Privacy Act Notice

[Federal Register: June 16, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 115)]
[Notices]
[Page 33644-33648]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr16jn04-62]

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Children and Families

Privacy Act of 1974; Amended System of Records Notice

AGENCY: Office of Family Assistance, Administration for Children and
Families, HHS.

ACTION: Notice of amended system of records.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: In accordance with the requirements of the Privacy Act of 1974
(5 U.S.C. 552a), the Office of Family Assistance is publishing notice
of amendments to the system of records entitled ``TANF Data System'',
last published on July 26, 2002 (No. 09-90-0151).

DATES: We invite interested parties to submit comments on these
amendments on or before July 16, 2004. As required by 5 U.S.C. 552(a),
we have sent copies of this amendment notice to the Committee on
Government Reform and Oversight of the House of Representatives, the
Committee on Governmental Affairs of the Senate, and the Office of
Information and Regulatory Affairs of the Office of Management and
Budget.
The amendments described in this notice will be effective upon
publication, unless ACF receives comments that would result in a
contrary determination.

ADDRESSES: Please send comments to: Sean D. Hurley, Director, Division
of Data Collection and Analysis, Office of Family Assistance,
Administration for Children and Families, 370 L'Enfant Promenade SW.,
5th Floor East, Washington DC 20447; phone: 202-401-9297; fax: 202-205-
5887; E-mail: shurley@acf.hhs.gov.
Comments received will be available for public inspection at the
address specified above between 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday
except Federal holidays.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sean D Hurley, Director, Division of
Data Collection and Analysis, at the above address.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
(TANF) program under title IV-A of the Social Security Act (the Act)
became effective on August 22, 1996. In order to monitor the progress
of States (i.e., the 50 States, District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, U.S.
Virgin Islands and Guam) implementing the TANF program, Congress
specified mandatory data collection and reporting requirements in
section 411 of the Act. This section also requires the Department to
transmit to Congress an annual report on the Department's findings as
to whether States are:
Meeting the work participation rates; and,
Increasing the employment and earnings of needy families,
increasing child support collections, and decreasing out-of-wedlock
pregnancies and child poverty.
The annual report must also describe:
The demographic and financial characteristics of families
applying for, receiving, and becoming ineligible for TANF;
The characteristics of State TANF programs; and,
The trends in employment and earnings of needy families
with minor children living at home.
In addition to the foregoing requirements, the statute also allows

[[Page 33645]]

(but does not require) States to compete for an award of High-
Performance Bonus (HPB) funds. These funds are awarded to applicant
States which successfully assist TANF recipients in obtaining and
retaining employment.
Until the regulations for the TANF program and the HPB system were
finalized, including the data collection requirements, States were
required to meet minimal reporting requirements under the Emergency
TANF Data Report, which did not include any individual identifiers.
Final rules published on April 12, 1999 expanded TANF data
collection and reporting requirements. These requirements, published at
45 CFR Part 265, require States to report specific individual
identifiers, including the Social Security Numbers (SSNs) of TANF
recipients collected pursuant to section 1137 of the Act. States are
required to collect the prescribed data elements monthly and report the
data quarterly to ACF. States may report these data elements on the
entire universe of families that receive assistance in a reporting
month or for a representative sample of recipients. Approximately 30
States currently report universe data.
Final rules regarding the award of TANF HPB funds were published on
August 30, 2000, and amended on December 4, 2000 and May 10, 2001.
These rules, which are found at 45 CFR Part 270, specify the data and
other information which States must report in order to compete for
bonus awards.
Consistent with these requirements, the Office of Family Assistance
(OFA) and the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, ACF,
established a system of records called the TANF Data System (TDS) (67
FR 48914, July 26, 2002). In addition, since States that wish to
compete on the four work measures in the HPB system in FY 2002 or later
are required to provide the SSNs of all adult recipients in each fiscal
quarter, such SSNs will also be included in the TDS. These SSNs are
used to obtain information on the employment and earnings of TANF
recipients by matching them with the National Directory of New Hires
(NDNH) data set maintained by the Office of Child Support Enforcement
(OCSE), ACF.
Notice is hereby given that OFA is amending the System of Records
published on July 26, 2002 at 67 FR 48914 as described below.
1. In the SUMMARY, the sentence ``The TANF Data System includes the
data elements on individual TANF recipients that States report under
sections 403 and 411 of the Act.'' is amended to ``The TANF Data System
includes the data elements on individual TANF recipients that States
report under program regulations at section 45 CFR Part 265''. The
purpose of this amendment is to specifically include all data collected
on individuals under the TANF program. This is consistent with the
later section CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS COVERED BY THE SYSTEM.
2. The contents of the ROUTINE USES section are amended to read:
``Records containing data collected pursuant to program regulations
at 45 CFR Part 265 may be disclosed for statistical purposes, and only
for such purposes, as described below:
1. In response to specific requests from public or private
entities, supply untabulated and/or tabulated data without personal
identifiers in a form that is not individually identifiable to a
recipient who has provided the agency with advance adequate written
assurance that the records will be used solely as statistical research
or reporting records;
2. In response to specific requests from public or private
entities, where the requester's proposed use of data from the TANF Data
System is found compatible with the purposes for which this data was
collected, supply untabulated data which may include personal
identifiers for individuals whose information is included in the data.
No data which may include personal identifiers will be disclosed until
the requester has agreed in writing not to use such data to identify
any individuals, and has provided advance adequate written assurance
that the records will be used solely as statistical research or
reporting records.

Note: Data produced by matching State-provided data with data
from OCSE's National Directory of New Hires will only be disclosed
in accordance with applicable routine use disclosures set forth in
OCSE's Locate and Collection System No. 09-90-0074.

The preceding amendment will more clearly and accurately reflect
the circumstances under which information maintained in the TANF Data
System may be disclosed consistent with our legal obligations to
protect the privacy of the individuals whose information is included in
the data.
3. In the last paragraph of the RETENTION AND DISPOSAL section, the
sentence, ``The erasing of these SSN data file will be done within a
year after the award year, which immediately follows the performance
year.'' is amended to, ``The erasing of these SSN data files will be
done within two years after the awards are actually made for a
performance year (which precedes the award year).'' The reason for this
amendment is that the awards may not always be made in the year
immediately following the performance year, and the data may be used
for statistical purposes (as defined above) within the extended, two-
year period (as opposed to the one-year period), or to check the
accuracy of the computations for the award in response to specific
requests for the same from the participating States.
We are also making conforming amendments.

Dated: June 10, 2004.
Joan E. Ohl,
Acting Director, Office of Family Assistance, ACF.
09-90-0151

SYSTEM NAME:
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Data System, ACF,
HHS.

SECURITY CLASSIFICATION:
None.

SYSTEM LOCATION:
The TANF data are reported by the individual States for each
(Federal) fiscal quarter. (The term State is used in this notice to
refer to the 50 States, the District of Columbia, and the jurisdictions
of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Guam). States transmit the
data electronically to the computer system of the Center for
Information Technology (CIT) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH)
located at Building 12A, Bethesda, MD 20892. The State data are pooled
to create a national database for each quarter, which is also kept in
the computer system of CIT. The whole system is maintained under the
technical and management control of: (1) The Office of Information
Systems, Office of Administration, Administration for Children and
Families, 370 L'Enfant Promenade, SW., Washington, DC 20447; and (2)
the Office of Family Assistance, Administration for Children and
Families, 370 L'Enfant Promenade, SW., Washington, DC 20447.

CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS COVERED BY THE SYSTEM:
The TANF Data System contains information on: (1) Members of
families (as defined at 45 CFR 265.2) who received assistance under the
TANF program in any month, and (2) members of families (as defined at
45 CFR 265.2) in which an individual was assisted by a Separate State
Program (SSP) which is not subject to Federal work or time limit
requirements but for which

[[Page 33646]]

expenditures are or will be claimed by the State to satisfy TANF
Maintenance of Effort (MOE) requirements.

CATEGORIES OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
There are three distinct groups of data in the TDS: family-level
data; adult-level or minor-child-head-of-household data; and child
data.
Family level data maintained in the TDS may include the following
items of information on every family that received assistance during
one or more months: State Federal Information Processing Standard
(FIPS) code; Federal Region code; county FIPS code; report year and
month; stratum code; case identification number (assigned by the
State); Zip code; funding stream; disposition status; new applicant
status; number of family members; type of family for work
participation; receipt of subsidized housing; receipt of medical
assistance; receipt of food stamp assistance; amount of food stamp
assistance; receipt of subsidized child care; amount of subsidized
child care; amount of child support; amount of family's cash resources;
cash, or cash equivalent, amount of assistance and number of months of
that assistance; TANF child care (amount, number of children covered,
and number of months of assistance); transportation assistance (amount
and number of months of assistance); transitional services (amount and
number of months of assistance); other assistance (amount and number of
months of assistance); amount of reductions in assistance; reason for
assistance reductions (sanctions, recoupment of prior overpayment, and
other); waiver evaluation experimental and control group status;
exemption status from the federal time-limit provisions; and new child-
only-family status.
Adult-level or minor child-head-of-household data maintained in the
TDS may include: case identification number (same as the family's case
identification number); report year and month; State FIPS code; family
affiliation; non-custodial parent indicator; date of birth; SSN; race
and ethnicity; gender; receipt of disability benefits; marital status;
relationship to head of household; parent-with-minor-child-in-the-
family status; needs of a pregnant woman; education level; citizenship;
cooperation with child support; number of months countable towards
Federal time-limit; number of countable months remaining under State's
time-limit; exemption status of the reporting month from the State's
time-limit; employment status; work participation status; unsubsidized
employment hours; subsidized private and public sector employment
hours; work experience hours; on-the-job training hours; job search and
job readiness assistance hours; community service program hours;
vocational educational training hours; hours of job skills training
directly related to employment; hours of education directly related to
employment for individuals with no high school diploma or certificate
of high school equivalency; hours of satisfactory school attendance for
individuals with no high school diploma or certificate of high school
equivalency; hours of providing child care services to an individual
who is participating in a community service program; hours of
additional work activities permitted under a Waiver demonstration;
hours of other work activities; required hours of work under a Waiver
demonstration; amount of earned income; and amount of unearned income
(earned income tax credit, Social Security benefit, Supplemental
Security Income (SSI), worker's compensation, and other unearned
income).
Child data (i.e., data pertaining to every child in a recipient
TANF family) may include: Case identification number (same as the
family's case identification number); State FIPS code; report year and
month; family affiliation; date of birth; SSN; race and ethnicity;
gender; receipt of disability benefits; relationship to head of
household; parent-with-minor-child-in-the-family status; education
level; citizenship; amount of unearned income (SSI and other).

AUTHORITY FOR MAINTENANCE OF THE SYSTEM:
Legal authority for the collection and maintenance of the system is
contained in Title IV-A of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. 601-619.
TANF data collection and reporting regulations are found in 45 CFR Part
265. Legal authority for the collection of information for the High
Performance Bonus award program is found in section 403 of the Social
Security Act and in 45 CFR Part 270.

PURPOSE(S):
The purposes of the TANF Data System are: (1) To determine whether
states are meeting certain requirements prescribed by the Act,
including prescribed work and time-limit requirements; (2) to compile
information used to report to Congress on the TANF program; and, (3) to
compute state scores on work measures and rank states on their
performance in assisting TANF recipients to obtain and retain
employment in connection with the award of High Performance Bonus
funds.

ROUTINE USES OF RECORDS MAINTAINED IN THE SYSTEM, INCLUDING CATEGORIES
OF USERS AND THE PURPOSE OF SUCH USES:
Records containing data collected pursuant to program regulations
at 45 CFR Part 265 may be disclosed for statistical purposes, and only
for such purposes, as described below:
1. in response to specific requests from public or private
entities, supply untabulated and/or tabulated data without personal
identifiers in a form that is not individually identifiable to a
recipient who has provided the agency with advance adequate written
assurance that the records will be used solely as statistical research
or reporting records;
2. in response to specific requests from public or private
entities, where the requester's proposed use of data from the TANF Data
System is found compatible with the purposes for which this data was
collected, supply untabulated data which may include personal
identifiers for individuals whose information is included in the data.
No data which may include personal identifiers will be disclosed until
the requester has agreed in writing not to use such data to identify
any individuals and has provided advance adequate written assurance
that the records will be used solely as statistical research or
reporting records.

Note: Data produced by matching State-provided data with data
from OCSE's National Directory of New Hires will only be disclosed
in accordance with applicable routine use disclosures set forth in
OCSE's Locate and Collection System No. 09-90-0074.

DISCLOSURE TO CONSUMER REPORTING AGENCIES:
None.

POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR STORING, RETRIEVING, ACCESSING, RETAINING,
AND DISPOSING OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
STORAGE:
States electronically transmit the TANF data for each fiscal
quarter to a computer in the Center for Information Technology (CIT) of
the National Institute of Health. The data sets received from the
States in accordance with the requirements program regulations at 45
CFR Part 265 are pooled to create a national database for each fiscal
quarter. The national database thus created for a given fiscal year is
also kept in a computer disk on the mainframe of the CIT for up to 24
months after the end of such fiscal year. Afterwards, the database is
copied to

[[Page 33647]]

compact discs (CDs) and securely kept in ACF under lock and key or on
personal computers by individuals whose access to the CDs has been
authorized by the OFA and/or ACF's Office of Information Services,
Office of Administration.
Although SSNs of adult TANF recipients collected from States which
have chosen to compete for High-Performance bonuses are stored on the
CIT as well, they are also provided to Office of Child Support
Enforcement for matching with records of individual employment
information contained in the National Directory of New Hires (NDNH)
portion of OCSE's Location and Collection System No. 09-90-0074,
published at 65 FR 57817, September 26, 2000. Thereafter, match results
are transmitted back to OFA without SSNs in a form which is not
individually identifiable, and the SSNs supplied to perform the match
are destroyed by OCSE.

RETRIEVABILITY:
The national database kept in the CIT is accessed by authorized
users of the data following established procedures. The authorized
users are selected individuals in the Office of Administration, ACF
(including its contractors who may handle processing of the data and
the creation of the national database), and selected individuals in the
Division of Data Collection and Analysis, OFA, ACF (who perform
analyses of the data). The database is accessed and downloaded by
authorized individuals to secure personal computers (PCs). Sharing of
the data downloaded to individual PCs is allowed only with permission
of the System Manager. Although all data elements in the database can
be retrieved, the SSNs are not generally included in any retrieval,
since they are not used in the routine analyses of the data.

SAFEGUARDS:
1. Physical security: The CIT of NIH, as a U.S. government
facility, abides by all U.S. government policies with regard to the
physical security of the data kept there. Physical security at CIT
includes: An uninterruptible power supply; climate control; a central
backup and recovery system; a disaster recovery program; security
procedures for data access; and normal physical and system security
procedures (restricted physical access to computer machine rooms and
output handling areas, which is enforced by a round-the-clock security
guard stationed at the main entrance to the area, valid government
identification (ID) badge or photo identification and registration with
the security guard to obtain a temporary entry badge for a specifically
authorized purpose, such as maintenance service or repair of
equipment). The outputs generated at the facility are placed in locked
boxes that can be accessed only by users knowing the correct box access
code. To ensure physical security of data kept on tapes or other
portable media, the CIT requires that the sponsor of an account
authorize the removal of them from the CIT. When such items are taken
out, the person receiving the items provides the following to the
production unit staff of the CIT: Name and signature; ID badge number;
driver's license number and State; and organization's (which is
represented by the person) name and phone number. Only after confirming
these items of information by the production unit staff will the items
be given to the person. Data older than 24 months is downloaded by
authorized individuals to secure PCs, and then copied to CDs which are
then kept under lock and key. After copying the data to CDs, the data
on the PCs are deleted.
2. Authorized access: Access to the data is strictly regulated with
passwords and other controls. Only individuals whose work
responsibilities specifically include accessing the data system (either
for processing or for analysis) are allowed to access these data. They
include designated individuals (including contractors) in the Office of
Information Services, Office of Administration, ACF (mostly for
processing incoming data and database creation), and designated
individuals in the Division of Data Collection and Analysis, OFA, ACF.
3. Procedural and technical safeguards: The individuals who are
authorized to access the data have been adequately instructed on the
privacy and confidentiality of the data, and they have been trained to
handle the data in such a manner as to protect its privacy and
confidentiality. Release of any personal identification particulars by
these individuals is strictly forbidden, and release of even tabulated
data is allowed only under specific authorization. Established
clearance procedures must be observed before any release of the
information contained in the data system.

RETENTION AND DISPOSAL:
The data transmitted by a State for a fiscal quarter to the CIT's
computer are backed up to a computer tape after the initial processing
of the data. The backed-up version of the data is kept only for a
period of 30 days.
The data transmitted by the States for a fiscal quarter, after
processing and acceptance, are pooled to create a national database for
the quarter. The national database is stored in the CIT's computer for
up to 24 months after the end of the fiscal year. Afterwards, the
database is copied to a compact disc, and the original data in CIT's
computer is scratched. The data on the compact disc is securely
maintained by ACF for up to 20 years in order to facilitate research on
caseload trends, changes in the characteristics of TANF recipients, or
other pertinent research. The eventual disposal of the data will be by
means of physical destruction of the CD's containing the data. The
Office of Information Systems of the Office of Administration and OFA,
ACF, are responsible for the retention and disposal of the data system.
The SSNs obtained for the HPB award program for a performance year,
although initially kept in an electronic file in the CIT, are erased
after identifying the States that merited awards for that performance
year. The erasing of these SSN data file will be done within two years
after the awards are actually made for a performance year (which
precedes the award year). Aggregate data files based on information
provided for the HPB award program are also erased at the same time.

SYSTEM MANAGER(S) AND ADDRESS:
1. Director, Division of Applications Development Services, Office
of Information Services, Office of Administration, Administration for
Children and Families, 370 L'Enfant Promenade, SW., Washington, DC
20447.
2. Director, Division of Data Collection and Analysis, Office of
Family Assistance, Administration for Children and Families, 370
L'Enfant Promenade, SW., Washington, DC 20447.

NOTIFICATION PROCEDURES:
To determine if a record exists, write to either of the System
Managers noted above. The Privacy Act provides that, except under
certain conditions specified in the law, only the subject of the
records may have access to them. All requests must be submitted in the
following manner: Identify the system of records that is desired to be
searched; have the request for search notarized certifying the identity
of the requestor; and indicate that the requestor is aware that the
knowing and willful request for or acquisition of Privacy Act record
under false pretenses is a criminal offense subject to a $10,000 fine.
The

[[Page 33648]]

letter of request should also provide sufficient particulars to enable
the System Manager to distinguish among records on subject individuals
with the same name.

RECORD ACCESS PROCEDURES:
Write to either of the System Managers listed above to obtain
access to the records. Requestors should provide a detailed description
of the record contents they are seeking.

CONTESTING RECORD PROCEDURE:
Write to either of the System Managers listed above, at the address
noted, identifying the record and specifying the information to be
contested and corrective action sought, together with supporting
justification to show how the record is inaccurate, incomplete,
untimely, or irrelevant.

RECORD SOURCE CATEGORIES:
All information is obtained from the states.

SYSTEM EXEMPTED FROM CERTAIN PROVISIONS OF THE ACT:
None.

[FR Doc. 04-13575 Filed 6-15-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4184-01-P