II 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 316 

A bill to limit authority to delay notice of search warrants. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 8, 2005 

Mr. FEINGOLD introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

A bill to limit authority to delay notice of search warrants. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Reasonable Notice and 

5 Search Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. LIMITATION ON AUTHORITY TO DELAY NOTICE OF 

7 SEARCH WARRANTS. 

8 Section 3103a of title 18, United States Code, is 

9 amended— 

10 (1) in subsection (b)— 

11 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘may 

12 have an adverse result (as defined in section 
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1 2705)’’ and inserting ‘‘will endanger the life or 

2 physical safety of an individual, result in flight 

3 from prosecution, result in the destruction of or 

4 tampering with the evidence sought under the 

5 warrant, or result in intimidation of potential 

6 witnesses’’; and 

7 (B) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘a rea8 sonable period’’ and all that follows and insert9 ing ‘‘7 calendar days, which period, upon appli10 cation of the Attorney General, the Deputy At11 torney General, or an Associate Attorney Gen12 eral, may thereafter be extended by the court 

13 for additional periods of up to 7 calendar days 

14 each if the court finds, for each application, 

15 reasonable cause to believe that notice of the 

16 execution of the warrant will endanger the life 

17 or physical safety of an individual, result in 

18 flight from prosecution, result in the destruc19 tion of or tampering with the evidence sought 

20 under the warrant, or result in intimidation of 

21 potential witnesses.’’; and 

22 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

23 ‘‘(c) REPORTS.— 

24 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—On a semiannual basis, the 

25 Attorney General shall transmit to Congress and 
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1 make public a report concerning all requests for 

2 delays of notice, and for extensions of delays of no3 tice, with respect to warrants under subsection (b). 

4 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS.—Each report under para5 graph (1) shall include, with respect to the preceding 

6 6-month period— 

7 ‘‘(A) the total number of requests for 

8 delays of notice with respect to warrants under 

9 subsection (b); 

10 ‘‘(B) the total number of such requests 

11 granted or denied; 

12 ‘‘(C) for each request for delayed notice 

13 that was granted, the total number of applica14 tions for extensions of the delay of notice and 

15 the total number of such extensions granted or 

16 denied; and 

17 ‘‘(D) on an aggregate basis, the nature of 

18 the crime being investigated for each request 

19 for delay of notice that was granted or de20 nied.’’. 

21 SEC. 3. SUNSET ON DELAYED NOTICE AUTHORITY. 

22 (a) PATRIOT ACT.—Section 224(a) of the USA PA23 TRIOT Act of 2001 (Public Law 107–56; 115 Stat. 295) 

24 is amended by striking ‘‘213,’’. 
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1 (b) AMENDMENTS.—The amendments made by this 

2 Act shall sunset as provided in section 224 of the USA 

3 PATRIOT Act of 2001. 

Æ