[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 27 (Wednesday, February 15, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1219-S1220]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS

      By Mr. KAINE (for himself, Mr. Warner, Mr. Booker, and Mr. 
        Blunt):
  S. 392. A bill to establish the 400 years of African-American History 
Commission, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Energy and 
Natural Resources.
  Mr. KAINE. Mr. President, today I am reintroducing the 400 Years of 
African American History Commission Act.
  We are 2 years away from a key anniversary in American history. 
August 2019 will mark 400 years since the first documented arrival of 
Africans who came to English America by way of Point Comfort, VA. This 
historic and tragic moment, when ``20 and odd'' Africans, as it was 
recorded were the first recorded group of Africans to arrive 
involuntarily and were sold as involuntary laborers or indentured 
servants in the colonies. This indelible mark in American history 
should not pass without recognition.
  During my tenure as Governor of Virginia, I presided over the 400th 
anniversary of the founding of Jamestown, VA, by the English colonists 
in 1604. Two years ago I attended the 450th anniversary of the founding 
of St. Augustine, FL, which celebrated Hispanic heritage. Both 
commemorations included activities sponsored by Federal commissions, 
which were voted on and passed by Congress.
  Having commemorated the English and Spanish heritage of our founding, 
there is no reason it should be any different for the arrival and 
continuous presence of Africans and African Americans in the English 
settlements in 1619. There is no dispute that the beginning of African 
and African-American presence in what is now the United States was both 
heartbreaking and regrettable. Although in 1619 slavery was not yet an 
institution, the involuntary status of those first Africans was the 
impetus to slavery. Slavery as an institution broke up families, 
resulted in the deaths of thousands, and caused irreparable damage to 
our American psyche. And though we should never forget that period of 
stain on our history, slavery is not the only part of African-American 
history. I have had an opportunity to visit the National Museum of 
African American History and Culture. The museum makes a tremendous 
effort to tell the complete story of African Americans and it is 
important that we remember the whole story. African Americans have 
contributed to the economic, academic, social, cultural and moral well-
being of this Nation. Their impact and influence has shaped this nation 
to what it is today.
  So today, with my cosponsor Senator Mark Warner, I reintroduce the 
400 Years of African American History Commission Act, which would 
establish a commission that would plan programs and activities across 
the country to recognize the arrival and influence of African Americans 
since 1619. It is my hope the establishment of a ``400th'' commission 
would create an opportunity to bring continued national education about 
the significance the arrival of African Americans has made to the 
United States and the contributions that have been made since 1619. 
Additionally, the commission would create space to discuss race 
relations in America and focus on dismantling the institutional systems 
that have adversely hindered African American progress.
                                 ______
                                 
      By Mr. WYDEN:
  S. 395. A bill to amend title 18, United States Code, to specify the 
circumstances in which a person may acquire geolocation information and 
for

[[Page S1220]]

other purposes; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, today I, along with my colleagues 
Congressmen Chaffetz from Utah and Conyers from Michigan, am 
introducing the Geolocation Privacy and Surveillance Act, a bill that 
protects Americans from seeing their phones and other devices turned 
into location trackers without so much as a warrant or a warning. While 
law enforcement agencies can and have obtained, and should obtain, 
probable cause search warrants from a neutral judge authorizing them to 
track the location of Americans, in many other cases, government 
agencies obtain sensitive location information without a warrant. My 
colleagues, Mr. Chaffetz and Conyers, and I intend to fix that.
  This is a situation where government agencies' use of new technology 
has gotten ahead of the laws in ways that would surprise many 
Americans. Federal, State, and local agencies routinely track 
Americans' locations through a variety of methods, most of the time 
without people knowing they are being tracked. Some tracking demands go 
directly from the government to phone companies. In the first 6 months 
of 2016, law enforcement agencies submitted at least 86,000 demands to 
telephone companies for subscriber location data. Some of these demands 
were for the records of hundreds or even thousands of customers at a 
time.
  Law enforcement agencies also regularly track cell phones with the 
use of a surveillance technology known as a cell site simulator or 
Stingray. A recent bipartisan report by the Committee on Oversight and 
Government Reform in the House of Representatives found that the 
Departments of Justice and Homeland Security have spent more than $95 
million to buy over 430 Stingrays. Although Federal agencies now obtain 
warrants before using this technology, many State and local agencies do 
not.
  There is currently no uniform legal standard that regulates how 
Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies are able to spy on 
the location of Americans. Instead, there exists a confusing patchwork 
of State laws, policies adopted by law enforcement agencies, and legal 
precedents set by Federal and State courts. As a result, Americans in 
one part of the country may enjoy less privacy, based on the policies 
adopted by their local police department, privacy laws passed by their 
State legislatures, or the willingness of their phone provider to push 
back in court, than Americans who happen to live in a privacy-superior 
jurisdiction. This patchwork quilt of rules and regulations has led to 
confusion among law enforcement, prosecutors, and service providers, 
who waste valuable time and resources litigating and appealing what 
should be clear-cut rules--clear-cut rules that start from the premise 
that privacy is an inviolable right, not a convenience granted by local 
law enforcement.
  Under President Obama, there was a policy in place that required 
Federal law enforcement officers to get a probable cause warrant before 
tracking an American's location. Under the current administration, we 
do not yet know if this policy will remain, which makes this bill even 
more critical.
  This bill has three main components.
  First, it requires the government to show probable cause and get a 
warrant before acquiring the geolocational information of a U.S. 
person, while setting out clear exceptions such as emergency or 
national security situations or cases of theft or fraud. This probable 
cause requirement would apply to all law enforcement acquisitions of 
the geolocational information of individual Americans without their 
knowledge. This requirement will include indirect location information 
acquisition from commercial service providers and direct acquisitions 
using Stingrays and similar devices, including tracking devices 
covertly installed by the government. This bill would regulate both 
real-time tracking of a person's movements, as well as the acquisition 
of records of past movements.
  Second, the bill creates criminal penalties for secretly using an 
electronic device to track a person's movements that parallel those for 
wiretapping. Currently, if a woman's ex-husband taps her phone, he is 
breaking the law. This legislation would treat hacking her cell phone 
to track her movements as a similar offense.
  Finally, it prohibits commercial service providers from sharing 
customers' geolocation information with outside entities without 
customer consent.
  Passage of this bill would provide much needed privacy protections to 
Americans and ensure that location data is adequately protected from 
warrantless surveillance by law enforcement agencies.
  I thank my colleagues Chaffetz and Conyers for their efforts on this 
bill, and I hope the Judiciary Committee will consider our proposal 
quickly.
                                 ______
                                 
      By Mr. KAINE (for himself, Mr. Warner, Mr. Cardin, and Mr. Van 
        Hollen):
  S.J. Res. 22. A joint resolution granting the consent and approval of 
Congress to the Commonwealth of Virginia, the State of Maryland, and 
the District of Columbia to enter into a compact relating to the 
establishment of the Washington Metrorail Safety Commission; to the 
Committee on the Judiciary.
  Mr. KAINE. Mr. President, the National Capital Region relies on DC 
Metrorail. Hundreds of thousands of commuters take it every day, 
including the Federal workforce. Visitors use it when they come to our 
Nation's Capital on vacations, school trips, or events of national 
significance. Yet for too long, critical safety maintenance has been 
neglected, at the cost of countless lost hours and frustration for 
riders, and tragically, several fatalities.
  That is why I and my colleagues from Virginia and Maryland--Senators 
Mark Warner, Ben Cardin, and Chris Van Hollen--and our bipartisan House 
colleagues are today introducing this compact creating the new Metro 
Safety Commission. This measure is introduced in concert with the 
Virginia and Maryland General Assemblies and the Council of the 
District of Columbia, to build momentum to encourage all three 
jurisdictions to enact this compact as quickly as possible, to get 
Metro back to safe reliable operation.
  After fatal incidents on Metrorail in 2009 and 2015, the Federal 
Transit Administration took the unprecedented step of assuming direct 
safety oversight over the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit 
Authority WMATA, stating that it would not return control until it 
certified that a robust safety oversight body was in place. The safety 
commission envisioned by this compact is that body.
  There are many WMATA matters on which different stakeholders have 
different opinions, but everyone agrees that safety must be our top 
priority. Upon enactment of this compact by the three jurisdictions, I 
urge my colleagues to take swift action to approve this measure so that 
daily commuters and visitors to Washington, DC, can regain confidence 
that Metro will take them safely to their destinations.

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