I 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1543
To amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to exempt certain communications 
from the definition of consumer report, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 1, 2003
Mr. SESSIONS (for himself, Mr. BAKER, Mr. PAUL, Mr. MOORE, Mr. SHAYS, 
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts, and Mr. 
ROYCE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Financial Services 
A BILL 
To amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to exempt certain 
communications from the definition of consumer report, 
and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; FINDINGS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Civil Rights and Employee Investigation Clarification 
Act’’. 
(b) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds as follows:
(1) The Fair Credit Reporting Act, as inter-
preted by the Federal Trade Commission, impedes 
investigations of workplace misconduct. 
(2) The Fair Credit Reporting Act undermines 
the ability of employers to use experienced outside 
organizations or individuals to investigate allegations 
of drug use or sales, violence, sexual harassment, 
other types of harassment, employment discrimina-
tion, job safety and health violations, as well as 
criminal activity, including theft, fraud, embezzle-
ment, sabotage or arson, patient or elder abuse, 
child abuse, and other types of misconduct related to 
employment. 
(3) Employers have been advised by agencies 
and the courts to utilize such experienced outside or-
ganizations and individuals in many cases to assure 
compliance with civil rights laws and other laws, as 
well as written workplace policies. 
(4) Employees and consumers are put at risk 
because the Fair Credit Reporting Act frustrates or 
impedes employers in their efforts to maintain a safe 
and productive workforce. 
(5) The Fair Credit Reporting Act should not 
chill the use of experienced outside organizations or 
individuals to assist employers in their investigations
of workplace misconduct or misbehavior by poten-
tially subjecting those employers to additional liabil-
ities or damages. 
SEC. 2. CERTAIN COMMUNICATIONS EXCLUDED FROM DEF-
INITION OF CONSUMER REPORT. 
(a) AMENDMENT TO DEFINITION OF CONSUMER RE-
PORT.—Section 603(d)(2)(D) of the Fair Credit Report-
ing Act (15 U.S.C. 1681a(d)(2)(D)) is amended by insert-
ing ‘‘or (q)’’ after ‘‘subsection (o)’’. 
(b) AMENDMENT RELATING TO EMPLOYMENT IN-
VESTIGATION REPORTS.—Section 603 of the Fair Credit 
Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681a) is amended by adding 
at the end the following new subsection: 
‘‘(q) EXCLUSION OF CERTAIN COMMUNICATIONS.—
‘‘(1) SELF-REGULATORY
ORGANIZATION
DE-
FINED.—For purposes of this subsection, the term 
‘self-regulatory organization’ includes any self-regu-
latory organization (as defined in section 3(a)(26) of 
the Securities Exchange Act of 1934), any entity es-
tablished under Title I of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 
2002, any board of trade designated by the Com-
modity Futures Trading Commission, and any fu-
tures association registered with such Commission.
‘‘(2) COMMUNICATIONS
DESCRIBED
IN
THIS 
SUBSECTION.—A communication is described in this 
subsection if—
‘‘(A) but for subsection (d)(2)(D), the 
communication would be a consumer report; 
‘‘(B) the communication is made to an em-
ployer in connection with an investigation of—
‘‘(i) suspected misconduct relating to 
employment; or 
‘‘(ii) compliance with Federal, State, 
or local laws and regulations, the rules of 
a self-regulatory organization, or any pre-
existing written policies of the employer; 
‘‘(C) the communication is not made for 
the purpose of investigating a consumer’s credit 
worthiness, credit standing, or credit capacity; 
and 
‘‘(D) the communication is not provided to 
any person except—
‘‘(i) to the employer or an agent of 
the employer; 
‘‘(ii) to any Federal or State officer, 
agency, or department, or any officer, 
agency, or department of a unit of general 
local government;
‘‘(iii) to any self-regulatory organiza-
tion with regulatory authority over the ac-
tivities of the employer or employee; 
‘‘(iv) as otherwise required by law; or 
‘‘(v) pursuant to section 608. 
‘‘(3) SUBSEQUENT DISCLOSURE.—After taking 
any adverse action based in whole or in part on a 
communication described in paragraph (2), the em-
ployer shall disclose to the consumer a summary 
containing the nature and substance of the commu-
nication upon which the adverse action is based, ex-
cept that the sources of information acquired solely 
for use in preparing what would be but for sub-
section (d)(2)(D) an investigative consumer report 
need not be disclosed.’’.
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