BILL REQ. #:  S-1203.2 

Read first time 02/13/2003.   Referred to Committee on Judiciary.

     TO THE HONORABLE GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, AND TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE AND THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, AND TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES, IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED:
     We, your Memorialists, the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Washington, in legislative session assembled, respectfully represent and petition as follows:
     WHEREAS, The Washington State Legislature recognizes the need to effectively combat international and domestic terrorism, and the requirement that combatting such acts be done within the confines of our constitutionally protected liberties and with a recognition of the need to balance security, safety, and basic freedoms; and
     WHEREAS, The Constitution of the United States and the Washington State Constitution guarantee all people in Washington state rights and liberties that may not be encroached upon; and
     WHEREAS, These rights include privacy, freedom of press, speech, and assembly, freedom of religion, the presumption of innocence, the right to counsel and due process, and protection from unreasonable searches and seizures; and
     WHEREAS, Many citizens have spilled their blood and lost their lives to preserve these rights; and
     WHEREAS, The United States Congress passed the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act (USA PATRIOT Act, Public Law 107-56) on October 26, 2001; and
     WHEREAS, Some provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act pose a serious threat to the civil rights of Washington residents by reducing judicial supervision of telephone and internet surveillance, expanding the government's power to conduct warrantless searches, granting the Federal Bureau of Investigation access to medical, mental health, financial, and educational records without a showing that a crime has occurred, and granting the Federal Bureau of Investigation the power to compel libraries and bookstores to produce records of their patrons and their use of library or bookstore resources; and
     WHEREAS, The federal government has created the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) and DARPA is used as a central tool for combatting terrorism through the use of expanded data collection, relation, and analyses, and DARPA has indicated its intent to create a "virtual centralized grand data base" to allow government access to individuals' records of travel, education, health, and mental health to develop risk profiles; and
     WHEREAS, The "virtual centralized grand data base" presents the possibility of unwarranted derogation of our civil liberties and freedoms as well as an intrusion into the daily lives of our residents with no probable cause to believe that a crime has been committed or is contemplated and the harm from the "virtual centralized grand data base" may easily outweigh the benefits for the war against terrorism due to the sacrifice of our freedoms in a civil society;
     NOW, THEREFORE, Your Memorialists respectfully pray that the United States Congress more carefully balance the need to effectively combat terrorism and the civil liberties and freedoms that we all value and enjoy by placing more safeguards and oversight on the implementation of the USA PATRIOT Act and the attempts by DARPA to accumulate and utilize data bases without oversight and protection;
     Your Memorialists further pray that the federal government and its agents refrain from engaging in surveillance and collecting or maintaining information about the political, religious, or social views, associations, activities, travel, reading habits, and medical records of our people unless the information relates directly to a specific criminal investigation and there is probable cause to suspect the subject of the information is involved in criminal conduct.
     BE IT RESOLVED, That copies of this Memorial be immediately transmitted to the Honorable George W. Bush, President of the United States, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and each member of Congress from the State of Washington.