No Biometric Barriers to Housing Act of 2019

II 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 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.—On and after the date that is 6 8 months after the date of enactment of this Act, an owner 9 of a covered federally assisted rental dwelling unit may 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:18 Oct 26, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2689.IS S2689 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 2689 IS not use, or authorize the use of, facial recognition tech- 1 nology and biometric analytics, physical biometric recogni- 2 tion technology and biometric analytics, or remote biomet- 3 ric recognition technology and biometric analytics in the 4 dwelling unit or in any building or grounds containing the 5 dwelling unit. 6 (b) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act: 7 (1) ASSISTANCE.—The term ‘‘assistance’’— 8 (A) means any grant, loan, subsidy, con- 9 tract, cooperative agreement, or other form of 10 financial assistance; and 11 (B) does not include the insurance or guar- 12 antee of a loan, mortgage, or pool of loans or 13 mortgages. 14 (2) BIOMETRIC ANALYTICS.—The term ‘‘bio- 15 metric analytics’’ means authentication techniques 16 that rely on measurable physical characteristics that 17 can be automatically checked by technical systems. 18 (3) COVERED FEDERALLY ASSISTED RENTAL 19 DWELLING UNIT.—The term ‘‘covered federally as- 20 sisted rental dwelling unit’’ means a residential 21 dwelling unit that is made available for rental and 22 for which assistance is provided, or that is part of 23 a housing project for which assistance is provided, 24 under— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:18 Oct 26, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2689.IS S2689 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 2689 IS (A) the public housing program under the 1 United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 2 1437 et seq.); 3 (B) the program for supportive housing for 4 persons with disabilities under section 811 of 5 the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable 6 Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 8013); 7 (C) the program for supportive housing for 8 the elderly under section 202 of the Housing 9 Act of 1959 (12 U.S.C. 1701q); or 10 (D) the program for project-based rental 11 assistance under section 8 of the United States 12 Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f). 13 (4) FACIAL RECOGNITION TECHNOLOGY.—The 14 term ‘‘facial recognition technology’’ means tech- 15 nology that facilitates or otherwise enables an auto- 16 mated or semi-automated process that assists in 17 identifying an individual based on the physical char- 18 acteristics of the face of an individual, or that logs 19 characteristics of the face, head, or body of an indi- 20 vidual to infer emotion, associations, activities, or 21 the location of an individual. 22 (5) OWNER.—The term ‘‘owner’’ means any 23 private person or entity, including a cooperative, an 24 agency of the Federal Government, or a public hous- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:18 Oct 26, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2689.IS S2689 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 2689 IS ing agency, having the legal right to lease or sub- 1 lease dwelling units. 2 (6) PHYSICAL BIOMETRIC RECOGNITION TECH- 3 NOLOGY.—The term ‘‘physical biometric recognition 4 technology’’ means technology that facilitates or oth- 5 erwise enables an automated or semi-automated 6 process that assists in identifying an individual or 7 capturing information about an individual based on 8 the characteristics of the DNA, fingerprints, palm- 9 prints, iris, or retina of an individual. 10 (7) REMOTE BIOMETRIC RECOGNITION TECH- 11 NOLOGY.—The term ‘‘remote biometric recognition 12 technology’’ means technology that facilitates or oth- 13 erwise enables an automated or semi-automated 14 process that assists in identifying an individual or 15 capturing information about an individual based on 16 the characteristics of the gait, voice, or other immu- 17 table characteristic of an individual ascertained from 18 a distance, or that logs those characteristics to infer 19 emotion, associations, activities, or the location of an 20 individual. 21 SEC. 3. REPORT TO CONGRESS. 22 Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 23 of this Act, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Develop- 24 ment shall submit to the Committee on Banking, Housing, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:18 Oct 26, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2689.IS S2689 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 2689 IS and Urban Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on 1 Financial Services of the House of Representatives, and 2 make available to the public on the website of the Depart- 3 ment of Housing and Urban Development, a report that 4 describes— 5 (1) any known usage of facial recognition tech- 6 nology and biometric analytics, physical biometric 7 recognition technology and biometric analytics, or re- 8 mote biometric recognition technology and biometric 9 analytics in any covered federally assisted rental 10 dwelling unit during the 5 years preceding the date 11 of enactment of this Act; 12 (2) the impact of those technologies and bio- 13 metric analytics on the residents of those covered 14 federally assisted rental dwelling units; 15 (3) the purpose of installing those technologies 16 and biometric analytics in those covered federally as- 17 sisted rental dwelling units; 18 (4) demographic information about the resi- 19 dents of each covered federally assisted rental dwell- 20 ing unit where the usage of those technologies and 21 biometric analytics occurred; and 22 (5) the potential impacts on vulnerable commu- 23 nities of additional usage of facial recognition tech- 24 nology and biometric analytics, physical biometric 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:18 Oct 26, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2689.IS S2689 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •S 2689 IS recognition technology and biometric analytics, or re- 1 mote biometric recognition technology and biometric 2 analytics in covered federally assisted rental dwelling 3 units, including impacts on resident privacy, civil 4 rights, and fair housing. 5 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:18 Oct 26, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S2689.IS S2689 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS