Reliably Austin
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Don't Ask, Don't Touch

The Texas House sends a message to the TSA: Watch where you're touching airline passengers.
Photo by Nathan Bernier for KUT News
The Texas House sends a message to the TSA: Watch where you're touching airline passengers.

The Texas Senate will consider a bill that would ban public servants from touching people in otherwise private areas of the body during a pat-down search.

The House passed a measure Friday that prohibits officers--including TSA screeners--from touching specific sensitive areas around a person's groin or backside.  State Rep. David Simpson (R-Longview) believes airport security screeners make travelers feel like criminals as they board a plane.  Becca Aaronson of our political reporting partner, the Texas Tribune, has a write-up about the bill here.

Ian Crawford joined KUT as News Editor in 2008, after spending over four years as a reporter/anchor at KLBJ Radio in Austin. He began his broadcasting career while still in high school in Southern Oregon. During high school and college at the University of Oregon, he worked at times as a reporter, news anchor, sports play-by-play reporter, music host and commercial producer before moving to Texas in 2003.