I 
113TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3195 
To amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 to provide for 
the designation of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court judges by 
the President, majority of the Supreme Court, Speaker and minority 
leader of the House of Representatives, and majority leader and minority 
leader of the Senate, and to provide for the public disclosure of Foreign 
Intelligence Surveillance Court decisions. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 26, 2013 
Mr. ISRAEL introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Select Committee on Intelligence 
(Permanent Select), for a period to be subsequently determined by the 
Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within 
the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 
to provide for the designation of Foreign Intelligence 
Surveillance Court judges by the President, majority of 
the Supreme Court, Speaker and minority leader of the 
House of Representatives, and majority leader and mi-
nority leader of the Senate, and to provide for the public 
disclosure of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court deci-
sions. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘FISA Court Oversight 
Underscoring Responsibility and Transparency Act’’ or 
the ‘‘FISA COURT Act’’. 
SEC. 2. DESIGNATION OF FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE SUR-
VEILLANCE COURT JUDGES. 
Section 103 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance 
Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1803(a)) is amended— 
(1) in subsection (a), by striking paragraph (1) 
and inserting the following new paragraph: 
‘‘(1)(A) There is established a court which shall have 
jurisdiction to hear applications for and grant orders ap-
proving electronic surveillance anywhere within the United 
States under the procedures set forth in this Act. 
‘‘(B) The court established under paragraph (1) shall 
consist of 11 publicly designated district court judges, of 
whom— 
‘‘(i) 2 judges shall be designated by the Presi-
dent; 
‘‘(ii) 1 judge shall be designated by a majority 
of the Supreme Court; 
‘‘(iii) 2 judges shall be designated by the Speak-
er of the House of Representatives; 
‘‘(iv) 2 judges shall be designated by the minor-
ity leader of the House of Representatives; 
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‘‘(v) 2 judges shall be designated by the major-
ity leader of the Senate; and 
‘‘(vi) 2 judges shall be designated by the minor-
ity leader of the Senate. 
‘‘(C) No judge designated under this subsection (ex-
cept when sitting en banc under paragraph (2)) shall hear 
the same application for electronic surveillance under this 
Act which has been denied previously by another judge 
designated under this subsection. If any judge so des-
ignated denies an application for an order authorizing 
electronic surveillance under this Act, such judge shall 
provide immediately for the record a written statement of 
each reason for his decision and, on motion of the United 
States, the record shall be transmitted, under seal, to the 
court of review established in subsection (b).’’; and 
(2) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘The Chief 
Justice’’ and inserting ‘‘A majority of the Supreme 
Court’’. 
SEC. 3. PUBLIC AVAILABILITY OF SIGNIFICANT OPINIONS 
OF THE FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE SURVEIL-
LANCE COURT. 
Section 601 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance 
Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1871) is amended— 
(1) in subsection (c)— 
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(A) in the heading, by striking ‘‘SUBMIS-
SIONS TO CONGRESS’’ and inserting ‘‘SUBMIS-
SIONS
TO
CONGRESS
AND
PUBLIC
AVAIL-
ABILITY OF CERTAIN OPINIONS’’; and 
(B) in the matter preceding paragraph 
(1)— 
(i) by striking ‘‘The Attorney Gen-
eral’’ and inserting ‘‘Subject to subsection 
(d), the Attorney General’’; and 
(ii) by inserting ‘‘and make publicly 
available’’ after ‘‘in subsection (a)’’; and 
(2) in subsection (d)— 
(A) by striking ‘‘PROTECTION
OF NA-
TIONAL
SECURITY.—The Attorney General’’ 
and inserting the following: ‘‘PROTECTION OF 
NATIONAL SECURITY.— 
‘‘(1) REDACTION OF MATERIALS.—The Attor-
ney General’’; 
(B) in paragraph (1), as designated under 
subparagraph (A), by inserting ‘‘and made pub-
licly available’’ after ‘‘in subsection (a)’’; and 
(C) by adding at the end the following new 
paragraph: 
‘‘(2) WAIVER OF PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.— 
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‘‘(A) WAIVER.—The Attorney General, in 
consultation with the Director of National Intel-
ligence, may waive the requirement to make a 
decision, order, or opinion described in sub-
section (c) publicly available under such sub-
section if the Attorney General determines the 
public disclosure of such decision, order, or 
opinion (including public disclosure in redacted 
form) would cause harm to the national security 
of the United States. 
‘‘(B) REPORT.—The Attorney General 
shall quarterly make publicly available an esti-
mate of the number of decisions, orders, or 
opinions for which the Attorney General waived 
under subparagraph (A) the requirement under 
subsection (c) to make such decisions, orders, 
or opinions publicly available and the reasons 
for waiving such requirement.’’. 
Æ 
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