[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.
____________________