AviationTexas legislators want TSA out to allow for anti-groping policy

Texas lawmakers  are considering proposals  to opt out of federal protection at all airports in the state. One of the proposals calls for  charging airport security officials who aggressively check passengers.

The Dallas Morning News reports that a similar debate took place in the state two years ago, but similar proposals which were considered then died down after federal aviation officials threatened to  shut down the state’s airports because of  security concerns. The federal threats stopped the so-called  anti-grouping bill, which had already passed the House with a unanimous vote.

Angered by what they consider to be  intrusive searches of passengers,  conservatives and tea party members in the state have been seeking to by-pass the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) altogether.

Representative Larry Phillips (R-Sherman) told the House State Affairs Committee, which approved the anti-grouping bill two years ago, that a provision of the federal law will allow airports to cancel the contract with TSA to have  state or privates security forces provide airport security.

Phillips used the San Francisco International Airport and numerous smaller facilities in the state of Montana as an example of airport security provided by private contractors. His proposal will require all airports in the state to seek the opt-out, so no terminal could be targeted with retribution and that the airports will use federal dollars to hire private security.

According to Phillips, private contractors would be more sympathetic to travelers.

“I won’t argue that when you walk through you’ll see anything different, you’ll just be treated better,” Phillips told DMN.

Representative Dave Simpson (R-Longview) has renewed his anti-grouping bill which would make it a felony for a public servant to touch the private parts of a citizen without probable cause for a search.

According to Simpson, the legislation “seeks to restore a measure of freedom and dignity to traveling and entering public places.”

Simpson gave examples of wounded veterans who are forced to remove prosthetics and young children who have been separated from their parents and improperly touched.

“The terrorists have won if we allow that to go on in the name of safety,” Simpson toldDMN.