I
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 2136
To protect the confidentiality of information acquired from the public for
statistical purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JUNE 12, 2001
Mr. SAWYER (for himself and Mr. WAXMAN) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Government Reform
A BILL
To protect the confidentiality of information acquired from
the public for statistical 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.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Confidential Informa-
tion Protection Act’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following:
(1) Consumers, citizens, businesses, and other
organizations have varying degrees of legal protec-
tion when providing information to the Federal Gov-
ernment for strictly statistical purposes.
(2) The integrity and credibility of pledges of
confidentiality by the Federal Government provide
assurances to the public that information about indi-
viduals or organizations or provided by individuals
or organizations for exclusively statistical purposes
will be held in confidence and will not be used
against such individuals or organizations in any
Federal Government action.
(3) Protecting the privacy and confidentiality
interests of individuals or organizations who provide
information for Federal statistical programs serves
both the interests of the public and the needs of so-
ciety.
(4) Declining trust of the public in the protec-
tion of information provided to the Federal Govern-
ment adversely affects both the accuracy and com-
pleteness of statistical analyses.
(5) Ensuring that information provided for sta-
tistical purposes receives protection is essential in
continuing public cooperation in statistical pro-
grams.
(b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are the fol-
lowing:
(1) To ensure that information supplied by in-
dividuals or organizations to an agency for statistical
purposes is used exclusively for statistical purposes.
(2) To ensure that individuals or organizations
who supply information to the Federal Government
for statistical purposes will not have that informa-
tion disclosed in identifiable form for any purpose
other than a statistical purpose, without the consent
of such individuals or organizations.
(3) To safeguard the confidentiality of individ-
ually identifiable information acquired for statistical
purposes by controlling access to, and uses made of,
such information.
(4) To respect the rights and privileges of the
public by observing and promoting fair information
practices.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
As used in this Act:
(1) The term ‘‘respondent’’ means a person
who, or organization that, is requested or required
to supply information to an agency, is the subject of
information requested or required to be supplied to
an agency, or provides that information to an agen-
cy.
(2) The term ‘‘identifiable form’’ means any
representation of information that permits informa-
tion concerning individual subjects to be reasonably
inferred by either direct or indirect means.
(3) The term ‘‘nonstatistical purpose’’ means
use of data in identifiable form for any purpose that
is not a statistical purpose, and includes any admin-
istrative, regulatory, law enforcement, adjudicatory,
or other purpose that affects the rights, privileges,
or benefits of a particular identifiable respondent.
(4) The term ‘‘agency’’ means any entity that
falls within the definition of the term ‘‘executive
agency’’ as defined in section 102 of title 31, United
States Code, or ‘‘agency’’, as defined in section 3502
of title 44, United States Code.
(5) The term ‘‘statistical purpose’’—
(A) means the description, estimation, or
analysis of the characteristics of groups without
regard to the identities of individuals or organi-
zations that comprise such groups; and
(B) includes the development, implementa-
tion, or maintenance of methods, technical or
administrative procedures, or information re-
sources that support the purposes described in
subparagraph (A).
(6) The term ‘‘statistical agency or unit’’ means
an agency or organizational unit of the executive
branch whose activities are predominantly the collec-
tion, compilation, processing, or analysis of informa-
tion for statistical purposes.
(7) The term ‘‘agent’’ means a person des-
ignated by an executive agency to perform, either in
the capacity of a Federal employee or otherwise, ex-
clusively statistical activities under the supervision
or control of an officer or employee of that agency,
who agrees in writing to comply with all provisions
of law that affect information acquired by that agen-
cy.
SEC. 4. LIMITATIONS ON USE AND DISCLOSURE OF DATA
AND INFORMATION.
(a) USE OF STATISTICAL DATA OR INFORMATION.—
Data or information acquired by an agency for exclusively
statistical purposes shall be used by the agency only for
statistical purposes.
(b) DISCLOSURE OF STATISTICAL DATA OR INFOR-
MATION.—Data or information acquired by an agency for
exclusively statistical purposes shall not be disclosed by
an agency in identifiable form, for any purpose other than
a statistical purpose, without the informed consent of the
respondent.
(c) RULE FOR USE OF DATA OR INFORMATION FOR
NONSTATISTICAL PURPOSES.—A statistical agency or
unit shall clearly distinguish any data or information it
collects for nonstatistical purposes (as authorized by law)
by a rule that provides that the respondent supplying the
data or information is fully informed, before the data or
information is collected, that the data or information will
be used for nonstatistical purposes.
(d) DESIGNATION OF AGENTS.—A statistical agency
or unit may designate agents who may perform exclusively
statistical activities, subject to the limitations and pen-
alties described in this Act.
SEC. 5. COORDINATION AND OVERSIGHT OF POLICIES.
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Office of
Management and Budget shall coordinate and oversee the
confidentiality and disclosure policies established by this
Act.
(b) REVIEW AND APPROVAL OF RULES.—The Direc-
tor shall review any rules proposed by an agency pursuant
to this Act for consistency with the provisions of this Act
and chapter 35 of title 44, United States Code, and such
rules shall be subject to the approval of the Director.
SEC. 6. EFFECT ON OTHER LAWS.
(a) TITLE 44, U.S.C.—This Act does not diminish
the authority under section 3510 of title 44, United States
Code, of the Director of the Office of Management and
Budget to direct, and of an agency to make, disclosures
that are not inconsistent with any applicable law.
(b) EXEMPTION FROM FREEDOM OF INFORMATION
ACT.—Data or information acquired for exclusively statis-
tical purposes as described in section 4 is exempt from
mandatory disclosure under section 552 of title 5, United
States Code, pursuant to section 552(b)(3) of such title.
(c) PREEMPTION OF STATE LAW.—Nothing in this
Act shall preempt applicable State law regarding the con-
fidentiality of data collected by the States.
(d) CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this Act shall be
construed as restricting or diminishing any confidentiality
protections that otherwise apply to data or information
collected for statistical purposes or nonstatistical pur-
poses.
SEC. 7. DISCLOSURE PENALTIES.
An officer, employee, or agent of an agency who
knowingly, without the informed consent of the respond-
ent, discloses in identifiable form, for any purpose other
than a statistical purpose, data or information acquired
by an agency for an exclusively statistical purpose, shall
be found guilty of a class E felony and imprisoned for
not more than 5 years, or fined not more than $250,000,
or both.
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