The Republic | azcentral.com Tue Dec 10, 2013 1:14 AM

Arizona could become the first state in the nation to try to prevent the National Security Agency from spying on its residents.

Sen. Kelli Ward, R-Lake Havasu City, said she plans to introduce legislation in the upcoming session, which begins Jan. 13, that would prevent state and local law-enforcement agencies from providing any material support to the NSA and make information collected by the intelligence agency without a warrant inadmissible in state and local courts.

“The idea is to prevent federal snooping on law-abiding citizens in Arizona without constitutional authority,” Ward said. “This keeps our state and local agencies from supporting those kinds of activities.”

After the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, U.S. intelligence agencies established a warrantless program to monitor phone calls and e-mails between individuals suspected of having ties to terrorism. But information leaked in recent months by former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden has revealed the program went far beyond what most citizens realized.

Ward’s bill will be based on model legislation developed by the OffNow Coalition, a group of constitutional-rights organizations, including the Tenth Amendment Center. The model legislation is titled the Fourth Amendment Protection Act.

It has four components:

Prohibit state and local agencies from providing material support to the NSA, including barring government-owned utilities from supplying it with water or electricity.

Make information gathered by the NSA without a warrant inadmissible in local and state courts.

Block public universities from serving as NSA research facilities or recruiting grounds.

Level sanctions against private corporations that assist the NSA.

Tenth Amendment Center Communications Director Michael Maharrey said the bill’s most immediate impact would likely be on Arizona State University and the University of Arizona, which he said both work with the NSA on recruiting and research.

“One of the aspects of the Fourth Amendment Protection Act would be to essentially either limit state funding or use state funding to encourage state-run schools to not be part of these partnerships,” Maharrey said.

The group hopes lawmakers from multiple states will introduce the legislation. They have said they have commitments from individuals in about five states already.

“The climate in Washington, D.C., really doesn’t seem favorable for change,” Maharrey said. “We think the states have the authority to take certain actions to keep federal power in check.”

Ward is the first state lawmaker in the nation to publicly announce she’ll push a bill.

Ward said there’s no way to know how much, if any, work the NSA has conducted in Arizona without warrants. But she said she has had many constituents voice concerns about it.

“People are appalled with the thought that the federal government feels they have the jurisdiction to spy on us,” she said. “We should not be giving up our liberty, our freedom, our privacy in the name of security.”

It’s too early to predict what chances the legislation may have.

Ward last session introduced model legislation from the Tenth Amendment Center that would have required local law enforcement to ignore all federal gun restrictions.

Republican leadership never allowed the bill to go to the Senate floor for a vote.