SLC Times

Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) has introduced the Saving Privacy Act, a bill aimed at curbing government surveillance of Americans' financial information. The legislation seeks to address concerns over federal agencies collecting extensive personal financial data from citizens without sufficient justification. Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) is co-sponsoring the bill.

"The federal government has no business surveilling the financial activities of millions of innocent Americans," said Senator Lee. "The current system erodes the privacy rights of citizens, while doing little to effectively catch true financial criminals. My Saving Privacy Act ensures that Americans’ personal information is protected and that government agencies operate within the bounds of the Constitution."

Senator Scott echoed these sentiments: "Big government has no place in law-abiding Americans’ personal finances. It is a massive overreach of the government and a gross violation of their privacy. That is why I am teaming up with Senator Lee so that we can protect Americans’ personal financials for good. Our Saving Privacy Act will allow federal agencies to go after criminals while also protecting innocent Americans’ data. This is commonsense legislation, and I am urging my colleagues to support its immediate passage."

Norbert Michel, Jennifer Schulp, and Nicholas Anthony from the Cato Institute commented on the reform: "This kind of reform restores the proper balance—as provided by the Fourth Amendment—between Americans’ privacy rights and law enforcement’s ability to gather evidence to enforce laws. It would protect individuals’ financial privacy and improve federal agencies’ abilities to prosecute criminal activity rather than sift through millions of low-value reports. This kind of reform is long overdue."

Bryan Bashur, Director of Financial Policy for Americans for Tax Reform, also supported the initiative: "Financial privacy is of paramount importance in the digital age," he said. "Lawmakers should support Sen. Lee’s efforts to further preserve financial privacy and prevent the federal government from easily accessing this information. Enacting this legislation will also protect consumers from other existential threats to financial privacy—such as tracking stock trading and electronic payment activity."

The press release highlighted issues with current surveillance efforts, citing a low success rate for suspicious activity reports (SARs). In FY2023, 25.4 million SARs and currency transaction reports (CTRs) were submitted, but less than 0.3% led to relevant IRS-CI and FBI cases.

Recent activities by FinCEN and FBI have included monitoring transactions related to political affiliations, firearms purchases, and religious texts without congressional approval.

Key provisions in Senator Lee's bill include repealing certain reporting requirements under the Bank Secrecy Act, strengthening Fourth Amendment protections, repealing specific databases like SEC's Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT), requiring congressional approval for new databases collecting personally identifiable information, prohibiting Central Bank Digital Currency creation without authorization, instituting penalties for illegal actions by federal employees regarding constitutionally protected information, and establishing a private right of action for those harmed by illicit government activity.