If you have time Monday afternoon, and want to strike a blow for freedom, why not drop by Hearing Rooms A-1 and A-2 at the Massachusetts State House, and testify on one of three surveillance-related bills?
- S. 820 / H. 2316, our asset forfeiture repeal bill, which we worked on with the ACLU of Massachusetts: https://malegislature.gov/Bills/190/S820. Sign up to testify here. Current signups: 5
- S. 943 / H. 2332, which would require a warrant for stingray use: https://malegislature.gov/Bills/190/S943. Sign up to testify here. Current signups: 3
- H. 3581, which would require a warrant for drone use and prohibit drones equipped with weapons or facial recognition: https://malegislature.gov/Bills/190/H3581. Sign up to testify here. Current signups: 2
While the hearing starts at 1pm, there are so many bills on the agenda that it is likely to run to around 11pm. We don’t yet know when our bills will come up for public testimony, but a good guess would be any time from 2pm onward, with later being more likely. The practice of the Judiciary Committee is to “cluster” testimony on different topics, and to take first the bills that are likely to draw bigger crowds.
If you don’t have time for an open-ended commitment Monday afternoon/evening, please consider sending written testimony to the Senate Chair’s chief of staff at AnneJohnson.Landry@masenate.gov.
I will focus my testimoney exclusively on the need to reach a finding in court before assests can be seized by the commonwealth