SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Creating Advanced 
Streamlined Electronic Services for Constituents Act of 
2018’’ or the ‘‘CASES Act’’. 
SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 
It is the sense of Congress that— 
(1) congressional offices provide crucial services 
to constituents by acting as a liaison between the 
constituents and the respective agencies; 
(2) this includes assisting constituents by mak-
ing inquiries and working toward resolutions on be-
half of the constituent with the respective agencies; 
and 
(3) this process should be simplified through 
the creation of electronic forms that may be sub-
mitted under section 552a of title 5, United States 
Code (commonly referred to as the Privacy Act), 
thus modernizing the process for constituents and 
improving access and efficiency of Government serv-
ices and agencies in order to expedite the resolution 
of the problem for which constituents sought help. 
SEC. 3. OMB GUIDANCE ON ELECTRONIC CONSENT FORMS. 
(a) GUIDANCE.—Not later than 1 year after the date 
of the enactment of this Act, the Director shall issue guid-
ance that does the following: 
(1) Establishes—
(A) standards for each agency to develop 
an electronic identity proofing and authentica-
tion process for allowing an individual to pro-
vide a prior written electronic consent form for 
the disclosure of the individual’s record under 
section 552a(b) of title 5, United States Code, 
or for individual access to a record under sec-
tion 552a(d) of such title; or 
(B) a method by which each agency can 
electronically identity proof and authenticate an 
individual submitting an electronic consent form 
through a central online portal. 
(2) Creates a template for an electronic consent 
form that can be properly identity proofed and au-
thenticated in accordance with paragraph (1). 
(3) Requires each agency to accept the elec-
tronic consent form described in paragraph (2) that 
provides consent from any individual properly iden-
tity proofed and authenticated in accordance with 
paragraph (1) from the individual providing consent 
or an entity other than the individual, including a 
congressional office, on behalf of the individual for 
the purpose of authorizing the disclosure of the indi-
vidual’s record in accordance with section 552a(b) or 
552a(d) of title 5, United States Code.
(4) Authorizes each agency to provide an online 
link to the consolidated online portal described under 
subsection (b)(1). 
(b) PORTAL; CONSENT IDENTIFIER; CONGRESSIONAL 
FUNCTION.— 
(1) CONSOLIDATED ONLINE PORTAL.— 
(A) OPERATION OF PORTAL.—The Direc-
tor (or a designee) shall operate (or designate 
the head of an agency to operate) a consoli-
dated online portal that allows a member of the 
public to submit an electronic consent form in 
accordance with the guidance issued pursuant 
to subsection (a) to any agency from a single 
website. 
(B) PRIVACY
AND
OTHER
FEATURES.— 
The portal shall include features to protect the 
privacy of individuals using the portal and may 
include any additional functions the Director 
finds will improve the implementation of this 
section. 
(C) USE OF EXISTING WEBSITE OR POR-
TAL.—The Director may use any existing 
website or portal to satisfy the requirements of 
this subsection, including the portal established
under section 552(m) of title 5, United States 
Code. 
(2) CONSENT IDENTIFIER.—The Director, or a 
designee, shall assign each consent form submitted 
through the portal described in paragraph (1) a con-
sent identifier, which shall be provided to the agency 
and the individual or entity submitting the consent 
form. The agency shall track the consent form with 
the consent identifier. 
(3) CONGRESSIONAL ASSISTANCE FUNCTION.— 
(A) IN GENERAL.—The Director, or a des-
ignee, shall ensure the operation of a function 
that allows a congressional office to provide a 
publicly available online link to the portal de-
scribed in paragraph (1), which shall auto-pop-
ulate information about such congressional of-
fice, including an indication of consent for such 
office to access a record in accordance with sec-
tion 552a(b) of title 5, United States Code, in 
the consent form accessed through the portal. 
(B) NOTIFICATION OF CONSENT IDENTI-
FIER REQUIRED.— The Director, or a designee, 
shall ensure the function sends the consent 
identifier to the congressional office when a
consent form is submitted to an agency through 
the portal as accessed through the function. 
(c) AGENCY COMPLIANCE.—Each agency shall com-
ply with the guidance issued pursuant to subsection (a) 
not later than 1 year after the date on which such guid-
ance is issued. 
(d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1) AGENCY; INDIVIDUAL; RECORD.—The terms 
‘‘agency’’, ‘‘individual’’, and ‘‘record’’ have the 
meanings given those terms in section 552a(a) of 
title 5, United States Code. 
(2) CONSENT IDENTIFIER.—The term ‘‘consent 
identifier’’ means a nonproprietary, unique identi-
fication number. 
(3) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 
the Director of the Office of Management and Budg-
et.
SEC. 4. NO ADDITIONAL FUNDS AUTHORIZED. 
No additional funds are authorized to carry out the 
requirements of this Act. Such requirements shall be car-
ried out using amounts otherwise authorized. 
Passed the House of Representatives July 16, 2018. 
Attest: 
Clerk.
115TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 3076 
AN ACT 
To require the Director of the Office of Manage-
ment and Budget to issue guidance on electronic 
consent forms, and for other purposes.