[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 234 (Friday, December 5, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 64408-64409]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-31906]


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RAILROAD RETIREMENT BOARD


Privacy Act of 1974; Proposed Changes To Systems of Records

AGENCY: Railroad Retirement Board.

ACTION: Notice of proposed change to a system of records.

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SUMMARY: The purpose of this document is to give notice of a proposed 
routine use in one system of records and an addition to the categories 
of records in the same system.

DATES: The amendment to the categories of records shall become 
effective as proposed without further notice in 40 calendar days from 
the date of this publication unless OMB approves the RRB request for 
waiver of the 40-day advanced notice requirement for new or altered 
system reports, in which case the altered system, with the exception of 
the proposed routine use, will become effective as of the date the 
waiver is granted. The routine use will be effective not earlier than 
30 calendar days from the date of this publication unless comments are 
received before this date which would result in a contrary 
determination.

ADDRESSES: Send comments to Beatrice Ezerski, Secretary to the Board, 
Railroad Retirement Board, 844 North Rush Street, Chicago, Illinois 
60611-2092.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
LeRoy Blommaert, Privacy Act Officer, Railroad Retirement Board, 844 
North Rush Street, Chicago, Illinois 60611-2092, (312) 751-4548.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Since 1938, the Railroad Retirement Board 
(RRB) has provided current railroad workers with a yearly statement of 
their commulative service and compensation. (This information is 
contained in Privacy Act System of Records RRB-5, Master File of 
Employees Creditable Compensation.) For many years, the statements were 
mailed to the railroad employers for distribution to their workers. 
Beginning in 1985 railroad employers were given the option of 
furnishing the RRB with address information for their employees, in 
which case, the RRB would mail the statements to the employees. In 
time, all of the Class I (large) railroads, which account for over 80% 
of railroad workers, plus many of the medium-size railroads elected 
this option, so that today the RRB mails over 96 percent of the service 
and compensation statements directly to the rail employees.
    Originally, address information furnished by the railroad employer 
was kept in computerized tape format for 1 year until the following 
year's submissions from railroad employers. Beginning in 1994, the RRB 
began to retain the address information in an on-line environment, so 
that it could be accessed by computer terminal along with various 
service and compensation data about a particular employee.
    The proposed routine use (``q'' for RRB-5) would authorize the RRB 
to disclose to a Member of Congress the name and address of a Member's 
railroad worker constituent in order that the Member could communicate 
with him or her about legislation affecting the railroad retirement or 
unemployment/sickness insurance system.
    The Railroad Retirement Board has determined that this proposed 
routine use meets the compatibility requirement because it is a 
necessary and proper use. The RRB previously published routine uses 
allowing disclosure of name and address information of retirement 
annuitants and unemployment and sickness claimants to Members of 
Congress (RRB-21, ``x''; RRB-22, ``ff''). Thus, publication of this 
proposed routine use would bring this system of records into conformity 
with the other two main systems of records containing name and address 
information with respect to disclosure to Members of Congress for the 
same purpose.
    On November 17, 1997, the Railroad Retirement Board filed an 
altered system report for this system with the chairmen of the 
designated Senate and House committees and with the Office of 
Management and Budget. This was done to comply with Section 3 of the 
Privacy Act of 1974 and OMB Circular No. A-130, Appendix I.

    By Authority of the Board.
Beatrice Ezerski,
Secretary to the Board.

RRB-5

System name:

    Master File of Railroad Employees' Creditable Compensation--RRB
* * * * *
    This section is revised to read as follows:

Categories of records in the system:

    Individual name, social security number, claim number, date of 
birth, sex, race, last employer identification number, amount of daily 
pay rate if under $100, ICC occupation code, creditable service and 
compensation from 1937 to date, and home address.
* * * * *

Routine uses of records maintained in the system, including categories 
of users and the purposes of such uses:

* * * * *
    A new paragraph ``q'' is added to read as follows:
    q. The name and address of a railroad worker may be released to a 
Member of Congress when the Member requests it

[[Page 64409]]

in order that he or she may communicate with the worker about 
legislation which affects the railroad retirement or railroad 
unemployment and sickness insurance program.

[FR Doc. 97-31906 Filed 12-4-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7905-01-M