From a report at TruthOut, a bipartisan bill to stop helping the NSA in Washington State.
After reporting here at DailyKos about a bill in Indiana intended to lessen the effects of NSA data collection, I submitted another at Truth Out about a bill in Washington State to do the same, and more.
The state-level campaign to turn off power to the NSA got a big boost January 15, 2014, as Washington became the first state with a physical NSA location to consider a Fourth Amendment protection act designed to make life extremely difficult for the massive spy agency.
Bills introduced in California, Oklahoma, Indiana, Missouri and Kansas seek to prevent the NSA from expanding further or sharing data and metadata in non-terror investigations. But Washington's House Bill 2272 (HB2272) takes things a step farther because the state is home to the secretive "Yakima listening post" documented by famous NSA researcher James Bamford in his 1982 book, The Puzzle Palace.
HB2272 was introduced by a bipartisan team of legislators, Rep. David Taylor, a Republican from Moxee, and Rep. Luis Moscoso, a former three-term secretary of the state Democratic Party from Mountlake Terrace.
If passed, the bill would make it the policy of the state "to refuse material support, participation, or assistance to any federal agency which claims the power, or with any federal law, rule, regulation, or order which purports to authorize, the collection of electronic data or metadata of any person pursuant to any action not based on a warrant."
The bills in California and Oklahoma, like Washington State, would not only ban the provision of resources, but would also ban the receipt and use of data from NSA or other federal agencies (like FBI) when obtained without a proper 4th Amendment warrant. They also address research partnerships with public universities and give corporations and interesting "choice." Do business with the NSA, or do business with the State. But not both.
In Indiana, the bill does all but address corporations - and hopefully someone in the committee process will offer an amendment to do that.
In Missouri and Kansas, the legislation addresses the data-sharing, making information obtained without warrant inadmissible in state court.
While the Yakima facility is scheduled to close at some point in the future, I think it's still good to propose something that will stop helping NSA rather than waiting for them to get up and leave in the coming years.
Other states will see similar bills introduced in the near future. Those with physical NSA locations can have the biggest effect, but every place is important.
The nine states with a physical NSA presence, from what we know today, are Utah, Maryland, Colorado, Hawaii, Tennessee, Texas, Washington State, Georgia and West Virginia.
I talked with a reporter from Mother Jones yesterday as well, and the best question that Josh asked was "Are any of these going to pass?"
He suggested that even if they didn't, they're bringing awareness, and suggesting a different approach.
I agree on that point. But personally, I think at least a few will pass. If people hammer on their state reps and senators to move them, that is.