[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2136 Introduced in House (IH)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2136

To protect the confidentiality of information acquired from the public 
                       for statistical purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 12, 2001

Mr. Sawyer (for himself and Mr. Waxman) introduced the following bill; 
        which was referred to the Committee on Government Reform

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To protect the confidentiality of information acquired from the public 
                       for statistical 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 ``Confidential Information Protection 
Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
            (1) Consumers, citizens, businesses, and other 
        organizations have varying degrees of legal protection when 
        providing information to the Federal Government for strictly 
        statistical purposes.
            (2) The integrity and credibility of pledges of 
        confidentiality by the Federal Government provide assurances to 
        the public that information about individuals or organizations 
        or provided by individuals or organizations for exclusively 
        statistical purposes will be held in confidence and will not be 
        used against such individuals or organizations in any Federal 
        Government action.
            (3) Protecting the privacy and confidentiality interests of 
        individuals or organizations who provide information for 
        Federal statistical programs serves both the interests of the 
        public and the needs of society.
            (4) Declining trust of the public in the protection of 
        information provided to the Federal Government adversely 
        affects both the accuracy and completeness of statistical 
        analyses.
            (5) Ensuring that information provided for statistical 
        purposes receives protection is essential in continuing public 
        cooperation in statistical programs.
    (b) Purposes.--The purposes of this Act are the following:
            (1) To ensure that information supplied by individuals or 
        organizations to an agency for statistical purposes is used 
        exclusively for statistical purposes.
            (2) To ensure that individuals or organizations who supply 
        information to the Federal Government for statistical purposes 
        will not have that information disclosed in identifiable form 
        for any purpose other than a statistical purpose, without the 
        consent of such individuals or organizations.
            (3) To safeguard the confidentiality of individually 
        identifiable information acquired for statistical purposes by 
        controlling access to, and uses made of, such information.
            (4) To respect the rights and privileges of the public by 
        observing and promoting fair information practices.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    As used in this Act:
            (1) The term ``respondent'' means a person who, or 
        organization that, is requested or required to supply 
        information to an agency, is the subject of information 
        requested or required to be supplied to an agency, or provides 
        that information to an agency.
            (2) The term ``identifiable form'' means any representation 
        of information that permits information concerning individual 
        subjects to be reasonably inferred by either direct or indirect 
        means.
            (3) The term ``nonstatistical purpose'' means use of data 
        in identifiable form for any purpose that is not a statistical 
        purpose, and includes any administrative, regulatory, law 
        enforcement, adjudicatory, or other purpose that affects the 
        rights, privileges, or benefits of a particular identifiable 
        respondent.
            (4) The term ``agency'' means any entity that falls within 
        the definition of the term ``executive agency'' as defined in 
        section 102 of title 31, United States Code, or ``agency'', as 
        defined in section 3502 of title 44, United States Code.
            (5) The term ``statistical purpose''--
                    (A) means the description, estimation, or analysis 
                of the characteristics of groups without regard to the 
                identities of individuals or organizations that 
                comprise such groups; and
                    (B) includes the development, implementation, or 
                maintenance of methods, technical or administrative 
                procedures, or information resources that support the 
                purposes described in subparagraph (A).
            (6) The term ``statistical agency or unit'' means an agency 
        or organizational unit of the executive branch whose activities 
        are predominantly the collection, compilation, processing, or 
        analysis of information for statistical purposes.
            (7) The term ``agent'' means a person designated by an 
        executive agency to perform, either in the capacity of a 
        Federal employee or otherwise, exclusively statistical 
        activities under the supervision or control of an officer or 
        employee of that agency, who agrees in writing to comply with 
        all provisions of law that affect information acquired by that 
        agency.

SEC. 4. LIMITATIONS ON USE AND DISCLOSURE OF DATA AND INFORMATION.

    (a) Use of Statistical Data or Information.--Data or information 
acquired by an agency for exclusively statistical purposes shall be 
used by the agency only for statistical purposes.
    (b) Disclosure of Statistical Data or Information.--Data or 
information acquired by an agency for exclusively statistical purposes 
shall not be disclosed by an agency in identifiable form, for any 
purpose other than a statistical purpose, without the informed consent 
of the respondent.
    (c) Rule for Use of Data or Information for Nonstatistical 
Purposes.--A statistical agency or unit shall clearly distinguish any 
data or information it collects for nonstatistical purposes (as 
authorized by law) by a rule that provides that the respondent 
supplying the data or information is fully informed, before the data or 
information is collected, that the data or information will be used for 
nonstatistical purposes.
    (d) Designation of Agents.--A statistical agency or unit may 
designate agents who may perform exclusively statistical activities, 
subject to the limitations and penalties described in this Act.

SEC. 5. COORDINATION AND OVERSIGHT OF POLICIES.

    (a) In General.--The Director of the Office of Management and 
Budget shall coordinate and oversee the confidentiality and disclosure 
policies established by this Act.
    (b) Review and Approval of Rules.--The Director shall review any 
rules proposed by an agency pursuant to this Act for consistency with 
the provisions of this Act and chapter 35 of title 44, United States 
Code, and such rules shall be subject to the approval of the Director.

SEC. 6. EFFECT ON OTHER LAWS.

    (a) Title 44, U.S.C.--This Act does not diminish the authority 
under section 3510 of title 44, United States Code, of the Director of 
the Office of Management and Budget to direct, and of an agency to 
make, disclosures that are not inconsistent with any applicable law.
    (b) Exemption From Freedom of Information Act.--Data or information 
acquired for exclusively statistical purposes as described in section 4 
is exempt from mandatory disclosure under section 552 of title 5, 
United States Code, pursuant to section 552(b)(3) of such title.
    (c) Preemption of State Law.--Nothing in this Act shall preempt 
applicable State law regarding the confidentiality of data collected by 
the States.
    (d) Construction.--Nothing in this Act shall be construed as 
restricting or diminishing any confidentiality protections that 
otherwise apply to data or information collected for statistical 
purposes or nonstatistical purposes.

SEC. 7. DISCLOSURE PENALTIES.

    An officer, employee, or agent of an agency who knowingly, without 
the informed consent of the respondent, discloses in identifiable form, 
for any purpose other than a statistical purpose, data or information 
acquired by an agency for an exclusively statistical purpose, shall be 
found guilty of a class E felony and imprisoned for not more than 5 
years, or fined not more than $250,000, or both.
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