[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 49 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 H. R. 49

  To amend title 39, United States Code, to prevent the United States 
  Postal Service from disclosing the names or addresses of any postal 
       patrons or other persons, except under certain conditions.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 7, 1997

  Mr. Condit introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
              Committee on Government Reform and Oversight

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend title 39, United States Code, to prevent the United States 
  Postal Service from disclosing the names or addresses of any postal 
       patrons or other persons, except under certain conditions.

    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 ``Postal Privacy Act of 1997''.

SEC. 2. CONDITIONS FOR DISCLOSURE OF NAMES OR ADDRESSES.

    (a) In General.--Section 412 of title 39, United States Code, is 
amended to read as follows:
``Sec. 412. Conditions for disclosure of names or addresses
    ``(a) No officer or employee of the Postal Service may make 
available to the public, by any means or for any purpose, any names or 
addresses (past or present) of postal patrons or other persons, except 
as provided under subsection (b) or as otherwise specifically provided 
by law.
    ``(b) The Postal Service shall prescribe such regulations as may be 
necessary to carry out this section. Under the regulations, no 
disclosure described in subsection (a) shall be allowable except if, or 
to the extent that--
            ``(1) the disclosure consists of information which--
                    ``(A) relates to a change of address; and
                    ``(B) was obtained from a person in accordance with 
                subsection (c);
            ``(2) permission to disclose has not been denied under 
        subsection (c)(2); and
            ``(3) the disclosure would contribute to the efficiency of 
        postal operations.
    ``(c) Any form used by the Postal Service to obtain information 
from a person relating to a change of address shall include--
            ``(1) notice of the Postal Service's information practices 
        under this section, including how, and to whom, any information 
        furnished on such form may be disclosed; and
            ``(2) a means for such person to deny permission for the 
        Postal Service to disclose any information furnished on such 
        form.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendment.--The table of sections for chapter 4 of 
title 39, United States Code, is amended by striking the item relating 
to section 412 and inserting the following:

``412. Conditions for disclosure of names or addresses.''.
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