Fourth Amendment is Not for Sale Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. NEHLS. Mr. Chair, I rise in strong support of Mr. Higgins' amendment before us today which seeks to address some of the concerns several law enforcement groups have with this legislation.

As someone who has served in law enforcement for nearly 30 years, I understand the concerns our brave men and women in blue have with this bill.

Now, more than ever, we must uphold law and order in our society and also ensure the Fourth Amendment rights of the American people are protected.

That is why this amendment is so important. It clarifies data exceptions for public content, public records, background checks, and license plate readers in order to help preserve some of the tools law enforcement currently uses.

I will give you an example. A kid threatens to shoot up a school on Facebook. A data collector is scanning social media for posts like this and sends it to local law enforcement. The police would be able to use this information gathered from social media under this amendment because it is public user-generated information.

The same applies to police records, property deeds, and other public records. We want to make crystal clear these records will remain available for our law enforcement community to use in their investigations while also preventing unreasonable search and seizure by the government.

As a former sheriff, I will always back the blue and always uphold the Constitution and the rights of citizens therein. I believe this amendment allows us to do both.

Mr. Chair, I encourage my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to vote ``yes.''

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