Smith Family Objected to Senate-Revised Kelsey Smith Act, Roberts Says
The family of Kelsey Smith is the reason for the Senate Commerce Committee won't mark up a revised version of the Kelsey Smith Act (S-2770) Wednesday, the bill’s sponsor told us. The committee removed the measure from the markup agenda earlier this week, and aides told us then more time was necessary on what was a version reaching final drafting stages (see 1606270052). “The family raised an objection, and we’re respecting that,” Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., said in an interview Tuesday. A Republican Senate staffer told us negotiators are still in the final stages of drafting a revised bill and in what was described as due diligence with law enforcement to get the language right.
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Smith was a slain Kansas woman who became the namesake of the act, which involves carriers providing location information to law enforcement in times of emergency. Her father, Greg, is the president of the Kelsey Smith Foundation, which advocates for the legislation on the state and federal level. His wife, Melissa, is foundation treasurer. The foundation didn't comment.
“It’s been pulled,” Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., said in an interview Tuesday. “There were some attempts to, the minority wanted to make some changes in it, and we needed an opportunity to socialize it with supporters of the bill. And we just don’t have enough time to do that."
Roberts introduced the bill in April. He isn't on the Commerce Committee, but its co-sponsors are Commerce members Sens. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., Roy Blunt, R-Mo., Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., and Deb Fischer, R-Neb. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., a Commerce Committee member, told reporters Tuesday he has been involved in negotiations and confirmed that privacy concerns are one part of his interest in the legislation.
The House cleared its own version (HR-4889) from committee earlier this year, but Democrats opposed the measure’s lack of privacy protections. The American Civil Liberties Union also objected. Some said the bill is different from the bipartisan compromise House Commerce Committee lawmakers reached last Congress and urged a return to that consensus. Both Republicans and Democrats voted down the bill on the floor for privacy reasons (see 1605240061). Despite receiving a majority, the bill failed since the vote was under suspension of the rules, a process requiring two-thirds approval. House lawmakers have said they still want to try to secure floor passage for the measure.
“I’m guessing it probably gets pushed,” Thune told us when asked if the Senate measure would be marked up in September. “I feel bad about that because I would like to have gotten this done at this markup, but we just want to make sure when we do it, all of the stakeholder community is comfortable with it.”
The markup is the last before Congress leaves for its long summer recess, Thune predicted. It once also might have included a Lifeline budget cap bill from Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., which never came together. The two telecom bills remaining are the Improving Rural Call Quality and Reliability Act (S-827) and the Securing Access to Networks in Disasters Act (S-2997), both backed by Democrats. A Democratic Senate aide said staffers are hopeful S-827, the call completion bill, will pass without any problems. Aides didn't comment on prospects for S-2997, but its House companion measure cleared the House in a vote of 389-2.