (Senate) and changed document codes from 'prfzc9' to 'ojvp5y'.

Changed the bill status header from 'As Passed by the House' to 'As Passed by the Senate' with updated date from October 22 to December 18, 2025.

Formatting and capitalization adjustments were made throughout the document, including changes to the bill title header and section numbering presentation.

Minor text reorganization occurred in the purpose statement, with the addition of 'and abusive' before 'strategic lawsuits against public participation' in the description of SLAPP suits.