Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, on Thursday renewed his bid to clarify how the U.S. government can access electronic data stored abroad, reintroducing legislation that has the support of Microsoft Corp. as it fights a U.S. search warrant for information stored on an overseas server.

The Law Enforcement Access to Data Stored Abroad (LEADS) Act, which died in committee last year, wouldn't let U.S. authorities use a warrant to acquire data abroad unless the information sought belongs to a U.S. citizen. The legislation also would require a court to change or reject a warrant to an email or cloud-service provider if the court determines it violates a foreign country's laws.

The measure, an update to the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) of 1986, would “promote international comity and law enforcement cooperation,” Hatch said in remarks prepared for a technology conference in Washington. The decades-old statute dictates how the government can access individuals' electronic data.