[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 31 (Wednesday, February 15, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 7990-7992]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-2122]
[[Page 7990]]
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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
Federal Emergency Management Agency
[FEMA-2005-0042]
RIN 1660-ZA11
Privacy Act of 1974; National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP);
Letter of Map Amendment (LOMA) System of Records
AGENCY: Federal Emergency Management Agency, Department of Homeland
Security.
ACTION: Notice of Privacy Act system of records.
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SUMMARY: Pursuant to the Privacy Act of 1974, the Department of
Homeland Security gives notice that its Federal Emergency Management
Agency proposes to establish a System of Records, entitled the Letter
of Map Amendment system, DHS/FEMA/NFIP/LOMA-1. This system of records
will contain individually identifying information voluntarily provided
by applicants for Letters of Map Amendments to exclude properties from
special flood hazard area maps when appropriate.
DATES: The proposed System of Records will be effective March 17, 2006,
unless comments are received that result in a contrary determination.
The public is invited to comment on the proposed System of Records.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by FEMA-2005-0042 by one
of the following methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov.
Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
E-mail: FEMA-RULES@dhs.gov. Include FEMA-2005-0042 in the
subject line of the message.
Fax: 202-646-4536. (Not a toll-free number).
Mail: Please address them to the Rules Docket Clerk,
Office of General Counsel, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Room
406, 500 C Street, SW., Washington, DC 20472; Maureen Cooney, Acting
Chief Privacy Officer, 601 S. 12th Street, Arlington, VA 22202.
Hand Delivery/Courier: Please address them to the Rules
Docket Clerk, Office of General Counsel, Federal Emergency Management
Agency, Room 406, 500 C Street, SW., Washington, DC 20472; Maureen
Cooney, Acting Chief Privacy Officer, 601 S. 12th Street, Arlington, VA
22202.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Rena Y. Kim, Privacy Act Officer, Room
406, 500 C Street, SW., Washington, DC 20472; (telephone) (202) 646-
3949; Maureen Cooney, Acting Chief Privacy Officer, Department of
Homeland Security, 601 S. 12th Street, Arlington, VA 22202-4202 by
telephone (571) 227-3813 or facsimile (571) 227-4171.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. 552a) embodies
fair information principles in a statutory framework governing the
means by which the United States Government collects, maintains, uses
and disseminates personally identifiable information. The Act applies
to information that is maintained in a ``system of records.'' A
``system of records'' is a group of any records under the control of an
agency from which information is retrieved by the name of the
individual or by some identifying number, symbol, or other identifying
particular assigned to the individual. The Letter of Map Amendment
(LOMA) system established by this Notice is such a system of records.
The Privacy Act requires each agency to publish in the Federal
Register a description of the type and character of each system of
records that the agency maintains, and the routine uses for which such
information may be disseminated and the purpose for which the system is
maintained.
The Letter of Map Amendment system will be used to support FEMA's
administration of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). The
National Flood Insurance Act of 1968, Public Law 90-448, as amended by
the Flood Disaster Protection Act of 1973, Public Law 93-234,
established the NFIP to provide flood insurance in communities that
voluntarily adopt and enforce floodplain management ordinances that
meet minimum NFIP requirements. As part of the NFIP, FEMA assists
communities by producing flood maps that indicate, among other things,
which properties are located in special flood hazard areas (SFHA).
Limitations of scale or topographic definition of the source maps
used to prepare the Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) may cause small
areas that are at or above the one percent annual chance flood
elevation to be inadvertently shown within the SFHA boundaries. In
SFHAs, flood insurance is required on properties with federally-backed
loans. A property outside of an SFHA is not required by FEMA to carry
flood insurance, and often lenders do not require individuals who are
financing or refinancing properties located outside of SFHAs to buy
flood insurance policies. For this reason, individuals seek LOMAs to
request that FEMA reverse the determination that their property is
situated in an SFHA.
FEMA offers administrative procedures to review SFHA designations
and, with appropriate engineering documentation, to exclude property
from inadvertent inclusion in an SFHA. FEMA accomplishes this through a
LOMA, in which FEMA officially states its position whether property is
located outside of a special flood hazard area. FEMA's regulations for
issuing LOMAs can be found in 44 CFR Part 70.
The new LOMA system of records will contain personally identifying
information voluntarily provided by applicants (individuals and/or
certifiers as described below) applying for LOMAs.
An individual is any person financing or refinancing
structures or parcels of land (hereinafter referred to as ``property''
or ``properties'') with a federally-backed loan. Examples of
individuals are home owners, investors, and property developers.
A certifier is a Registered Professional Engineer or
Licensed Land Surveyor who provides technical information, such as
elevation, to FEMA. Certifiers have the professional credentials to
analyze engineering information. The certifier may provide information
either electronically or in hard copy on behalf of the individual.
The information collected includes the individual's name, mailing
address, signature, and signature date. The individual can voluntarily
provide daytime telephone number, e-mail address, and fax number--which
are not required--but which enables FEMA to contact the individual
should questions arise. In addition, the certifier is required to
provide name, professional license number and expiration date, company
name, property address or legal description, e-mail address, and
business telephone number. The certifier can voluntarily provide a fax
number that enables FEMA to fax documents related to the LOMA.
The information will be collected in hard copy format and
maintained at FEMA's repository located at 847 South Pickett Street,
Alexandria, VA 22034, or electronically through the proposed mapping
information platform (MIP). The collected information will be
maintained either as paper records or computerized files retrieved by
an individual's property address or legal description and/or case
number.
In accordance with 5 U.S.C. 552a(r), DHS has provided a report of
this new system of records to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
and to Congress.
[[Page 7991]]
System Name:
Letter of Map Amendment System (LOMA), DHS/FEMA/NFIP/LOMA-1.
Security Classification:
Unclassified.
System Location:
Electronic: Solutions Delivery Center (SDC), 3039 Cornwallis Road,
Building 301, Dock 85/86, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27709.
Paper: FEMA's Map Modernization Library, 847 South Pickett Street,
Alexandria VA 22034.
Categories of individuals covered by the system:
The system covers only applicants (individuals and/or certifiers)
who are seeking a letter of map amendment (LOMA).
Categories of records in the system:
There are three ways to apply for a LOMA. They include the paper
only MT-1 form, online MT-EZ, and electronic LOMA (eLOMA). The
associated categories of records include:
Individual's name
Individual's mailing address
Individual's signature
Individual's signature date
Certifier's (registered professional engineer or licensed
land surveyor) name
Certifier's professional license number
Certifier's professional license expiration date
Certifier's company name
Individual's property address
Individual's legal property description
Certifier's business telephone number
Authority for maintenance of the system:
The National Flood Insurance Act of 1968, Public Law 90-448, as
amended by the Flood Disaster Protection Act of 1973, Public Law 93-
234.
Purpose:
This system is maintained for the purpose of determining an
applicant's eligibility for LOMAs. An applicant can be a private
individual or a certified professional.
Routine uses of records maintained in the system, including categories
of users and the purposes of such uses:
In addition to those disclosures generally permitted under 5 U.S.C.
552a(b) of the Privacy Act, all or a portion of the records or
information contained in this system may be disclosed outside DHS as a
routine use pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552a(b)(3) as follows:
A. To an agency, organization, or individual for the purposes of
performing authorized audit or oversight operations.
B. To a congressional office from the record of an individual in
response to an inquiry from that congressional office made at the
request of the individual to whom the record pertains.
C. To contractors, grantees, experts, consultants, students, and
others performing or working on a contract, service, grant, cooperative
agreement, or other assignment for the Federal government, when
necessary to accomplish an agency function related to this.
D. Where a record, either on its face or in conjunction with other
information, indicates a violation or potential violation of law--
criminal, civil or regulatory--the relevant records may be referred to
an appropriate Federal, State, territorial, tribal, local,
international, or foreign agency law enforcement authority or other
appropriate agency charged with investigating or prosecuting such a
violation or enforcing or implementing such law.
E. To the Department of Justice (DOJ) or other Federal agency
conducting litigation or in proceedings before any court, adjudicative
or administrative body, when: (a) DHS, or (b) any employee of DHS in
his/her official capacity, or (c) any employee of DHS in his/her
individual capacity where DOJ or DHS has agreed to represent the
employee, or (d) the United States or any agency thereof, is a party to
the litigation or has an interest in such litigation.
F. To the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) or
other Federal government agencies pursuant to records management
inspections being conducted under the authority of 44 U.S.C. Sections
2904 and 2906.
Disclosure to consumer reporting agencies:
Privacy Act information may be reported to consumer reporting
agencies pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552a(b)(12).
Policies and Practices for storing, retrieving, accessing, retaining,
and disposing of records in the system.
Storage:
Official records in this system are stored on paper at the FEMA Map
Modernization Library, located at 847 South Pickett Street, Alexandria
VA 22034. Electronic records will be stored at the FEMA's limited
access facility--Service Delivery Center, located at 3039 East
Cornwallis Road, Raleigh NC 27709. Computerized records are stored in a
database server in a secured file server room. Personally identifying
information is appropriately stored in accordance with the DHS
Information Technology Security Program Handbook.
Retrievability:
Records are retrieved by the individual's property address or, if
there is no address, by the legal description of the property. Records
are also retrieved by the individual's uniquely identifying case
number.
Safeguards:
Safeguards include restricting access to authorized personnel who
have a need to know, using locks, and password protection
identification features. File areas are locked after normal duty hours,
and the facilities are protected by security personnel or technology
such as security cameras.
Use of the database and physical records will be carefully
monitored by the system administrators and the library administrators
at:
Paper: FEMA Map Modernization Library, 847 South Pickett
Street, Alexandria VA 22034
Electronic: Service Delivery Center, 3039 East Cornwallis
Road, Raleigh NC 27709
The system has an audit trail of changes made to the application
and the user identification of who made the changes. Electronic records
are also safeguarded by software programs that monitor traffic to
identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information or
otherwise cause damage. Unauthorized attempts to upload or change
information are prohibited and may be punishable under the Computer
Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 and the National Information Infrastructure
Protection Act.
Retention and Disposal:
The retention schedule has been approved by NARA. The NARA
authority is N1-311-86-1 2A2c; the retention period is 20-years.
Electronic copies of MT-EZs and eLOMAs will be printed and retained in
the same manner as hard copies.
System Manager(s) and Address:
Paper: FEMA Map Modernization Library, 847 South Pickett Street,
Alexandria VA 22034. Electronic: Service Delivery Center, 3039 East
Cornwallis Road, Raleigh NC 27709.
Notification Procedure:
A request for access to records in this system may be made by
writing to the System Manager, identified above, or to
[[Page 7992]]
the Privacy Act Officer, in conformance with 6 CFR part 5, subpart B
and 44 CFR part 6, which provides the rules for requesting access to
Privacy Act records.
Record Access Procedure:
The procedures for individuals to gain access to their own
information are listed both in FEMA's and the DHS's Privacy Act
regulations, 44 CFR part 6 and 6 CFR part 5, subpart B. Requests for
Privacy Act protected information must be made in writing, and clearly
marked as a ``Privacy Act Request.'' The name of the requester, the
nature of the record sought, and the required verification of identity
must be clearly indicated. Requests should be sent to: Privacy Act
Officer, DHS/FEMA, Office of General Counsel, Room 406, 500 C Street,
SW., Washington DC 20472.
Contesting Record Procedures:
Same as Record Access Procedure (above). State clearly and
concisely the information being contested, the reasons for contesting
it, and the proposed change to the record.
Record Source Categories:
The information will come from individuals and certifiers.
Exemption Claimed for the System:
None.
Dated: February 9, 2006.
Maureen Cooney,
Acting Chief Privacy Officer, Department of Homeland Security.
[FR Doc. E6-2122 Filed 2-14-06; 8:45 am]
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