Yesterday, the House took roll call votes of two bills under suspension (i.e., the votes were to “suspend the rules and pass” the bill, since they were pulled up out of standard order).
One was the non-controversial Securing Access to Networks in Disasters Act, which passed 389 to 2. Both dissenters were Republicans. The bill would requires the FCC to commence proceedings on the provision of roaming agreements between mobile service providers to (1) allow for mobile service at reasonable rates during emergencies when there is a mobile service outage lasting longer than 24 hours, and (2) provide for roaming agreements at no charge for communications during emergencies to or from 911 services.
The other bill—the Kelsey Smith Act—is worth more attention.
The bill would require telecommunications providers to disclose cell phone location information to law enforcement officers when presented with an emergency request.
Although there are legitimate concerns driving the bill, it lacks sufficient safeguards for privacy rights, as ACLU Staff Attorney Nathan Freed Wessler explained in his congressional testimony.
The ACLU has advocated for several changes to the bill:
Make emergency disclosure of location information by service providers voluntary rather than mandatory, in order to protect against disclosure when there is no genuine emergency, or when criminals seek location records by impersonating law enforcement officials.
Require after-the-fact judicial review and prompt notice to the person whose location information was obtained.
Require judicially enforceable remedies when location information is acquired in violation of the law.
Raise the legal standard governing access to location information in an emergency from “reasonable belief” to “probable cause” in order to avoid disclosure of sensitive location information in the absence of a genuine emergency.
Because it was called up under suspension (when a 2/3 majority is required), the bill failed, with a vote of 229 to 158. 176 Republicans and 53 Democrats voted for it. 108 Democrats and 50 Republicans voted against it.
Here are the 53 Democrats:
Pete Aguilar (CA-31)
Brad Ashford (NE-02)
Ami Bera (CA-07)
Sanford Bishop (GA-02)
Brendan Boyle (PA-13)
Corrine Brown (FL-05)
Julia Brownley (CA-26)
Cheri Bustos (IL-17)
John Carney (DE-AL)
Andre Carson (IN-07)
Kathy Castor (FL-14)
Lacy Clay (MO-01)
Emanuel Cleaver (MO-05)
Jim Clyburn (SC-06)
Steven Cohen (TN-09)
Jim Cooper (TN-05)
Jim Costa (CA-16)
Henry Cuellar (TX-28)
John Delaney (MD-06)
Mark DeSaulnier (CA-11)
Ted Deutch (FL-21)
Marcia Fudge (OH-11)
John Garamendi (CA-03)
Gwen Graham (FL-02)
Gene Green (TX-29)
Janice Hahn (CA-44)
Alcee Hastings (FL-20)
Brian Higgins (NY-26)
Steve Israel (NY-03)
Robin Kelly (IL-02)
Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ-01)
Annie Kuster (NH-02)
Dan Lipinski (IL-03)
David Loebsack (IA-02)
Michelle Lujan Grisham (NM-01)
Ben Luján (NM-03)
Sean Maloney (NY-18)
Patrick Murphy (FL-18)
Collin Peterson (MN-07)
Mike Quigley (IL-05)
Dutch Ruppersberger (MD-02)
Bobby Rush (IL-01)
Adam Schiff (CA-28)
Kurt Schrader (OR-05)
David Scott (GA-13)
Terri Sewell (AL-07)
Kyrsten Sinema (AZ-09)
Louise Slaughter (NY-25)
Eric Swalwell (CA-15)
Dina Titus (NV-01)
Norma Torres (CA-35)
Marc Veasey (TX-33)
Filemon Vela (TX-34)