Title: No Biometric Barriers to Housing Act of 2019
Policy area: Housing and Community Development

Summary:
No Biometric Barriers to Housing Act of 2019
This bill prohibits owners of certain federally assisted rental units from using biometric analytics in connection with facial recognition, physical biometric recognition, or remote biometric recognition technology in any units, buildings, or grounds of such project.
Within one year, the Department of Housing and Urban Development must report on any known use of such technology in federal assisted rental units in the preceding five years.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2689 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 2689

 To prohibit the use of biometric recognition technology and biometric 
analytics in certain federally assisted rental dwelling units, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            October 23, 2019

  Mr. Booker introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
    referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To prohibit the use of biometric recognition technology and biometric 
analytics in certain federally assisted rental dwelling units, and for 
                            other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``No Biometric Barriers to Housing Act 
of 2019''.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON BIOMETRIC IDENTIFICATION TECHNOLOGY.

    (a) In General.--On and after the date that is 6 months after the 
date of enactment of this Act, an owner of a covered federally assisted 
rental dwelling unit may not use, or authorize the use of, facial 
recognition technology and biometric analytics, physical biometric 
recognition technology and biometric analytics, or remote biometric 
recognition technology and biometric analytics in the dwelling unit or 
in any building or grounds containing the dwelling unit.
    (b) Definitions.--In this Act:
            (1) Assistance.--The term ``assistance''--
                    (A) means any grant, loan, subsidy, contract, 
                cooperative agreement, or other form of financial 
                assistance; and
                    (B) does not include the insurance or guarantee of 
                a loan, mortgage, or pool of loans or mortgages.
            (2) Biometric analytics.--The term ``biometric analytics'' 
        means authentication techniques that rely on measurable 
        physical characteristics that can be automatically checked by 
        technical systems.
            (3) Covered federally assisted rental dwelling unit.--The 
        term ``covered federally assisted rental dwelling unit'' means 
        a residential dwelling unit that is made available for rental 
        and for which assistance is provided, or that is part of a 
        housing project for which assistance is provided, under--
                    (A) the public housing program under the United 
                States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437 et seq.);
                    (B) the program for supportive housing for persons 
                with disabilities under section 811 of the Cranston-
                Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 
                8013);
                    (C) the program for supportive housing for the 
                elderly under section 202 of the Housing Act of 1959 
                (12 U.S.C. 1701q); or
                    (D) the program for project-based rental assistance 
                under section 8 of the United States Housing Act of 
                1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f).
            (4) Facial recognition technology.--The term ``facial 
        recognition technology'' means technology that facilitates or 
        otherwise enables an automated or semi-automated process that 
        assists in identifying an individual based on the physical 
        characteristics of the face of an individual, or that logs 
        characteristics of the face, head, or body of an individual to 
        infer emotion, associations, activities, or the location of an 
        individual.
            (5) Owner.--The term ``owner'' means any private person or 
        entity, including a cooperative, an agency of the Federal 
        Government, or a public housing agency, having the legal right 
        to lease or sublease dwelling units.
            (6) Physical biometric recognition technology.--The term 
        ``physical biometric recognition technology'' means technology 
        that facilitates or otherwise enables an automated or semi-
        automated process that assists in identifying an individual or 
        capturing information about an individual based on the 
        characteristics of the DNA, fingerprints, palmprints, iris, or 
        retina of an individual.
            (7) Remote biometric recognition technology.--The term 
        ``remote biometric recognition technology'' means technology 
        that facilitates or otherwise enables an automated or semi-
        automated process that assists in identifying an individual or 
        capturing information about an individual based on the 
        characteristics of the gait, voice, or other immutable 
        characteristic of an individual ascertained from a distance, or 
        that logs those characteristics to infer emotion, associations, 
        activities, or the location of an individual.

SEC. 3. REPORT TO CONGRESS.

    Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the 
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development shall submit to the 
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate and the 
Committee on Financial Services of the House of Representatives, and 
make available to the public on the website of the Department of 
Housing and Urban Development, a report that describes--
            (1) any known usage of facial recognition technology and 
        biometric analytics, physical biometric recognition technology 
        and biometric analytics, or remote biometric recognition 
        technology and biometric analytics in any covered federally 
        assisted rental dwelling unit during the 5 years preceding the 
        date of enactment of this Act;
            (2) the impact of those technologies and biometric 
        analytics on the residents of those covered federally assisted 
        rental dwelling units;
            (3) the purpose of installing those technologies and 
        biometric analytics in those covered federally assisted rental 
        dwelling units;
            (4) demographic information about the residents of each 
        covered federally assisted rental dwelling unit where the usage 
        of those technologies and biometric analytics occurred; and
            (5) the potential impacts on vulnerable communities of 
        additional usage of facial recognition technology and biometric 
        analytics, physical biometric recognition technology and 
        biometric analytics, or remote biometric recognition technology 
        and biometric analytics in covered federally assisted rental 
        dwelling units, including impacts on resident privacy, civil 
        rights, and fair housing.
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