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Civil-Rights-and-Civil-Liberties

PATRIOT Act revisions hit the House floor: update on H.R. 3845 and 4005

By AAI
AAI
Posted on Thursday November 19, 2009

Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) Huffington Post Op-Ed: “A Patriot’s PATRIOT Act”

The mark up for Congressman John Conyers’ (D-MI) bill, the USA PATRIOT Amendments Act of 2009 (H.R. 3845), happened last week in the House Judiciary Committee. The bill addresses some of the most controversial provisions of the PATRIOT Act such as:


  • Roving Wiretap: The PATRIOT Act expands surveillance laws to grant government agencies the authority to request a wiretap on any individual or means of communication associated with an ongoing investigation without additional approval. H.R. 3845 requires the government, when requesting a roving wiretap, to demonstrate to a judge that the subject is a single individual, and requires the authorities to obtain a separate, court ordered wiretap for each additional subject involved in the investigation.
  • Section 215 (Library Provision): The PATRIOT Act allows authorities to access “any tangible thing (including books, records, papers, documents and other items)," as long as the records are sought "in connection with a terror investigation." H.R. 3845 requires the government to produce more evidence to a court than currently needed, and to get a court order approved before the government agency can obtain records from businesses.
  • National Security Letters: The PATRIOT Act grants the F.B.I. the authority to issue national security letters independently and without judicial review to gather records like phone bills or e-mail transactions that might be considered relevant to a particular terrorism investigation. With H.R. 3845, the relevant agencies will no longer be able to use national security letters to obtain information merely by claiming it is "relevant" to national security without reasonable suspicion that the information is connected to a terrorist or foreign agent.


On the same day of the mark up in the House Judiciary Committee, Congressman Rush Holt (D-NJ), a member of the House Intelligence Committee, introduced his bill, H.R. 4005. The bill includes the amendments listed above and made some other much needed changes such as:


  • Domestic Surveillance: The PATRIOT Act broadly defines domestic terrorism to include acts of civil disobedience. These acts of civil disobedience include organized gatherings such as protests, demonstrations, etc. The bill would revise the definition of "domestic terrorism" to ensure the authorities do not infringe on the first and fourth amendment and constitutional rights of citizens.
  • Material Support: The PATRIOT Act does not currently have a material support clause that takes intent into account when a citizen makes a donation. H.R. 4005 amends the ambiguous definition of material support (money, food, water, shelter) for terrorism to include intent, by clarifying that a person must know or have intentions for the material support to be used for terrorist activities.


We asked the community to come together and ask for change. Hundreds of AAI members contacted their congressmen about the need for these provisions! AAI leaders and coalitions continue to meet with members on the Hill to request more is done to protect our civil liberties. We ask you continue to contact your congressmen and demand they support the changes to the provisions found above. The conversation is still going on and we need you to be involved! Stay tuned.