Chapter 3301-2 | Personal Information Systems

Rule 3301-2-14 | Confidential personal information definitions.

• Effective: November 18, 2016
• Promulgated Under: 111.15

For the purposes of rules 3301-2-15 to 3301-2-18 of the Administrative Code promulgated in accordance with section 1347.15 of the Revised Code, the following definitions apply:

(A) "Access" as a noun means an instance of copying, viewing, or otherwise perceiving whereas "access" as a verb means to copy, view, or otherwise perceive.

(B) "Acquisition of a new computer system" means the purchase of a "computer system," as defined in this rule, that is not a computer system currently in place.

(C) "Computer system" means a "system," as defined by section 1347.01 of the Revised Code, that stores, maintains, or retrieves personal information using electronic data processing equipment.

(D) "Confidential personal information" (CPI) has the meaning as defined by division (A)(1) of section 1347.15 of the Revised Code and identified by rules promulgated by the department in accordance with division (B)(3) of section 1347.15 of the Revised Code that reference the federal or state statutes or administrative rules that make personal information maintained by the department confidential.

(E) "Department" means the Ohio department of education.

(F) "Employee" means each employee of the Ohio department of education.

(G) "Incidental contact" means contact with the information that is secondary or tangential to the primary purpose of the activity that resulted in the contact.

(H) "Individual" means a natural person or the natural person's authorized representative, legal counsel, legal custodian, or legal guardian.

(I) "Information owner" means the individual appointed in accordance with division (A) of section 1347.05 of the Revised Code to be directly responsible for a system.

(J) "Person" means a natural person.

(K) "Personal information" has the same meaning as defined in division (E) of section 1347.01 of the Revised Code.

(L) "Personal information system" means a "system" that "maintains" "personal information" as those terms are defined in section 1347.01 of the Revised Code. "System" includes manual and computer systems.

(M) "Research" means a methodical investigation into a subject.

(N) "Routine" means commonplace, regular, habitual, or ordinary.

(O) "Routine information that is maintained for the purpose of internal office administration, the use of which would not adversely affect a person" as that phrase is used in division (F) of section 1347.01 of the Revised Code means personal information relating to employees and maintained by the department for internal administrative and human resource purposes.

(P) "System" has the same meaning as defined by division (F) of section 1347.01 of the Revised Code.

(Q) "Upgrade" means a substantial redesign of an existing computer system for the purpose of providing a substantial amount of new application functionality, or application modifications that would involve substantial administrative or fiscal resources to implement, but would not include maintenance, minor updates and patches, or modifications that entail a limited addition of functionality due to changes in business or legal requirements.

Last updated March 22, 2024 at 9:02 AM

Supplemental Information

Authorized By: 3301.07, 1347.15
Amplifies: 1347.15
Five Year Review Date:

Rule 3301-2-15 | Procedures for accessing confidential personal information.

• Effective: November 18, 2016
• Promulgated Under: 111.15

For personal information systems, whether manual or computer systems, that contain confidential personal information, the department shall do the following:

(A) Criteria for accessing confidential personal information. Personal information systems of the department are managed on a "need-to-know" basis whereby the information owner determines the level of access required for an employee of the department to fulfill his/her job duties. The determination of access to confidential personal information shall be approved by the employee's supervisor and the information owner prior to providing the employee with access to confidential personal information within a personal information system. The department shall establish procedures for determining a revision to an employee's access to confidential personal information upon a change to that employee's job duties including, but not limited to, transfer or termination. Whenever an employee's job duties no longer require access to confidential personal information in a personal information system, the employee's access to confidential personal information shall be removed.

(B) Individual request for a list of confidential personal information. Upon the signed written request of any individual for a list of confidential personal information about the individual maintained by the department, the department shall do all of the following:

(1) Verify the identity of the individual by a method that provides safeguards commensurate with the risk associated with the confidential personal information;

(2) Provide to the individual the list of confidential personal information that does not relate to an investigation about the individual or is otherwise not excluded from the scope of Chapter 1347. of the Revised Code; and

(C) Notice of invalid access.

(1) Upon discovery or notification that confidential personal information of a person has been accessed by an employee for an invalid reason, the department shall notify the person whose information was invalidly accessed as soon as practical and to the extent known at the time. However, the department shall delay notification for a period of time necessary to ensure that the notification would not delay or impede an investigation or jeopardize homeland or national security. Additionally, the department may delay the notification consistent with any measures necessary to determine the scope of the invalid access, including which individuals confidential personal information was invalidly accessed, and to restore the reasonable integrity of the system;

"Investigation" as used in this paragraph means the investigation of the circumstances and involvement of an employee surrounding the invalid access of the confidential personal information. Once the department determines that notification would not delay or impede an investigation, the department shall disclose the access to confidential personal information made for an invalid reason to the person.

(2) Notification provided by the department shall inform the person of the type of confidential personal information accessed and the date(s) of the invalid access; and

(3) Notification may be made by any method reasonably designed to accurately inform the person of the invalid access, including written, electronic, or telephone notice.

(D) Appointment of a data privacy point of contact. The superintendent of public instruction shall designate an employee of the department to serve as the data privacy point of contact. The data privacy point of contact shall work with the chief privacy officer within the office of information technology to assist the department with both the implementation of privacy protections for the confidential personal information that the department maintains and compliance with section 1347.15 of the Revised Code and the rules adopted pursuant to the authority provided by that chapter. The data privacy point of contact shall timely complete the privacy impact assessment form developed by the office of information technology.

(E) Password requirement. The information technology division shall ensure that a password or other authentication measure is used to access confidential personal information that is kept in an electronic system.

Last updated March 22, 2024 at 9:02 AM

Supplemental Information

Authorized By: 3301.07, 1347.15
Amplifies: 1347.15
Five Year Review Date:
Prior Effective Dates: 9/25/2010

Rule 3301-2-16 | Valid reasons for accessing confidential personal information.

• Effective: November 18, 2016
• Promulgated Under: 111.15

(A) Performing the following functions constitute valid reasons for authorized employees of the Ohio department of education to access confidential personal information:

(1) Responding to a public records request;

(2) Responding to a request from an individual for the list of confidential personal information the department maintains on that individual;

(3) Administering a constitutional provision or duty;

(4) Administering a statutory provision or duty;

(5) Administering an administrative rule provision or duty;

(6) Complying with any state or federal program requirements;

(7) Processing or payment of claims or otherwise administering a program with individual participants or beneficiaries;

(8) Auditing purposes;

(9) Licensure [or permit, eligibility, filing, etc.] processes;

(10) Investigation or law enforcement purposes;

(11) Administrative hearings;

(12) Litigation, complying with an order of the court, or subpoena;

(13) Human resource matters (e.g., hiring, promotion, demotion, discharge, salary/compensation issues, leave requests/issues, time card approvals/issues);

(14) Complying with an executive order or policy;

(15) Complying with a departmental policy or a state administrative policy issued by the department of administrative services, the office of budget and management or other similar state agency; or

(16) Complying with a collective bargaining agreement provision.

(B) To the extent that the general processes described in paragraph (A) of this rule do not cover a set of circumstances, authorized employees have valid reasons for accessing confidential personal information for the purpose of carrying out specific duties of the department of education as set forth in any applicable policy adopted by the department.

Last updated March 22, 2024 at 9:02 AM

Supplemental Information

Authorized By: 3301.07, 1347.15
Amplifies: 1347.15
Five Year Review Date:
Prior Effective Dates: 9/25/2010

Rule 3301-2-17 | Confidentiality statutes, rules, and regulations.

• Effective: August 3, 2017
• Promulgated Under: 119.03

The following federal statutes or regulations or state statutes and administrative rules make personal information maintained by the department confidential and identify the confidential personal information within the scope of rules promulgated by the department in accordance with section 1347.15 of the Revised Code:

(A) Social security numbers: 5 U.S.C. 552a.

(B) Student education records: "Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act" of 1974, 20 U.S.C. 1232g.

(C) Information obtained by the office of professional conduct during an investigation or via the disciplinary process: section 3319.311 of the Revised Code; rule 3301-73-04 of the Administrative Code.

(D) Questions and responses regarding a record of a criminal offense committed or alleged to have been committed by an applicant, for issuance or renewal of any license that has been sealed or expunged: section 3319.292 of the Revised Code.

(E) Bureau of criminal investigation and information criminal records check results: section 109.57 of the Revised Code.

(F) Student information: section 3301.0714 of the Revised Code; section 3319.321 of the Revised Code.

(G) Student test scores and information: division (I) of section 3301.0711 of the Revised Code.

(H) Student data verification code in combination with student name or other personally identifiable information: division (D) of section 3310.11 of the Revised Code; division (D) of section 3310.42 of the Revised Code; division (D) of section 3310.63 of the Revised Code; division (F) of section 3313.978 of the Revised Code; and division (E) of section 3317.20 of the Revised Code.

(I) Data collected for purposes of administering early childhood programs: section 3301.941 of the Revised Code.

(J) Records of sudents with disabilities: "Individuals with Disabilities Education Act" of 20004, 20 U.S.C. 1400, et seq.

(K) Personal information kept by the department that is not a public record: section 149.43 of the Revised Code.

Last updated January 23, 2024 at 1:42 PM

Supplemental Information

Authorized By: 3301.07, 1347.15
Amplifies: 1347.15
Five Year Review Date: 2/8/2028
Prior Effective Dates: 9/25/2010, 11/18/2016

Rule 3301-2-18 | Restricting and logging access to confidential personal information in computerized personal information systems.

• Effective: November 18, 2016
• Promulgated Under: 111.15

For personal information systems that are computer systems and contain confidential personal information, the department shall do the following:

(A) Access restrictions. Access to confidential personal information that is kept electronically shall require a password or other authentication measure;

(B) Acquisition of a new computer system. When the department acquires a new computer system that stores, manages, or contains confidential personal information, the department shall include a mechanism for recording specific access by employees of the department to confidential personal information in the system;

(C) Upgrading existing computer systems. When the department modifies an existing computer system that stores, manages, or contains confidential personal information, the department shall make a determination whether the modification constitutes an upgrade. Any upgrades to a computer system shall include a mechanism for recording specific access by employees of the department to confidential personal information in the system;

(D) Existing computer systems. Logging requirements regarding confidential personal information in existing computer systems:

(1) The department shall require employees of the department who access confidential personal information within computer systems to maintain a log that records that access;

(2) Access to confidential information is not required to be entered into the log under the following circumstances:

(a) The employee of the department is accessing confidential personal information for official departmental purposes, including research, and the access is not specifically directed toward a specifically named individual or a group of specifically named individuals;

(b) The employee of the department is accessing confidential personal information for routine office procedures and the access is not specifically directed toward a specifically named individual or a group of specifically named individuals;

(c) The employee of the department comes into incidental contact with confidential personal information and the access of the information is not specifically directed toward a specifically named individual or a group of specifically named individuals;

(d) The employee of the agency accesses confidential personal information about an individual based upon a request made under either of the following circumstances:

(i) The individual requests confidential personal information about himself/herself;

(ii) The individual makes a request that the department takes some action on that individual's behalf and accessing the confidential personal information is required in order to consider or process that request.

(3) For purposes of this paragraph, the department may choose the form or forms of logging, whether in electronic or paper formats.

Last updated March 22, 2024 at 9:02 AM

Supplemental Information

Authorized By: 3301.07, 1347.15
Amplifies: 1347.15
Five Year Review Date:
Prior Effective Dates: 9/25/2010