NSA's Water, Power Supply Under Threat in State LegislaturesCongress failed to agree last year on a measure that would reform the practice of mass government surveillance, but privacy-minded state legislators have a back-up plan for shutting down alleged violations of their constituents’ constitutional rights.
In eight states, legislators are pushing bills they hope will either boot National Security Agency facilities or ban the agency from setting up shop. The bills would prohibit state and local governments from offering material support to the agency, including use of public utilities that carry water and electricity. Two of the bills would criminalize official cooperation with the NSA and several seek to squeeze contractors out of work with the electronic spy agency.
The state-level push began months after whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed in June 2013 the NSA’s bulk collection of U.S. phone records and Internet-mining programs.
Last year, bills in Utah - home of the NSA’s massive Utah Data Center - and Maryland - host of the agency’s Fort Meade headquarters - sought to shut down those operations, winning broad media coverage.
The Utah bill remains active and its sponsor, Republican state Rep. Marc Roberts, is cautiously optimistic about its chances, particularly after a seemingly receptive committee hearing in November.
Roberts says colleagues he’s spoken with “have concerns with the NSA programs and violations of the Fourth Amendment.” But, he says, “when it comes down to a big vote on it like this I'm not sure [what] they will do.”
Roberts is waiting to learn which legislative committee this year will hear his bill, which seeks to shut off the water supply to the NSA's vast Utah Data Center that's currently provided through a sweatheart deal with the city of Bluffdale.
Legislators in Alaska, Indiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Washington, meanwhile, introduced similar bills this month, many called Fourth Amendment protection acts, based on model legislation from the OffNow coalition. More are likely to be introduced as the legislative season unfolds.
The bills generally say states and their political subdivisions cannot supply material support to federal agencies that collect citizens’ metadata without individualized warrants, and they intend to bar NSA-derived evidence from state courts and block the agency from research partnerships with state schools.
In Washington, the proposed bill goes further. It would force companies to choose between NSA and state contracts. And if state contractors or officials do provide “material support, participation, or assistance in any form” to the NSA, they would be guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $5,000 and up to one year behind bars.
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http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/01/28/nsas-water-power-supply-under-threat-in-state-legislatures
