H.R 7356 Biometric Technology Moratorium Act of 2020
I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 7356 To prohibit biometric surveillance by the Federal Government without explicit statutory authorization and to withhold certain Federal public safety grants from State and local governments that engage in biometric surveillance. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 25, 2020 Ms. JAYAPAL (for herself, Ms. PRESSLEY, Ms. TLAIB, and Ms. CLARKE of New York) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Oversight and Reform, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To prohibit biometric surveillance by the Federal Government without explicit statutory authorization and to withhold certain Federal public safety grants from State and local governments that engage in biometric surveillance. 1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 4 This Act may be cited as the ''Facial Recognition and pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 Biometric Technology Moratorium Act of 2020''. VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:20 Jul 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7356.IH H7356 2 1 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 2 In this Act: 3 (1) BIOMETRIC SURVEILLANCE SYSTEM.The 4 term ''biometric surveillance system'' means any 5 computer software that performs facial recognition 6 or other remote biometric recognition in real time or 7 on a recording or photograph. 8 (2) BYRNE GRANT PROGRAM.The term 9 ''Byrne grant program'' means the grant program 10 authorized under subpart 1 of part E of title I of 11 the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 12 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10151 et seq.), whether character- 13 ized as the Edward Byrne Memorial State and Local 14 Law Enforcement Assistance Programs, the Local 15 Government Law Enforcement Block Grants Pro- 16 gram, the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assist- 17 ance Grant Program, or otherwise. 18 (3) FACIAL RECOGNITION.The term ''facial 19 recognition'' means an automated or semi-automated 20 process that 21 (A) assists in identifying an individual, 22 capturing information about an individual, or 23 otherwise generating or assisting in generating pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 24 surveillance information about an individual 25 based on the physical characteristics of the indi- 26 vidual's face; or HR 7356 IH VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:20 Jul 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7356.IH H7356 3 1 (B) logs characteristics of an individual's 2 face, head, or body to infer emotion, associa- 3 tions, activities, or the location of an individual. 4 (4) FEDERAL OFFICIAL.The term ''Federal 5 official'' means any officer, employee, agent, con- 6 tractor, or subcontractor of the Federal Government. 7 (5) IN THE UNITED STATES.The term ''in the 8 United States'' means all areas within the external 9 boundary of the United States, its territories and 10 possessions, including airports, ports of entry, and 11 border zones. 12 (6) OTHER REMOTE BIOMETRIC RECOGNI- 13 TION.The term ''other remote biometric recogni- 14 tion'' 15 (A) means an automated or semi-auto- 16 mated process that 17 (i) assists in identifying an individual, 18 capturing information about an individual, 19 or otherwise generating or assisting in gen- 20 erating surveillance information about an 21 individual based on the characteristics of 22 the individual's gait or other immutable 23 characteristic ascertained from a distance; pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 24 (ii) uses voice recognition technology; 25 or HR 7356 IH VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:20 Jul 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7356.IH H7356 4 1 (iii) logs such characteristics to infer 2 emotion, associations, activities, or the lo- 3 cation of an individual; and 4 (B) does not include identification based 5 on fingerprints or palm prints. 6 (7) VOICE RECOGNITION TECHNOLOGY.The 7 term ''voice recognition technology'' means the auto- 8 mated or semi-automated process that assists in 9 identifying or verifying an individual based on the 10 characteristics of an individual's voice. 11 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON FEDERAL GOVERNMENT USE OF 12 BIOMETRIC SURVEILLANCE. 13 (a) IN GENERAL.Except as provided in subsection 14 (b), it shall be unlawful for any Federal agency or Federal 15 official, in an official capacity, to acquire, possess, access, 16 or use in the United States 17 (1) any biometric surveillance system; or 18 (2) information derived from a biometric sur- 19 veillance system operated by another entity. 20 (b) EXCEPTION.The prohibition set forth in sub- 21 section (a) does not apply to activities explicitly authorized 22 by an Act of Congress that describes, with particularity 23 (1) the entities permitted to use the biometric pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 24 surveillance system, the specific type of biometric HR 7356 IH VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:20 Jul 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7356.IH H7356 5 1 authorized, the purposes for such use, and any pro- 2 hibited uses; 3 (2) standards for use and management of infor- 4 mation derived from the biometric surveillance sys- 5 tem, including data retention, sharing, access, and 6 audit trails; 7 (3) auditing requirements to ensure the accu- 8 racy of biometric surveillance system technologies, 9 standards for minimum accuracy rates, and accuracy 10 rates by gender, skin color, and age; 11 (4) rigorous protections for due process, pri- 12 vacy, free speech and association, and racial, gender, 13 and religious equity; and 14 (5) mechanisms to ensure compliance with the 15 provisions of the Act. 16 (c) JUDICIAL INVESTIGATIONS AND PROCEEDINGS. 17 (1) ADMISSIBILITY.Except in a judicial inves- 18 tigation or proceeding alleging a violation of this sec- 19 tion, information obtained in violation of this section 20 is not admissible by the Federal Government in any 21 criminal, civil, administrative, or other investigation 22 or proceeding. 23 (2) CAUSE OF ACTION. pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS HR 7356 IH VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:20 Jul 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7356.IH H7356 6 1 (A) IN GENERAL.A violation of this sec- 2 tion constitutes an injury to any individual ag- 3 grieved by a violation of this Act. 4 (B) RIGHT TO SUE.An individual de- 5 scribed in subparagraph (A) may institute pro- 6 ceedings against the Federal Government whose 7 official is alleged to have violated this section 8 for the relief described in subparagraph (D) in 9 any court of competent jurisdiction. 10 (C) ENFORCEMENT BY STATE ATTORNEYS 11 GENERAL.The chief law enforcement officer 12 of a State, or any other State officer authorized 13 by law to bring actions on behalf of the resi- 14 dents of a State, may bring a civil action, as 15 parens patriae, on behalf of the residents of 16 that State in an appropriate district court of 17 the United States to enforce this Act, whenever 18 the chief law enforcement officer or other State 19 officer has reason to believe that the interests 20 of the residents of the State have been or are 21 being threatened or adversely affected by a vio- 22 lation of this Act. 23 (D) RELIEF.In a civil action brought pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 24 under subparagraph (B) in which the plaintiff 25 prevails, the court may award HR 7356 IH VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:20 Jul 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7356.IH H7356 7 1 (i) actual damages; 2 (ii) punitive damages; 3 (iii) reasonable attorneys' fees and 4 costs; and 5 (iv) any other relief, including injunc- 6 tive relief, that the court determines to be 7 appropriate. 8 (d) CIVIL PENALTIES.Any Federal official who is 9 found to have violated this section may be subject to re- 10 training, suspension, termination, or any other penalty, as 11 determined in an appropriate tribunal, subject to applica- 12 ble due process requirements. 13 (e) FEDERAL FUNDING. 14 (1) IN GENERAL.No Federal funds may be 15 obligated or expended by a Federal law enforcement 16 agency for the purchase or use of a biometric sur- 17 veillance system. 18 (2) UNALLOCATED FUNDS.No Federal agency 19 may use any unallocated funds appropriated to the 20 agency for the purchase or use of a biometric sur- 21 veillance system. 22 (f) RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.Nothing in this sec- 23 tion may be construed pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 24 (1) to prohibit the National Institute of Stand- 25 ards and Technology (NIST) from testing or re- HR 7356 IH VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:20 Jul 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7356.IH H7356 8 1 searching biometric surveillance systems or other re- 2 mote biometric recognition technologies in commer- 3 cial use; or 4 (2) to preempt or supersede any Federal, State, 5 or local law that imposes a more stringent limitation 6 than the limitations described in this section. 7 SEC. 4. MORATORIUM ON STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT 8 USE OF BIOMETRIC SURVEILLANCE SYSTEMS. 9 (a) FEDERAL FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE.Beginning 10 on the first day of the first fiscal year beginning after the 11 date of the enactment of this Act, a State or unit of local 12 government is ineligible to receive Federal financial assist- 13 ance under the Byrne grant program unless the State or 14 unit of local government is complying with a law or policy 15 that is substantially similar to the prohibition set forth 16 in section 3(a). 17 (b) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.Nothing in this sec- 18 tion may be construed to preempt or supersede any Fed- 19 eral, State, or local law that imposes a more stringent lim- 20 itation than the prohibition set forth in section 3(a). pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS HR 7356 IH VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:20 Jul 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H7356.IH H7356
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