Sarasota, Florida
City/Town: Sarasota
County: Sarasota
State:
Florida
Congressional District: (click to contact Rep.) 13
Population (2000 Census): 52,715
Date Passed: 10/20/03
A resolution of the City Commission of the City of Sarasota, Florida, pertaining to the USA Patriot Act, related legislation, executive orders, regulations, and actions associated therewith; making findings; requesting the Florida legislative and congressional delegations to work to repeal certain provisions of the USA Patriot Act and to oppose the adoption of any new laws which may limit or violate fundamental rights and liberties; providing for the reading of this resolution by title only; and providing for an effective date: Resolution NO. 04R-1667
Approved by: Sarasota City Commission
WHEREAS, the City of Sarasota is committed to the protection of civil rights and civil liberties that are the birthright of all Americans; and,
WHEREAS, the City of Sarasota honors the sacrifice and commitment made by our veterans and active duty personnel who have fought and died to preserve liberties of all individuals; and,
WHEREAS, on September 11, 2001, the United States of America was subjected to an unprecedented terrorist attack, and faced a serious and ongoing threat of further terrorist activity; and,
WHEREAS, since September 11, 2001, in an attempt to respond to that terrorist threat, a wide range of legislative and executive measures, including the “Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act” (USA PATRIOT ACT), have been enacted by the Congress of the United States and the Executive branch of the United States Government and thereafter implemented; and,
WHEREAS, the Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution and the Constitution of the State of Florida guarantee, to those living in the United States, certain fundamental rights, including freedom of speech, assembly and privacy; equality before the law and the presumption of innocence; due process, access to counsel in judicial proceedings and protection from unreasonable searches and seizures; and,
WHEREAS, the City Commission recognizes that all citizens of the United States have the right, the responsibility and the obligation to defend, secure and retain the rights of all persons, as guaranteed by the Constitutions of the United States of America and the State of Florida; and,
WHEREAS, the City Commission believes that action to protect the public from terrorist attack is vital, but that such action should only be taken when it will effectively serve to protect the public and be consistent with the preservation of those constitutionally guaranteed fundamental rights; and,
WHEREAS, the City Commission believes those constitutionally guaranteed fundamental rights may be threatened by the USA PATRIOT ACT and related legislation, executive orders, regulations, and actions, as more particularly set forth in Attachment “A”, which is incorporated herein by reference; and,
WHEREAS, over 182 communities throughout the country, as more particularly set forth in Attachment “B”, which is incorporated herein by reference, have enacted Resolutions reaffirming support for the constitutionally guaranteed civil rights and liberties of all persons which may be threatened by the USA PATRIOT ACT and related legislation, executive orders, regulations, and actions; and,
WHEREAS, while various provisions of the USA PATRIOT ACT were recognized as extraordinary responses to the crisis of September, 2001, and are subject to sunset, or to expire, after five years, various proposals have been made, which, if enacted, would render all of the ACT’s provisions permanent; and,
WHEREAS, the City Commission believes that legislation drafted by the Executive branch of the government and submitted to the Congressional leadership, entitled the Domestic Security Enhancement Act (DSEA), also referred to as PATRIOT II, may also threaten constitutionally guaranteed fundamental rights, as more particularly set forth in Attachment “C”, which is incorporated herein by reference .
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF SARASOTA, FLORIDA:
1. The City Commission of the City of Sarasota affirms the rights of all people, including United States citizens and citizens of other nations, within the City, in accordance with the Bill of Rights and the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution and calls upon all persons to respect the civil rights and liberties of all members of this community, including those who are citizens of other nations.
2. The City Commission of the City of Sarasota affirms its strong opposition to terrorism, and affirms that any efforts to end terrorism need not and must not result in the loss of fundamental rights and liberties of the people of Sarasota, Florida and the United States.
3. The City Commission of the City of Sarasota affirms that the five-year sunset provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act should be allowed to expire, if not previously repealed by an act of Congress.
4. The City Commission of the City of Sarasota joins other communities across the nation, who have questioned the constitutionality of the USA PATRIOT ACT and related legislation, executive orders, regulations, and actions, and hereby calls upon our Florida legislative and United States Congressional delegations to actively and diligently work to repeal those provisions of the USA PATRIOT ACT and any executive orders or federal regulations, as well as any related State legislation which may limit or violate fundamental rights and liberties embodied in the constitutions of the United States and the State of Florida, and to actively oppose the adoption of any new laws or regulations, such as the PATRIOT II, which may limit or violate fundamental rights and liberties.
5. The City Auditor and Clerk is hereby directed to provide copies of this Resolution to the United States Congressional and the State of Florida legislative delegations, whose jurisdictions include the City of Sarasota, the Sheriff of Sarasota County, the Chairperson of the Sarasota County Commission, the Sarasota County Administrator, the United States Attorney for the Middle District of Florida, the Attorney General of the United States and the President of the United States.
6. This Resolution shall take effect immediately upon adoption.
Attachment A
Fundamental rights and civil liberties are now directly threatened by the USA PATRIOT Act and related legislation, executive orders, Presidential Decision Directives, and regulations which, among other things: (Note: section citations are of the USA PATRIOT Act unless otherwise noted.)
1. Give the U.S. Attorney General and Secretary of State the power to designate domestic groups, including political and religious organizations as “terrorist organizations” (§411);
2. Order the indefinite detention of United States citizens designated by the President as “enemy combatants” and attempt to withhold access to counsel or meaningful recourse to the federal courts for such individuals (Determination of June 9, 2002, by George W. Bush; Order of December 4, 2002, in Padilla v. Bush granting access to counsel, appealed by government April 9, 2003);
3. Chill constitutionally protected speech through the overbroad definition of the new crime of “domestic terrorism” to include “acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any State” that “appear to be intended,” among other things, “to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion” (§802(a)(4));
4. Establish military tribunals without Congressional authorization or adequate provision for due process which may be used to try non-citizens apprehended either abroad or within the United States for an undetermined range of offenses and impose sentences up to and including the death penalty after proceedings in which the suspect enjoys no presumption of innocence and bears the burden of proof (Military Order of November 13, 2001, 66 F.R. 57833, and the Military Commission Order No. 1 of March 21, 2002);
5. Limit the disclosure of public documents and records under the Freedom of Information Act, and specifically exempt from FOIA disclosure Critical Infrastructure Information received by the Department of Homeland Security, thereby drastically limiting affected communities’ and workers’ right to know about the threats with which they must live (Memorandum of October 12, 2001 by John Ashcroft, available at http://www.usdoj.gov/04foia/011012.htm, and Homeland Security Act of 2002 §214);
6. Reduce judicial supervision of telephone and internet surveillance while expanding the scope of such surveillance (§206 and §208);
7. Expand the authority of federal agents to conduct so-called “sneak and peek” or “black bag” secret searches, in which the subject of the search warrant is unaware that his or her property has been searched. (§213);
8. Grant power to the Attorney General to subject non-citizens to indefinite detention or deportation even if they have not committed a crime. (§412);
9. Grant the FBI the power to compel libraries and book and video stores to produce their patrons’ circulation or purchase records, and grant the FBI access to sensitive medical, mental health, financial and educational records or other customer data about individuals, all without having to show evidence of a crime and while forbidding disclosure that such records have been requested and produced. (§215);
10. Permit the FBI to conduct surveillance of religious services, internet chat rooms, political and other public meetings without having any evidence that a specific crime has been or may be committed (Guidelines on General Crimes, Racketeering Enterprise and Terrorism Enterprise Investigations, revision of May 30, 2002);
11. Eviscerate the right to counsel by authorizing the surveillance of conversations between prisoners and their attorneys without judicial authorization, thereby abrogating the attorney-client privilege. (Amendments to 28 CFR 501.2 and 501.3 effective October 30, 2001);
12. Invade personal privacy through the creation of a wide-ranging program of data mining called the Terrorism Information Awareness (TIA) (formerly known as the Total Information Awareness) program under the Information Awareness Office of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency of the Department of Defense (see Subsection 111(b) of Division M of the Consolidated Appropriations Resolution, 2003 (Public Law 108-7), requiring submission of a report to Congress on TIA by DARPA);
13. Invade personal privacy and freedom of movement through the use of data-mining to categorize air passengers and create no-fly lists without providing adequate safeguards against false positives or adequate opportunity to challenge inclusion on the list, which may involve racial, ethnic, or religious profiling. (CAPPS II – Transportation Security Administration press release 15-03);
14. Create an unfunded mandate for local governments by encouraging involvement of state and local police agencies in the direct enforcement of civil federal immigration laws, potentially impairing relations between local law enforcement and the immigrant community, and subjecting local law enforcement personnel to federal supervision (see Memorandum of Understanding creating Pilot Project between DOJ and State of Florida, executed by John Ashcroft and Jeb Bush, effective July 2, 2002, available at http://www.fdle.state.fl.us/osi/domesticsecurity/domestic_security_orig/ds_5/ins_fdle_mou.pdf);
15. Permit the seizure of assets of organizations alleged to have engaged in or planned an act of terrorism, foreign or domestic, upon issuance of a warrant for probable cause, but without notice or prior hearing under the civil forfeiture provisions of 18 U.S.C. §981 (§806);
16. Reduce judicial oversight on the exchange of information between domestic law enforcement agencies and the CIA (§203 and §901).
Attachment B
Attachment B is a list of cities, towns, and states that have passed civil liberties resolutions. Click here for BORDC's current list.
Attachment C
Measures proposed in Domestic Security Enhancement Act (also referred to as Patriot II), drafted by the Bush Administration and submitted to Congressional leaders. This Act would:
1. Erode personal privacy by imposing numerous new restrictions on the judicial review of government surveillance authority. (DSEA §103, §122, §126, §128, §129, and §312);
2. Expand federal secret arrest and detention powers over non-citizens. (DSEA §201);
3. Prevent defendants from challenging the admission of secret evidence. (DSEA §204);
4. Authorize the domestic surveillance of United States citizens at the request of foreign governments. (DSEA §321);
5. Strip both naturalized and native-born United States citizens of their citizenship for serving in, or for merely providing “material support” to, a federally designated terrorist organization, whether foreign or domestic. (DSEA §501)
Community Group / Coalition: Sarasota Alliance for Voter Education (SAVE)