Privacy Office Enhancement Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 5678 To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 relating to the responsibilities and functions of Chief Privacy Officer of the Department of Homeland Security, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 27, 2020 Mr. VAN DREW (for himself and Mr. ROGERS of Alabama) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Homeland Security A BILL To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 relating to the responsibilities and functions of Chief Privacy Officer of the Department of Homeland Security, 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 ‘‘Privacy Office En- 4 hancement Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:24 Jan 28, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5678.IH H5678 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 5678 IH SEC. 2. RESPONSIBILITIES AND FUNCTIONS OF CHIEF PRI- 1 VACY OFFICER. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 222 of the Homeland Se- 3 curity Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 142) is amended— 4 (1) in subsection (a)— 5 (A) in the matter preceding paragraph 6 (1)— 7 (i) by inserting ‘‘to be the Chief Pri- 8 vacy Officer of the Department,’’ after ‘‘in 9 the Department,’’; and 10 (ii) by striking ‘‘to the Secretary, to 11 assume’’ and inserting ‘‘to the Secretary. 12 Such official shall have’’; 13 (B) in paragraph (5)(B), by striking 14 ‘‘and’’ at the end; and 15 (C) by striking paragraph (6) and insert- 16 ing the following new paragraphs: 17 ‘‘(6) developing guidance to assist components 18 of the Department in developing privacy policies and 19 practices; 20 ‘‘(7) establishing a mechanism to ensure such 21 components are in compliance with Federal, regu- 22 latory, statutory, and Department privacy require- 23 ments, mandates, directives, and policies; 24 ‘‘(8) working with the Chief Information Officer 25 of the Department to identify methods for managing 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:24 Jan 28, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5678.IH H5678 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 5678 IH and overseeing the records, management policies, 1 and procedures of the Department; 2 ‘‘(9) working with components and offices of 3 the Department to ensure that information sharing 4 activities incorporate privacy protections; 5 ‘‘(10) serving as the Chief FOIA Officer of the 6 Department for purposes of subsection (j) of section 7 552 of title 5, United States Code (popularly known 8 as the Freedom of Information Act), to manage and 9 process requests related to such section; 10 ‘‘(11) developing guidance on procedures to be 11 followed by individuals making requests for informa- 12 tion under such section 552; 13 ‘‘(12) overseeing the management and proc- 14 essing of requests for information under such section 15 552 within Department Headquarters and relevant 16 Department component offices; 17 ‘‘(13) providing component heads with input on 18 the management of their respective FOIA offices, in- 19 cluding recruiting and hiring component FOIA offi- 20 cers, budget formulation, and organizational place- 21 ment within each such component; 22 ‘‘(14) identifying and eliminating unnecessary 23 and duplicative actions taken by the Department in 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:24 Jan 28, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5678.IH H5678 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 5678 IH the course of processing requests for information 1 under such section 552; 2 ‘‘(15) preparing an annual report to Congress 3 that includes— 4 ‘‘(A) a description of the activities of the 5 Department that affect privacy during the fiscal 6 year covered by the report, including complaints 7 of privacy violations, implementation of section 8 552a of title 5, United States Code (popularly 9 known as the Privacy Act of 1974), internal 10 controls, and other matters; and 11 ‘‘(B) the number of new technology pro- 12 grams implemented in the Department during 13 the fiscal year covered by the report, the num- 14 ber of such programs that the Chief Privacy Of- 15 ficer has evaluated to ensure that privacy pro- 16 tections are considered and implemented, the 17 number of such programs that effectively imple- 18 mented privacy protections into new technology 19 programs, and an explanation of why any new 20 programs did not effectively implement privacy 21 protections; and 22 ‘‘(16) carrying out such other responsibilities as 23 the Secretary determines are appropriate, consistent 24 with this section.’’; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:24 Jan 28, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5678.IH H5678 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 5678 IH (2) by adding at the end the following new sub- 1 section: 2 ‘‘(f) REASSIGNMENT OF FUNCTIONS.—Notwith- 3 standing subsection (a)(10), the Secretary may reassign 4 the functions related to managing and processing requests 5 for information under section 552 of title 5, United States 6 Code, to another officer within the Department, consistent 7 with requirements of such section.’’. 8 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:24 Jan 28, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H5678.IH H5678 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS