ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline
Volume 12, Number 92
October 6, 2003

In This Issue: 
Senators Larry Craig (R-ID) and Richard Durbin (D-IL), along with Senators Crapo (R-ID), Feingold (D-WI), Sununu (R-R-NH), Wyden (D-OR), and Bingaman (D-NM) have introduced S. 1709, The Security and Freedom Ensured Act of 2003 (the "SAFE" Act). 

This bill would curb the overly-broad powers allowed to law enforcement by the USA PATRIOT Act. The legislation has bipartisan support, including the support of some conservative Republicans as well as Democrats and moderates. This important piece of legislation would amend the USA PATRIOT Act in the following ways:

The bill would: 

* Restore privacy protections for library and bookseller records, allowing law enforcement to obtain the records of individuals only when "there are specific and articulable facts giving reason to believe that the person to whom the records pertain is a foreign power or an agent of a foreign power,"

* Exempt libraries from "national security letters" which are non-judicial subpoenas issued internally in the FBI that allow the FBI to get e-mail and Internet "transactional records,"

* Add oversight provisions to the Justice Department's request for records from libraries and bookstores,

* Extend the sunset provision of the USA PATRIOT Act , and

* Provide other civil liberties protections.


Action Needed:
This bill is the latest in several bills addressing library concerns. (To see the other, please go to http://www.ala.org/patriotfix) It is very important that we garner as much support as possible for this bill, and the others. Please make an effort to contact your Senators when they are in their home offices this week during the Senate recess. It is especially important that we continue to gather the support of Republican Senators. Capitol Switchboard number is: 202-224-3121. With your grassroots efforts we can make significant changes to the USA PATRIOT Act. 





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ALA Washington Office, 1301 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Suite 403, Washington, D.C. 20004-1701; phone: 202.628.8410 or 800.941.8478 toll-free; fax: 202.628.8419; e-mail: alawash@alawash.org; Web site: http://www.ala.org/washoff.  Executive Director: Emily Sheketoff. Office of Government Relations: Lynne Bradley, Director; Camille Bowman, Mary Costabile, Don Essex, Patrice McDermott and Miriam Nisbet. Office for Information Technology Policy: Rick Weingarten, Director; Kathy Mitchell, Carrie Russell. ALAWON Editor: Bernadette Murphy.