Fourth Amendment Restoration Act
Latest action. Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Fourth Amendment Restoration Act - Amends the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA) to impose limits on roving electronic surveillance by revising specifications and adding directions required to be included in the order of a designated judge approving such surveillance, including, in cases where the facility or place at which the electronic surveillance will be directed is unknown at the time the order is issued, that the electronic surveillance be conducted only for such time as reasonable to presume that the target of the surveillance is or was reasonably proximate to the particular facility or place.
Amends the USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005 to make the following FISA provisions, subject to exceptions, read as they read on October 25, 2001 (prior to enactment of the USA PATRIOT Act on October 26, 2001): (1) effective December 31, 2013, provisions specifying the directions to be contained in orders approving electronic surveillance of a foreign power or agent of a foreign power; and (2) effective February 28, 2011, provisions authorizing the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to apply for orders requiring production of business records and other tangible things in investigations related to foreign intelligence and international terrorism and directing the Attorney General (AG) to annually inform Congress of such requests.
Directs the AG to establish minimization and destruction procedures, as specified, governing the acquisition, retention, and dissemination of any records received by the FBI: (1) in response to a national security letter issued under specified federal criminal code provisions authorizing the FBI to request telephone toll and transactional records from wire or electronic communication service providers for counterintelligence purposes, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the Right to Financial Privacy Act of 1978, or the National Security Act of 1947; or (2) pursuant to the above FISA provisions authorizing the FBI to apply for production of business records and other tangible things and directing the AG to inform Congress of such requests.
The summary continues for 1 more paragraph. Read it in full on Congress.gov
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in Senate" stage on May 25, 2011. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on May 25, 2011: Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the Senate
- Passage by the House
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 112th Congress (2011-12), 283 of the 10,618 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 2.7 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Rand Paul (R-KY) introduced it on May 25, 2011. No cosponsors are recorded.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on May 25, 2011, 5587 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 5587 days ago, on May 25, 2011.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 112th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2013 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- SenateIn committee, no floor vote yet
- HouseAwaits Senate passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers