II 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 505 

To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to provide immunity for 

reports of suspected terrorist activity or suspicious behavior and response. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 8, 2011 

Ms. COLLINS (for herself and Mr. LIEBERMAN) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to provide 

immunity for reports of suspected terrorist activity or 

suspicious behavior and response. 

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 ‘‘See Something, Say 

5 Something Act of 2011’’. 

6 SEC. 2. AMENDMENT TO THE HOMELAND SECURITY ACT OF 

7 2002. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle H of title VIII of the 

9 Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 451 et seq.) 

10 is amended by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 890A. IMMUNITY FOR REPORTS OF SUSPECTED TER2 RORIST ACTIVITY OR SUSPICIOUS BEHAVIOR 

3 AND RESPONSE. 

4 ‘‘(a) IMMUNITY FOR REPORTS OF SUSPECTED TER5 RORIST ACTIVITY OR SUSPICIOUS BEHAVIOR AND RE6 SPONSE.— 

7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Any person who, in good 

8 faith and based on objectively reasonable suspicion, 

9 makes, or causes to be made, a voluntary report of 

10 covered activity to an authorized official shall be im11 mune from civil liability under Federal, State, and 

12 local law for such report. 

13 ‘‘(2) FALSE REPORTS.—Paragraph (1) shall not 

14 apply to any report that the person knew to be false 

15 or was made with reckless disregard for the truth at 

16 the time that the person made that report. 

17 ‘‘(b) IMMUNITY FOR RESPONSE.— 

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Any authorized official who 

19 observes, or receives a report of, covered activity and 

20 takes reasonable action in good faith to respond to 

21 such activity shall have qualified immunity from civil 

22 liability for such action, consistent with applicable 

23 law in the relevant jurisdiction. An authorized offi24 cial as defined by section (d)(1)(A) not entitled to 

25 assert the defense of qualified immunity shall none26 theless be immune from civil liability under Federal, 


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1 State, and local law if such authorized official takes 

2 reasonable action, in good faith, to respond to the 

3 reported activity. 

4 ‘‘(2) SAVINGS CLAUSE.—Nothing in this sub5 section shall— 

6 ‘‘(A) affect the ability of any authorized of7 ficial to assert any defense, privilege, or immu8 nity that would otherwise be available; and 

9 ‘‘(B) be construed as affecting any such 

10 defense, privilege, or immunity. 

11 ‘‘(c) ATTORNEY FEES AND COSTS.—Any authorized 

12 official or other person found to be immune from civil li13 ability under this section shall be entitled to recover from 

14 the plaintiff all reasonable costs and attorney fees. 

15 ‘‘(d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

16 ‘‘(1) AUTHORIZED OFFICIAL.—The term ‘au17 thorized official’ means— 

18 ‘‘(A) any officer, employee, or agent of the 

19 Federal government with responsibility for pre20 venting, protecting against, disrupting, or re21 sponding to a ‘covered activity’; or 

22 ‘‘(B) any Federal, State, or local law en23 forcement officer. 

24 ‘‘(2) COVERED ACTIVITY.—The term ‘covered 

25 activity’ means any suspicious transaction, activity, 


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1 or occurrence indicating that an individual may be 

2 engaging, or preparing to engage, in a violation of 

3 law relating to an act of terrorism (as that term is 

4 defined in section 3077 of title 18, United States 

5 Code).’’. 

6 (b) AMENDMENT TO THE TABLE OF CONTENTS.— 

7 The table of contents for the Homeland Security Act of 

8 2002 is amended by inserting at the end of subtitle H 

9 of title VIII the following item: 

‘‘Sec. 890A. Immunity for reports of suspected terrorist activity or suspicious 

behavior and response.’’. 

Æ 


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