California Enacts Resolution Critical of PATRIOT Act
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, FEBRUARY 17, 2006
CONTACT:
Nancy Talanian, 413-582-0110, Bill of Rights Defense Committee
Hazem Kira, 510-252-9858, California Civil Rights Alliance
Sacramento, CA. On Thursday, February 16, the California Senate voted 23-10
in favor of Senate Joint Resolution 10 relative to the USA PATRIOT Act,
making California the 404th government entity and the largest of eight
states to have done so. The other seven are Alaska, Colorado, Hawai’i,
Idaho, Maine, Montana, and Vermont. Beginning in 2002, eleven California
counties and 53 cities have passed resolutions. The combined populations of
states and communities that have enacted resolutions is now nearly 87
million—roughly one in three U.S. residents. The California Assembly passed
the resolution on January 3, 2006.
The Bill of Rights Defense Committee (BORDC) commends State Senator Liz
Figueroa, who introduced the resolution last year, and her colleagues in the
Senate and Legislature for their principled stand in defense of
Californians’ civil liberties. Republicans Tom McClintock and Sam Aanestad
were among those who voted for the resolution.
Said BORDC’s director, Nancy Talanian, “The California resolution sets a
standard we hope Congress will follow as it considers reauthorizing several
controversial sections of the PATRIOT Act and the administration’s approval
of warrantless wiretaps. The resolution states that no state resources will
be used to collect information based on residents’ activities that are
protected by the First Amendment, or to scoop up personal records without a
direct connection between the records sought and suspected criminal
activity.”
California’s resolution also observes that government security measures
“should be carefully designed and employed to enhance public safety without
infringing on the civil liberties and rights of innocent persons in the
State of California and the nation.”
The BORDC congratulates Hazem Kira of the California Civil Rights Alliance,
which spearheaded the California effort, and its 23 member groups such as
California’s three ACLU chapters, the Green Party and Libertarian Party of
California, peace and justice groups, several interfaith organizations and
local Bill of Rights Defense groups throughout California. Amnesty
International Western Region, Asian Law Alliance, American Muslim Voice and
people in many California ethnic communities also wrote letters and did
grassroots organizing throughout the campaign.
The passage of the California resolution has the potential to affect the
PATRIOT Act debate well beyond California’s borders, as Congress considers
the PATRIOT Act reauthorization.
Congress members with more civil liberties resolutions in their districts
tend to be willing to take a strong stand in defense of civil liberties.
BORDC data show that the 174 representatives who opposed a PATRIOT Act
reauthorization compromise bill on December 14, 2005, were four and a half
times as likely to have one or more resolutions passed in their districts as
the 251 members who voted in favor. The Senate filibustered over that
compromise bill’s inadequate civil liberties safeguards. Talanian explains,
“If you go further, and compare the vote of the House of Representatives in
October 2001, when only 66 representatives voted against the PATRIOT Act, to
December 2005, when 174 representatives voted against the reauthorization,
it is clear we’re making progress in turning our government’s attention
towards our fundamental liberties. So we expect continued positive results
now that the most populous state in the union has come to the defense of the
Bill of Rights.”
Media Advisory:
California resolution text:
http://info.sen.ca.gov/pub/bill/sen/sb_0001-0050/sjr_10_bill_20050418_introduced.html
Bill of Rights Defense Committee:
* Home page at http://www.bordc.org
* List of resolutions by state (PDF) at
http://www.bordc.org/resources/Alphalist.pdf
