2018 Louisiana Laws
Revised Statutes
TITLE 45 - Public Utilities and Carriers
RS 45:844.9 - Commercial mobile service device location disclosure to law enforcement agencies; emergency situations
CHAPTER 8-G-1. KELSEY SMITH ACT
§844.9. Commercial mobile service device location disclosure to law enforcement agencies; emergency situations
A. This Chapter shall be known and may be cited as the "Kelsey Smith Act".
B.(1) When acting in the course and scope of his official duties, a law enforcement agency supervisor shall have the authority to submit an electronic or other written request to a provider of commercial mobile services, as defined by 47 U.S.C. 332(d), for device location information of a commercial mobile service device user if either of the following events has occurred:
(a) A call for emergency services initiated from the device of the user.
(b) An emergency situation that involves the risk of death or serious bodily harm to the device user.
(2) Upon receipt of the request, the provider of commercial mobile services shall disclose to the law enforcement agency the device location information.
(3) When making a request for device location information pursuant to the provisions of this Chapter, the law enforcement agency making the request shall search the National Crime Information Center system and similar databases to identify whether the device user or the person initiating the call, during an emergency situation involving the device user, either has a history of domestic violence or is subject to any court order restricting contact.
(4) The information obtained by a law enforcement agency pursuant to the provisions of this Subsection shall be used solely for the performance of official duties.
(5) No device location information shall be released by the law enforcement agency to a person who either has a history of domestic violence or stalking or who is subject to any court order restricting contact with the device user.
(6) For the purposes of this Chapter, "law enforcement agency" means any municipality, sheriff's office, or other public agency who employs full-time employees of the state whose permanent duties include but are not limited to:
(a) Making arrests.
(b) Performing searches and seizures.
(c) Executing criminal warrants.
(d) Preventing or detecting crime.
(e) Enforcing the penal, traffic, or highway laws of this state.
C.(1) All providers of commercial mobile services who are registered to do business in this state, or who submit to the jurisdiction thereof, shall submit emergency contact information to the Department of Public Safety and Corrections, office of state police, in order to facilitate requests from law enforcement agencies for location information in accordance with the provisions of this Chapter. The contact information shall be submitted by July first of each year and immediately upon any change in contact information.
(2)(a) The office of state police shall maintain a database containing emergency contact information for all providers of commercial mobile services and shall make such information immediately available to all law enforcement agencies in the state.
(b) The office of state police may adopt rules in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act to implement the provisions of this Chapter.
D. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, nothing in this Chapter shall prohibit a provider of commercial mobile services from establishing protocols by which the provider voluntarily discloses device location information.
E. No person shall file a report with knowledge of the falsity of the information contained therein to a law enforcement agency for the purpose of device location information being requested from a provider of commercial mobile services. Whoever violates the provisions of this Subsection shall be fined not more than five hundred dollars, or imprisoned for not more than six months, or both.
Acts 2015, No. 165, §1, eff. June 23, 2015.
