Sponsors (2)
Official title: To amend title 18, United States Code, to require that notice of criminal surveillance orders be eventually provided to targets, to reform the use of non-disclosure orders to providers, to prohibit indefinite sealing of criminal surveillance orders, and for other purposes.
Introduced February 26, 2026 by Ted Lieu · Last progress February 26, 2026
The bill significantly increases transparency, notice, and standardized oversight of electronic surveillance—strengthening individual notice and public accountability—while raising privacy/national‑security risks, administrative costs, and transitional unevenness that could burden courts, providers, and investigations.
The general public, researchers, journalists, and civil‑rights groups gain much greater transparency into government surveillance through searchable/public summaries, aggregated counts, and machine‑readable reports, enabling oversight and public analysis of surveillance patterns.
People whose electronic data or accounts are targeted will more often receive formal notice (and narrower rules for delayed notice), so individuals learn when their communications or records were accessed and prolonged secret searches are limited.
Courts and law enforcement gain clearer standards, time limits, judicial‑review/redaction rules, and more consistent procedures across jurisdictions, improving judicial oversight and procedural predictability for surveillance orders.
Defendants, victims, and the public face increased privacy and national‑security risks because publishing searchable surveillance applications, orders, provider names, or detailed metadata could expose sensitive personal information or investigative techniques.
Courts, providers, and government offices will incur substantial new administrative and compliance costs (IT systems, staff time, reporting, redaction), which could strain budgets, slow case processing, and be passed on to taxpayers.
Prompt notice and narrower delayed‑notice exceptions could alert suspects and hinder covert investigations or operations, potentially delaying or compromising public‑safety and national‑security efforts.
Based on analysis of 10 sections of legislative text.
Requires public, searchable publication and annual reporting of criminal surveillance requests and orders; narrows delayed-notice authority; requires inventories and funds limited grants to courts.
Requires federal and many state/tribal courts to publish text-searchable criminal surveillance applications, orders, and inventories; creates new, detailed annual judicial reporting on warrants, orders, and delayed-notice authorizations; narrows and constrains when law enforcement can delay notice to targets of electronic surveillance; requires inventories when providers disclose or data searches exceed authorization; and funds court implementation via a limited grant program and AOUSC funding to build reporting tools. The bill phases in requirements (generally two years, with four-year or shorter security-based delays for some State/Tribal courts) and sets procedures, transparency, and reporting standards intended to increase public visibility and judicial oversight of government electronic surveillance and compelled disclosures.