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.