No Biometric Barriers to Housing Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 4008 To prohibit the use of biometric recognition technology in certain federally assisted dwelling units, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JULY 25, 2019 Ms. CLARKE of New York (for herself, Ms. PRESSLEY, and Ms. TLAIB) intro- duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Finan- cial Services A BILL To prohibit the use of biometric recognition technology in certain federally assisted dwelling units, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘No Biometric Barriers 4 to Housing Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON BIOMETRIC IDENTIFICATION 6 TECHNOLOGY. 7 (a) IN GENERAL.—At any time after the expiration 8 of the 1-year period beginning on the date of the enact- 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:26 Aug 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4008.IH H4008 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 4008 IH ment of this Act, an owner of a covered federally assisted 1 rental dwelling unit, may not use, or authorize the use 2 of, facial recognition technology, physical biometric rec- 3 ognition technology, or remote biometric recognition tech- 4 nology in such dwelling unit or in any building or grounds 5 containing such dwelling unit. 6 (b) DEFINITIONS.—For the purposes of this Act: 7 (1) ASSISTANCE.—The term ‘‘assistance’’ 8 means any grant, loan, subsidy, contract, cooperative 9 agreement, or other form of financial assistance, but 10 such term does not include the insurance or guar- 11 antee of a loan, mortgage, or pool of loans or mort- 12 gages. 13 (2) COVERED FEDERALLY ASSISTED RENTAL 14 DWELLING UNIT.—The term ‘‘covered federally as- 15 sisted rental dwelling unit’’ means a residential 16 dwelling unit that is made available for rental and 17 for which assistance is provided, or that is part of 18 a housing project for which assistance is provided, 19 under— 20 (A) the public housing program under the 21 United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 22 1437 et seq.); 23 (B) the program for supportive housing for 24 persons with disabilities under section 811 of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:26 Aug 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4008.IH H4008 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 4008 IH the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable 1 Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 8013); 2 (C) the program for supportive housing for 3 the elderly under section 202 of the Housing 4 Act of 1959 (12 U.S.C. 1701q); or 5 (D) the program for project-based rental 6 assistance under section 8 of the United States 7 Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f). 8 (3) FACIAL RECOGNITION TECHNOLOGY.—The 9 term ‘‘facial recognition technology’’ means tech- 10 nology which facilitates or otherwise enables an 11 automated or semi-automated process that assists in 12 identifying an individual based on the physical char- 13 acteristics of an individual’s face, or that logs char- 14 acteristics of an individual’s face, head, or body to 15 infer emotion, associations, activities, or the location 16 of an individual. 17 (4) OWNER.—The term ‘‘owner’’ means any 18 private person or entity, including a cooperative, an 19 agency of the Federal Government, or a public hous- 20 ing agency, having the legal right to lease or sub- 21 lease dwelling units. 22 (5) PHYSICAL BIOMETRIC RECOGNITION TECH- 23 NOLOGY.—The term ‘‘physical biometric recognition 24 technology’’ means technology which facilitates or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:26 Aug 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4008.IH H4008 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 4008 IH otherwise enables an automated or semi-automated 1 process that assists in identifying an individual or 2 capturing information about an individual based on 3 the characteristics of an individual’s DNA, finger- 4 prints, palmprints, iris, or retina. 5 (6) REMOTE BIOMETRIC RECOGNITION TECH- 6 NOLOGY.—The term ‘‘remote biometric recognition 7 technology’’ means technology which facilitates or 8 otherwise enables an automated or semi-automated 9 process that assists in identifying an individual or 10 capturing information about an individual based on 11 the characteristics of an individual’s gait, voice, or 12 other immutable characteristic ascertained from a 13 distance, or that logs such characteristics to infer 14 emotion, associations, activities, or the location of an 15 individual. 16 SEC. 3. REPORT TO CONGRESS. 17 Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 18 of this Act, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Develop- 19 ment shall submit to the Committee on Financial Services 20 of the House of Representative and the Committee on 21 Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate and 22 make available to the public on the website of the Depart- 23 ment, a report that describes— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:26 Aug 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4008.IH H4008 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 4008 IH (1) any known usage of facial recognition tech- 1 nology, physical biometric recognition technology, or 2 remote biometric recognition technology in any cov- 3 ered federally assisted dwelling unit during the 5 4 years preceding the date of enactment of this Act; 5 (2) the impact of such technology on the resi- 6 dents of such covered federally assisted rental dwell- 7 ing units; 8 (3) the purpose of installing such technologies 9 in such covered federally assisted rental dwelling 10 units; 11 (4) demographic information about the resi- 12 dents of each covered federally assisted rental dwell- 13 ing unit where such usage occurred; and 14 (5) the potential impacts on vulnerable commu- 15 nities of additional usage of facial recognition tech- 16 nology, physical biometric recognition technology, or 17 remote biometric recognition technology in covered 18 federally assisted rental dwelling units, including im- 19 pacts on resident privacy, civil rights, and fair hous- 20 ing. 21 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:26 Aug 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H4008.IH H4008 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS