Bill Text: CA SR16 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Enrolled

---

Bill Title: Relative to Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act

Sponsorship: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2013-09-06 - Read. Adopted. (Ayes 32. Noes 1. Page 2173.) [SR16 Detail]

Download: California-2013-SR16-Enrolled.html

---

BILL NUMBER: SR 16	ENROLLED
	BILL TEXT

	ADOPTED IN SENATE  SEPTEMBER 6, 2013
	ADOPTED IN ASSEMBLY  FEBRUARY 19, 1950
	AMENDED IN SENATE  AUGUST 29, 2013

INTRODUCED BY   Senators Lieu and Anderson

                        AUGUST 12, 2013

   Relative to Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
             HOUSE OR SENATE RESOLUTIONS DO NOT CONTAIN A DIGEST



   WHEREAS, Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act (50 U.S.C. Sec. 1861)
authorizes the government to collect "tangible things" that are
"relevant" to an authorized national security investigation; and
   WHEREAS, The National Security Agency (NSA) has reportedly used
Section 215 to collect metadata on every telephone call made or
received by every American over the last seven years; and
   WHEREAS, This 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; and
   WHEREAS, The federal Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA)
Court found in 2011 that the NSA illegally collects tens of thousands
of Internet transactions between Americans within the United States
in violation of the Fourth Amendment to the United States
Constitution; and
   WHEREAS, Until 2011, the FISA Court, charged with the judicial
oversight of the NSA to ensure no laws are broken, was unaware of the
acquisition of tens of thousands of Internet transactions involving
Americans within the United States who were not connected to any
legitimate investigation; and
   WHEREAS, 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 far
beyond what the USA PATRIOT Act was intended to do; and
   WHEREAS, The government revelation in 2011 regarding the NSA's
acquisition of Internet transactions marked the third instance in
less than three years in which the government had disclosed a
substantial misrepresentation regarding the scope of a major
collection program; and
   WHEREAS, The Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper,
Jr., has admitted to misleading Congress about the actual scope of
the call record surveillance program; and
   WHEREAS, Section 215 is silent as to how the government may use
these records once it has obtained them; and
   WHEREAS, 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"; and
   WHEREAS, The United States Constitution, including the Fourth
Amendment, applies at all times to all government agencies and all
government employees; and
   WHEREAS, All Americans cannot reasonably be considered to be
suspicious simply for making or receiving telephone calls; and
   WHEREAS, The NSA's seizure of the telephone records of all
Americans is therefore an "unreasonable seizure" by any definition of
the term; and
   WHEREAS, An NSA audit, dated May 2012, counted 2,776 incidents in
the preceding 12 months alone of unauthorized collection, storage,
access to, or distribution of legally protected communications; and
   WHEREAS, On June 7, 2013, United States Senator Rand Paul
introduced legislation, the Fourth Amendment Restoration Act of 2013
(S. 1121), that would explicitly state that the Fourth Amendment to
the Constitution shall not be construed to allow any agency of the
United States Government to search the telephone records of Americans
without a warrant based on probable cause; and
   WHEREAS, The bipartisan Amash-Conyers amendment to the Department
of Defense Appropriations Act (H.R. 2397) would have ended the NSA's
blanket seizure of the telephone records of Americans, but was
narrowly defeated on July 24, 2013; and
   WHEREAS, On August 1, 2013, United States Senator Al Franken
introduced legislation, the Surveillance Transparency Act of 2013 (S.
1452), that would expand and improve ongoing government reporting
about programs under the USA PATRIOT Act and the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Act and make it easier for companies to voluntarily
disclose information about the data the government requires them to
collect; now, therefore, be it
   Resolved by the Senate of the State of California,That the Senate
urges the President and the Congress of the United States to pass
legislation to end the NSA's blanket, unreasonable, and
unconstitutional collection of Americans' telephone records and
Internet transactions and specifically to bar the NSA and other
agencies from using Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act to collect
records, including telephone records and Internet transactions,
pertaining to persons not subject to an investigation under the USA
PATRIOT Act; and be it further
   Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this
resolution to the President and Vice President of the United States,
to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to the Majority
Leader of the Senate, and to each Senator and Representative from
California in the Congress of the United States, and to the author
for appropriate distribution.