I

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 3924

To provide uniform safeguards for the confidentiality of information acquired

for exclusively statistical purposes, and to improve the efficiency of Federal statistical programs and the quality of Federal statistics by permitting limited sharing of records for statistical purposes under strong

safeguards.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JULY 31, 1996

Mr. HORN (for himself and Mrs. MALONEY) introduced the following bill;

which was referred to the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight

A BILL

To provide uniform safeguards for the confidentiality of information acquired for exclusively statistical purposes,

and to improve the efficiency of Federal statistical programs and the quality of Federal statistics by permitting

limited sharing of records for statistical purposes under

strong safeguards.

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.—This Act may cited as the

4 ‘‘Statistical Confidentiality Act’’.

5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND STATEMENT OF PURPOSES.—(a)

6 The Congress finds that—
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1 (1) high quality Federal statistical products and

2 programs are essential for sound business and public

3 policy decisions;

4 (2) the challenge of providing high quality sta5 tistics has increased because our economy and soci6 ety are more complex, new technologies are avail7 able, and decisionmakers need more complete and

8 accurate data;

9 (3) maintaining quality requires full cooperation

10 between Federal statistical agencies and those per11 sons and organizations that respond to their re12 quests for information; and

13 (4) Federal statistical products and programs

14 can be improved, without reducing respondent co15 operation, by permitting carefully controlled sharing

16 of data with statistical agencies in a manner that is

17 consistent with confidentiality commitments made to

18 respondents.

19 (b) The purposes of this Act are to:

20 (1) Provide that individually identifiable infor21 mation furnished either directly or indirectly to des22 ignated statistical agencies for exclusively statistical

23 purposes shall not be disclosed in individually identi24 fiable form by such agencies for any other purpose

25 without the informed consent of the respondent,
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1 (2) Prohibit the use by such agencies, in indi2 vidually identifiable form, of any information col3 lected, compiled or maintained solely for statistical

4 purposes under Federal authority to make any deci5 sion or take any action directly affecting the rights,

6 benefits, and privileges of the person to whom the

7 information pertains, except with the person’s con8 sent,

9 (3) Reduce the reporting burden, duplication

10 and expense imposed on the public by permitting

11 inter-agency exchange, solely for statistical purposes,

12 of individually identifiable information needed for

13 statistical programs, and establishing safe conditions

14 for such exchanges,

15 (4) Reduce the cost and improve the accuracy

16 of statistical programs by facilitating cooperative

17 projects between statistical agencies, creating a safe

18 environment where expertise and data resources that

19 reside in different agencies can be brought together

20 to address the information needs of the public,

21 (5) Reduce the risk of unauthorized disclosure

22 of information maintained solely for statistical pur23 poses by designating specific statistical agencies that

24 are authorized to receive otherwise privileged infor25 mation for such purposes from other agencies, and
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1 to prescribe specific conditions and procedures that

2 must be complied with in any such exchange,

3 (6) Establish a consistent basis under the re4 quirements of the Freedom of Information Act for

5 exempting a defined class of statistical information

6 from compulsory disclosure,

7 (7) Ensure that existing avenues for public ac8 cess to administrative data or information under the

9 Privacy Act or the Freedom of Information Act are

10 retained without change.

11 (8) Establish consistent procedural safeguards

12 for records disclosed exclusively for statistical pur13 poses, including both public input and an oversight

14 process to ensure fair information practices.

15 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.—For the purposes of this Act,

16 the term—

17 (1) ‘‘agency’’ means any Federal organization

18 that falls within the definition of ‘‘Executive agency’’

19 in section 102 of title 31, United States Code, or

20 within the definition of ‘‘agency’’ in section 3502 of

21 title 44, United States Code;

22 (2) ‘‘agent’’ means a person designated by a

23 statistical data center to perform, either in the ca24 pacity of a Federal employee or otherwise, exclu25 sively statistical activities authorized by law under
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1 the supervision or control of an officer or employee

2 of that center, and who has agreed in writing to

3 comply with all provisions of law that affect informa4 tion acquired by that center;

5 (3) ‘‘identifiable form’’ means any representa6 tion of information that permits information con7 cerning individual subjects to be reasonably inferred

8 by either direct or indirect means;

9 (4) ‘‘nonstatistical purpose’’ means any purpose

10 that is not a statistical purpose, and includes admin11 istrative, regulatory, adjudicatory, or any other pur12 pose that affects the rights, privileges, or benefits of

13 a particular identifiable respondent;

14 (5) ‘‘respondent’’ means an individual or orga15 nization who is requested or required to supply in16 formation or who is the subject of that information,

17 or provides that information;

18 (6) ‘‘statistical activities’’ means the collection,

19 compilation, processing, or analysis of data for the

20 purpose of describing or making estimates concern21 ing the whole or relevant groups or components

22 within the economy, society, or the natural environ23 ment and includes the development of methods or

24 resources that support these activities, such as
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1 measurement methods, models, statistical classifica2 tions, or sampling frames; and

3 (7) ‘‘statistical purpose’’ means the description,

4 estimation, or analysis of the characteristics of

5 groups without regard to the identities of individuals

6 or organizations that comprise such groups, and the

7 development, implementation, or maintenance of

8 methods, technical or administrative procedures or

9 information resources that support such purposes.

10 SEC. 4. STATISTICAL DATA CENTERS.—(a) The Bu11 reau of Economic Analysis and the Bureau of the Census

12 within the Department of Commerce, the Bureau of Labor

13 Statistics within the Department of Labor, the National

14 Agricultural Statistics Service within the Department of

15 Agriculture, the National Center for Education Statistics

16 within the Department of Education, the National Center

17 for Health Statistics within the Department of Health and

18 Human Services, the Energy End Use and Integrated Sta19 tistics Division of the Energy Information Administration

20 within the Department of Energy, and the Division of

21 Science Resources Studies within the National Science

22 Foundation are hereby designated Statistical Data Cen23 ters.

24 (b) In the case of a reorganization that eliminates,

25 or substantially alters the mission or functions of, an
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1 agency or unit designated in subsection (a), the Director

2 of the Office of Management and Budget, after consulta3 tion with the head of the agency proposing such reorga4 nization, may designate an agency or unit that shall serve

5 as the successor statistical data center under the terms

6 of this Act, if the Director determines that—

7 (1) the primary activities of the successor agen8 cy or unit are statistical activities specifically au9 thorized by law;

10 (2) the successor agency or unit would partici11 pate in data sharing activities that significantly im12 prove Federal statistical programs or products;

13 (3) the successor agency or unit has dem14 onstrated its capability to protect the individual con15 fidentiality of any shared data; and

16 (4) any statutes that apply to the proposed sta17 tistical data center are not inconsistent with this

18 Act.

19 (c) Any agency seeking a successor designation au20 thorized by subsection (b) shall, after consultation with

21 the Director of the Office of Management and Budget,

22 provide public notice with an opportunity to comment on

23 the consequences of such designation and on those deter24 minations upon which such designation is proposed to be

25 based.
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1 (d) No action taken under subsection (b) shall in2 crease the number of statistical data centers authorized

3 by statute.

4 SEC. 5. STATISTICAL DATA CENTER RESPONSIBIL5 ITIES.—Statistical data centers shall—

6 (1) identify opportunities to eliminate duplica7 tion and otherwise reduce reporting burden and cost

8 imposed on the public by sharing information for ex9 clusively statistical purposes;

10 (2) enter into joint statistical projects to im11 prove the quality and reduce the cost of statistical

12 programs;

13 (3) safeguard the confidentiality of individually

14 identifiable information acquired for statistical pur15 poses by assuring its physical security and by con16 trolling access to and uses made of such informa17 tion; and

18 (4) respect the rights and privileges of the pub19 lic by observing and promoting fair information

20 practices.

21 SEC. 6. CONFIDENTIALITY OF INFORMATION.—(a)

22 Data or information acquired by a statistical data center

23 for exclusively statistical purposes shall be used only for

24 statistical purposes. Such data or information shall not be
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1 disclosed in identifiable form for any other purpose with2 out the informed consent of the respondent.

3 (b) If a statistical data center is authorized by any

4 other statute to collect data or information for nonstatis5 tical purposes, the head of the Statistical Data Center

6 shall clearly distinguish such data or information by rule,

7 which rule shall provide for fully informing the respond8 ents requested or required to supply such data or informa9 tion of such nonstatistical uses before collecting such data

10 or information.

11 (c) Data or information may be disclosed by an agen12 cy to one or more statistical data centers: Provided That—

13 (1) the disclosure and use are not inconsistent

14 with any provisions of law or Executive order that

15 explicitly limit the statistical purposes for which

16 such data or information may be used;

17 (2) the disclosure is not prohibited by law or

18 Executive order in the interest of national security;

19 (3) the data or information are to be used ex20 clusively for statistical purposes by the statistical

21 data center or centers; and

22 (4) the disclosure is made under the terms of

23 a written agreement between a statistical data cen24 ter or centers and the agency supplying information

25 as authorized by this subsection, specifying—
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1 (A) the data or information to be disclosed,

2 (B) the purposes for which the data or in3 formation are to be used, and

4 (C) appropriate security procedures to

5 safeguard the confidentiality of the data or in6 formation.

7 (c) Data or information supplied to a statistical data

8 center under an agreement authorized by subsection

9 (b)(4) shall not be disclosed in identifiable form by that

10 center for any purpose, except that data or information

11 collected directly by any party to such agreement may be

12 disclosed to any other party to that agreement for exclu13 sively statistical purposes specified in that agreement.

14 (d) Whenever a written agreement authorized by sub15 section (b)(4) concerns data that respondents were re16 quired by law to report and the agreement contains terms

17 that could not reasonably have been anticipated by re18 spondents who provided the data that will be disclosed,

19 or upon the initiative of any party to such an agreement,

20 or whenever ordered by the Director of the Office of Man21 agement and Budget, the terms of such agreement shall

22 be described in a public notice issued by the agency that

23 intends to disclose the data, which notice shall allow a

24 minimum of sixty days for public comment before such

25 agreement shall take effect: Provided further That the Di-
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1 rector shall be fully apprised of any issues raised by the

2 public and may suspend the effect of such an agreement

3 to permit modifications responsive to public comments.

4 (e) The disclosure of data or information by an agen5 cy under subsection (b) shall in no way alter the respon6 sibility of that agency under other statutes, including the

7 Freedom of Information Act and the Privacy Act, for the

8 disclosure or withholding of the same or similar informa9 tion retained by that agency.

10 (f) If information obtained by an agency is released

11 to another agency pursuant to this section, all provisions

12 of law (including penalties) that relate to the unlawful dis13 closure of information apply to the officers, employees, or

14 agents of the agency to which information is released to

15 the same extent and in the same manner as the provisions

16 apply to the officers and employees of the agency which

17 originally obtained the information. The officers, employ18 ees, and agents of the agency to which the information

19 is released, in addition, shall be subject to the same provi20 sions of law, including penalties, relating to the unlawful

21 disclosure of information that would apply to officers and

22 employees of that agency if the information had been col23 lected directly by that agency.

24 SEC. 7. COORDINATION AND OVERSIGHT.—(a) The

25 Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall
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1 coordinate and oversee the confidentiality and disclosure

2 policies established by this Act.

3 (b) The head of each statistical data center shall re4 port to the Office of Management and Budget each disclo5 sure agreement under this Act and the results of any re6 view of information security undertaken at the request of

7 the Office of Management and Budget or any similar re8 view undertaken on the initiative of the statistical data

9 center or an agency supplying data or information to a

10 statistical data center.

11 (c) The Office of Management and Budget shall in12 clude a summary of all such reports and any actions taken

13 by that Office to advance the purposes of this Act in its

14 annual report to the Congress on statistical programs.

15 (d) The Director of the Office of Management and

16 Budget shall review and approve any rules proposed under

17 section 8 of this Act for consistency with this Act and the

18 Paperwork Reduction Act.

19 SEC. 8. IMPLEMENTING REGULATIONS.—(a) The Di20 rector of the Office of Management and Budget, or the

21 head of a statistical data center or of an agency providing

22 information to a center, may promulgate such rules as

23 may be necessary to implement this Act: Provided, That:
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1 (b) the Director shall promulgate rules and/or provide

2 such other guidance as may be needed to ensure consistent

3 interpretation of this Act by the affected agencies; and

4 (c) rules governing disclosures of information author5 ized by this Act shall be promulgated by the agency that

6 originally collected the information, subject to the review

7 and approval required in section 7.

8 SEC. 9. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—

9 (a) DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE.—(1) Section 176a

10 of title 15, United States Code, is amended by inserting

11 the phrase ‘‘Except as provided in the Statistical Con12 fidentiality Act,’’ at the beginning of the last sentence of

13 the section.

14 (2) Chapter 10 of title 13, United States Code, and

15 its table of contents are amended by adding the following

16 new section 402 after section 401:

‘‘402. Exchange of census information with Statistical Data Centers.

17 ‘‘(a) STATISTICAL DATA CENTERS.—The Bureau of

18 the Census is authorized to provide data collected under

19 this title to statistical data centers (centers) named in the

20 Statistical Confidentiality Act, or their successors des21 ignated under the terms of that Act.’’.

22 (b) DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY.—(1) Section 205 of

23 the Department of Energy Organization Act (42 U.S.C.

24 7135) is amended by adding after subsection (l) the fol25 lowing new subsection:
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1 ‘‘(m)(1) The Administrator shall designate an organi2 zational unit to conduct statistical activities pertaining to

3 energy end use consumption information. Using proce4 dures authorized by the Statistical Confidentiality Act, the

5 Administrator shall ensure the security, integrity, and con6 fidentiality of the information that has been submitted (1)

7 in identifiable form and (2) supplied exclusively for statis8 tical purposes either directly to the Administration or by

9 other government agencies. To carry out this section, the

10 Administrator shall establish procedures for the disclosure

11 of these data to statistical data centers for statistical pur12 poses only consistent with the Paperwork Reduction Act

13 and the Statistical Confidentiality Act.

14 ‘‘(2)(A) A person may not publish, cause to be pub15 lished, or otherwise communicate, statistical information

16 designated in section (m)(1) in a manner that identifies

17 any respondent.

18 ‘‘(B) A person may not use statistical information

19 designated in section (m)(1) for a non-statistical purpose.

20 ‘‘(C) The identity of a respondent who supplies, or

21 is the subject of, information collected for statistical pur22 poses—

23 ‘‘(i) may not be disclosed through any process,

24 including disclosure through legal process, unless the

25 respondent consents in writing:
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1 ‘‘(ii) may not be disclosed to the public, unless

2 information has been transformed into a statistical

3 or aggregate form that dose not allow the identifica4 tion of the person who supplied the information or

5 who is the subject of that information; and

6 ‘‘(iii) may not, without the written consent of

7 the respondent, be admitted as evidence or used for

8 any purpose in an action, suit, or other judicial or

9 administrative proceeding.

10 ‘‘(D) Any person, who violates subsections (2) (A),

11 (B), or (C), upon conviction, shall be fined under title 18,

12 United States Code, imprisoned not more than one year,

13 or both.

14 ‘‘(E) For purposes of this subsection:

15 ‘‘(i) ‘‘Person’’ has the meaning given the term

16 in section 1 of title 1 of the United States Code but

17 also includes a local, state, or Federal entity or offi18 cer or employee of a local, state, or Federal entity.

19 ‘‘(ii) ‘‘Statistical activities’’, ‘‘identifiable form’’,

20 ‘‘statistical purpose’’, ‘‘nonstatistical purpose’’, and

21 ‘‘respondent’’ have meaning given terms in section 3

22 of the Statistical Confidentiality Act.

23 ‘‘(3) Statistical information designated in sec24 tion (m)(1) is exempt from disclosure under sections

25 205(f) and 407 of the Department of Energy Orga-
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1 nization Act, and sections 12, 20, and 59 of the

2 Federal Energy Administration Act of 1974, or any

3 other law which requires disclosure of that informa4 tion.

5 (2) Section 205(f) of the Department of Organization

6 Energy Act (42 U.S.C. 7135) is amended by inserting ‘‘,

7 excluding information designated solely for statistical pur8 poses under subsection (m)(1),’’ after ‘‘analysis’’.

9 (3) Section 407 of the Department of Energy Organi10 zation Act (42 U.S.C. 7177a) is amended by inserting ‘‘,

11 excluding information designated solely for statistical pur12 poses under section (m)(1),’’ after ‘‘information’’.

13 (4) The Federal Energy Administration Act of 1974

14 is amended—

15 (A) in section 12(15 U.S.C. 771), by adding

16 after subsection (f) the following new subsection:

17 ‘‘(g) This section does not apply to information des18 ignated solely for statistical purposes under section

19 205(m)(1) of the Department of Energy Organization

20 Act.’’

21 (B) in section 20(a)(3) (15 U.S.C. 779), by in22 serting ‘‘, excluding information designated solely for

23 statistical purposes under section (m)(1) of the De24 partment of Energy Organization Act (42 U.S.C.

25 7135)’’ after ‘‘information’’; and
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1 (C) in section 59 (15 U.S.C. 790h), by insert2 ing ‘‘, excluding information designated solely for

3 statistical purposes under section (m)(1) of the De4 partment of Energy Organization Act (42 U.S.C.

5 7135)’’ after ‘‘information’’.

6 (c) DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERV7 ICES.—Section 306 of the Public Health Service Act (12

8 U.S.C. 242k) is amended by adding at the end the follow9 ing new subsection:

10 ‘‘(o) SHARING OF IDENTIFYING INFORMATION FOR

11 STATISTICAL PURPOSES.—

12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Director may, subject

13 to the provisions of paragraph (2), designate as an

14 agent of the Center, within the meaning of section

15 3(b) of the Statistical Confidentiality Act, an indi16 vidual—

17 ‘‘(A) who is not otherwise an employee, of18 ficial, or agent of the Center; and

19 (B) who enters into a written agreement

20 with the Director specifying terms and condi21 tions for sharing of statistical information.

22 ‘‘(2) EFFECT OF DESIGNATION.—An individual

23 designated as an agent of the Center pursuant to

24 paragraph (1) shall be subject to all restrictions on

25 the use and disclosure of statistical information ob-
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1 tained by the individual under the agreement speci2 fied in paragraph (1)(B), and to all civil and crimi3 nal penalties applicable to violations of such restric4 tions, including penalties under 18 U.S.C. 1905,

5 that would apply to the individual if an employee of

6 the Center.’’

7 (d) DEPARTMENT OF LABOR.—Chapter 1 of title 29,

8 United States Code, is amended by inserting the following

9 new section after section 2b:

10 ‘‘SEC. 2c. Designation of Bureau of Labor Statistics

11 Agents. The Commissioner of Labor Statistics shall be au12 thorized to designate agents, as defined in section 3(b) of

13 the Statistical Confidentiality Act.’’

14 (e) NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION. Section 1873

15 of title 42, United States Code, is amended by striking

16 the paragraph following the catchline of subsection (i) and

17 substituting the following paragraph: ‘‘Information sup18 plied to the Foundation or its contractor in survey forms,

19 questionnaires or similar instruments for purposes of sub20 section (a)(5) or (a)(6) of section 1862 of this title by

21 an individual, by an industrial or commercial organization,

22 or by an educational or academic institution when the in23 stitution has received a pledge of confidentiality from the

24 Foundation, may not be disclosed to the public unless the

25 information has been transformed into statistical or ab-
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1 stract formats that do not allow the identification of the

2 supplier. Such information shall be used in identifiable

3 form only for statistical purposes as defined in the Statis4 tical Confidentiality Act. The names of individuals and or5 ganizations supplying such information may not be dis6 closed to the public.’’

7 and by renumbering subsection (j) as subsection (k) and

8 inserting the following new subsection after subsection (i):

9 ‘‘(j) OBLIGATIONS OF OTHER RESEARCHERS.—In

10 support of functions authorized by subsection (a)(5) or

11 (a)(6) of section 1862 of this title, the Foundation may

12 designate, at its discretion, authorized persons, including

13 employees of Federal, state or local agencies (including

14 local educational agencies) and employees of private orga15 nizations, who may have access, for exclusively statistical

16 purposes as defined in the Statistical Confidentiality Act,

17 to identifiable information collected pursuant to subsection

18 (a)(5) or (a)(6) of section 1862 of this title. No such per19 son may—

20 (1) publish information collected pursuant to

21 subsection (a)(5) or (a)(6) of section 1862 of this

22 title in such a manner that either an individual, an

23 industrial or commercial organization, or an edu24 cational or academic institution that has received a
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1 pledge of confidentiality from the Foundation can be

2 specifically identified;

3 (2) permit anyone other than individuals au4 thorized by the Foundation to examine in identifi5 able form data relating to an individual, to an indus6 trial or commercial organization, or to an edu7 cational or academic institution that has received a

8 pledge of confidentiality from the Foundation; or

9 (3) knowingly and willfully request or obtain

10 any confidential information described in subsection

11 (i) from the Foundation under false pretenses.

12 Any person who violates these restrictions shall be guilty

13 of a misdemeanor and fined not more than $10,000.’’

14 (f) DISCLOSURE PENALTIES.—Section 1905 of title

15 18, United States Code, is amended by inserting ‘‘, or

16 agent of a Statistical Data Center as defined in the Statis17 tical Confidentiality Act,’’ after ‘‘thereof’’, and substitut18 ing the words ‘‘shall be fined under this title’’ for the

19 words ‘‘shall be fined not more than $1,000’’.

20 SEC. 10. EFFECT ON OTHER LAWS.—(a) This Act,

21 including the amendments made herein, does not diminish

22 the authority under 44 U.S.C. 3510 of the Director of the

23 Office of Management and Budget to direct, and of an

24 agency to make, disclosures that are not inconsistent with

25 any applicable law.
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1 (b) Data of information acquired for exclusively sta2 tistical purposes as provided in section 6 is exempt from

3 mandatory disclosure under 5 U.S.C. 552, pursuant to 5

4 U.S.C. 552(b)(3).

5 SEC. 11. EFFECTIVE DATE.—The provisions of this

6 Act shall take effect upon enactment.

Æ