The Arizona Fourth Amendment Protection Act is a bill proposed in the
Arizona legislature
The Arizona State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Arizona. It is a bicameral legislature that consists of a lower house, the House of Representatives, and an upper house, the Senate. Composed of 90 legislators, the s ...
that would withdraw state support for collection of metadata and ban the use of warrantless data in courts.
The bill was introduced into the
Arizona Senate
The Arizona State Senate is part of the Arizona Legislature, the state legislature (United States), state legislature of the US state of Arizona. The Senate consists of 30 members each representing an average of 219,859 constituents (2009 figure ...
by Sen.
Kelli Ward
Kelli Ward ( Kaznoski; born January 25, 1969) is an American politician who served as the chair of the Arizona Republican Party from 2019 to 2023. She previously served in the Arizona State Senate from 2013 to 2015.
She challenged incumbent S ...
on January 22, 2014. It has multiple co-sponsors, including Senate President
Andy Biggs
Andrew Steven Biggs (born November 7, 1958) is an American lawyer and politician who represents in the United States House of Representatives. The district, which was once represented by U.S. Senators John McCain and Jeff Flake, is in the he ...
.
The bill would "ban the state from engaging in activities which help the NSA carry out their warrantless data-collection programs, or even make use of the information on a local level."
Content
The bill would amend
Arizona Revised Statutes. Under the proposed legislation, Arizona would not
provide material support or assistance in any form to any federal agency that claims the power to collect, or comply with any federal law, rule, regulation or order that purports to authorize the collection of, electronic data or metadata of any person pursuant to any action that is not based on a warrant that particularly describes the person, place and thing to be searched or seized.
The bill further prohibits data obtained without a warrant from being used in Arizona courts.
The bill would also prohibit public universities within the state from being "NSA research facilities or recruiting grounds." The NSA has agreements with 166 schools, including two Arizona state universities.
Discussion
Many lawmakers believed that in the wake of the
Snowden disclosures, restoration of public trust would require legislative changes.
More than 20 bills have been written with the goal of reining in government surveillance powers since the disclosures began in June 2013.
Ward explained her introduction of the bill, saying, "There is no question that the NSA program, as it is now being run, violates the
Fourth Amendment. This is a way to stop it".
Media quoted Lyle Mann, director of the
Arizona Peace Officers Standards and Training board, who opposes the bill, as saying "if they do nothing with the information, something bad is going to happen".
See also
*
Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Fourth Amendment (Amendment IV) to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. It prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures and sets requirements for issuing warrants: warrants must be issued by a judge or magistra ...
*
Fourth Amendment Protection Act
References
{{reflist
External links
Official statusat Arizona State Legislature
Proposed laws of the United States
Government of Arizona
Privacy law in the United States