Two California state senators have introduced a bill that would stop state agencies from assisting the National Security Agency to collect "any electronic data or metadata... not based on a warrant."
The California bill (PDF), proposed by state senators Ted Lieu (D-Torrance) and Joel Anderson (R-San Diego), is the first state-level proposal to compel non-cooperation with the federal agency, which has been in the spotlight since its widespread surveillance programs were revealed last summer.
"The National Security Agency’s massive level of spying and indiscriminate collecting of phone and electronic data on all Americans, including more than 38 million Californians, is a direct threat to our liberty and freedom," said Lieu, who introduced Senate Bill 828 on the first day of his state's 2014 legislative session.
In addition to stopping state agencies and officials from helping with warrantless surveillance, it would ban corporations that do business with the state from offering such assistance. That could leave the large telecom companies that provide the bulk metadata to the NSA in a legally difficult position: following orders from the federal Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court would put them in violation of state law.
In an interview with Computerworld published today, Lieu compared the bill to the Trust Act, which took effect in California on January 1 this year. That law prevents state and local law enforcement from complying with federal requests to hold immigrants accused of minor crimes, so they can be deported.
Lieu also noted that the NSA has no facilities in California but that his bill would prevent them from opening one in the future.
Turning off the taps
Some activist groups want state legislatures to go further than the California law. The Tenth Amendment Center is encouraging passage of a model law it calls the Fourth Amendment Protection Act, which would go as far as barring the provision of water to the NSA's $1.5 billion computing center in Bluffdale, Utah. At least one Utah lawmaker has agreed to support the bill, according to a Tenth Amendment Center spokesperson, who declined to identify the lawmaker before the bill is introduced.
"No water = overheating supercomputers = no data center," notes the Tenth Amendment Center on its website. "Water, electricity, trash collection, road upkeep, and the like. None of these could be provided for by any state or local agency."
Conor Boyack, president of the libertarian Libertas Institute, also suggested that Utah residents deny water to the NSA facility in a November 15 column in the Salt Lake City Tribune. He wrote:
When fully operational, the NSA facility is expected to require a staggering 1.7 million gallons of water every day to cool down the computers harvesting information on people worldwide. That water is supplied by the Jordan Valley Water Conservancy District, a political subdivision of the state. Without it, the facility cannot function.
Another proposal pushed by the Tenth Amendment Center, but absent from the California bill, is the idea of barring the NSA from recruiting at public universities.
Arizona state Senator Kelli Ward (R-Havasu City) told the Arizona Republic newspaper that she will be introducing a bill that includes both the no-utilities provisions and the university recruitment provisions. The Arizona legislative session begins on January 13.
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