<P> The Email Privacy Act is a bill introduced in the United States Congress . The bipartisan proposed federal law is sponsored by Representative Kevin Yoder, a Republican from Kansas, and Representative Jared Polis, a Democrat of Colorado . The law is designed to update and reform existing online communications law, specifically the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) of 1986 . In the 113th Congress (2013 - 14), the bill never made it out of subcommittee . In the 114th Congress (2015 - 16), the bill was unanimously passed by the House, but was derailed in the Senate following a series of weakening amendments offered by Republican Senator John Cornyn of Texas, the Senate Majority Whip . In the 115th Congress (2017 - 18), it was passed by the House on a voice vote . </P> <P> The legislation would require authorities such as the U.S. Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission to obtain a search warrant to access emails, data in cloud storage and other digital communications more than 180 days old . </P> <P> Under current law--the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) of 1986--authorities can obtain such data by issuing an administrative subpoena to an Internet service provider, without the need to obtain judicial approval . The Congressional Research Service reported in 2015 that: "In recent years, ECPA has faced increased criticism from both the tech and privacy communities that it has outlived its usefulness in the digital era and does not provide adequate privacy safeguards for individuals' electronic communications . In light of these concerns, various reform bills have been introduced in the past several Congresses ..." </P>

Which u.s. members of congress sponsored the ecpa amendments act of 2013 and the email privacy act