June 29, 2011 5:17 PM EDT
A Texas bill against intrusive TSA pats died in the state house.
The Texas state senate and house had different versions of the anti-TSA bill. The Senate adjourned on Tuesday without passing the House version. On Wednesday, the House failed to pass the Senate version.
The house will not assemble for another session, which leaves the bill dead. If passed, the bill would have made it illegal to punish TSA officers for touching travelers' private areas at Texas airports without reasonable suspicion.
If found guilty, the punishment is up to one year in jail and up to $4,000 in files, according to the Start-Telegram.
Even though this bill is now dead in Texas, the controversy is far from over. At least one Texas lawmaker has vowed to fight on to pass a law against intrusive TSA pats. One Texas citizen shouted "if you cowards don't protect us, we'll protect ourselves" after the bill had failed, reported the Texas Tribune.
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Nationwide, the TSA pat downs have sparked a firestorm of criticism, notably over cases that defied common sense. Below are several notorious examples.
- In Florida, a TSA officer broke the urine bag of a bladder cancer survivor in the course of patting the man down, even after the man repeatedly warned the officer of his medical condition. The man said he was humiliated and had to fly with urine-soaked pants.
- In Florida, a 95-year-old wheelchair-bound woman with leukemia was forced to remove her adult diaper during a pat down.
- In Tennessee, TSA officials hand-searched a 3-year-old girl. At one point, the little girl screamed and cried: "stop touching me."
- In Charlotte, a breast cancer survivor was forced to remove and show TSA agents her prosthetic breast.
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