By Michael Boldin – Tenth Amendment Center –
Arizona state Senator Kelli Ward made good on her commitment to introduce legislation that would withdraw all state support of the NSA and hang a big “Spies Not Welcome Here” sign on the front door of the Grand Canyon State this week.
After being the first legislator in the country to announce an intent to do so last fall, Ward along with nine sponsors introduced the Fourth Amendment Protection Act on Wednesday. SB1156 also garnered four co-sponsors, including senate President Andy Biggs.
Based on model legislation drafted by the OffNow Coalition, the Arizona Fourth Amendment Protection Act would ban the state from engaging in activities which help the NSA carry out their warrantless data-collection programs, or even make use of the information on a local level.
The Coalition is organized by the Tenth Amendment Center (TAC) and the Bill of Rights Defense Committee, a civil liberties group advised by well known anti-establishment figures such as Daniel Ellsburg and Naomi Wolf.
The bill reads, in part, the state of Arizona will not “provide material support or assistance in any form to any federal agency that claims the power to collect, or comply with any federal law, rule, regulation or order that purports to authorize the collection of, electronic data or metadata of any person pursuant to any action that is not based on a warrant that particularly describes the person, place and thing to be searched or seized.”
The legislation also bans the use of warrantless data in courts in the state. A Reuters report last year revealed that the NSA shares data with state and local law enforcement through a secret outfit called the Special Operation Division (SOD). The federal government also shares data mined by its agencies, including the NSA, through “fusion centers.”
