No Trace Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3707 To prohibit Federal agencies from obtaining geolocation information without a warrant, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 4, 2021 Ms. HERRERA BEUTLER (for herself, Mr. CORREA, Ms. SCANLON, and Mrs. SPARTZ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com- mittee on the Judiciary A BILL To prohibit Federal agencies from obtaining geolocation information without a warrant, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘No Trace Act of 4 2021’’. 5 SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON OBTAINING GEOLOCATION INFOR- 6 MATION. 7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi- 8 sion of law, and not later than one year after the date 9 of the enactment of this Act, the head of each Federal 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:15 Jul 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3707.IH H3707 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3707 IH agency shall implement a policy prohibiting such agency 1 from obtaining geolocation information of a United States 2 person prior to obtaining a warrant issued using the pro- 3 cedures described in the Federal Rules of Criminal Proce- 4 dure (or, in the case of a State court, issued using State 5 warrant procedures), issued under section 846 of that 6 title, in accordance with regulations prescribed by the 7 President) by a court of competent jurisdiction. 8 (b) LIMITATION ON ELIGIBILITY FOR FUNDS.—Be- 9 ginning in the first fiscal year that begins after the date 10 that is one year after the date of enactment of this Act, 11 a State or unit of local government may not receive funds 12 under the Byrne grant program or the COPS grant pro- 13 gram for a fiscal year if, on the day before the first day 14 of the fiscal year, the State or unit of local government 15 does not have in effect a policy substantially similar to 16 the policy described in subsection (a). 17 (c) EXCEPTION FOR THREAT TO LIFE.— 18 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subsections (a) and (b) shall 19 not apply with respect to a case if the Attorney Gen- 20 eral or top justice official of a State determines 21 there is a reasonable belief that such geolocation in- 22 formation could assist in mitigating or eliminating 23 an imminent threat to life or serious bodily harm. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:15 Jul 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3707.IH H3707 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3707 IH (2) REQUIREMENT FOR EXCEPTION.—If the At- 1 torney General or top justice official of a State 2 makes a determination under paragraph (1), the At- 3 torney General or top justice official of a State shall 4 inform a judge of competent jurisdiction that such 5 a determination has been made as soon as prac- 6 ticable, but not more than seven days after the At- 7 torney General or top justice official of a State 8 makes such determination. 9 (d) EXCEPTION FOR CONDUCTING FOREIGN INTEL- 10 LIGENCE SURVEILLANCE.—Notwithstanding any other 11 provision of this Act, it shall not be unlawful for an officer, 12 employee, or agent of the United States in the normal 13 course of the official duty of the officer, employee, or agent 14 to conduct electronic surveillance, as authorized by the 15 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 16 1801 et seq.). 17 (e) APPLICABILITY.—Subsection (a) shall apply to 18 any request for a warrant after the date of the enactment 19 of this Act. 20 (f) GAO STUDY.—Not later than 90 days after the 21 date of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, 22 the Comptroller General of the United States shall con- 23 duct a study on the compliance of each Federal agency 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:15 Jul 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3707.IH H3707 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3707 IH and State and local government with the requirements 1 under subsections (a) and (b). 2 (g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 3 (1) BYRNE GRANT PROGRAM.—The term 4 ‘‘Byrne grant program’’ means the grant program 5 authorized under section 1701 of title I of the Omni- 6 bus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 7 U.S.C. 10381). 8 (2) COPS GRANT PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘COPS 9 grant program’’ means the grant program author- 10 ized under section 1701 of title I of the Omnibus 11 Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 12 U.S.C. 10381). 13 (3) CONNECTED DEVICE.—The term ‘‘con- 14 nected device’’ means a device that is capable of con- 15 necting to the internet, directly or indirectly, or to 16 another connected device. 17 (4) FEDERAL AGENCY.—The term ‘‘Federal 18 agency’’ means each instrumentality of the Federal 19 Government. 20 (5) GEOLOCATION INFORMATION.—The term 21 ‘‘geolocation information’’ means the process or 22 technique of identifying the geographical location of 23 a person or connected device by means of digital in- 24 formation processed via the internet or obtaining in- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:15 Jul 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3707.IH H3707 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3707 IH formation from a mobile application, connected de- 1 vice, or other online application to identify or at- 2 tempt to identify the identity or geographical loca- 3 tion of an individual, mobile device, or connected de- 4 vice. 5 (6) MOBILE APPLICATION.—The term ‘‘mobile 6 application’’ includes— 7 (A) a software program that runs on the 8 operating system of— 9 (i) a cellular telephone; 10 (ii) a tablet computer; or 11 (iii) a similar portable computing de- 12 vice that transmits data over a wireless 13 connection; and 14 (B) a service or application offered via a 15 connected device. 16 (7) MOBILE DEVICE.—The term ‘‘mobile de- 17 vice’’ means a piece of portable electronic equipment 18 that can connect to the internet, including a 19 smartphone or tablet computer. 20 (8) ONLINE APPLICATION.—The term ‘‘online 21 application’’ includes— 22 (A) an internet-connected software pro- 23 gram; or 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:15 Jul 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3707.IH H3707 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3707 IH (B) a service or application located on or 1 utilized by a connected device. 2 (9) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means any 3 State of the United States, the District of Columbia, 4 the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Is- 5 lands, Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth 6 of the Northern Mariana Islands, and any possession 7 of the United States. 8 (10) UNITED STATES PERSON.—The term 9 ‘‘United States person’’ has the meaning given such 10 term in section 101 of the Foreign Intelligence Sur- 11 veillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1801). 12 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:15 Jul 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3707.IH H3707 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS