BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SR 16
Author: Lieu (D)
Amended: As introduced
Vote: Majority
SUBJECT : Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This resolution urges the President and the United
States Congress of to pass legislation to end the National
Security Agencys (NSA) blanket, unreasonable, and
unconstitutional collection of Americans telephone records and
specifically to bar the NSA and other agencies from using
Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act to collect records, including
telephone records, pertaining to persons not subject to an
investigation under the USA PATRIOT Act.
ANALYSIS : This resolution makes the following legislative
findings:
1. Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act authorizes the government
to collect "tangible things" that are "relevant" to an
authorized national security investigation and the NSA has
reportedly used Section 215 to collect metadata on every
telephone call made or received by every American over the
last seven years.
2. Many legislators who voted for the USA PATRIOT Act, including
the past chairman of the authorizing committee of that law,
have stated that the NSA's blanket surveillance program goes
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far beyond what the USA PATRIOT Act was intended to do and
states that metadata collected by the NSA was not limited to
dialed numbers, but also included the telephone numbers of
incoming calls, the times of calls, and call routing
information.
3. The Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, Jr.,
has admitted to misleading Congress about the actual scope of
the call record surveillance program and Section 215 is
silent as to how the government may use these records once it
has obtained them.
4. The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution
states, "The right of the people to be secure in their
persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable
searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants
shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or
affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be
searched, and the persons or things to be seized" which
applies at all times to all government agencies and all
government employees.
5. All Americans cannot reasonably be considered to be
suspicious simply for making or receiving telephone call and
the NSA's seizure of the telephone records of all Americans
is therefore an "unreasonable seizure" by any definition of
the term.
6. On August 1, 2013, United States Senator Al Franken
introduced legislation, the Surveillance Transparency Act of
2013, that expands and improves ongoing government reporting
about programs under the USA PATRIOT Act and the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Act and makes it easier for
companies to voluntarily disclose information about the data
the government requires them to collect.
This resolution urges the President and the United States
Congress to pass legislation to end the NSA's blanket,
unreasonable, and unconstitutional collection of Americans'
telephone records and specifically to bar the NSA and other
agencies from using Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act to
collect records, including telephone records, pertaining to
persons not subject to an investigation under the USA PATRIOT
Act.
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3
FISCAL EFFECT : Fiscal Com.: No
JG:d 8/14/13 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: NONE RECEIVED
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