[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5084 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5084

   To amend title 13, United States Code, to improve the accuracy of 
             census address lists, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 23, 1994

 Mr. Sawyer (for himself, Mr. Petri, Miss Collins of Michigan, and Mr. 
  McCloskey) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
               Committee on Post Office and Civil Service

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend title 13, United States Code, to improve the accuracy of 
             census address lists, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Census Address List Improvement Act 
of 1994''.

SEC. 2. ADDRESS INFORMATION REVIEWED BY LOCAL GOVERNMENTS.

    (a) In General.--Chapter 1 of title 13, United States Code, is 
amended by adding after section 15 the following new section:
``Sec. 16. Address information reviewed by States and local governments
    ``(a) The Secretary, to assist efforts to ensure the accuracy of 
censuses and surveys under this title, shall--
            ``(1) publish standards defining the content and structure 
        of address information which States and local units of general 
        purpose government may submit to the Secretary to be used in 
        developing a national address list;
            ``(2)(A) develop and publish a timetable for the Bureau to 
        receive, review, and respond to submissions of information 
        under paragraph (1) before the decennial census date; and
            ``(B) provide for a response by the Bureau with respect to 
        such submissions in which the Bureau specifies its 
        determinations regarding such information and the reasons for 
        such determinations; and
            ``(3) be subject to the review process developed under 
        section 3 of the Census Address List Improvement Act of 1994 
        relating to responses pursuant to paragraph (2).
    ``(b)(1) The Secretary--
            ``(A) may provide officials who are designated as census 
        liaisons by a local unit of general purpose government with 
        access to census address information for the purpose of 
        verifying the accuracy of the address information of the Bureau 
        for census and survey purposes; and
            ``(B) together with such access, should provide an 
        explanation of duties and obligations under this title.
    ``(2) Access under paragraph (1) shall be limited to address 
information concerning addresses within the local unit of general 
purpose government represented by the census liaison or an adjacent 
local unit of general purpose government.
    ``(3) The Bureau should respond to each recommendation made by a 
census liaison concerning the accuracy of address information, 
including the determination (and reasons therefor) of the Bureau 
regarding each such recommendation.
    ``(4) For the purposes of paragraph (1), in a case in which a local 
unit of general purpose government is within another local unit of 
general purpose government and is not independent of the enclosing 
unit, the census liaison shall be designated by the local unit of 
general purpose government which is within the enclosing local unit of 
general purpose government.
    ``(5) A census liaison may not use information made available under 
paragraph (1) for any purpose other than the purpose specified in 
paragraph (1).
    ``(c) For the purposes of this section--
            ``(1) the term `local unit of general purpose government' 
        has the meaning given such term by section 184(1) of this 
        title; and
            ``(2) the term `State' includes the District of Columbia, 
        the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Commonwealth of the 
        Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, Guam, the Virgin 
        Islands, and any other territory or possession of the United 
        States.''.
    (b) Confidentiality.--Section 9(a) of such title is amended--
            (1) by inserting ``or local government census liaison,'' 
        after ``thereof,''; and
            (2) by inserting ``or 16'' after ``section 8''.
    (c) Penalty.--Section 214 of such title is amended by inserting 
``or whoever, being or having been a census liaison within the meaning 
of section 16 of this title,'' after ``title,'' the second place it 
appears.
    (d) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections at the beginning of 
chapter 1 of such title is amended by inserting after the item relating 
to section 15 the following:

        ``16. Address information reviewed by local governments.''.

SEC. 3. DEVELOPMENT OF APPEALS PROCESS BY ADMINISTRATOR OF THE OFFICE 
              OF INFORMATION AND REGULATORY AFFAIRS.

    The Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory 
Affairs, acting through the Chief Statistician and in consultation with 
the Bureau of the Census, shall develop an appeals process for those 
States and local units of general purpose government which desire to 
appeal determinations of the Bureau of the Census pursuant to section 
16(a)(2) or (b)(3) of title 13, United States Code. Appeals under such 
process shall be resolved before the decennial census date. The Chief 
Statistician shall publish the proposed appeals process for a period of 
public comment before finalizing such process.

SEC. 4. AUTHORITY OF UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE TO SHARE ADDRESS 
              LISTS.

    Section 412 of title 39, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) by striking out ``Except'' and all that follows through 
        ``law,'' and inserting in lieu thereof ``(a) Except as 
        specifically provided by subsection (b) or other law,''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(b) The Postal Service shall provide to the Secretary of Commerce 
for use by the Bureau of the Census such address information, address-
related information, and point of postal delivery information, 
including postal delivery codes, as may be determined by the Secretary 
to be appropriate for any census or survey being conducted by the 
Bureau of the Census. The provision of such information under this 
subsection shall be in accordance with such mutually agreeable terms 
and conditions, including reimbursability, as the Postal Service and 
the Secretary of Commerce shall deem appropriate.''.
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