Fairfax orders Patriot Act impact study

The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors yesterday ordered every county agency to report how the USA Patriot Act will harm or benefit operations.

The board voted 5-3 to direct the agencies to conduct the study. The measure is an alternative to a resolution drafted by Supervisor Catherine M. Hudgins, Hunter Mill Democrat, that criticized the Patriot Act as an encroachment on constitutional rights.

Mrs. Hudgins’ resolution, which also asked Congress to allow the Patriot Act to “sunset,” or lapse, bothered most of the supervisors.

Fairfax County is one of the few local jurisdictions that hasn’t passed such a resolution about the Patriot Act.

Some of the supervisors said they were worried about taking such an action because they hadn’t read the several-hundred-page Patriot Act. Supervisors believed ordering agencies to study the effects of the federal law would give them the information they need to decide whether to support Mrs. Hudgins’ resolution.

“Clearly, there are civil libertarian concerns,” said Chairman Gerald E. Connolly, a Democrat. “I’d like to have more clarity about what those are.”

Mrs. Hudgins disagreed. “I do have a concern, and I join many others who have that concern,” she said. “I want to ensure citizens in this county do not find themselves in a position where their rights are compromised.”

During the board’s meeting at the Fairfax County Government Center, about 10 persons in the auditorium held signs, some of which read: “Please keep the Bill of Rights Alive and Well for My Generation.”

Board members who voted for the substitute motion were Mr. Connolly; Sharon Bulova, Braddock District Democrat; T. Dana Kauffman, Lee District Democrat; Linda Q. Smyth, Providence District Democrat; and Joan M. DuBois, Dranesville District Republican.

Those who voted against the motion were Mrs. Hudgins; Penelope A. Gross, Mason District Democrat; and Elaine McConnell, Springfield District Republican.

Supervisors Michael R. Frey, Sully District Republican, and Gerald W. Hyland, Mount Vernon District Democrat, were absent.

The motion did not set a deadline for the county agencies to file their reports with the board.

Alexandria, Arlington County, Takoma Park, Greenbelt, Montgomery and Prince George’s counties and the District have passed resolutions denouncing the Patriot Act and promising to uphold the civil liberties of residents, according to the Bill of Rights Defense Committee.

Passing the resolutions is a largely symbolic act, but 330 localities nationwide, including New York City, Baltimore and Philadelphia, have done so.

Most of the resolutions, including the one that was discussed by the Fairfax supervisors yesterday, urge congressional delegations to allow the Patriot Act to expire or to add congressional oversight to the act.

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