California Legislators Introduce Bill To Banish NSA - US News and World Report - 0 views
www.usnews.com/...s-introduce-bill-to-banish-nsa
surveillance state NSA NSA-blowback NSA-reform legislation
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A bipartisan team of California state senators introduced legislation Monday that would prohibit the state and its localities from providing "material support" to the National Security Agency. If the bill becomes law, it would deny NSA facilities access to water and electricity from public utilities, impose sanctions on companies trying to fill the resulting void and outlaw NSA research partnerships with state universities. Companies with state contracts also would be banned from working with the NSA.
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The bill's intent is largely symbolic. Universities might be affected, but the NSA does not currently operate a large data facility in the state. A similar bill was introduced in Arizona by state Sen. Kelli Ward, a Republican, in December. Ward described her bill as a preventive strike and a way "to back our neighbors [in Utah] up." The OffNow coalition of advocacy groups is urging Utah lawmakers to pass their own version of the legislation to override the city of Bluffdale's water contract with the NSA's $1.5 billion Utah Data Center. No legislator has publicly announced they will sponsor the bill.
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The Arizona and California bills are based on model legislation drafted by the Tenth Amendment Center, which organized the OffNow coalition with the Bill of Rights Defense Committee.
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The model legislation, in forms both for states and for counties/cities, can be found here. http://offnow.org/legislation/ It's well drafted and at first blush would withstand federal constitutional review.