KEY: stricken = old language to be removed
     underscored = new language to be added

H.R. No. 10, as introduced: 84th Legislative Session (2005-2006) Posted on April 14, 2005

05-3650   
  1.1                          A house resolution 
  1.2             affirming the Minnesota House of Representatives' 
  1.3             commitment to the civil freedoms guaranteed by the 
  1.4             Constitutions of the State of Minnesota and the United 
  1.5             States. 
  1.6      
  1.7      WHEREAS, the State of Minnesota affirms its distinguished 
  1.8   record of protecting the civil freedoms of its residents under 
  1.9   the Constitution of Minnesota; and 
  1.10     WHEREAS, the Minnesota House of Representatives believes 
  1.11  that a number of provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act threaten 
  1.12  fundamental rights and civil liberties, including: 
  1.13     Section 206, which effectively eliminates judicial 
  1.14  supervision of telephone and Internet surveillance through 
  1.15  increased roving surveillance authority under the Foreign 
  1.16  Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, and 
  1.17     Section 213, which greatly lowers the threshold required 
  1.18  for a court to issue a search warrant and permits law 
  1.19  enforcement to perform the search with no one present and delay 
  1.20  notification of the targeted citizen, and 
  1.21     Section 215, which violates the intent of Minnesota 
  1.22  Statutes, section 13.40, providing for the protection of private 
  1.23  library users' data, 
  1.24     Sections 215, 218, 358, and 508, which permit law 
  1.25  enforcement authorities to have broad access to sensitive mental 
  2.1   health, library, business, financial, and educational records 
  2.2   despite the existence of previously adopted state and federal 
  2.3   laws which were intended to strengthen the protection of these 
  2.4   types of records, and 
  2.5      Section 411, which gives the United States Attorney General 
  2.6   extraordinarily broad authority to designate domestic groups as 
  2.7   "terrorist organizations," and 
  2.8      Sections 411 and 412, which give the Attorney General power 
  2.9   to subject noncitizens to indefinite detention or deportation 
  2.10  even if no crime has been committed and encourage ethnic, 
  2.11  religious, and racial profiling, and 
  2.12     Sections 507 and 508, which impose an unfunded mandate on 
  2.13  state and local public universities to collect information on 
  2.14  students that may be of interest to the Attorney General, and 
  2.15     WHEREAS, the Minnesota House of Representatives believes 
  2.16  that a number of provisions of the Homeland Security Act of 
  2.17  2002, Public Law 107-296, threaten fundamental rights and civil 
  2.18  liberties, including: 
  2.19     Title II, which allows federal government officials to 
  2.20  probe into all aspects of the private lives of citizens, as well 
  2.21  as foreign nationals, without a search warrant, and without 
  2.22  proof of criminal wrongdoing and specifically creates a database 
  2.23  on every citizen of such information as all communications 
  2.24  (telephone calls, e-mails, or Internet), banking transactions, 
  2.25  credit card purchases, prescriptions, school records, medical 
  2.26  records, employment, and travel records, and 
  2.27     Title II and Title VIII, Subtitle I, which undermines the 
  2.28  Privacy Act of 1974, which limits what federal government 
  2.29  agencies may do with personal and private information, and 
  2.30     WHEREAS, the Minnesota House of Representatives believes 
  2.31  that a number of executive orders, military orders, and Justice 
  2.32  Department directives threaten fundamental rights and civil 
  2.33  liberties, including: 
  2.34     Executive Order 13228 of October 8, 2001, which promotes 
  2.35  the exchange of sensitive personal information with and among 
  2.36  state and local governments and private entities, 
  3.1      United States Attorney General's Guidelines on the Federal 
  3.2   Bureau of Investigation of May 30, 2002, which eliminate United 
  3.3   States Justice Department regulations against COINTELPRO-type 
  3.4   operations by the Federal Bureau of Investigations, (covert 
  3.5   activities that in the past targeted domestic groups and 
  3.6   individuals), and 
  3.7      Military Order creating secret military tribunals (66 FR 
  3.8   57833), which establishes secret military tribunals for anyone 
  3.9   deemed by the Justice Department of the United States to be an 
  3.10  "enemy combatant" and could also be used to designate any 
  3.11  foreign national a suspected terrorist or as aiding terrorists, 
  3.12  and detain, try, convict, and possibly execute the same without 
  3.13  public trial, access to counsel, observation of the presumption 
  3.14  of innocence or even proof of guilt beyond reasonable doubt, and 
  3.15  with no right to appeal, and 
  3.16     WHEREAS, the Justice Department is permitted to monitor and 
  3.17  wiretap conversations between lawyers and (their clients) 
  3.18  federal prisoners, without court order or supervision, (Justice 
  3.19  Department - Bureau of Prisons, Code of Federal Regulations, 
  3.20  title 28, section 501.3); and 
  3.21     WHEREAS, new legislation has been drafted, introduced, or 
  3.22  passed which contains numerous new sweeping law enforcement and 
  3.23  intelligence gathering powers, many of which are not related to 
  3.24  terrorism, and which would severely dilute, if not undermine, 
  3.25  many basic constitutional rights; and 
  3.26     WHEREAS, the USA PATRIOT Act represents a shift from the 
  3.27  higher protection of individual privacy afforded within the law 
  3.28  enforcement model (FBI) to a lower level of protection of 
  3.29  individual privacy afforded under an intelligence model (CIA); 
  3.30  and 
  3.31     WHEREAS, the USA PATRIOT Act's powers are expanded in a way 
  3.32  that affects all residents, not just terrorists; and 
  3.33     WHEREAS, the USA PATRIOT Act weakens judicial review and 
  3.34  public scrutiny by relying on executive branch supervision; and 
  3.35     WHEREAS, the USA PATRIOT Act may not be effective in 
  3.36  preventing terrorism; and 
  4.1      WHEREAS, the USA PATRIOT Act lacks sufficient safeguards to 
  4.2   prevent a drift toward authoritarianism; NOW, THEREFORE, 
  4.3      BE IT RESOLVED by the Minnesota House of Representatives 
  4.4   that it supports the sunset of key provisions of the USA PATRIOT 
  4.5   Act and increased Congressional oversight over the role of the 
  4.6   agencies responsible for enforcing the law.  
  4.7      BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that it is the sense of the 
  4.8   Minnesota House of Representatives that Congress should restore 
  4.9   civil liberties and roll back the USA PATRIOT Act, by measures 
  4.10  such as the Security and Freedom Ensured Act of 2003, also known 
  4.11  as the SAFE Act (H.R. 3352). 
  4.12     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the House supports actions of 
  4.13  executive agencies to review, revise, and rescind executive 
  4.14  orders and policies adopted since the terrorist attacks that 
  4.15  limit or comprise the liberties guaranteed by the Constitution 
  4.16  and the Bill of Rights. 
  4.17     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Minnesota House of 
  4.18  Representatives reaffirms the state's policy on racial profiling 
  4.19  as codified by Minnesota Statutes, section 626.8471, and 
  4.20  encourages the state's law enforcement personnel should continue 
  4.21  using only legitimate reasons to stop and apprehend any person. 
  4.22     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that it is the sense of the House 
  4.23  that the Office of the Minnesota Attorney General should offer 
  4.24  legal support to any public library which is subject to a 
  4.25  federal suit or administrative enforcement action for refusing 
  4.26  to comply with the provisions of the act related to library 
  4.27  patrons' records.