[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 66 (Wednesday, April 7, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17041-17042]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-8539]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
RAILROAD RETIREMENT BOARD
Privacy Act of 1974; Proposed Changes to System of Records
AGENCY: Railroad Retirement Board.
ACTION: Notice of a proposed routine use.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The purpose of this document is to give notice of a proposed
routine use to one of the RRB's Privacy Act systems of records.
DATES: The new routine use will be effective 30 calendar days from the
date of this publication (May 7, 1999), unless comments are received
before this date which would result in a contrary determination.
ADDRESSES: Send comments to Beatrice Ezerski, Secretary to the Board,
Railroad Retirement Board, 844 North Rush Street, Chicago, Illinois
60611-2092.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: LeRoy Blommaert, Privacy Act Officer,
Railroad Retirement Board, 844 North Rush Street, Chicago, Illinois
60611-2092, (312) 751-4548.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Discussion of Proposed Routine Use
The Railroad Retirement Board currently furnishes the Bureau of
Labor Statistics with the city, state, and five digit zip code of each
person who receives unemployment benefits from the RRB. The Social
Security Number is scrambled so that the information furnished is not
individually identifiable. The Bureau uses this information to
aggregate unemployment claims by county in its Local Area Unemployment
Statistics (LAUS) program. The Bureau has requested that in addition
the RRB furnish the physical street address. Furnishing the physical
street address would, in cases where the address is a single family
residence or where the apartment number is part of the address,
identify the household of the person who received unemployment
benefits. The Bureau has requested this additional information because
they have found that a city and zip code does not always produce a
unique county location (a zip code area may straddle two or more
counties). A physical street address will always produce a valid county
location.
The RRB currently discloses scrambled SSN, city and state address
information pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552a(b)(5), namely, ``to a recipient
who has provided the agency with advance adequate written assurance
that the record will be used solely as a statistical research or
reporting record and the record is to be transferred in a form that is
not individually identifiable'' It is the RRB's interpretation that
furnishing the physical address requires the publication of a routine
use because of the possibility that the record with this additional
information would be individually identifiable.
II. Compatibility of Proposed Routine Use
We are proposing this routine use in accordance with the Privacy
Act (5 U.S.C. 552a(b)(3)). The Privacy Act permits the disclosure of
information about individuals without their consent for a routine use
where the information will be used for a purpose which is compatible
with the purpose for which the information was originally collected.
The Office of management and Budget has indicated that a ``compatible''
use is a use which is necessary and proper. The RRB considers the
disclosure of statistical information to the Department of Labor for
use in developing unemployment statistics on a local area basis a
proper use. To the extent that the disclosure of the physical address
is necessary to achieve accurate local area unemployment statistics,
the RRB believes the use is necessary as well.
III. Altered system report
On March 29, 1999, the Railroad Retirement Board filed an altered
system report for this system with the chairmen of the designated
Senate and House committees and with the Office of management and
Budget. This was
[[Page 17042]]
done to comply with section 3 of the Private Act of 1974 and OMB
Circular No. A-130, Appendix I.
By authority of the Board.
Beatrice Ezerski,
Secretary to the Board.
RRB-21
System Name: Railroad Unemployment and Sickness Insurance Benefit
System--RRB.
* * * * *
Routine uses of records maintained in the system, including categories
of users and the purposes of such uses:
* * * * *
Paragraph ``ff'' is added to read as follows:
* * * * *
ff. Scrambled Social Security Number and complete home address
information of unemployment claimants may be furnished to the Bureau of
Labor Statistics for use in its Local Area Unemployment Statistics
(LAUS) program.
[FR Doc. 99-8539 Filed 4-6-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7905-01
