Legislature(2015 - 2016)BELTZ 105 (TSBldg)
03/19/2015 03:30 PM Senate COMMUNITY & REGIONAL AFFAIRS
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| SB13 | |
| HB70 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| += | SB 45 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | SB 13 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| += | HB 70 | TELECONFERENCED | |
SB 13-WARRANTLESS SEARCH OF ELECTRONIC DATA
3:38:06 PM
CHAIR BISHOP announced the consideration of SB 13.
3:38:19 PM
SENATOR BILL WIELECHOWSKI, Alaska State Legislature, Juneau,
Alaska, sponsor of SB 13, said in recent years Alaskans and
Americans have become very concerned about the federal
government spying on American citizens. He explained that there
have been reports of the National Security Agency (NSA)
collecting mass amounts of data, e-mails, and phone records with
literally trillions of conversations and e-mails have collected
in recent years. He asserted that SB 13 is an attempt to push
back by prohibiting state or local governments from assisting an
agency with federal data and surveillance collection. He noted
that the term "agency" is a term of art adopted to refer to the
NSA. He said there are about 17 other states that are looking at
similar legislation.
3:40:07 PM
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI noted that a committee substitute (CS) has
been proposed that mostly defines what a "federal agency" is.
CHAIR BISHOP asked that the committee adopt the CS.
SENATOR STEDMAN asked to make a motion to adopt the CS for SB
13, [29-LS0006\W], as the working document.
SENATOR BISHOP objected for discussion purposes.
3:41:22 PM
SARAH EVANS, Staff, Senator Wielechowski, Alaska State
Legislature, Juneau, Alaska, explained that the CS has very
small changes that help define and narrow the definition for
"federal agency." Federal agency is defined as "federal data
collection or surveillance agency." She explained that new
paragraphs were added to Section 4 to address the definitions
for "electronic data" and "federal data collection and
surveillance agency."
MS. EVANS addressed the sectional analysis on SB 13 as follows:
In 2013, Alaska Governor Shawn Parnell signed
legislation into law prohibiting the state from
assisting the federal government in the enforcement of
law that violates the right to keep and bear arms. SB
13 amends the 2013 law to include a prohibition of
state assistance to federal data collection and
surveillance agencies.
Section 1 provides that the state or municipalities
may not adopt an inordinance inconsistent with
provisions of section 2 of the bill.
Section 2 prohibits a municipality or an agent of a
municipality from cooperating with a federal data
collection and surveillance agency in collecting
electronic data without a search warrant, or
collecting telephone records without a warrant unless
the collection is consistent with state law and from
using such records in a criminal investigation or
prosecution.
Section 3 prohibits a state municipality agent from
using state or municipal assets to aid a federal data
collection or surveillance agency in the collection of
electronic data without a search warrant or the
collection of telephone records without a warrant
unless the collection is consistent with state law.
3:43:58 PM
Section 4 defines "electronic data" and "federal data
collection and surveillance agency."
Section 5 prohibits the state or an agent of the state
from cooperating with the federal data collection and
surveillance agency in collecting data without a
search warrant or collecting telephone records without
a warrant, unless the collection is consistent with
state law and from using such records in a criminal
investigation or prosecution.
Section 6 provides that the bill has an immediate
effective date.
MS. EVANS provided background on the NSA as follows:
NSA is a U.S. intelligence agency responsible for the
global monitoring, collecting, decoding, translation
and analysis of information and data for foreign
intelligence and counterintelligence purposes.
In 1952, President Harry Truman started the NSA to
continue U.S. efforts that had led to breaking German
and Japanese codes in World War II.
3:45:16 PM
MS. EVANS addressed why Alaskans should be concerned about the
NSA as follows:
The NSA collects every American's phone records. The
PRISM Program allows for the NSA to tap directly into
the central servers of Microsoft, Yahoo, Google,
Facebook, Skype, You Tube and others; extracting audio
and video chats, photographs, e-mails, documents, and
connection logs that enable analysis to track foreign
targets. The NSA tracks phone locations around the
world, this includes millions of Americans; they were
able to do this through four major ways. First, when a
cell phone is connected to a cellular network, the NSA
can sweep the network and find a location. Also, when
a mobile device connects to a Wi-Fi signal, you can
locate a device down to the city block. Thirdly, GPS
receivers are built into mini-cellular and satellite
telephones which can locate a device within a 100
meter radius or less. Finally, most mobile operators
can track phones through triangulation off multiple
towers; for example, to provide location based
emergency services.
MS. EVANS reviewed the NSA timeline as follows:
In October of 2001, President Bush signed orders
beginning the NSA's domestic spy program, which
allowed the NSA to conduct a range of surveillance
activities inside the U.S., which had been barred by
law and agency policy for decades. President Bush said
the program was aimed at people with suspicious
connections to Al-Qaeda and other aspects of the
program were aimed not just at targeted individuals,
but perhaps millions of innocent Americans never
suspected of a crime. In 2006, the NSA maxed-out the
Baltimore area power-grid, creating the potential for
a virtual shutdown; since then, under President Obama,
the NSA aggressively expanded in states like Utah,
Texas, Colorado and elsewhere, generally focusing on
locations that can provide cheap and plentiful
resources like water and power. The Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Act, also known as FISA, was
amended and signed into law by President Bush in 2008,
the amendment expanded the government's authority to
monitor American's electronic communications.
3:47:39 PM
MS. EVANS reviewed NSA's phone spying tactics as follows:
In 2003, an AT&T technician, Mark Klein, found fiber
optic splitters inside a San Francisco based AT&T
facility behind a locked door that required both a
physical key and a combination code to gain access to
the room. In the room, AT&T allowed the NSA to install
sophisticated communications surveillance equipment.
Basically, the communication equipment that they
installed allowed for the government to have their own
splitter off of the information that was going through
the AT&T center; these splitters made exact copies of
the data passing through them, so one stream was
directed right to the government while the other
stream was directed to the intended recipient.
William Binney, a 30-year NSA veteran, estimated the
NSA installed between 10 and 20 intercept-centers
within the United States, he also estimates that the
NSA collected between 15 and 20 trillion transactions
from the general public over the past 11 years; this
includes e-mails, phone calls, and texts.
MS. EVANS explained how NSA's spying tactics are known as
follows:
In June of 2013, the Guardian published its first
exclusive based on the leaks they received from an NSA
employee, revealing a secret court order showing the
U.S. government had forced the telecom-giant Verizon
to hand over phone records of millions of Americans.
Next the Guardian reveals a second story to the
previously undisclosed program, PRISM, which entails
NSA document claims that gives the agency direct
access to data held by Google, Facebook, Apple and
other U.S. giants.
3:49:39 PM
MS. EVANS reviewed what other states are doing to take action as
follows:
While the NSA sometimes relies on material support,
cooperation, and resources from state and local
governments to carry out their mass-surveillance
programs, SB 13 is modeled after the Fourth Amendment
Protection Act, the act rests on a widely used legal
practice known as the anti-commandeering doctrine,
which means the federal government cannot force states
to carry out their acts or regulatory programs; in
other words, if states don't want to participate, they
don't have to. 17 states have introduced legislation
to protect the U.S. citizen from the NSA warrantless
data collection.
SENATOR STEDMAN noted that one of the things happening in
Southeast Alaska have been drug busts and dealing with child
pornography. He asked if the bill would have any impact on the
ability of state law enforcement to monitor drug and child
pornography traffic.
MS. EVANS answered that Senator Wielechowski's office has worked
with the Department of Law to fix language in the bill so that
the bill does not prohibit police departments or state troopers
from working with the FBI or other federal agencies as long as
they are not involved in surveillance and involuntary bulk
collection of telephone records or electronic data. She
summarized that the bill is intended to protect Alaskans'
telephone records and electronic data from the NSA.
3:51:40 PM
SENATOR STEDMAN asked to verify that the answer is it "won't
effect."
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI answered that that is absolutely not our
intent. He stated that he is aware of the concern and he is
trying to craft language as tightly as possible so that the bill
specifically limits the NSA. He asserted that he shares Senator
Stedman's concerns about child pornography. He noted that law
enforcement has expressed some concerns and added that he has
been working with the Department of Law to address some of their
concerns. He remarked that his office has addressed law
enforcement's concerns and he is open to engage them in
addressing further changes if needed. He pointed out that the
bill's language was based on similar laws which are moving in
Utah and Texas and that is why the definition of what agencies
the bill applies to. He asserted that ambiguity has been
addressed and the bill does not affect the FBI.
SENATOR MACKINNON asked if there has been a change of opinion
from the Alaska Association of Chiefs of Police that are
expressing their opposition to the bill as well as the Alaska
Peace Officers Association who unanimously oppose the bill. She
noted that a senator had stated that law enforcement officers
want to "have each other's back" and be able to support each
other as they try to keep people safe. She revealed that she has
met with multiple carriers and found out that unlike the Lower
48 where carriers have centralized hubs, Alaska has multiple
hubs without interconnection. She pointed out that carriers had
mentioned that they could not stop a federal warrant from coming
in and forcing them to provide information.
3:54:38 PM
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI specified that the bill does not address
private companies, but does address the behavior and actions of
state and local communities and governments. He summarized that
state, local, or rural communities cannot actively participate
unless the federal government gets a warrant. He noted that law
enforcements' letters of opposition were written before the
changes were made to the bill. He opined that law enforcement
continues to oppose the bill because they like free-reign to
communicate as widely and broadly as possible. He said at some
point a policy call must be made to protect Alaskans' personal
and private information.
SENATOR MACKINNON stated that she applauds Senator
Wielechowski's effort and supports what has been said. She said
she looks forward to hearing from the Alaska Department of Law
in understanding because the first thing that came to mind as
Senator Wielechowski expressed is pornography and children who
are being lured by online solicitations and whether that will
somehow put those kids in harm's way.
CHAIR BISHOP asked for an explanation of the process by which
the federal agency would obtain a search warrant that would be
valid under the bill's provisions.
3:56:31 PM
MS. EVANS explained that the bill does not change how a federal
agency would obtain a warrant. She specified that before a state
or municipal agent can assist in obtaining information, the
federal agency would have to go through the same protocol to get
a warrant.
CHAIR BISHOP asked to verify that nothing changes.
MS. EVANS answered correct.
CHAIR BISHOP announced that he removed his objection and version
W was before the committee. He opened public comment.
3:58:07 PM
STUART THOMPSON, representing himself, Wasilla, Alaska, stated
that he supports SB 13. He summarized that SB 13 provides a
check on the federal government's use of power and enforces the
privacy provision of the Alaska Constitution.
4:02:21 PM
MICHAEL MAHARREY, National Communications Director, 10th
Amendment Center, Lexington, Kentucky, said he supports SB 13.
He pointed out that the Alaska Senate passed a resolution in
2014 that condemned NSA spying and proclaimed that the Alaska
Legislature will not assist the federal government by
facilitating programs that are tyrannical in nature. The
resolution also called on the federal government to end mass
warrantless collection of electronic data. He noted that
Governor Parnell signed a bill in 2013 that prohibits the state
from cooperating with federal implementation or enforcement of
certain programs that infringe on a person's right to keep and
bear arms, the right to due process, or aid in the
implementation of the federal Real ID Act. He said SB 13 expands
on the unchallenged state law to cover the natural right to
privacy. He noted that Alaska law enforcement has expressed
opposition to SB 13 saying it could reduce cooperation with
federal law enforcement agencies. He explained that the bill's
amended language should eliminate any concerns voiced by law
enforcement. He emphasized that the refusal to cooperate only
applies to bulk warrantless surveillance. He summarized that SB
13 will protect the privacy of Alaskans, preserve the Fourth
Amendment, and help reign in an unaccountable and out of control
federal spy agency.
4:06:29 PM
SHAHIB BUTTAR, Executive Director, Bill of Rights Defense
Committee, Washington, D.C., said he supports SB 13. He
explained that mass surveillance that is untethered from
individual suspicion prevents the opportunity for the state to
arbitrarily target people based on a retrospective record that
they need not go out and collect.
CHAIR BISHOP announced that public comment was closed.
4:09:55 PM
CHAIR BISHOP announced that SB 13 will be held in committee for
further consideration.