[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 199 Introduced in House (IH)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 199

To amend rule 26 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure to provide for 
the confidentiality of a personnel record or personal information of a 
                        law enforcement officer.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 3, 2001

 Mr. Sweeney introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                       Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend rule 26 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure to provide for 
the confidentiality of a personnel record or personal information of a 
                        law enforcement officer.

    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 ``Law Enforcement Officers Privacy 
Protection Act''.

SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS.

    Rule 26 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (28 U.S.C. App.) is 
amended by inserting after subdivision (b)(5) the following:
            ``(6) Law enforcement personnel records.--
                    ``(A) A party may obtain discovery of law 
                enforcement personnel records otherwise discoverable 
                under subdivision (b)(1) of this rule only upon a 
                showing by the party seeking discovery that there 
                exists a reasonable basis, supported by facts, for 
                contending that the records sought are necessary and 
                material to an issue involved in the pending action.
                    ``(B) The court may, in the court's discretion and 
                after in camera review of such records, order discovery 
                of such records when the required showing has been 
                made, subject to a protective order.
                    ``(C) Notwithstanding subdivision (b)(1) of this 
                rule, a party may not obtain discovery of any matter by 
                reason of its relevance with respect to, or its use in 
                leading to the discovery of admissible evidence as to, 
                the existence of the reasonable basis referred to in 
                subdivision (b)(6)(A) of this rule.
                    ``(D) For purposes of this subdivision (b)(6), the 
                term `law enforcement personnel records' means 
                documents in the custody of any public or private 
                entity (including an individual law enforcement 
                officer) carrying out a law enforcement function, or 
                any element of the Federal Government, a State, or a 
                unit of local government by whose authority that entity 
                carries out that function, to the extent they contain 
                any of the following information:
                            ``(i) Information collected or maintained 
                        for the purpose of evaluating the performance 
                        of a law enforcement officer with respect to 
                        that officer's continued employment or 
                        promotion.
                            ``(ii) Information collected or maintained 
                        for the purpose of evaluating a candidate for 
                        hire as a law enforcement officer.
                            ``(iii) Information of a personal nature 
                        concerning a law enforcement officer or a 
                        member of that officer's immediate family.
                    ``(E) For purposes of this subdivision (b)(6), the 
                term `law enforcement officer' means an individual 
                involved in crime and juvenile delinquency control or 
                reduction, or enforcement of the laws, including, but 
                not limited to, police, corrections, probation, parole, 
                and judicial officers.''.

SEC. 3. APPLICATION OF AMENDMENT.

    The amendment made by this Act shall apply to any civil action 
filed after the date of the enactment of this Act.
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