[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 152 (Monday, August 9, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 43139-43140]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-20445]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Office of the Secretary


Privacy Act; System of Records

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of New Privacy Act System of Records.

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SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that USDA proposes to create a new 
Privacy Act system of records, USDA/NOO-1, entitled ``The USDA 
Voluntary Minority Farm Register.''.

EFFECTIVE DATE: This notice will be adopted without further publication 
in the Federal Register on September 20, 1999, unless modified by a 
subsequent notice to incorporate comments received from the public. 
Although the Privacy Act requires only that the portion of the system 
which describes the ``routine uses'' of the system be published for 
comment, USDA invites comment on all portions of this notice. Comments 
must be received by the contact person listed below on or before 
September 8, 1999.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Rich Allen, Associate Administrator, 
NASS, Room 4117 South Building, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW, 
Washington DC, 20250, Telephone: (202) 720-4333.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant to the Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C. 552a, 
USDA is creating a new system of records to be maintained by the USDA 
Office of Outreach. The Voluntary Minority Farm Register is a listing 
of minority owners and operators of farmland.
    The purpose of the Voluntary Minority Farm Register is to establish 
a baseline for the amount of farmland owned by minority land owners in 
order to help the USDA set goals to halt the reduction in minority-
owned farm land, monitor the loss of minority owned farms, and locate 
minority farmers for the purpose of informing them of USDA and other 
programs that may benefit them. The concept was generated by 
Recommendation #28 of the Report of the Civil Rights Action Team to the 
Secretary of Agriculture entitled Civil Rights at the United States 
Department of Agriculture, dated February 1997.
    The Voluntary Minority Farm Register will be administered by the 
Office of Outreach. A specific register sign-up form will be issued in 
Spanish and English. Informational registration materials will be 
distributed to Community Based Organizations, educational institutions, 
and government agencies assisting minorities with land retention and 
acquisition to ensure the program is widely publicized and accessible 
to all.
    A ``Report on New System,'' required by 5 U.S.C. 552a(r), as 
implemented by OMB Circular A-130, was sent to the Chairman, Committee 
on Government Affairs, United States Senate, the Chairman, Committee on 
Government Reform and Oversight, House of Representatives, and the 
Administrator, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of 
Management and Budget on July 30, 1999.

    Signed at Washington, DC, on July 30, 1999.
Dan Glickman,
Secretay of Agriculture.
USDA/NOO-1

SYSTEM NAME:
    USDA Voluntary Minority Farm Register.

SECURITY CLASSIFICATION:
    None.

SYSTEM LOCATION:
    USDA Office of Outreach, 1400 Independence Avenue, Washington, D.C.

CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS COVERED BY THE SYSTEM:
    Minority farmland owners and operators who voluntarily request to 
be included on the Register.

CATEGORIES OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
    The system includes name, address, race/ethnic coding provided by 
the individual, and farmland acreages owned and operated for each 
individual who requested to be included on the Register. Acreage data 
are extracted from Farm Service Agency records for the requesting 
individuals.

AUTHORITY FOR MAINTENANCE OF THE SYSTEM:
    Section 2501 of Public Law 101-624 (the 1990 Farm Bill), entitled 
Outreach and Assistance for Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and 
Ranchers, provides authority for the USDA to enter into special 
arrangements to aid limited resource and under-served farmers. The 
Voluntary Minority Farm Register was one specific action requested 
during Civil Rights Action Team Public Meetings and documented in the 
Civil Rights Action Team Report of February 1997.

ROUTINE USES OF RECORDS MAINTAINED IN THE SYSTEM, INCLUDING CATEGORIES 
OF USERS AND THE PURPOSES OF SUCH USES:
    (1) Records in the system will be disclosed and distributed to 
Community Based Organizations, educational institutions, and government 
agencies assisting minorities with land retention

[[Page 43140]]

and acquisition. The purpose of such releases is to ensure that the 
program of outreach and assistance for socially disadvantaged farmers 
and ranchers is widely publicized and accessible to all.
    (2) USDA will disclose information in the system to a court or 
adjudicative body in a proceeding when: (a) The agency or any component 
thereof; or (b) any employee of the agency in his or her official 
capacity; or (c) any employee of the agency in his or her individual 
capacity where the agency has agreed to represent the employee; or (d) 
the United States Government is a party to litigation or has an 
interest in such litigation, and by careful review, determines that the 
records are both relevant and necessary to the litigation and the use 
of such records is therefore deemed by the agency to be for a purpose 
compatible with the purpose for which the agency collected the records.
    (3) When a record on its face, or in conjunction with other 
records, indicates a violation or potential violation of law, whether 
civil, criminal or regulatory in nature, and whether arising by general 
statute or particular program statute, or by regulation, rule, or order 
issued pursuant thereto, disclosure may be made to the appropriate 
agency, whether Federal, foreign, State, local, or tribal, or other 
public authority responsible for enforcing, investigating or 
prosecuting such violation or charged with enforcing or implementing 
the statute, or rule, regulation, or order issued pursuant thereto, if 
the information disclosed is relevant to any enforcement, regulatory, 
investigative or prospective responsibility of the receiving entity.
    (4) USDA will disclose information in the system to a Member of 
Congress or to a Congressional staff member in response to an inquiry 
of the Congressional office made at the written request of the 
constituent about whom the record is maintained.
    (5) Records from this system of records may be disclosed to the 
National Archives and Records Administration or to the General Service 
Administration for records management inspections conducted under 44 
U.S.C. 2904 and 2906.
    (6) USDA will disclose information in the system to agency 
contractors, grantees, experts, consultants or volunteers who have been 
engaged by the agency to assist in the performance of a service related 
to this system of records and who need to have access to the records in 
order to perform the activity. Recipients shall be required to comply 
with the requirements of the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended, pursuant 
to 5 U.S.C. 552a(m).

POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR STORING, RETRIEVING, ACCESSING, RETAINING, 
AND DISPOSING OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
STORAGE:
    Records will be stored by the USDA Office of Outreach as electronic 
files; from time to time portions may be converted to and maintained in 
paper format.

RETRIEVABILITY:
    Files will be referenced by county location of farmland.

SAFEGUARDS:
    Records, both paper and electronic, are accessible only to 
authorized personnel and are maintained in offices that are locked 
during non-duty hours. Organizations requesting access to the Voluntary 
Minority Farm Register records for specific farmland retention related 
activities must make application to the USDA Office of Outreach, 
outlining their proposed use of the records. If the proposal is 
approved, the Office of Outreach will create the appropriate print or 
electronic files to meet the request. In case of requests for names and 
addresses in just a few counties, an alternative access procedure may 
be used in which the USDA Office of Outreach informs USDA County 
Service Centers what organizations have been approved. In those cases, 
an approved organization can obtain printed files at the appropriate 
county offices.

RETENTION AND DISPOSAL:
    The current Voluntary Minority Farm Register will be recreated at 
biennial intervals, in order to update name and address information and 
to ensure the inclusion of any changes in farmland ownership recorded 
in Farm Service Agency records. A letter will be sent to all Register 
participants. The letter will clarify that there is no need for action 
if name, address or farmland circumstances have not changed. A master 
file of each generation of the Voluntary Minority Farm Register will be 
kept in locked file cabinets until 6 years after creation and then 
destroyed by shredding or burning in accordance with approved record 
retention schedules.

SYSTEM MANAGER(S) AND ADDRESS:
    Office of the Director, Office of Outreach, USDA, James L. Whitten 
Building, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20250.

NOTIFICATION PROCEDURE:
    Any individual may request information regarding this system of 
records from the system manager.

RECORD ACCESS PROCEDURES:
    Any individual who has volunteered to be included on the Voluntary 
Minority Farm Register may gain access to register records which 
pertain to him or her by submitting a written request to the system 
manager or by visiting his or her local USDA Service Center and 
submitting a written request.

CONTESTING RECORD PROCEDURES:
    Any individual may contest a record in the Register that pertains 
to him or her by submitting pertinent written information to the system 
manager.

RECORD SOURCE CATEGORIES:
    Information in this system comes only from the individuals who 
voluntarily sign up for the Register.

EXEMPTIONS CLAIMED FOR THE SYSTEM:
    None.

[FR Doc. 99-20445 Filed 8-6-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-01-M