SB 310: Criminal Law Changes

SB 310 is a criminal omnibus bill, meaning it combines a wide range of criminal law changes into a single law. Among other provisions, this bill would require telecommunications companies to provide phone location information data to law enforcement upon request.

Knowing where a person’s phone is located can reveal sensitive information, like where a person travels, works, worships, and engages in protected political activity. This provision raises privacy concerns by allowing law enforcement to obtain phone location data based on a relatively broad “reasonable suspicion” standard without a warrant. It also risks expanding surveillance and increasing policing of communities that are already subject to heightened law enforcement scrutiny. While phone location data sharing may be justified for narrowly tailored emergency purposes, current broad standards are insufficient to prevent abuse and misuse.