Virginia’s House of Delegates today was expected to pass an amendment aiming to fix the state’s troubled anti-spam law.
Dubbed HB 1796, the amendment aims to narrow the focus of Virginia’s anti-spam law to commercial e-mail only.
The Virginia Supreme Court in September declared the state's anti-spam law unconstitutional, reversing the conviction and nine-year prison sentence of a Jeremy Jaynes, a man once considered to be one of the world's most active spammers.
The court unanimously agreed with Jaynes’ argument that the law violated the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution because it restricts non-commercial e-mail as well as commercial messages.
Reached before today’s vote, HB 1796’s sponsor, Manoli Loupassi (R), said he expected his amendment to pass unanimously.
“I expect it to pass 99 to nothing,” he said.
If the bill has passed Virginia’s House as was expected this morning, it will now move to the Senate.
