While Britney Spears is still fighting to be released from her conservatorship, two lawmakers have now introduced a new bill that could help future cases like Spears’. According to Stereogum, the bill is known as Freedom And Right To Emancipate From Exploitation Act “FREE Act,” a reference to the #freebritney movement. The bill is a bi-partisan effort by the two Representatives Charlie Crist (D-Florida) and Nancy Mace (R-South Carolina).
When they talked to The New York Times, Mace said, “We want to make sure that we bring transparency and accountability to the conservatorship process, if this can happen to her, it can happen to anybody.” Crist added: “We’ve tried to be very smart and focused. That gives us a much greater opportunity to have success.”
At this moment, the bill would make it easier for people under conservatorship to change guardians to someone who wasn’t appointed by the court initially. Caseworkers would also be granted more financial resources to monitor conservatorships more closely if abuse is suspected.
In the case of Britney Spears, she recently obtained the right to appoint a new lawyer to represent her and fight for her in court. She also expressed her plans to press charges against her father and guardian Jamie Spears for alleged conservatorship abuse. This came after an emotional statement by Spears last month, in which she went into more details about her conservatorship. After the statement and the public response to it, her former court appointed lawyer stepped down from his position, as well as the wealth management firm that was in charge of handling her money along with her father. Britney Spears’ long time manager also resigned after.