[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 119 (Monday, July 16, 2018)]
[House]
[Pages H6209-H6211]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1615
CREATING ADVANCED STREAMLINED ELECTRONIC SERVICES FOR CONSTITUENTS ACT 
                                OF 2018

  Mr. WALKER. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 3076) to amend section 552a of title 5, United States Code 
(commonly referred to as the Privacy Act) to require agencies to accept 
electronic release forms, and for other purposes, as amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 3076

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

[[Page H6210]]

  


     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Creating Advanced 
     Streamlined Electronic Services for Constituents Act of 
     2018'' or the ``CASES Act''.

     SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

       It is the sense of Congress that--
       (1) congressional offices provide crucial services to 
     constituents by acting as a liaison between the constituents 
     and the respective agencies;
       (2) this includes assisting constituents by making 
     inquiries and working toward resolutions on behalf of the 
     constituent with the respective agencies; and
       (3) this process should be simplified through the creation 
     of electronic forms that may be submitted under section 552a 
     of title 5, United States Code (commonly referred to as the 
     Privacy Act), thus modernizing the process for constituents 
     and improving access and efficiency of Government services 
     and agencies in order to expedite the resolution of the 
     problem for which constituents sought help.

     SEC. 3. OMB GUIDANCE ON ELECTRONIC CONSENT FORMS.

       (a) Guidance.--Not later than 1 year after the date of the 
     enactment of this Act, the Director shall issue guidance that 
     does the following:
       (1) Establishes--
       (A) standards for each agency to develop an electronic 
     identity proofing and authentication process for allowing an 
     individual to provide a prior written electronic consent form 
     for the disclosure of the individual's record under section 
     552a(b) of title 5, United States Code, or for individual 
     access to a record under section 552a(d) of such title; or
       (B) a method by which each agency can electronically 
     identity proof and authenticate an individual submitting an 
     electronic consent form through a central online portal.
       (2) Creates a template for an electronic consent form that 
     can be properly identity proofed and authenticated in 
     accordance with paragraph (1).
       (3) Requires each agency to accept the electronic consent 
     form described in paragraph (2) that provides consent from 
     any individual properly identity proofed and authenticated in 
     accordance with paragraph (1) from the individual providing 
     consent or an entity other than the individual, including a 
     congressional office, on behalf of the individual for the 
     purpose of authorizing the disclosure of the individual's 
     record in accordance with section 552a(b) or 552a(d) of title 
     5, United States Code.
       (4) Authorizes each agency to provide an online link to the 
     consolidated online portal described under subsection (b)(1).
       (b) Portal; Consent Identifier; Congressional Function.--
       (1) Consolidated online portal.--
       (A) Operation of portal.--The Director (or a designee) 
     shall operate (or designate the head of an agency to operate) 
     a consolidated online portal that allows a member of the 
     public to submit an electronic consent form in accordance 
     with the guidance issued pursuant to subsection (a) to any 
     agency from a single website.
       (B) Privacy and other features.--The portal shall include 
     features to protect the privacy of individuals using the 
     portal and may include any additional functions the Director 
     finds will improve the implementation of this section.
       (C) Use of existing website or portal.--The Director may 
     use any existing website or portal to satisfy the 
     requirements of this subsection, including the portal 
     established under section 552(m) of title 5, United States 
     Code.
       (2) Consent identifier.--The Director, or a designee, shall 
     assign each consent form submitted through the portal 
     described in paragraph (1) a consent identifier, which shall 
     be provided to the agency and the individual or entity 
     submitting the consent form. The agency shall track the 
     consent form with the consent identifier.
       (3) Congressional assistance function.--
       (A) In general.--The Director, or a designee, shall ensure 
     the operation of a function that allows a congressional 
     office to provide a publicly available online link to the 
     portal described in paragraph (1), which shall auto-populate 
     information about such congressional office, including an 
     indication of consent for such office to access a record in 
     accordance with section 552a(b) of title 5, United States 
     Code, in the consent form accessed through the portal.
       (B) Notification of consent identifier required.-- The 
     Director, or a designee, shall ensure the function sends the 
     consent identifier to the congressional office when a consent 
     form is submitted to an agency through the portal as accessed 
     through the function.
       (c) Agency Compliance.--Each agency shall comply with the 
     guidance issued pursuant to subsection (a) not later than 1 
     year after the date on which such guidance is issued.
       (d) Definitions.--In this section:
       (1) Agency; individual; record.--The terms ``agency'', 
     ``individual'', and ``record'' have the meanings given those 
     terms in section 552a(a) of title 5, United States Code.
       (2) Consent identifier.--The term ``consent identifier'' 
     means a nonproprietary, unique identification number.
       (3) Director.--The term ``Director'' means the Director of 
     the Office of Management and Budget.

     SEC. 4. NO ADDITIONAL FUNDS AUTHORIZED.

       No additional funds are authorized to carry out the 
     requirements of this Act. Such requirements shall be carried 
     out using amounts otherwise authorized.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
North Carolina (Mr. Walker) and the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. 
Sarbanes) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from North Carolina.


                             General Leave

  Mr. WALKER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and 
include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from North Carolina?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. WALKER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3076, the CASES for 
Constituents Act, introduced by the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. 
Graves).
  One of the most important services we can provide our constituents is 
help in navigating the complicated bureaucracy of Federal agencies. 
Whether it is a senior who needs help with a Social Security office or 
a veteran whose benefits are delayed, as Members of Congress, we can 
often help constituents reach a real person and get better results from 
Federal agencies.
  However, in order for us to assist constituents while protecting 
their privacy rights, the Privacy Act requires constituents to complete 
and sign a consent form before agencies can provide a Member of 
Congress information about the case. The constituent prints the form or 
obtains it in person from a congressional office, signs it, and then 
mails, faxes, emails, or physically brings it back to the congressional 
office. The congressional office then must send the consent form to the 
agency from which the constituent needs help.
  This process has unnecessary steps, leading to delays that frustrate 
our constituents, many of whom need help quickly.
  H.R. 3076 helps to speed up the process by allowing constituents to 
submit Privacy Act consent forms electronically directly to the agency 
or a central portal. H.R. 3076 instructs the Office of Management and 
Budget to issue guidance to Federal agencies to accept electronic 
consent. OMB's guidance will maintain a role for congressional 
caseworkers to advocate on behalf of constituents for a swift 
resolution.
  A swift resolution is especially important for those constituents in 
the wake of natural disasters, since victims often need to reach out to 
multiple Federal entities for relief. At a time when many citizens need 
help from their government, allowing them to communicate more easily 
with the government is the very least we can do.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank Representatives Garret Graves and 
Joe Kennedy for introducing this bill to improve constituents' 
experiences when they are seeking help.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this practical solution, 
and I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. SARBANES. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I support this bill, the CASES for Constituents Act, 
introduced by Representatives Garret Graves and Joe Kennedy.
  This bill, as you heard, would modernize the way Federal agencies 
process Privacy Act waivers and make it easier for Members of Congress 
to help constituents get assistance from Federal agents. We all know 
what this means. It helps to speed up the process of assisting your 
constituents, so it is a very valuable improvement.
  A constituent has to provide an agency with written consent before a 
congressional office can obtain information from the agency on behalf 
of the constituent. Some agencies, as we have heard and know, have 
outdated policies and still require these consent forms to be mailed or 
faxed. Under the bill before us, the Office of Management and Budget 
would be required to establish standards for Federal agencies to accept 
electronic consent forms and for agencies to accept such forms.
  The bill also would require the OMB to operate a consolidated online 
portal that would allow individuals to submit electronic consent forms 
and to track

[[Page H6211]]

the status of their form. The bill would also allow congressional 
offices to provide online links to the portal.
  I appreciate very much the bipartisan way in which this bill was 
developed. I want to thank the majority for their cooperation in making 
a number of improvements to the bill; for example, the substitute 
amendment would require OMB to include features to protect the privacy 
of individuals who use the consolidated online portal required under 
the bill.
  Mr. Speaker, this is a good, bipartisan bill. I urge my colleagues to 
support it, and I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. WALKER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from 
Louisiana (Mr. Graves), the sponsor of this bill.
  Mr. GRAVES of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman 
from North Carolina for working with us on this, as well as many staff 
and members from the Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
  Mr. Speaker, can you imagine for a minute if you had a medical 
emergency at your house and you had to mail a form to the ambulance 
service to have them come address the heart attack victim or other type 
of medical emergency that is occurring at your house? How irrational is 
that? Obviously, it doesn't make sense to do something like that, to 
mail for something that may be an emergency.
  Mr. Speaker, can you imagine, even in today's time, with the strict 
demands we have for customer service, if we actually had to truly mail 
order forms to different online companies to have them deliver 
something, to retail outlets to have them deliver something, a product 
to our house? There would be no tolerance for that.
  In fact, Mr. Speaker, the government right now, the government today, 
our own United States Government which is here to serve our own 
Americans, only has a customer service rating of about 70 percent. In 
fact, it is less than 70 percent.

  Well, that might have been a high watermark for my grades in school--
maybe--Mr. Speaker, but that is absolutely an unacceptable level. This 
is our government. These are our taxpayers.
  Why is it that private industry has been able to use technology to 
provide better customer service, to provide faster services? It is 
because they care about their customers and they care about their 
business and there is an incentive for them to do so. They don't have a 
monopoly, like the Federal Government does, for many of the services 
that it offers, but that does not excuse the Federal Government from 
providing better services.
  Mr. Speaker, I had an opportunity to work very closely with 
Congressman Joe Kennedy to help develop this legislation, and this is a 
solution to help bring the United States Government into the 21st 
century, or perhaps the 20th century. It simply does the same thing 
that private companies have figured out how to do for decades now, 
where we can access our banks online, we can access our insurance 
online, where we can go online to buy groceries and virtually any other 
good or service that we need. We can even file our own taxes with the 
Federal Government.
  Yet the Privacy Act of 1974, as it is implemented today, requires, in 
order for us to provide services to our constituents, which may be an 
emergency situation, that they have to print out a form and mail it in, 
and that we then have to take and mail it to an agency. That is 
ridiculous in 2018, and it is unacceptable.
  This bipartisan legislation addresses that. It allows for people to 
access their own government, access government services to address 
important things like, perhaps, accessing their VA benefits; like, 
perhaps, fixing a wrong the IRS has caused; like, perhaps, dislodging a 
permit or some other type of service the government is supposed to 
provide and has been sitting on, in some cases as we have dealt with, 
for years.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to tell you a quick story.
  In 2016, in August of that year, in my hometown of Baton Rouge in 
south Louisiana, we experienced a 1,000-year flood. People were calling 
us by the hundreds per day, calling and saying: I need help. I need 
help with FEMA, SBA, and other government services.
  We said: Yes, you bet. All you need to do is go to our website, print 
out this form, and then mail it to us.
  Mr. Speaker, I can't say on the House floor some of the responses our 
office received whenever they were telling us about the 4 feet of water 
that their computers and printers and other equipment were under. It 
was a real aha moment.
  How ridiculous is it that we sit here and act like we are 80 years 
ago as a government? We can do better.
  This simply brings us to current technology, to allow constituents to 
reach out to our offices when we are addressing urgent issues, like 
passport issues for folks stuck in other countries, like Department of 
Defense issues where our own military men and women may be having 
problems in other countries, where our own citizens aren't getting the 
benefits that they paid for or they earned. It gives us the ability to 
quickly step in and address their issues, to intervene on their behalf 
and get these issues resolved.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to thank, especially, my friend Joe Kennedy for 
working with us so closely on this bipartisan legislation, 
Congresswoman Mimi Walters, Congressman Gene Green, Congressmen Will 
Hurd and Kevin McCarthy through the Innovation Initiative, Congressman 
Mark Meadows, Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, Congresswoman Barbara 
Comstock, and many others who provided input to us, helped us perfect 
this legislation and get it here today. I want to thank the bipartisan 
cosponsors and folks who helped us on this.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption.
  Mr. SARBANES. Mr. Speaker, obviously this bill would work a very 
substantial improvement on our constituent services operations. I have 
no further speakers.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge the passage of H.R. 3076, and I yield back the 
balance of my time.
  Mr. WALKER. Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of the bill, and I yield 
back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Walker) that the House suspend the 
rules and pass the bill, H.R. 3076, as amended.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
  The title of the bill was amended so as to read: ``A bill to require 
the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to issue guidance 
on electronic consent forms, and for other purposes.''.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

                          ____________________