Congress moves to require warrants for your stored emails
H.R. 9016 — Email Privacy Act · Filed by Suzan DelBene (D-WA) · 8 cosponsors · Introduced May 22, 2026 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
Enter a ZIP to see where your representative and both senators stood on this bill.
Looked up on this device — your ZIP is never stored on our servers.
What it does
This bill amends the federal wiretapping and electronic communications privacy law (the Stored Communications Act) to require law enforcement to obtain a warrant before accessing the contents of stored emails and electronic communications. It clarifies when service providers can voluntarily disclose user communications, requires notice to users when their data is requested, and preserves Congress's constitutional investigative powers and law enforcement access to certain communications (like those from employees acting in their capacity or public advertisements).
Why we flagged it
The bill's core function is to strengthen privacy protections for stored electronic communications by mandating judicial warrants before government access, while clarifying voluntary disclosure rules for service providers.
What the text implies
- The notice requirement (allowing providers to notify users of warrants) may create operational friction for law enforcement and could tip off subjects of investigation, potentially affecting investigative tactics.
- The carve-out for 'communications made readily available to the general public' (e.g., public posts) may create ambiguity about what constitutes 'public' in the context of semi-private platforms.
- The preservation of Congressional subpoena power and the rule of construction for employee/agent communications may create loopholes that partially undermine the warrant requirement in certain contexts.
Who it affects
Ordinary citizens gain stronger privacy protections by requiring warrants for email contents, reducing government access without judicial oversight. The notice requirement increases transparency about surveillance. Service providers gain clarity on when they can disclose data, reducing arbitrary requests.
Who stands to gain
- email service providers (Google, Microsoft, Apple, Yahoo, etc.)
- cloud storage and remote computing service providers
Named in the bill
18 USC Section 2702, 18 USC Section 2703, Stored Communications Act, electronic communication service providers, remote computing service providers, law enforcement agencies, U.S. Congress
Where it stands
8 cosponsors: 5 Democrats, 3 Republicans.
- May 22, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- May 22, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on the Judiciary · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the full bill text on Jun 10, 2026; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Congress moves to require warrants for your stored emails” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr9016 Report an error
The week in bills
One email, Sunday: what Congress passed, what it changed, and who paid.
One link arrives to confirm the address. It is used for this email and nothing else, and every issue carries an unsubscribe link.