First Thought. The TSA is a federal agency and the state has no jurisdiction over its operation. Only Congress has jurisdiction and oversight as to the policies and procedures of TSA.Senator Cates is right about the jurisdictional issue. Of course, I wasn't expecting the state legislature to tell TSA how to do thier jobs. I am expecting the state legislature to insist that the law be followed. Last time I checked, sexual assault was a crime and I would like to think that the state legislature could do something to make sure that TSA is put on notice that the law will be followed or consequences will be enacted.
That being said, the legislature can pass a resolution to send to Congress expressing our concern with the TSA procedures and to ask for changes to be made. A less official way of getting the message delivered is for each of us to contact our federal legislators personally and ask them to take up the matter because we are bound to have more incidents like this happen again.
This morning, I asked Senator Cates if he would be willing to put forth such a resolution and I will update this post when/if I hear back from him on that issue. But he is absolutely right that the thing we should all do is to contact our member of the Congressional delegation and urge them to make an issue of it. My goal in this campaign has been to raise awareness and encourage folks to do just that. Need to find out who your Congressman is? Click this link and then put in your zip code in the upper left...then find your Member of Congress contact page.
