[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1595 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
114th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 1595
To describe the authority under which Federal entities may use mobile
aerial-view devices to surveil, protect individual and collective
privacy against warrantless governmental intrusion through the use of
mobile aerial-view devices, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
June 17, 2015
Mr. Wyden (for himself and Mr. Heller) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To describe the authority under which Federal entities may use mobile
aerial-view devices to surveil, protect individual and collective
privacy against warrantless governmental intrusion through the use of
mobile aerial-view devices, and for other purposes.
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 ``Protecting Individuals From Mass
Aerial Surveillance Act of 2015''.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act--
(1) the terms ``mobile aerial-view device'' and ``MAVD''
mean any device that through flight or aerial lift obtains a
dynamic, aerial view of property, persons or their effects,
including an unmanned aircraft (as defined in section 331 of
the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 (49 U.S.C. 40101
note));
(2) the term ``law enforcement party'' means a person or
entity authorized by law, or funded by the Government of the
United States, to investigate or prosecute offenses against the
United States;
(3) the term ``Federal entity'' means any person or entity
acting under the authority of, or funded in whole or in part
by, the Government of the United States, including a Federal
law enforcement party, but excluding State, tribal, or local
government agencies or departments;
(4) the term ``non-Federal entity'' means any person or
entity that is not a Federal entity;
(5) the term ``surveil'' means to photograph, record, or
observe using a sensing device, regardless of whether the
photographs, observations, or recordings are stored, and
excludes using a sensing device for the purposes of testing or
training operations of MAVDs;
(6)(A) the term ``sensing device'' means a device capable
of remotely acquiring personal information from its
surroundings using any frequency of the electromagnetic
spectrum, or a sound detecting system, or a system that detects
chemicals in the atmosphere; and
(B) the term ``sensing device'' does not include equipment
whose sole function is to provide information directly
necessary for safe air navigation or operation of a MAVD;
(7) the term ``public lands'' means lands owned by the
Government of the United States; and
(8) the term ``national borders'' refers to any region no
more than 25 miles of an external land boundary of the United
States.
SEC. 3. PROHIBITED USE OF MAVDS.
A Federal entity shall not use a MAVD to surveil property, persons
or their effects, or gather evidence or other information pertaining to
known or suspected criminal conduct, or conduct that is in violation of
a statute or regulation.
SEC. 4. EXCEPTIONS.
(a) This Act does not prohibit any of the following:
(1) Patrol of borders.--The use of a MAVD by a Federal
entity to surveil national borders to prevent or deter illegal
entry of any persons or illegal substances at the borders.
(2) Exigent circumstances.--
(A) The use of a MAVD by a Federal entity when
exigent circumstances exist. For the purposes of this
paragraph, exigent circumstances exist when the Federal
entity possesses reasonable suspicion that under
particular circumstances, swift action is necessary--
(i) to prevent imminent danger of death or
serious bodily harm to a specific individual;
(ii) to counter an imminent risk of a
terrorist attack by a specific individual or
organization;
(iii) to prevent imminent destruction of
evidence; or
(iv) to counter an imminent or actual
escape of a criminal or terrorist suspect.
(B) A Federal entity using a MAVD pursuant to
subparagraph (A)(i) must maintain a retrievable record
of the facts giving rise to the reasonable suspicion
that an exigent circumstance existed.
(3) Public safety and research.--The use of a MAVD by a
Federal entity--
(A) to discover, locate, observe, gather evidence
in connection to, or prevent forest fires;
(B) to monitor environmental, geologic, or weather-
related catastrophe or damage from such an event;
(C) to research or survey for wildlife management,
habitat preservation, or geologic, atmospheric, or
environmental damage or conditions;
(D) to survey for the assessment and evaluation of
environmental, geologic or weather-related damage,
erosion, flood, or contamination; and
(E) to survey public lands for illegal vegetation.
(4) Consent.--The use of a MAVD by a Federal entity for the
purpose of acquiring information about an individual, or about
an individual's property or effects, if such individual has
given written consent to the use of a MAVD for such purposes.
(5) Warrant.--A law enforcement party using a MAVD,
pursuant to, and in accordance with, a Rule 41 warrant, to
surveil specific property, persons or their effects.
SEC. 5. BAN ON IDENTIFYING INDIVIDUALS.
(a) No Federal entity actor may make any intentional effort to
identify an individual from, or associate an individual with, the
information collected by operations authorized by paragraphs (1)
through (3) of subsection (a), nor shall the collected information be
disclosed to any entity except another Federal entity or State, tribal,
or local government agency or department, or political subdivision
thereof, that agrees to be bound by the restrictions in this Act.
(b) The restrictions described in subsection (a) shall not apply if
there is probable cause that the information collected is evidence of
specific criminal activity.
SEC. 6. PROHIBITION ON USE OF EVIDENCE.
No evidence obtained or collected in violation of this Act may be
received as evidence against an individual in any trial, hearing, or
other proceeding in or before any court, grand jury, department,
officer, agency, regulatory body, legislative committee, or other
authority of the United States, a State, or a political subdivision
thereof.
SEC. 7. PROHIBITION ON SOLICITATION AND PURCHASE.
(a) A Federal entity shall not solicit to or award contracts to any
entity for such entity to surveil by MAVD for the Federal entity,
unless the Federal entity has existing authority to surveil the
particular property, persons or their effects, of interest.
(b) A Federal entity shall not purchase any information obtained
from MAVD surveillance by a non-Federal entity if such information
contains personal information, except pursuant to the express consent
of all persons whose personal information is to be sold.
SEC. 8. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.
Nothing in this Act shall be construed to preempt any State law
regarding the use of MAVDs exclusively within the borders of that
State.
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