[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 152 (Monday, August 9, 1999)] [Notices] [Pages 43139-43140] From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] [FR Doc No: 99-20445] ----------------------------------------------------------------------- DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Office of the Secretary Privacy Act; System of Records AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, USDA. ACTION: Notice of New Privacy Act System of Records. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that USDA proposes to create a new Privacy Act system of records, USDA/NOO-1, entitled ``The USDA Voluntary Minority Farm Register.''. EFFECTIVE DATE: This notice will be adopted without further publication in the Federal Register on September 20, 1999, unless modified by a subsequent notice to incorporate comments received from the public. Although the Privacy Act requires only that the portion of the system which describes the ``routine uses'' of the system be published for comment, USDA invites comment on all portions of this notice. Comments must be received by the contact person listed below on or before September 8, 1999. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Rich Allen, Associate Administrator, NASS, Room 4117 South Building, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington DC, 20250, Telephone: (202) 720-4333. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant to the Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C. 552a, USDA is creating a new system of records to be maintained by the USDA Office of Outreach. The Voluntary Minority Farm Register is a listing of minority owners and operators of farmland. The purpose of the Voluntary Minority Farm Register is to establish a baseline for the amount of farmland owned by minority land owners in order to help the USDA set goals to halt the reduction in minority- owned farm land, monitor the loss of minority owned farms, and locate minority farmers for the purpose of informing them of USDA and other programs that may benefit them. The concept was generated by Recommendation #28 of the Report of the Civil Rights Action Team to the Secretary of Agriculture entitled Civil Rights at the United States Department of Agriculture, dated February 1997. The Voluntary Minority Farm Register will be administered by the Office of Outreach. A specific register sign-up form will be issued in Spanish and English. Informational registration materials will be distributed to Community Based Organizations, educational institutions, and government agencies assisting minorities with land retention and acquisition to ensure the program is widely publicized and accessible to all. A ``Report on New System,'' required by 5 U.S.C. 552a(r), as implemented by OMB Circular A-130, was sent to the Chairman, Committee on Government Affairs, United States Senate, the Chairman, Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, House of Representatives, and the Administrator, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget on July 30, 1999. Signed at Washington, DC, on July 30, 1999. Dan Glickman, Secretay of Agriculture. USDA/NOO-1 SYSTEM NAME: USDA Voluntary Minority Farm Register. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION: None. SYSTEM LOCATION: USDA Office of Outreach, 1400 Independence Avenue, Washington, D.C. CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS COVERED BY THE SYSTEM: Minority farmland owners and operators who voluntarily request to be included on the Register. CATEGORIES OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM: The system includes name, address, race/ethnic coding provided by the individual, and farmland acreages owned and operated for each individual who requested to be included on the Register. Acreage data are extracted from Farm Service Agency records for the requesting individuals. AUTHORITY FOR MAINTENANCE OF THE SYSTEM: Section 2501 of Public Law 101-624 (the 1990 Farm Bill), entitled Outreach and Assistance for Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers, provides authority for the USDA to enter into special arrangements to aid limited resource and under-served farmers. The Voluntary Minority Farm Register was one specific action requested during Civil Rights Action Team Public Meetings and documented in the Civil Rights Action Team Report of February 1997. ROUTINE USES OF RECORDS MAINTAINED IN THE SYSTEM, INCLUDING CATEGORIES OF USERS AND THE PURPOSES OF SUCH USES: (1) Records in the system will be disclosed and distributed to Community Based Organizations, educational institutions, and government agencies assisting minorities with land retention [[Page 43140]] and acquisition. The purpose of such releases is to ensure that the program of outreach and assistance for socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers is widely publicized and accessible to all. (2) USDA will disclose information in the system to a court or adjudicative body in a proceeding when: (a) The agency or any component thereof; or (b) any employee of the agency in his or her official capacity; or (c) any employee of the agency in his or her individual capacity where the agency has agreed to represent the employee; or (d) the United States Government is a party to litigation or has an interest in such litigation, and by careful review, determines that the records are both relevant and necessary to the litigation and the use of such records is therefore deemed by the agency to be for a purpose compatible with the purpose for which the agency collected the records. (3) When a record on its face, or in conjunction with other records, indicates a violation or potential violation of law, whether civil, criminal or regulatory in nature, and whether arising by general statute or particular program statute, or by regulation, rule, or order issued pursuant thereto, disclosure may be made to the appropriate agency, whether Federal, foreign, State, local, or tribal, or other public authority responsible for enforcing, investigating or prosecuting such violation or charged with enforcing or implementing the statute, or rule, regulation, or order issued pursuant thereto, if the information disclosed is relevant to any enforcement, regulatory, investigative or prospective responsibility of the receiving entity. (4) USDA will disclose information in the system to a Member of Congress or to a Congressional staff member in response to an inquiry of the Congressional office made at the written request of the constituent about whom the record is maintained. (5) Records from this system of records may be disclosed to the National Archives and Records Administration or to the General Service Administration for records management inspections conducted under 44 U.S.C. 2904 and 2906. (6) USDA will disclose information in the system to agency contractors, grantees, experts, consultants or volunteers who have been engaged by the agency to assist in the performance of a service related to this system of records and who need to have access to the records in order to perform the activity. Recipients shall be required to comply with the requirements of the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended, pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552a(m). POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR STORING, RETRIEVING, ACCESSING, RETAINING, AND DISPOSING OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM: STORAGE: Records will be stored by the USDA Office of Outreach as electronic files; from time to time portions may be converted to and maintained in paper format. RETRIEVABILITY: Files will be referenced by county location of farmland. SAFEGUARDS: Records, both paper and electronic, are accessible only to authorized personnel and are maintained in offices that are locked during non-duty hours. Organizations requesting access to the Voluntary Minority Farm Register records for specific farmland retention related activities must make application to the USDA Office of Outreach, outlining their proposed use of the records. If the proposal is approved, the Office of Outreach will create the appropriate print or electronic files to meet the request. In case of requests for names and addresses in just a few counties, an alternative access procedure may be used in which the USDA Office of Outreach informs USDA County Service Centers what organizations have been approved. In those cases, an approved organization can obtain printed files at the appropriate county offices. RETENTION AND DISPOSAL: The current Voluntary Minority Farm Register will be recreated at biennial intervals, in order to update name and address information and to ensure the inclusion of any changes in farmland ownership recorded in Farm Service Agency records. A letter will be sent to all Register participants. The letter will clarify that there is no need for action if name, address or farmland circumstances have not changed. A master file of each generation of the Voluntary Minority Farm Register will be kept in locked file cabinets until 6 years after creation and then destroyed by shredding or burning in accordance with approved record retention schedules. SYSTEM MANAGER(S) AND ADDRESS: Office of the Director, Office of Outreach, USDA, James L. Whitten Building, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20250. NOTIFICATION PROCEDURE: Any individual may request information regarding this system of records from the system manager. RECORD ACCESS PROCEDURES: Any individual who has volunteered to be included on the Voluntary Minority Farm Register may gain access to register records which pertain to him or her by submitting a written request to the system manager or by visiting his or her local USDA Service Center and submitting a written request. CONTESTING RECORD PROCEDURES: Any individual may contest a record in the Register that pertains to him or her by submitting pertinent written information to the system manager. RECORD SOURCE CATEGORIES: Information in this system comes only from the individuals who voluntarily sign up for the Register. EXEMPTIONS CLAIMED FOR THE SYSTEM: None. [FR Doc. 99-20445 Filed 8-6-99; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 3410-01-M