II

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1589

To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit any State motor vehicle

department from disclosing certain personal information about a person

doing business with such department.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

OCTOBER 26 (legislative day, OCTOBER 13), 1993

Mrs. BOXER (for herself, Mr. WARNER, Mr. DECONCINI, Mrs. FEINSTEIN,

Mr. WOFFORD, Ms. MOSELEY-BRAUN, Mr. METZENBAUM, Mrs. MURRAY,

Mr. HARKIN, Ms. MIKULSKI, and Mr. FEINGOLD) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Governmental Affairs

A BILL

To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit any

State motor vehicle department from disclosing certain

personal information about a person doing business with

such department.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; PURPOSE.

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the

5 ‘‘Driver’s Privacy Protection Act of 1993’’.
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1 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to protect

2 the personal privacy and safety of licensed drivers consist3 ent with the legitimate needs of business and government.

4 SEC. 2. AMENDMENT TO TITLE 18, UNITED STATES CODE.

5 Title 18 of the United States Code is amended by

6 inserting immediately after chapter 121, the following new

7 chapter:

8 ‘‘CHAPTER 122—PROHIBITION ON RE9 LEASE OF CERTAIN PERSONAL INFOR10 MATION

‘‘Sec. 2720. Prohibition on release of certain personal information.

‘‘Sec. 2721. Unlawful use of personal information.

‘‘Sec. 2722. Definitions.

‘‘Sec. 2723. Penalties.

‘‘Sec. 2724. Effect on State and local laws.

11 ‘‘§ 2720. Prohibition on release of certain personal in12 formation

13 ‘‘(a) DISCLOSURE.—It is unlawful for any depart14 ment of motor vehicles of any State or any other person

15 or organization to disclose or obtain, except as authorized

16 by this chapter, personal information about any individual

17 obtained by such department in connection with a motor

18 vehicle operator’s permit, motor vehicle title, identification

19 card, or motor vehicle registration issued by the depart20 ment to that individual, unless such individual has author21 ized such disclosure.

22 ‘‘(b) EXCEPTIONS.—It is not unlawful to disclose or

23 obtain personal information, otherwise unlawful under this
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1 chapter, for any of the following routine uses if the person

2 receiving such information has certified to the Department

3 that the information will be used only for one of the speci4 fied permissible purposes:

5 ‘‘(1) For the use of any Federal, State or local

6 court in carrying out its functions.

7 ‘‘(2) For the use of any Federal, State or local

8 agency in carrying out its functions, including a law

9 enforcement agency.

10 ‘‘(3) For the use in connection with matters of

11 automobile and driver safety, including manufactur12 ers of motor vehicles conducting a recall of motor

13 vehicles.

14 ‘‘(4) For the use in any civil or criminal pro15 ceeding in any Federal, State or local court, if such

16 proceeding involves a motor vehicle.

17 ‘‘(5) For use in research activities, if the motor

18 vehicle department determines that such information

19 will not be used to contact the individual and that

20 individual is not identified or associated with the re21 quested personal information.

22 ‘‘(6) For use in marketing activities if the

23 motor vehicle department—

24 ‘‘(A) has provided the individual with re25 gard to whom the information is requested with
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1 the opportunity, in a clear and conspicuous

2 manner, to prohibit a disclosure of such infor3 mation for marketing activities;

4 ‘‘(B) has received assurances that the in5 formation will be used, rented, or sold solely for

6 a permissible use under this chapter, including

7 marketing activities; and

8 ‘‘(C) has received assurances from any per9 son purchasing such information from a motor

10 vehicle department for marketing purposes that

11 such person will keep complete records identify12 ing any person to whom they sell or rent the in13 formation and the permissible purpose for

14 which the purchaser will use the information.

15 ‘‘(7) For use by any insurer or insurance sup16 port organization, or their employees, agents, and

17 contractors, in connection with claims investigation

18 activities and antifraud activities.

19 ‘‘(8) For use by any organization, or its agent,

20 in connection with a business transaction, when the

21 purpose is to verify the accuracy of personal infor22 mation submitted to that business or agent by the

23 person to whom such information pertains, or, if the

24 information submitted is not accurate, to obtain cor25 rect information for the purpose of pursuing rem-
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1 edies against a person who provided false informa2 tion or presented a check or similar item that was

3 not honored.

4 ‘‘(9)(A) For use by any organization, if such or5 ganization has certified that it has obtained a state6 ment from the person to whom the information per7 tains authorizing the disclosure of such information

8 under this chapter in accordance with an agreement

9 entered into pursuant to subparagraph (B).

10 ‘‘(B) Any motor vehicle department of a State

11 is authorized to enter into an agreement with any

12 organization under subparagraph (A) pursuant to

13 which the motor vehicle department may subse14 quently release information to that organization on

15 the basis of a certification that the entity has ob16 tained or will have obtained consent from the indi17 vidual to whom the information pertains to obtain

18 such personal information from the State motor ve19 hicle department.

20 ‘‘§ 2721. Unlawful use of personal information

21 ‘‘(a) UNLAWFUL ACTS BY STATE MOTOR VEHICLE

22 DEPARTMENTS, ORGANIZATIONS OR PERSONS.—It is un23 lawful for any State motor vehicle department or organiza24 tion or person to disclose, sell or otherwise make available,
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1 or use personal information about any individual referred

2 to in section 2720 except in accordance with this chapter.

3 ‘‘(b) UNLAWFUL ACTS BY PERSONS OR ORGANIZA4 TIONS.—It is unlawful for any person or organization—

5 ‘‘(1) to make any false representation to obtain

6 personal information from a department of motor

7 vehicles of any State or other person about any indi8 vidual referred to in section 2720; or

9 ‘‘(2) to use personal information obtained from

10 any department of motor vehicles of any State or

11 other person for any purpose other than as re12 quested by that person or organization, or other

13 than the purpose for which such information was

14 disclosed.

15 ‘‘(c) EXCEPTION.—The prohibition referred to in

16 subsection (a) of section 2720 and subsections (a) and (b)

17 of this section shall not apply to any person to whom the

18 information pertains.

19 ‘‘§ 2722. Definitions

20 ‘‘As used in this chapter:

21 ‘‘(1) The term ‘personal information’ includes

22 an individual’s photograph, driver’s identification

23 number, name, address, telephone number, social se24 curity number, and medical and disability informa25 tion. Such term does not include information on ve-
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1 hicular accidents, driving violations, and driver’s

2 status.

3 ‘‘(2) The term ‘person’ means any individual.

4 ‘‘(3) The term ‘State’ means each of the several

5 States, District of Columbia, Commonwealth of

6 Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Guam, American

7 Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern

8 Mariana Islands.

9 ‘‘(4) The term ‘organization’ means any person

10 other than an individual, including but not limited

11 to, a corporation, association, institution, a car rent12 al agency, employer, and insurers, insurance support

13 organization, and their employees, agents, or

14 contractors.

15 ‘‘§ 2723. Penalties

16 ‘‘(a) WILLFUL VIOLATIONS.—

17 ‘‘(1) Any person who willfully violates this

18 chapter shall be fined under this title, or imprisoned

19 for a period not exceeding 12 months, or both.

20 ‘‘(2) Any organization who willfully violates this

21 chapter shall be fined under this title.

22 ‘‘(b) NONWILLFUL VIOLATIONS.—Any person or or23 ganization who violates this chapter, other than a willful

24 violation, shall be subject to a civil penalty in an amount

25 not to exceed $5,000.
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1 ‘‘(c) VIOLATIONS BY STATE DEPARTMENT OF

2 MOTOR VEHICLES.—Any State department of motor vehi3 cles which willfully violates this chapter shall be subject

4 to a civil penalty in the amount of $10,000. Each day of

5 continued noncompliance shall constitute a separate viola6 tion.

7 ‘‘§ 2724. Effect on State and local laws

8 ‘‘The provisions of this chapter shall supersede only

9 those provisions of law of any State or local government

10 which would require or permit the disclosure or use of per11 sonal information which is otherwise prohibited by this

12 chapter.’’.

13 SEC. 3. The amendments made by this Act shall take

14 effect upon the expiration of the 270-day period following

15 the date of its enactment.

Æ