[Libs-Or] Senate holds first mark-up of USA PATRIOT Act reauthorization legislation

[Diedre Conkling]

Senate holds first mark-up of USA PATRIOT Act reauthorization legislation
<http://www.wo.ala.org/districtdispatch/?p=3834> October 01st, 2009 |
Category: Civil Liberties, Intellectual Freedom, and
Privacy<http://www.wo.ala.org/districtdispatch/?cat=10>,
OGR <http://www.wo.ala.org/districtdispatch/?cat=17>

The first in what will likely be a series of mark-ups of USA PATRIOT Act
reauthorization legislation was held today in the Senate Judiciary
Committee.

Hours before the
mark-up<http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/10/liveblogging-senate-judiciary-patriot-act-mark>,
a bill negotiated by Sens. Patrick Leahy (VT-D) and Dianne Feinstein (CA-D)
was substituted in place of S. 1692, the USA PATRIOT Act Sunset Extension
Act of 2009 <http://www.wo.ala.org/districtdispatch/?p=3698>, introduced by
Leahy on September 22.

The substitute bill substantially weakened the reforms the library community
has sought relevant to Sec. 215 and national security letters.

A specific library amendment introduced by Sen. Richard Durbin (IL-D) would
have provided preferable reforms; however, it did not pass. During the
debate, Durbin recognized ALA for its work on preserving the confidentiality
of library records and also for being a champion for the privacy rights of
the American public.  During the same debate, Sen. Jeff Sessions (AL-R)
referred to the library community’s concerns as “unwarranted” and
“irrational.”

The progress toward reform made last week with the introduction of Sen. Russ
Feingold’s (WI-D) JUSTICE
Act<http://www.wo.ala.org/districtdispatch/?p=3673>and Leahy’s
original bill seems to be losing ground with the introduction of
this substitute bill.

*This is a critical time for grassroots pressure to keep needed reforms in
the bill. As we continue to closely monitor this complex and highly fluid
process closely, we call upon advocates to continue contacting their
senators.*

For more information on how to contact your senator as well as additional
talking points, please go to the Legislative Action Center:
http://capwiz.com/ala/home/.

Lynne Bradley <lbradley at alawash.org>
Director, ALA Office for Government Relations

http://www.wo.ala.org/districtdispatch/?p=3834




-- 
Diedre Conkling
Lincoln County Library District
P.O. Box 2027
Newport, OR  97365
Work phone & fax:  541-265-3066
Work email:  diedre at beachbooks.org
Home email:  diedre08 at gmail.com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://omls.oregon.gov/pipermail/libs-or/attachments/20091001/0c958da5/attachment.html>