Bill pushes back on federal collection of personal data This week, state Rep. Tom McMillin, (R-Rochester Hills), introduced House Bill 5420 to safeguard Michigan residents Fourth Amendment rights, which protect against unreasonable search and seizure without a warrant. The bill ensures state agencies, and those working for the state, are prohibited from aiding the federal government in the warrantless collection of electronic data and metadata of Michigan residents. Any electronic data or metadata collected without a warrant and provided by a federal agency may not be used in a criminal investigation or prosecution. “Over the past year, we have learned about the federal government’s warrantless collection of personal information on millions of American citizens,” McMillin said. “There is a clear assault by federal government agencies, like the NSA, on Michigan citizens’ Fourth Amendment rights, and we should do everything we can to stop that assault.” The Tenth Amendment Center strongly supports this measure. “While we are certainly concerned about the NSA collecting and storing data, because that itself is a violation of our right to privacy, we are possibly even more concerned with what they do with that data,” said Shane Trejo, state coordinator for the Michigan Tenth Amendment Center. “Since we know they are already sharing information collected without warrants with local law enforcement, legislation like this takes a big step towards blocking what the NSA wants to do with all that data.” U.S. Senator Rand Paul, (R-KY), introduced a federal bill to stop collection of electronic data without a warrant, and legislation similar to HB 5420 has been introduced in several other states, including South Carolina, Maryland, Arizona, and California. HB 5420 is co-sponsored by both Republicans and Democrats. The bill has been assigned to the House Judiciary Committee.
Posted on: Sun, 23 Mar 2014 00:59:08 +0000