Congressional Record—House H2885
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
May 23, 2016 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE H2885 on which a recorded vote or the yeas ‘‘(9) INVESTIGATIVE OR LAW ENFORCEMENT OF- When her mother testified in front of and nays are ordered, or on which the FICER.—The term ‘investigative or law enforce- the Subcommittee on Communications vote incurs objection under clause 6 of ment officer’ has the meaning given such term and Technology, she spoke so bravely rule XX. in section 2510 of title 18, United States Code.’’. of the agony Kelsey’s family endured Record votes on postponed questions The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursu- during that time. She described their will be taken later. ant to the rule, the gentleman from Or- ordeal in painful detail. What does a f egon (Mr. WALDEN) and the gentleman parent go through when a child is miss- from Maryland (Mr. SARBANES) each ing? You do not eat because you do not KELSEY SMITH ACT will control 20 minutes. know if your child is eating. You do Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, I move The Chair recognizes the gentleman not sleep because you wonder if your to suspend the rules and pass the bill from Oregon. child is sleeping. It is, to quote Missey, (H.R. 4889) to amend the Communica- GENERAL LEAVE ‘‘pure hell.’’ tions Act of 1934 to require providers of Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, I ask Missey and Greg Smith have made it a covered service to provide call loca- unanimous consent that all Members their mission to prevent this type of tion information concerning the tele- may have 5 legislative days in which to tragedy from ever happening again. communications device of a user of revise and extend their remarks and to They began facilitating safety aware- such service to an investigative or law insert extraneous materials in the ness seminars for parents and for stu- enforcement officer in an emergency RECORD on the bill. dents. They also began to push for leg- situation involving risk of death or se- The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there islation to address the very problem of rious physical injury or in order to re- objection to the request of the gen- obtaining timely cell phone location spond to the user’s call for emergency tleman from Oregon? data—only location data, that is all we services, as amended. There was no objection. are talking about here—and only dur- The Clerk read the title of the bill. Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield ing life-threatening emergencies—just The text of the bill is as follows: myself such time as I may consume. life-and-death situations and only loca- H. R. 4889 Imagine that your child is missing. tional data. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Rep- You know that she was abducted from The legislation we are considering resentatives of the United States of America in a parking lot, but you don’t know today, which is named in honor of their Congress assembled, where she is now or how to find her. daughter, is a major step toward that SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. Grasping for any possible lead, you ask goal. The Kelsey Smith Act requires This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Kelsey Smith her cell phone carrier to provide the lo- cell phone providers to provide law en- Act’’. forcement with access to device loca- SEC. 2. REQUIRED EMERGENCY DISCLOSURE OF cation—and just the location—of her CALL LOCATION INFORMATION TO cell phone, hoping that it will lead you tion data in an emergency situation, LAW ENFORCEMENT. to her, but you are told they don’t re- when a victim is in danger of death or Section 222 of the Communications Act of 1934 lease that information. So you wait. serious harm or when the device has (47 U.S.C. 222) is amended— You rely on others to search for your been used to place a 911 emergency call (1) in subsection (d)— child by foot and by air, never knowing requesting emergency assistance. (A) in paragraph (4), by redesignating sub- This changes current law. You see, paragraphs (A) through (C) as clauses (i) if your child is alive or if your child is through (iii), respectively; dead, safe, or in pain. current law already permits carriers to (B) by redesignating paragraphs (1) through This nightmare came true for Missey provide the data, but it does not re- (4) as subparagraphs (A) through (D), respec- and Greg Smith 9 years ago last week quire them to. This places an unreason- tively; when their beloved daughter went able burden on wireless providers to de- (C) by striking ‘‘Nothing in this section’’ and termine what constitutes an emer- inserting the following: missing outside Kansas City, Kansas. By all accounts, Kelsey Smith—pic- gency and then live with the con- ‘‘(1) PERMITTED DISCLOSURES.—Nothing in sequences of their decisions, which this section’’; and tured here—was a vibrant and joyful (D) by adding at the end the following: 18-year-old girl. they now must do in the case of Kelsey ‘‘(2) REQUIRED EMERGENCY DISCLOSURE OF She was preparing to attend college Smith. CALL LOCATION INFORMATION TO LAW ENFORCE When time is of the essence, do you - in the fall where she planned to join in MENT.—Notwithstanding subsections (a), (b), want a lawyer in corporate head- the marching band. Kelsey loved to and (c), at the request of an investigative or law quarters to agonize over the legal defi- sing. She was the third of five siblings. enforcement officer, a provider of a covered nition of an ‘‘emergency’’ or do you Tragically, her life was cut short when service shall provide to such officer the call lo- want the law enforcement officers, who cation information, or the best available loca- she was kidnapped from a Target park- dedicate their lives to keeping us safe, tion information, of a telecommunications device ing lot in June of 2007 just 9 days after that is— to make that call? I opt for those who her high school graduation, a crime can save lives. ‘‘(A) used to place a 9–1–1 call requesting caught on the store’s security cameras. emergency assistance; or To date, versions of the Kelsey Smith ‘‘(B) reasonably believed to be in the posses- Her family and her friends spent 4 an- Act have been adopted in 23 States, but sion of an individual that the law enforcement guished days searching for her, know- a patchwork of laws that protect some officer reasonably believes is in an emergency ing she was in danger but unable to and leave others vulnerable is not good situation that involves the risk of death or seri- find her. They used every method they for the companies that must comply ous physical harm to the individual. could think of to help locate her, but with this law or, more importantly, for ‘‘(3) HOLD HARMLESS.—No cause of action the one tool that would eventually lead the American lives that this law can shall lie in any court nor shall any civil or ad- to finding her body was not accessible. ministrative proceeding be commenced by a gov- and will save. ernmental entity against any provider of a cov- Kelsey’s parents contacted her cell You see, Mr. Speaker, the committee ered service, or its directors, officers, employees, phone provider on the day she went believes we need a consistent Federal agents, or vendors, for providing in good faith missing and asked them to ping her law that law enforcement across the call location information or other information, cell phone in the hopes that it would country can use. Parents shouldn’t facilities, or assistance in accordance with para- assist them in their search. Despite re- have to forum-shop for the most favor- graph (2) and any regulations promulgated peated requests from the family and able law when their children go miss- under such paragraph.’’; from law enforcement, it took 4 days ing. What if it were your child? (2) in subsection (f)(1), by striking ‘‘subsection before the Smiths were able to obtain (d)(4)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection (d)(1)(D)’’; I have heard the privacy concerns and the location data of Kelsey’s cell that some say have been raised by this (3) in subsection (h), by adding at the end the phone—4 days, Mr. Speaker, nearly 100 bill. We have worked diligently to following: hours of not knowing where their little make the bill as targeted as possible to ‘‘(8) COVERED SERVICE.—The term ‘covered girl had gone, where she had been balance legitimate privacy concerns service’ means— taken, or if they would ever see her with the importance of saving lives. By ‘‘(A) a commercial mobile service (as defined again. Yet, within 45 minutes of receiv- in section 332); or limiting the circumstances in which it ‘‘(B) an IP-enabled voice service (as defined ing that location data, when they fi- can be used and, most importantly, by in section 7 of the Wireless Communications and nally got it, Kelsey’s body was found. limiting the information that is avail- Public Safety Act of 1999 (47 U.S.C. 615b)). She was dead. able, we can ensure that it is only used VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:00 May 24, 2016 Jkt 059060 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 4634 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\K23MY7.006 H23MYPT1 emcdonald on DSK9F6TC42PROD with HOUSE H2886 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE May 23, 2016 in cases in which it is absolutely nec- committee after full hearings and ment on one hand with the rights of essary.