WASHINGTON — Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) and Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) introduced legislation on April 23 that would require federal and local government agencies to obtain a warrant based on probable cause before conducting surveillance on American citizens, according to a press release from Rep. Boebert’s office.
“The government works for We The People. And if We The People don’t want our every move tracked — and we don’t — then they don’t get to do that,” Boebert wrote on X. “Privacy matters. Get a warrant.”
What the Bill Does
The Surveillance Accountability Act (H.R. 8470) would amend Title 18 of the U.S. Code to impose a universal warrant requirement for any government search that significantly impinges on the privacy of a person, according to the official press release. The requirement would explicitly extend to digital records, metadata, geolocation data, financial transactions, and online activity.
The bill would also prohibit warrantless facial recognition scanning by federal and local law enforcement in public spaces — including at schools and places of worship — and restrict the use of automated license plate readers to create persistent location databases of citizens without a court order.
Additionally, the bill would ban federal agencies from purchasing commercially available location or movement data to circumvent warrant requirements, and create a private cause of action allowing individuals to sue federal employees who violate their Fourth Amendment rights.
Sponsors in Their Own Words
“For years, the federal government has treated the Fourth Amendment like a suggestion. They’ve built a massive surveillance machine that tracks, scans, and spies on law-abiding Americans without a warrant, without probable cause, and without any accountability. Enough is enough,” Boebert said in the press release.
At a press conference announcing the bill, Boebert specifically called out automated license plate readers. “They’re blanketing our neighborhoods with Flock cameras,” she said, referring to a widely deployed brand of license plate reader. “They’re creating a digital footprint of your entire life without a single warrant or even probable cause. Your morning commute to work? It’s tracked. Dropping off your kids at their soccer practice? That’s logged”
“The Bill of Rights is not a suggestion, and Fourth Amendment protections against warrantless searches conducted by the government are not optional,” said Massie in the official press release from his office. “The Surveillance Accountability Act requires government employees to first obtain a warrant based on probable cause before searching Americans’ personal information even if the information stored on a phone, in the cloud, or held by a third party.”
Local Law Enforcement Pushes Back
Aurora Police Chief Todd Chamberlain responded directly to Boebert’s characterization of license plate reader technology. “That technology is used for one reason and one reason only, to stop victimization and to hold those who victimize accountable,” Chamberlain said. “That is what this technology allows us to do. That is how we use it.”
Chamberlain warned that adding warrant requirements to tools like Flock cameras would slow law enforcement response. “When you start putting in artificial parameters that cause that timeliness to go away, you’re going to increase victimization. And that’s the bottom line,” he said.
Douglas County Sheriff Darren Weekly also weighed in, saying technology “has become an instrumental tool in helping us catch criminals and make our community safer.”
The Broader Context: FISA Section 702
The bill was introduced one day before House Speaker Mike Johnson unveiled a three-year extension of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that contained no warrant requirement for searches of Americans’ communications. Section 702 was set to expire April 30.
Boebert and a group of House Republicans have insisted any FISA reauthorization must include a warrant requirement and close what they describe as the “data broker loophole” — the practice of federal agencies purchasing Americans’ location and movement data from commercial brokers to avoid seeking judicial approval.
The Surveillance Accountability Act’s sponsors cited a report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence finding the FBI conducted approximately 3.4 million warrantless searches of U.S. persons in 2021 tied to Section 702 authorities.
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