In the nature of a substitute.

As folks who care about holding our officials accountable and making sure common sense rules apply, we need to look at what this amendment actually does. Proposed by Mr. Thune for Ms. Cortez Masto, this amendment is officially titled the Tribal Access to Electronic Evidence Act.

What It Changes or Adds to the Bill

The amendment aims to change the Stored Communications Act by including Tribal courts as courts of competent jurisdiction. Specifically, it makes the following changes to the law:

• Adds a Tribal court to the definition of a court of competent jurisdiction.
• Updates the definition of a governmental entity to include any Indian Tribe or political subdivision thereof.
• Defines an Indian Tribe using the most recent list published by the Secretary of the Interior under the Federally Recognized Indian Tribe List Act of 1994.
• Defines a Tribal court as a court of general criminal jurisdiction of an Indian Tribe authorized by the law of that Indian Tribe to issue search warrants.
• Allows a governmental entity to require the disclosure of electronic communications using a warrant issued by a Tribal court, provided the warrant procedures comply with the Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968.
• Updates existing provisions regarding required disclosure of customer communications, delayed notice, civil actions, and wrongful disclosure of video tape rental or sale records to explicitly include Tribal courts, Tribal entities, and Tribal warrants alongside Federal and State counterparts.