Congress quietly expands criminal penalties for sharing law enforcement information
S. 4508 — BLUE Act · Filed by Rick Scott (R-FL) · 6 cosponsors · Introduced May 13, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill amends federal law to prohibit sharing information about federal law enforcement officers' locations or identities with the intent to physically obstruct, impede, interfere with, or retaliate against them in their official duties. It expands the definition of protected information to include any physical location where an officer is or is expected to be present, on or off duty, and cross-references existing definitions of 'federal law enforcement officer' and 'immediate family' from another statute.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is a criminal prohibition on sharing information about federal law enforcement officers' locations and identities. While framed as officer protection, it functions as a restriction on public disclosure and speech about law enforcement, with broad language that extends to off-duty locations.
What the text implies
- The phrase 'reasonably expected to be present' is undefined and may capture locations officers have no connection to, creating chilling effect on any public discussion of officer whereabouts.
- Off-duty location protection may shield officers from public accountability for conduct outside official duties, including potential misconduct in personal capacity.
- The 'intent to physically obstruct, impede, interfere with, or retaliate' standard is subjective; prosecutors may interpret sharing of officer information as inherently retaliatory even when speaker's intent is transparency or public safety.
- Cross-reference to section 115 definitions is not provided in this text; the scope of 'federal law enforcement officer' and 'immediate family' depends on external statute language not visible here.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill restricts citizens' ability to share information about federal law enforcement officers' locations and identities, even off-duty, with criminal penalties for doing so. While framed as protecting officers from retaliation, the broad language—covering any location an officer 'is or is reasonably expected to be present'—may chill legitimate public speech, journalism, and accountability efforts regarding law enforcement conduct.
Named in the bill
Federal law enforcement officers, 18 U.S.C. § 119, 18 U.S.C. § 115, United States Department of Justice
Where it stands
6 cosponsors: 6 Republicans.
- May 13, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- May 13, 2026 — Referred to Senate Committee on the Judiciary · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
2 lobbying clients named this bill on 2 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $100,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 13 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 41% of bills with at least one filing.
Rick Scott, the sponsor, reported $69,750 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- H&r Block, Inc. — $60,000 on 1 filing
- Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association — $40,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 21, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (1,214 characters) on Oct 21, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,388 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 21, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-21.
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