[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 316 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 316

     A bill to limit authority to delay notice of search warrants.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            February 8, 2005

 Mr. Feingold introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
     A bill to limit authority to delay notice of search warrants.

    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 ``Reasonable Notice and Search Act''.

SEC. 2. LIMITATION ON AUTHORITY TO DELAY NOTICE OF SEARCH WARRANTS.

    Section 3103a of title 18, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) in subsection (b)--
                    (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ``may have an 
                adverse result (as defined in section 2705)'' and 
                inserting ``will endanger the life or physical safety 
                of an individual, result in flight from prosecution, 
                result in the destruction of or tampering with the 
                evidence sought under the warrant, or result in 
                intimidation of potential witnesses''; and
                    (B) in paragraph (3), by striking ``a reasonable 
                period'' and all that follows and inserting ``7 
                calendar days, which period, upon application of the 
                Attorney General, the Deputy Attorney General, or an 
                Associate Attorney General, may thereafter be extended 
                by the court for additional periods of up to 7 calendar 
                days each if the court finds, for each application, 
                reasonable cause to believe that notice of the 
                execution of the warrant will endanger the life or 
                physical safety of an individual, result in flight from 
                prosecution, result in the destruction of or tampering 
                with the evidence sought under the warrant, or result 
                in intimidation of potential witnesses.''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(c) Reports.--
            ``(1) In general.--On a semiannual basis, the Attorney 
        General shall transmit to Congress and make public a report 
        concerning all requests for delays of notice, and for 
        extensions of delays of notice, with respect to warrants under 
        subsection (b).
            ``(2) Contents.--Each report under paragraph (1) shall 
        include, with respect to the preceding 6-month period--
                    ``(A) the total number of requests for delays of 
                notice with respect to warrants under subsection (b);
                    ``(B) the total number of such requests granted or 
                denied;
                    ``(C) for each request for delayed notice that was 
                granted, the total number of applications for 
                extensions of the delay of notice and the total number 
                of such extensions granted or denied; and
                    ``(D) on an aggregate basis, the nature of the 
                crime being investigated for each request for delay of 
                notice that was granted or denied.''.

SEC. 3. SUNSET ON DELAYED NOTICE AUTHORITY.

    (a) PATRIOT Act.--Section 224(a) of the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001 
(Public Law 107-56; 115 Stat. 295) is amended by striking ``213,''.
    (b) Amendments.--The amendments made by this Act shall sunset as 
provided in section 224 of the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001.
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