Privacy Act of 1974, Proposed Changes to System of Records

RAILROAD RETIREMENT BOARD

Privacy Act of 1974, Proposed Changes to System of Records

AGENCY: Railroad Retirement Board.

ACTION: Notice of a proposed routine use.

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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 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

Pursuant to Public Law 104-193, the Personal Responsibility and

Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, the Railroad Retirement

Board (RRB) will disclose data from its system of records RRB-19,

Payroll Record System, to the Office of Child Support Enforcement,

Administration for Children and Families, Department of Health and

Human Services (HHS) for use in the National Database of New Hires,

part of the Federal Parent Locator System (FPLS) and Federal Tax Offset

System, DHHS/OCSE No. 09-90-0074. A description of the Federal Parent

Locator Service may be found at 62 FR 51663 (October 2, 1997).

FPLS is a computerized network through which States may request

location information from Federal and State agencies to find non-

custodial parents and/or their employers for purposes of establishing

paternity and securing support. On October 1, 1997, the FPLS was

expanded to include the National Directory of New Hires, a database

containing information on employees recently hired, quarterly wage data

on private and public sector employees, and information on unemployment

compensation benefits. On October 1, 1988, the FPLS will be expanded

further to include a Federal Case Registry. The Federal Case Registry

will contain abstracts on all participants involved in child support

enforcement cases. When the Federal Case Registry is instituted, its

files will be matched on an ongoing basis against the files in the

National Directory of New Hires to determine if an employee is a

participant in a child support case anywhere in the country. If the

FPLS identifies a person as being a participant in a State child

support case, that State will be notified. State requests to the FPLS

for location information will also continue to be processed after

October 1, 1998.

When individual are hired by the RRB, we may disclose to the FPLS

their

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names, social security numbers, home addresses, dates of birth, dates

of hire, and information identifying us as the employer. We may also

disclose to the FPLS names, social security numbers, and quarterly

earnings of each RRB employee within one month of the end of the

quarterly reporting period.

Information submitted by the RRB to the FPLS will be disclosed by

the Office of Child Support Enforcement to the Social Security

Administration for verification to ensure that the social security

number provided is correct. The datea disclosed by the RRB to the FPLS

will also be disclosed by the Office of Child Support Enforcement to

the Secretary of the Treasury for use in verifying claims for the

advance payment of the earned income tax credit or to verify a claim of

employment on a tax return.

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. Since the proposed uses of

the data are required by Public Law 104-193, they are clearly necessary

and proper uses, and therefore ``compatible'' uses which meet the

requirement of the Privacy Act.

III. Altered System Report

On December 11, 1997, the Railroad Retirement Board filed an

altered system report for this system with the chairman of the

designated Senate and House committees and with the Office of

Management and Budget. This was done to comply with Section 3 of the

Privacy Act of 1974 and OMB Circular No. A-130, Appendix I.

By Authority of the Board.

Beatrice Ezerski,

Secretary to the Board.

RRB-19

System Name: Payroll Record System--RRB

* * * * *

Routine uses of records maintained in the system, including categories

of users and the purposes of such uses:

* * * * *

Paragraph ``j'' is added to read as follows:

j. The names, social security numbers, home addresses, dates of

birth, dates of hire, quarterly earnings, employer identifying

information, and State of hire of employees may be disclosed to the

Office of Child Support Enforcement, Administration for Children and

Families, Department of Health and Human Services for the purpose of

locating individuals to establish paternity, establishing and modifying

orders of child support, identifying sources of income, and for other

child support enforcement actions as required by the Personal

Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (Welfare Reform

Act, Pub. L. 104-193).

[FR Doc. 97-33202 Filed 12-18-97; 8:45 am]

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