HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.
![handle is hein.crs/goveoxp0001 and id is 1 raw text is:
Con gre sWona R Fesedrch Service
Inf ormning helegisIlive debat sin'e 1914
Updated April 5, 2024
The CASES Act: Ongoing Implementation Challenges
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 a nearly 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.
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 properly identity-
proofed individual 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 implementation
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, 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.
Of the 83 entities with privacy landing pages, none
appeared to provide direct access to CASES Act-mandated
forms there. Ten entities appeared to require paper-only
submission for Privacy Act releases at other web addresses.
Six entities provide CASES Act-mandated forms or similar
templates, but require different processes to submit
requests; two of those agencies require applicants to
provide written signatures, while another responds to all
requests via the U.S. Postal Service.
CRS reassessed the same entities' privacy websites on April
1, 2024, and did not identify any changes.
Congressional Conskderations
The extent of apparent compliance with congressional
requirements and OMB guidance might raise questions
about the CASES Act's capacity to streamline privacy](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.crs/goveoxp0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)