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Congressional Research Service
Infcnrming Ih Ieg iltive debat since 1914
The CASES Act: Implementation Challenges
April 13, 2023
The Creating Advanced Streamlined Electronic Services for
Constituents Act of 2019, or the CASES Act (P.L. 116-50,
5 U.S.C. 101 note), is designed to improve access to, and
efficiency of, government services and agencies for
individuals by updating the process of authorizing access to
certain government information in an increasingly
ubiquitous digital environment. As described in S.Rept.
116-50, the act is intended to modernize and simplify what
had become an inconsistent and variable process of
obtaining an individual's written consent for information
disclosure. The CASES Act aims to enable individuals to
provide electronic authorization to additional parties,
including Members of Congress assisting with casework
matters. It does so by amending the Privacy Act of 1974 (5
U.S.C. 552a) to amend paper-based requirements and wet
signatures on paper forms with a requirement that agencies
provide means to accept digital authorizations. For further
consideration of casework and the CASES Act, see CRS In
Focus IF12159, The CASES Act: Implementation and Issues
for Congress; and CRS Report RL33209, Casework in a
Congressional Office: Background, Rules, Laws, and
Resources.
The CASES Act required the Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) to issue guidance requiring agencies to
* accept electronic identity proofing and authentication
processes for individuals to consent to gaining personal
access to, or the disclosure of, an individual's records in
possession of a federal agency to another party;
* create templates for electronic consent and access forms
and require posting of the templates on agency websites;
and
* accept electronic consent and access forms.
OMB issued guidance in Memorandum M-21-04,
Modernizing Access to and Consent for Disclosure of
Records Subject to the Privacy Act, on November 12,
2020, and required agencies to
* accept remote identity proofing and authentication to
allow an individual to request access to their records or
to provide prior written consent authorizing disclosure
of their records under the Privacy Act;
* post on the agency website's privacy program page
(www.[agency].gov/privacy) the forms developed using
OMB-provided templates, as customized by the agency;
* update all relevant portions of the agency website that
pertain to obtaining access to records with forms and
instructions on how to submit requests digitally; and
* accept the access and consent forms from any individual
properly identity-proofed and authenticated through
digital channels for the purpose of individual access to
records or for authorizing disclosure of the individual's
records to another person or entity, including a
congressional office.
CASES Act Impiementaton
Agencies were required by November 2021 to comply with
OMB implementation guidance. The extent to which
agencies have complied with congressional and OMB
requirements related to the CASES Act varies.
On January 12, 2022, Representatives Gerald E. Connolly
and Jody Hice, then chair and ranking member,
respectively, of the Subcommittee on Government
Operations of the House Committee on Oversight and
Reform (the committee was renamed Oversight and
Accountability at the beginning of the 118t Congress
[2023-2024]), sent joint letters requesting information about
the implementation of the CASES Act. The letters were
sent to the heads of five federal agencies that frequently
interact with congressional offices regarding constituent
service issues: Department of Veterans Affairs (VA);
Internal Revenue Service (IRS); United States Citizenship
and Immigration Services (USCIS); Social Security
Administration (SSA); and Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Services (CMS). The Congressional Research
Service (CRS) has not identified any publicly available
response from the agencies to the letters.
On January 17, 2023, CRS made a preliminary assessment
of the websites of 85 federal entities that typically have
interactions with congressional offices seeking casework
assistance on behalf of constituents to examine the extent of
compliance with congressional and OMB instructions.
Entities included all departments; selections of department
subentities (e.g., for the Department of Defense, the
military branches, and other DOD civilian subentities); for
DHS, USCIS, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
(USICE), and U.S. Secret Service (USSS); and selections of
independent agencies (e.g., SSA and the U.S. Consumer
Product Safety Commission). A list of entities assessed is
available to congressional offices upon request.
Of the 85 entities assessed
* 17 had web addresses that OMB directed as the landing
page (www.[agency].gov/privacy) for access to CASES
Act-mandated forms.
* 66 had privacy landing pages available at a wide variety
of web addresses. Two entities had no identifiable
privacy landing pages.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.crs/govelgi0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)