BILL REQ. #:  H-0351.1 

Prefiled 12/10/10.   

     TO THE HONORABLE BARACK OBAMA, 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, TO THE HONORABLE JANET NAPOLITANO, SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY, AND TO CHRISTINE GREGOIRE, GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
     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 Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is an agency of the federal government charged with protecting the nation's transportation systems to ensure freedom of movement for people and commerce; and
     WHEREAS, The TSA is responsible for screening airline passengers and personnel for weapons, explosives, and other contraband that pose a threat to airport security and the safety of the general public; and
     WHEREAS, Current TSA screening policy requires that airline passengers and personnel either pass through advanced image technology scanners, or otherwise elect to undergo a pat down search administered by TSA employees; and
     WHEREAS, The advanced image technology scanners used by TSA capture images that depict the shape and outline of a subject's full body as it appears underneath the subject's clothing; and
     WHEREAS, Many airline passengers and personnel find advanced image technology scanners overly invasive and, therefore, prefer the alternative option of undergoing a pat down search; and
     WHEREAS, As a matter of nationwide policy, the TSA on October 28, 2010, began implementing new pat down procedures that involve a more intrusive, full body search, during which TSA personnel make physical contact with sensitive areas of the body; and
     WHEREAS, These new procedures are potentially offensive and humiliating to every individual upon whom they are imposed and, indeed, particularly egregious in their application to women, children, and disabled members of our society; and
     WHEREAS, Reports have indicated that in some instances overzealous TSA employees have carried out these new procedures in a manner sufficiently aggressive to rise to the level of an inappropriate invasion of personal privacy, from which an individual would ordinarily be protected under the laws of this state; and
     WHEREAS, Encouraging travel by ensuring the right of individuals to move about without fear of undue invasions of privacy is essential to preserving a free society, safeguarding the flow of commerce, and sustaining good will among nations; and
     WHEREAS, The new pat down procedures implemented by the TSA have, to the contrary, discouraged travel by creating fear of physical intrusions of the person;
     NOW, THEREFORE, Your Memorialists respectfully resolve that the Transportation Security Administration immediately terminate its use of the new pat down search procedures that were adopted on October 28, 2010, and resume conducting pat down searches in accordance with the procedures that were in place prior thereto.
     BE IT RESOLVED, That copies of this Memorial be immediately transmitted to the Honorable Barack Obama, President of the United States, the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives of each state's legislature of the United States of America, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Honorable Janet Napolitano, Secretary of Homeland Security, Christine Gregoire, Governor of the State of Washington, and each member of Congress from the State of Washington.