To stay pending cases against certain telecommunications companies and provide that such companies may not seek retroactive immunity until 90 days after the date the final report of the Inspectors General on the President's Surveillance Program is submitted to Congress.

SA 5066. Mr. BINGAMAN (for himself and Mr. Casey, and Mr. Specter)
submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill H.R.
6304, to amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 to
establish a procedure for authorizing certain acquisitions of foreign
intelligence, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the
table; as follows:

Beginning on page 88, strike line 23 and all that follows
through page 90, line 15, and insert the following:
``(a) Requirement for Certification.--
``(1)  In general.--Notwithstanding any other provision of
law other than paragraph (2), a civil action may not lie or
be maintained in a Federal or State court against any person
for providing assistance to an element of the intelligence
community, and shall be promptly dismissed, if the Attorney
General certifies to the district court of the United States
in which such action is pending that--
``(A) any assistance by that person was provided pursuant
to an order of the court established under section 103(a)
directing such assistance;
``(B) any assistance by that person was provided pursuant
to a certification in writing under section 2511(2)(a)(ii)(B)
or 2709(b) of title 18, United States Code;
``(C) any assistance by that person was provided pursuant
to a directive under section 102(a)(4), 105B(e), as added by
section 2 of the Protect America Act of 2007 (Public Law 110-
55; 121 Stat. 553), or 702(h) directing such assistance;
``(D) in the case of a covered civil action, the assistance
alleged to have been provided by the electronic communication
service provider was--
``(i) in connection with an intelligence activity involving
communications that was--

``(I) authorized by the President during the period
beginning on September 11, 2001, and ending on January 17,
2007; and
``(II) designed to detect or prevent a terrorist attack, or
activities in preparation for a terrorist attack, against the
United States; and

``(ii) the subject of a written request or directive, or a
series of written requests or directives, from the Attorney
General or the head of an element of the intelligence
community (or the deputy of such person) to the electronic
communication service provider indicating that the activity
was--

``(I) authorized by the President; and
``(II) determined to be lawful; or

``(E) the person did not provide the alleged assistance.
``(2) Limitation on implementation.--
``(A) In general.--The Attorney General may not make a
certification for any civil action described in paragraph
(1)(D) until after the date described in subparagraph (C).
``(B) Stay of civil actions.--During the period beginning
on the date of the enactment of the FISA Amendments Act of
2008 and ending on the date described in subparagraph (C), a
civil action described in paragraph (1)(D) shall be stayed by
the court in which the civil action is pending.
``(C) Date described.--The date described in this
subparagraph is the date that is 90 days after the final
report described in section 301(c)(2) of the FISA Amendments
Act of 2008 is submitted to the appropriate committees of
Congress, as required by such section.''.

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