[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3171 Introduced in House (IH)]






108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3171

 To provide for an appropriate review of recently enacted legislation 
   relating to terrorism to assure that powers granted in it do not 
               inappropriately undermine civil liberties.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 24, 2003

Mr. Kucinich (for himself, Mr. Paul, Mr. Conyers, Mr. George Miller of 
 California, Mr. Serrano, Ms. Schakowsky, Ms. Baldwin, Ms. Solis, Mr. 
 Honda, Ms. Woolsey, Mr. McDermott, Mrs. Jones of Ohio, Mr. McGovern, 
  Mr. Abercrombie, Ms. Lee, Mr. Stark, Mr. Filner, Mr. Grijalva, Ms. 
    Jackson-Lee of Texas, Mr. Hinchey, and Mr. Farr) introduced the 
 following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, 
  and in addition to the Select Committees on Intelligence (Permanent 
     Select), Education and the Workforce, Government Reform, and 
  Transportation and Infrastructure, for a period to be subsequently 
   determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 
 provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To provide for an appropriate review of recently enacted legislation 
   relating to terrorism to assure that powers granted in it do not 
               inappropriately undermine civil liberties.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Benjamin Franklin True Patriot 
Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Benjamin Franklin stated: ``Those who would give up 
        essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, 
        deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.''.
            (2) The First, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth 
        Amendments to the United States Constitution were established 
        to protect the civil rights and liberties of all Americans in 
        perpetuity.
            (3) Federal policies adopted since September 11, 2001, 
        including provisions in the USA PATRIOT Act (Public Law 107-56) 
        and related executive orders, regulations, and actions threaten 
        fundamental rights and liberties, including the First, Fourth, 
        Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the 
        Constitution by--
                    (A) authorizing the indefinite incarceration of 
                noncitizens based on mere suspicion, and the indefinite 
                incarceration of citizens designated by the President 
                as ``enemy combatants'' without access to counsel or 
                meaningful recourse to the Federal courts;
                    (B) limiting the traditional authority of Federal 
                courts to curb law enforcement abuse of electronic 
                surveillance in antiterrorism investigations and 
                ordinary criminal investigations;
                    (C) expanding the authority of Federal agents to 
                conduct so-called ``sneak and peek'' or ``black bag'' 
                searches, in which the subject of the search warrant is 
                unaware that his or her property has been searched;
                    (D) granting law enforcement and intelligence 
                agencies broad access to personal medical, financial, 
                library, and education records with little if any 
                judicial oversight;
                    (E) chilling constitutionally protected speech 
                through overbroad definitions of ``terrorism'';
                    (F) creating divisions between immigrant 
                communities and the police that protect them by 
                encouraging involvement of State and local police in 
                enforcement of Federal immigration law; and the police 
                that protect them;
                    (G) permitting the FBI to conduct surveillance of 
                religious services, internet chatrooms, political 
                demonstrations, and other public meetings of any kind 
                without having any evidence that a crime has been or 
                may be committed; and
                    (H) mandating the closure of certain immigration 
                removal hearings, including denying judges the 
                authority to reject stays of release where bond has 
                been ordered and denying noncitizens the right to a 
                bond hearing.
            (4) Future legislation, such as legislation drafted 
        entitled the Domestic Security Enhancement Act (DSEA) or 
        PATRIOT II, contains a multitude of new and sweeping law 
        enforcement and intelligence gathering powers many of which are 
        not related to terrorism, and would severely dilute and 
        undermine many basic constitutional rights as well as disturb 
        our unique system of checks and balances by--
                    (A) diminishing personal privacy by removing 
                important checks on government surveillance authority;
                    (B) reducing the accountability of government to 
                the public by increasing government secrecy;
                    (C) expanding the definition of ``terrorism'' in a 
                manner that threatens the constitutionally protected 
                rights of Americans; and
                    (D) seriously eroding the right of all persons to 
                due process of law.
            (5) The above new and unprecedented powers pose threats to 
        all Americans and particularly to the civil rights and 
        liberties of the residents of our Nation who are Arab, Muslim, 
        or of South Asian descent.

SEC. 3. NINETY-DAY REVIEW PERIOD.

    Each provision of law, regulation, or other policy directive listed 
in sections 4 through 10, and any amendments made by that provision, 
shall cease to have effect 90 days after the date of the enactment of 
this Act. During this 90-day period, the Congress may, at the request 
of the President, hold hearings to determine whether a particular 
section should be removed from the list in section 4.

SEC. 4. PROVISIONS IN THE USA PATRIOT ACT.

    The provisions in the USA PATRIOT Act (Public Law 107-56) to which 
section 3 applies are:
            (1) Section 213, relating to ``sneak and peak searches''.
            (2) Section 214, relating to the use of pen registers for 
        foreign intelligence purposes.
            (3) Section 215, relating to the obtaining by the 
        Government of certain business records.
            (4) Section 216, relating to the use of pen registers in 
        criminal cases.
            (5) Section 218, relating to the Foreign Intelligence 
        Surveillance Act.
            (6) Section 411, relating to new grounds for deportation.
            (7) Section 412, relating to mandatory detention of certain 
        aliens.
            (8) Section 505, relating to national security letters.
            (9) Section 507, relating to educational records.
            (10) Section 508, relating to collection and disclosure of 
        individually identifiable information under the National 
        Education Statistics Act of 1994.
            (11) Section 802, relating to the definition of domestic 
        terrorism.

SEC. 5. PROVISIONS OF AVIATION SECURITY ACT EXCLUDING PERMANENT 
              RESIDENT ALIENS FROM BEING BAGGAGE CHECKERS.

    Section 3 also applies to section 44935(e)(2)(A)(ii) of title 49, 
United States Code.

SEC. 6. HOMELAND SECURITY ACT OF 2002 PROVISIONS.

    Section 3 also applies to the following provisions of the Homeland 
Security Act of 2002:
            (1) Section 214, relating to an exemption from the Freedom 
        of Information Act.
            (2) Section 871, relating to an exemption from the Federal 
        Advisory Committee Act.

SEC. 7. IMMIGRATION REGULATIONS PROVISIONS.

    Section 3 also applies to the following provisions of regulations:
            (1) The regulation found at 66 Federal Register 48334-35 
        (September 20, 2001) relating to time held without charges.
            (2) The regulation found at 66 Federal Register 54909-12 
        (October 31, 2001) relating to automatic stays for the 
        Government in immigration hearings.
            (3) The so-called ``Creppy memo'' that mandates closed 
        immigration hearings in certain cases, and 67 Federal Register 
        54878 (August 26, 2002) relating to restructuring appeals.
            (4) Any legal opinion or regulation that increases the 
        powers of the Attorney General to authorize State or local law 
        enforcement officers to exercise Federal immigration 
        enforcement beyond those given in 8 CFR Part 2 or 28 CFR Part 
        65.
            (5) The regulation found at 67 Federal Register 52584 
        (August 12, 2002), relating to registration and monitoring of 
        certain aliens, and all notices published pursuant to that 
        regulation.

SEC. 8. ATTORNEY-CLIENT MONITORING.

    Section 3 also applies to the regulation found at 66 Federal 
Register 55063, relating to monitoring conversations between attorneys 
and clients.

SEC. 9. SECRECY ORDERS.

    Section 3 also applies to the memorandum of Attorney General 
Ashcroft dated October 12, 2001 and relating to the disclosure of 
documents under the Freedom of Information Act.

SEC. 10. THORNBURG GUIDELINES ON RELIGIOUS INSTITUTION SPYING.

    Section 3 also applies to any regulations having the effect of 
changing the effect of the Attorney General's Guidelines on General 
Crimes, Racketeering Enterprise and Domestic Security/Terrorism 
Investigations approved by Attorney General Dick Thornburg for the 
Department of Justice on March 21, 1989.
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