Phones were ringing off the hook in the Texas Capitol on Monday as thousands of concerned Texans called their legislators to support State Representative David Simpson's bill to block "enhanced" pat downs by TSA employees in Texas as it goes to Criminal Jurisprudence Committee on Tuesday.
The legislator from Longview is a libertarian-leaning freshman lawmaker who was endorsed by the Republican Liberty Caucus, which has been outspoken in opposition to new TSA policies on the state and national level. In addition to his HB1937 which would make intimate pat downs a felony sex crime, Simpson has also sponsored HB1938 which will make deployment of high power backscatter x-ray scanners at airports illegal in Texas.
A similar bill to Simpson's anti-fondling law, which was also sponsored by RLC-supported legislators, made it through committee in the New Hampshire legislature last week. Like the Texas bill, the New Hampshire legislation would make intimate contact during pat downs a felony sex offense. Less forceful bills in opposition to TSA policies have also passed in Utah and Alaska. More state legislatures, including in Pennsylvania, Florida and New Jersey are also considering this sort of legislation and bills are likely to be filed in other states soon as well.
In a statement about the bills, Rep. Simpson said:
“Traveling is not a criminal act. Treating travelers as criminal suspects and forcing innocent citizens to submit to humiliating and unreasonable searches without probable cause as a condition of travel violates protections our forefathers envisioned in Section 9 of the Texas Bill of Rights and the Fourth Amendment of the US Constitution. Contrary to what some TSA agents have claimed, we do not believe that you give up your rights when you travel in public.”
The Republican Liberty Caucus of Texas has joined a coalition of groups which support the efforts of Rep. Simpson in opposing the abuses of the TSA. Through the site stopaustinscanners.org they have initiated a write-in and call-in campaign to help push Simpson's bills out of committee and get them to a floor vote. Members of the organization will also be testifying on behalf of HB1937 on Tuesday at the Texas Capitol.
Opposition to the new TSA procedures has been building since they were announced last fall. A recent poll by a New Hampshire newspaper showed opinion running 9 to 1 against the TSA. That anger at government overreach is leading to organized opposition and legislative solutions at the state level seem to be popular.
Article comments
1 - Dr Dreadful
This could get very interesting constitutionally if a Supremacy Clause fight gets started. The TSA is a federal agency - but most public airports are run by city and county governments. So whose laws will trump whose?
2 - Glenn Contrarian
In this, the Feds will win, for good or ill. I see no other probable outcome.
3 - Tommy Mack
You bet airport security by the TSA violates the 4th Amendment. It is a "right of the people" you are talking about that is being violated.
So, look at this incident that brought a federal lawsuit that claimed wrongful detention and a breach of the First Amendment and Fourth Amendment.
Email your congressperson. As the ACLU motto says, folks,"Because Freedom Can't Protect Itself."
Tommy
4 - Dave Nalle
I question that the Feds will win this, because in most cases the local authorities retain enough autonomy in running the airports that under the pressure of bills like this they can just boot the TSA out.
Dave