USA Freedom Act

The USA Freedom Act (H.R. 2048, Pub. L.Tooltip Public Law (United States) 114–23 (text) (PDF)) is a U.S. law enacted on June 2, 2015, that restored and modified several provisions of the Patriot Act, which had expired the day before. The act imposes some new limits on the bulk collection of telecommunication metadata on U.S. citizens by American intelligence agencies, including the National Security Agency. It also restores authorization for roving wiretaps and tracking lone wolf terrorists.[3][4] The title of the act is a ten-letter backronym (USA FREEDOM) that stands for Uniting and Strengthening America by Fulfilling Rights and Ensuring Effective Discipline Over Monitoring Act of 2015.

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USA Freedom Act

Other short titles	Uniting and Strengthening America by Fulfilling Rights and Ensuring Effective Discipline Over Monitoring Act of 2015
Long title	An Act To reform the authorities of the Federal Government to require the production of certain business records, conduct electronic surveillance, use pen registers and trap and trace devices, and use other forms of information gathering for foreign intelligence, counterterrorism, and criminal purposes, and for other purposes.
Acronyms (colloquial)	USA FREEDOM Act
Nicknames	Freedom Act
Enacted by	the 114th United States Congress
Citations
Public law	114-23
Statutes at Large	129 Stat. 268 (2015)
Codification
Acts amended	Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 USA PATRIOT Act USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005 National Security Act of 1947 Fair Credit Reporting Act
U.S.C. sections amended	12 U.S.C. § 3414 15 U.S.C. § 1681u 18 U.S.C. § 2709 18 U.S.C. § 3511 50 U.S.C. § 1881a, and others
Legislative history
Introduced in the House as H.R. 2048 by Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) with 150 House[1] and 21 Senate[2] co-sponsors on April 28, 2015 Committee consideration by Judiciary, Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Financial Services, United States House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security and Investigations Passed the House on May 13, 2015 (Yeas: 338; Nays: 88) Passed the Senate on June 2, 2015 (Yeas: 67; Nays: 32) Signed into law by President Barack Obama on June 2, 2015

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The bill was originally introduced in both houses of the U.S. Congress on October 29, 2013, following publication of classified NSA memos describing bulk data collection programs leaked by Edward Snowden that June. When it was re-introduced in the 114th Congress (2015–2016), it was described by the bill sponsors as "a balanced approach"[5] while being questioned for extending the Patriot Act through the end of 2019.[6] Supporters of the bill said that the House Intelligence Committee and House leadership[7] would insist on reauthorizing all Patriot Act powers except bulk collection under Section 215 of the Patriot Act.[8] Critics assert that mass surveillance of the content of Americans' communication will continue under Section 702 of FISA[9][10] and Executive Order 12333[9][11] due to the "unstoppable surveillance-industrial complex"[12] despite the fact that a bipartisan majority of the House had previously voted to close backdoor mass surveillance.[7]

The USA Freedom Act mandates that the FISA court release "novel" interpretations of the law, which thereby sets precedent and thereby makes up the body of FISA court common law, as both legal authority for deciding subsequent cases, and for guidance parameters for allowing or restricting surveillance conduct.[13] The Act is not clear as to whether or not it mandates retroactive disclosure of decisions prior to passage of the Act in 2015.[13] In October 2016, the ACLU filed a Motion for the Release of FISA Court Records to release interpretations prior to the USA Freedom Act.[13]