United States HR 7738: Government Surveillance Transparency Act of 2026

Bill Text

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119TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION H. R. 7738
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.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY 26, 2026
Mr. LIEU (for himself and Mr. DAVIDSON) introduced the following bill; which
was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To amend title 18, United States Code, to require that
notice of criminal surveillance orders be eventually pro-
vided to targets, to reform the use of non-disclosure
orders to providers, to prohibit indefinite sealing of crimi-
nal surveillance orders, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Government Surveil-4
lance Transparency Act of 2026’’. 5
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SEC. 2. CRIMINAL SURVEILLANCE ORDERS. 1
(a) IN GENERAL.—Part II of title 18, United States 2
Code, is amended by inserting after chapter 206 the fol-3
lowing: 4
‘‘CHAPTER 206A—CRIMINAL 5
SURVEILLANCE ORDERS 6
‘‘Sec.
‘‘3131. Definitions.
‘‘3132. Criminal surveillance orders.
‘‘3133. Request for unsealing or challenging redactions.
‘‘§ 3131. Definitions 7
‘‘In this chapter: 8
‘‘(1) APPLICATION.—The term ‘application’— 9
‘‘(A) means an application for a criminal 10
surveillance order; and 11
‘‘(B) includes all supporting affidavits and 12
exhibits. 13
‘‘(2) PEN REGISTER; TRAP AND TRACE DE-14
VICE.—The terms ‘pen register’, and ‘trap and trace 15
device’ have the meanings given the terms in section 16
3127. 17
‘‘(3) CRIMINAL SURVEILLANCE ORDER.—The 18
term ‘criminal surveillance order’ means— 19
‘‘(A) an order authorizing or approving the 20
interception of a wire communication, oral com-21
munication, or electronic communication under 22
chapter 119 or under an equivalent State law; 23
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‘‘(B) an order authorizing or approving the 1
installation and use of a pen register or a trap 2
and trace device under chapter 206 or under an 3
equivalent State law; 4
‘‘(C) an order for the installation of a mo-5
bile tracking device under section 3117; 6
‘‘(D) an order for disclosure under chapter 7
121; 8
‘‘(E) an order for a delay of notification or 9
nondisclosure under section 2705; 10
‘‘(F) a search or seizure warrant issued 11
using the procedures described in the Federal 12
Rules of Criminal Procedure or in the case of 13
a State or Tribal court, issued using State or 14
Tribal warrant procedures; 15
‘‘(G) in the case of a court-martial or other 16
proceeding under chapter 47 of title 10 (Uni-17
form Code of Military Justice), a warrant or 18
order issued under section 846 of that title; 19
‘‘(H) a warrant under section 3103a; 20
‘‘(I) an order under section 1651 of title 21
28; 22
‘‘(J) an order for third party assistance 23
under section 2518(4) or section 3124; or 24
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‘‘(K) an order to enforce the assistance ca-1
pability and capacity requirements under sec-2
tion 2522. 3
‘‘(4) ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION; ORAL COM-4
MUNICATION; WIRE COMMUNICATION.—The terms 5
‘electronic communication’, ‘oral communication’, 6
and ‘wire communication’ have the meanings given 7
the terms in section 2510. 8
‘‘(5) INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘Indian Tribe’ 9
has the meaning given such term in section 102 of 10
the Federally Recognized Indian Tribe List Act of 11
1994 (25 U.S.C. 5130). 12
‘‘(6) INVENTORY.—The term ‘inventory’ means 13
the inventory and other materials— 14
‘‘(A) returned to a Federal, State, or Trib-15
al court or a court-martial or other proceeding 16
under chapter 47 of title 10 (Uniform Code of 17
Military Justice) in connection with the execu-18
tion of a criminal surveillance order (including 19
under paragraph (1)(D) or (2)(B) of rule 41(f) 20
of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, 21
under comparable State warrant procedures, or 22
under procedures applicable to a court-martial 23
or other proceeding under chapter 47 of title 24
10); or 25
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‘‘(B) provided to persons and other parties 1
described in section 2518(8)(d). 2
‘‘(7) STATE.—The term ‘State’ means each of 3
the several States of the United States, the District 4
of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, 5
American Samoa, the