[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 152 (Monday, August 9, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 43139-43140]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-20445]
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Office of the Secretary
Privacy Act; System of Records
AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, USDA.
ACTION: Notice of New Privacy Act System of Records.
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SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that USDA proposes to create a new
Privacy Act system of records, USDA/NOO-1, entitled ``The USDA
Voluntary Minority Farm Register.''.
EFFECTIVE DATE: This notice will be adopted without further publication
in the Federal Register on September 20, 1999, unless modified by a
subsequent notice to incorporate comments received from the public.
Although the Privacy Act requires only that the portion of the system
which describes the ``routine uses'' of the system be published for
comment, USDA invites comment on all portions of this notice. Comments
must be received by the contact person listed below on or before
September 8, 1999.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Rich Allen, Associate Administrator,
NASS, Room 4117 South Building, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW,
Washington DC, 20250, Telephone: (202) 720-4333.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant to the Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C. 552a,
USDA is creating a new system of records to be maintained by the USDA
Office of Outreach. The Voluntary Minority Farm Register is a listing
of minority owners and operators of farmland.
The purpose of the Voluntary Minority Farm Register is to establish
a baseline for the amount of farmland owned by minority land owners in
order to help the USDA set goals to halt the reduction in minority-
owned farm land, monitor the loss of minority owned farms, and locate
minority farmers for the purpose of informing them of USDA and other
programs that may benefit them. The concept was generated by
Recommendation #28 of the Report of the Civil Rights Action Team to the
Secretary of Agriculture entitled Civil Rights at the United States
Department of Agriculture, dated February 1997.
The Voluntary Minority Farm Register will be administered by the
Office of Outreach. A specific register sign-up form will be issued in
Spanish and English. Informational registration materials will be
distributed to Community Based Organizations, educational institutions,
and government agencies assisting minorities with land retention and
acquisition to ensure the program is widely publicized and accessible
to all.
A ``Report on New System,'' required by 5 U.S.C. 552a(r), as
implemented by OMB Circular A-130, was sent to the Chairman, Committee
on Government Affairs, United States Senate, the Chairman, Committee on
Government Reform and Oversight, House of Representatives, and the
Administrator, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of
Management and Budget on July 30, 1999.
Signed at Washington, DC, on July 30, 1999.
Dan Glickman,
Secretay of Agriculture.
USDA/NOO-1
SYSTEM NAME:
USDA Voluntary Minority Farm Register.
SECURITY CLASSIFICATION:
None.
SYSTEM LOCATION:
USDA Office of Outreach, 1400 Independence Avenue, Washington, D.C.
CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS COVERED BY THE SYSTEM:
Minority farmland owners and operators who voluntarily request to
be included on the Register.
CATEGORIES OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
The system includes name, address, race/ethnic coding provided by
the individual, and farmland acreages owned and operated for each
individual who requested to be included on the Register. Acreage data
are extracted from Farm Service Agency records for the requesting
individuals.
AUTHORITY FOR MAINTENANCE OF THE SYSTEM:
Section 2501 of Public Law 101-624 (the 1990 Farm Bill), entitled
Outreach and Assistance for Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and
Ranchers, provides authority for the USDA to enter into special
arrangements to aid limited resource and under-served farmers. The
Voluntary Minority Farm Register was one specific action requested
during Civil Rights Action Team Public Meetings and documented in the
Civil Rights Action Team Report of February 1997.
ROUTINE USES OF RECORDS MAINTAINED IN THE SYSTEM, INCLUDING CATEGORIES
OF USERS AND THE PURPOSES OF SUCH USES:
(1) Records in the system will be disclosed and distributed to
Community Based Organizations, educational institutions, and government
agencies assisting minorities with land retention
[[Page 43140]]
and acquisition. The purpose of such releases is to ensure that the
program of outreach and assistance for socially disadvantaged farmers
and ranchers is widely publicized and accessible to all.
(2) USDA will disclose information in the system to a court or
adjudicative body in a proceeding when: (a) The agency or any component
thereof; or (b) any employee of the agency in his or her official
capacity; or (c) any employee of the agency in his or her individual
capacity where the agency has agreed to represent the employee; or (d)
the United States Government is a party to litigation or has an
interest in such litigation, and by careful review, determines that the
records are both relevant and necessary to the litigation and the use
of such records is therefore deemed by the agency to be for a purpose
compatible with the purpose for which the agency collected the records.
(3) When a record on its face, or in conjunction with other
records, indicates a violation or potential violation of law, whether
civil, criminal or regulatory in nature, and whether arising by general
statute or particular program statute, or by regulation, rule, or order
issued pursuant thereto, disclosure may be made to the appropriate
agency, whether Federal, foreign, State, local, or tribal, or other
public authority responsible for enforcing, investigating or
prosecuting such violation or charged with enforcing or implementing
the statute, or rule, regulation, or order issued pursuant thereto, if
the information disclosed is relevant to any enforcement, regulatory,
investigative or prospective responsibility of the receiving entity.
(4) USDA will disclose information in the system to a Member of
Congress or to a Congressional staff member in response to an inquiry
of the Congressional office made at the written request of the
constituent about whom the record is maintained.
(5) Records from this system of records may be disclosed to the
National Archives and Records Administration or to the General Service
Administration for records management inspections conducted under 44
U.S.C. 2904 and 2906.
(6) USDA will disclose information in the system to agency
contractors, grantees, experts, consultants or volunteers who have been
engaged by the agency to assist in the performance of a service related
to this system of records and who need to have access to the records in
order to perform the activity. Recipients shall be required to comply
with the requirements of the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended, pursuant
to 5 U.S.C. 552a(m).
POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR STORING, RETRIEVING, ACCESSING, RETAINING,
AND DISPOSING OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
STORAGE:
Records will be stored by the USDA Office of Outreach as electronic
files; from time to time portions may be converted to and maintained in
paper format.
RETRIEVABILITY:
Files will be referenced by county location of farmland.
SAFEGUARDS:
Records, both paper and electronic, are accessible only to
authorized personnel and are maintained in offices that are locked
during non-duty hours. Organizations requesting access to the Voluntary
Minority Farm Register records for specific farmland retention related
activities must make application to the USDA Office of Outreach,
outlining their proposed use of the records. If the proposal is
approved, the Office of Outreach will create the appropriate print or
electronic files to meet the request. In case of requests for names and
addresses in just a few counties, an alternative access procedure may
be used in which the USDA Office of Outreach informs USDA County
Service Centers what organizations have been approved. In those cases,
an approved organization can obtain printed files at the appropriate
county offices.
RETENTION AND DISPOSAL:
The current Voluntary Minority Farm Register will be recreated at
biennial intervals, in order to update name and address information and
to ensure the inclusion of any changes in farmland ownership recorded
in Farm Service Agency records. A letter will be sent to all Register
participants. The letter will clarify that there is no need for action
if name, address or farmland circumstances have not changed. A master
file of each generation of the Voluntary Minority Farm Register will be
kept in locked file cabinets until 6 years after creation and then
destroyed by shredding or burning in accordance with approved record
retention schedules.
SYSTEM MANAGER(S) AND ADDRESS:
Office of the Director, Office of Outreach, USDA, James L. Whitten
Building, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20250.
NOTIFICATION PROCEDURE:
Any individual may request information regarding this system of
records from the system manager.
RECORD ACCESS PROCEDURES:
Any individual who has volunteered to be included on the Voluntary
Minority Farm Register may gain access to register records which
pertain to him or her by submitting a written request to the system
manager or by visiting his or her local USDA Service Center and
submitting a written request.
CONTESTING RECORD PROCEDURES:
Any individual may contest a record in the Register that pertains
to him or her by submitting pertinent written information to the system
manager.
RECORD SOURCE CATEGORIES:
Information in this system comes only from the individuals who
voluntarily sign up for the Register.
EXEMPTIONS CLAIMED FOR THE SYSTEM:
None.
[FR Doc. 99-20445 Filed 8-6-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-01-M
