USA PATRIOT Act Additional Reauthorizing Amendments Act of 2006 (S. 2271)
Publication Date: February 2006
Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service
Author(s):
Research Area: Media, telecommunications, and information
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Abstract:
The USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005, H.R. 3199, as reported by the conference committee, H.Rept. 109-333 (2005), and agreed to by the House on December 14, 2005, raises the concern of several members of the Senate regarding its protection of civil liberties. To provide the Senate with additional time to consider the conference bill, the 109th Congress enacted legislation delaying the sunset on certain provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act from December 31, 2005, to February 3, 2006 (P.L. 109-160), and then approved another extension of the sunset to March 10, 2006 (P.L. 109-170).
On February 10, 2006, the USA PATRIOT Act Additional Reauthorizing Amendments Act of 2006, S. 2271, was introduced in the Senate. S. 2271 amends the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and the five federal statutes providing national security letter (NSL) authority to federal intelligence investigators in the following manner: (1) it grants recipients of a Section 215 order the express right to petition a FISA judge to modify or quash the nondisclosure requirement that accompanies such an order; (2) it removes the requirement that recipients of Section 215 orders or recipients of NSLs must provide the FBI or the authorized government authority with the name of the attorney they consulted to obtain legal advice concerning the production order or the NSL; and (3) it clarifies that libraries, the services of which include offering patrons access to the Internet, are not subject to NSLs, unless they are functioning as electronic communication service providers.
Portions of this report are drawn from CRS Report RL33239, USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005 (H.R. 3199): A Legal Analysis of the Conference Bill, and CRS Report RS22348, USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005 (H.R. 3199): A Brief Look.