Guest Column
California Enacts Resolution Critical of PATRIOT Act
California Enacts Resolution Critical of PATRIOT Act
Sacramento, CA - February 17, 2006 - On Thursday, February 16, the California Senate voted 23-10 in favor of Senate Joint Resolution 10 relative to the USA PATRIOT Act (scroll to end for resolution text), making California the 404th government entity and the largest of eight states to have done so. The other seven are Alaska, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Maine, Montana, and Vermont. Beginning in 2002, eleven California counties and 53 cities have passed resolutions. The combined populations of states and communities that have enacted resolutions is now nearly 87 million—roughly one in three U.S. residents. The California Assembly passed the resolution on January 3, 2006.
The Bill of Rights Defense Committee (BORDC) commends State Senator Liz Figueroa, who introduced the resolution last year, and her colleagues in the Senate and Legislature for their principled stand in defense of Californians’ civil liberties. Republicans Tom McClintock and Sam Aanestad were among those who voted for the resolution.
Said BORDC’s director, Nancy Talanian, “The California resolution sets a standard we hope Congress will follow as it considers reauthorizing several controversial sections of the PATRIOT Act and the administration’s approval of warrantless wiretaps. The resolution states that no state resources will be used to collect information based on residents’ activities that are protected by the First Amendment, or to scoop up personal records without a direct connection between the records sought and suspected criminal activity.”
California’s resolution also observes that government security measures “should be carefully designed and employed to enhance public safety without infringing on the civil liberties and rights of innocent persons in the State of California and the nation.”
- The BORDC congratulates Hazem Kira of the California Civil Rights
Alliance, which spearheaded the California effort, and its 23 member
groups such as California’s three ACLU chapters, the Green Party and
Libertarian Party of California, peace and justice groups, several
interfaith organizations and local Bill of Rights Defense groups
throughout California. Amnesty International Western Region, Asian Law
Alliance, American Muslim Voice and people in many California ethnic
communities also wrote letters and did grassroots organizing throughout
the campaign.
The passage of the California resolution has the potential to affect the PATRIOT Act debate well beyond California’s borders, as Congress considers the PATRIOT Act reauthorization.
Congress members with more civil liberties resolutions in their districts tend to be willing to take a strong stand in defense of civil liberties. BORDC data show that the 174 representatives who opposed a PATRIOT Act reauthorization compromise bill on December 14, 2005, were four and a half times as likely to have one or more resolutions passed in their districts as the 251 members who voted in favor. The Senate filibustered over that compromise bill’s inadequate civil liberties safeguards. Talanian explains, “If you go further, and compare the vote of the House of Representatives in October 2001, when only 66 representatives voted against the PATRIOT Act, to December 2005, when 174 representatives voted against the reauthorization, it is clear we’re making progress in turning our government’s attention towards our fundamental liberties. So we expect continued positive results now that the most populous state in the union has come to the defense of the Bill of Rights.”
BILL NUMBER: SJR 10 INTRODUCED - BILL TEXT
- INTRODUCED BY Senator Figueroa
- APRIL 18, 2005
- Relative to the U.S.A. PATRIOT Act .
- LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
- SJR 10, as introduced, Figueroa. U.S.A. PATRIOT Act.
This measure would urge the California Congressional delegation to work to repeal any provisions of the U.S.A. PATRIOT Act that limit or impinge on rights and liberties protected equally by the United States Constitution and the California Constitution and to oppose any pending and future federal legislation to the extent that it would infringe on Americans' civil rights and liberties.
This measure would also resolve that the State of California will ensure that no state resources be provided for any action that would violate the United States Constitution and the California Constitution, including specified actions.
Fiscal committee: no.
WHEREAS, The State of California recognizes the Constitution of the United States of America as our charter of liberty, and that the Bill of Rights enshrines the fundamental and inalienable rights of Americans, including the freedoms of religion, speech, assembly, and
privacy; and
WHEREAS, The State of California has a distinguished history of safeguarding the freedoms of its residents; and
WHEREAS, Each of the California's duly elected public servants has sworn to defend and uphold the United States Constitution and the Constitution of the State of California; and
WHEREAS, The State of California denounces and condemns all acts of terrorism, wherever occurring; and
WHEREAS, Any new security measures of federal, state, and local governments should be carefully designed and employed to enhance public safety without infringing on the civil liberties and rights of innocent persons in the State of California and the nation; and
WHEREAS, Certain provisions of the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act, also known as the U.S.A. PATRIOT Act, allow the government greater authority to detain and investigate persons and to engage in surveillance activities that may violate or offend the rights and liberties guaranteed by our federal and state constitutions, including rights of due process, the right to privacy, the right to counsel, protection against unreasonable searches and seizures, and basic First Amendment freedoms; and
WHEREAS, The people of California are concerned that many provisions of the U.S.A. PATRIOT Act, pose significant threats to constitutional protections; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate and the Assembly of the State of California, jointly, That the State of California supports appropriate and effective measures by the government of the United States of America and the State of California to combat terrorism and affirms its commitment that the campaign not be waged at the expense of essential civil rights and liberties of citizens of this country contained in the United States Constitution and the Bills of Rights; and be it further
Resolved, That the State of California also urges its
Congressional delegation to work to repeal any provisions of the U.S.A. PATRIOT Act that limit or impinge on rights and liberties protected equally by the United States Constitution and the California Constitution and to oppose any pending and future federal legislation to the extent that it would infringe on Americans' civil rights and liberties; and be it further
Resolved, That the State of California will ensure that no state resources be provided for any action that would violate the United States Constitution, or the Constitution of the State of California, including but not limited to, all of the following:
(1) Collecting or maintaining information about the political, religious, or social views, associations, or activities of any individual, group, association, organization, corporation, business, or partnership, unless the information directly relates to an investigation of criminal activities and there are reasonable grounds to suspect the subject of the information is or may be involved in criminal conduct.
(2) Recording, filing or sharing intelligence information concerning a person or organization, including library lending and research records, book and video store sales and rental records, medical records, financial records, student records, and other personal data, even if authorized under the U.S.A. PATRIOT Act.
(3) Demanding nonconsensual releases of student and faculty records from public schools and institutions of higher learning.
(4) Eavesdropping on confidential communications between lawyers and their clients.
(5) Engaging in racial profiling that enables law enforcement agencies to use race, religion, ethnicity, or national origin as factors in selecting individuals to be subject to investigational activities, except when seeking to apprehend a specific suspect whose race, religion, ethnicity, or national origin is part of the description of the suspect; and be it further
Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate shall transmit copies of this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United States, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to the Majority Leader of the Senate, and to each Senator and Representative from California in the Congress, the Attorney General of the United States, and to all federal and state law enforcement agencies.
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