Legislative Alert! NJ vs TSA

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CLICK HERE – to track legislation rejecting TSA scanners, searches, etc.

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In a previous post, I had referred to New Jersey as DC’s most willing crony State, and had challenged the Legislature and the People to prove me wrong. I’m not one to count my chickens before they hatch, but three bills currently under consideration by two New Jersey State Senate committees may be the first few steps in doing that. Whether or not they are depends greatly on the amount of pressure put on our elected officials in Trenton, especially in an election year.

Each individual bill is designed to address different aspects of the abuse of power by the TSA via invasive searches and body scans. The synopses of each bill are as follows:

S2509: “Specifies that certain images generated by body scans violate State statutes prohibiting invasion of privacy, pornography, and endangerment of child welfare under certain circumstances.”

S2510: “Makes certain body searches third degree crime of sexual assault under certain circumstances.”

S2511: “Prohibits use of body imaging scanners to screen passengers and airline crew members.”

What separates these bills from other legislation consistent with the Tenth Amendment Center’s goals in New Jersey is that there are provisions that actually give the legislation teeth, combining Nullification AND Interposition. S2509 and S2510 provides for criminal penalties for federal agents who participate in the overintrusive pat downs and body scans, while S2511 opens up federal agents to civil suits.

The bad news is, these three bills are currently tied up in committee. The first two, S2509 and S2510, have been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee. The third, S2511, has been referred to the Senate Transportation Committee. It will be important to flood the members of both committees with calls on the status of the two bills. If no interest is shown in these essential bills, the committee members will likely still feel safe in their jobs while keeping the legislation tied up.

Equally important will be to contact our State Senators to get an answer on where they stand regarding this issue. If no answer is received, keep calling, writing and e-mailing. Those with the courage to stand for our State Sovereignty need and deserve our support in this year’s elections. Those who will stand against us or will not take a stand at all need to be defeated at the ballot box, preferably in this April’s primaries. November may be too late, as both parties may choose the wrong candidates.

So far, no General Assembly versions of the bills show up on the New Jersey Legislature’s website. This too is a problem. Contact your Assemblypersons and urge them to get the ball rolling in their house. After all, it does us little good for the bills to pass the Senate if the General Assembly will not even introduce similar legislation.

I personally look forward to the day when a TSA agent is led away from Newark Airport in handcuffs for the invasive searches we have heard so much about on the news. The right bills have been introduced toward this goal, but there is a great deal of work to do if we want to see this happen. That is no excuse to give up; it is a reason to work that much harder.

To find your State Legislators in your district, please go to

http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/members/abcroster.asp

or

 http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/legislativepub/contact.asp

Judiciary and Transportation Committees’ contact info:

Judiciary (2509 and 2510)
Dem Aide: Jacqueline Burke 609-292-5215
Rep Aide: Frank Dominque 609-292-5199
OLS Aide: Patricia Nagle 609-292-5526

Transportation (2511)
Dem Aide: Julius Bailey 609-292-5215
Rep Aide: Brian Albert 609-292-5199
OLS Aide: Charles Buono 609-984-7381

Youtube video of press conference announcement:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9H9HNEtrvEE&playnext=1&list=PLE637ACC16A09C6F5