Protecting Agricultural Borrower Information Act

This Act may be cited as the “Protecting Agricultural Borrower Information Act”.

Section 339 of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1989) is amended by adding at the end the following:

“(f) Privacy protections.—

(1) In general.— It shall be unlawful for the Secretary or any officer or employee of the Farm Service Agency to disclose information provided pursuant to this Act by an applicant for, or a recipient of, a benefit under this Act, to—

(A) a special government employee, as defined in section 202 of title 18, United States Code; or

(B) a government employee detailed to the Farm Service Agency under section 3341 of title 5 of such Code.

(2) Exceptions.— Paragraph (1) shall not apply to any of the following:

(A) Disclosure in statistical or aggregate form.— Information that has been transformed into a statistical or aggregate form which does not allow identification of the provider.

(B) Consent of provider.— Disclosure with the consent of the provider, if the consent is not provided a condition of participation in, or receipt of a benefit under, a program administered by the Secretary.

(3) Violations; penalties.— Whoever knowingly violates this subsection shall be fined not more than $10,000, imprisoned not more than 1 year, or both.”.