S. Rept. 114-249 - STOPPING IMPROPER PAYMENTS TO DECEASED PEOPLE ACT114th Congress (2015-2016)
Committee Report
| Report Type: | Senate Report |
|---|---|
| Accompanies: | S.1073 |
| Committees: |
S. Rept. 114-249 - 114th Congress (2015-2016)
Report text available as:
- TXT
Formatting necessary for an accurate reading of this legislative text may be shown by tags (e.g., <DELETED> or <BOLD>) or may be missing from this TXT display. For complete and accurate display of this text, see the PDF.
Senate Report 114-249 - STOPPING IMPROPER PAYMENTS TO DECEASED PEOPLE ACT
[Senate Report 114-249]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
Calendar No. 456
114th Congress } { Report
SENATE
2d Session } { 114-249
_______________________________________________________________________
STOPPING IMPROPER PAYMENTS TO DECEASED PEOPLE ACT
__________
R E P O R T
of the
COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND
GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
UNITED STATES SENATE
to accompany
S. 1073
TO AMEND THE IMPROPER PAYMENTS ELIMINATION AND
RECOVERY IMPROVEMENT ACT OF 2012, INCLUDING MAKING
CHANGES TO THE DO NOT PAY INITIATIVE, FOR IMPROVED
DETECTION, PREVENTION, AND RECOVERY OF IMPROPER PAYMENTS TO DECEASED
INDIVIDUALS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
May 9, 2016.--Ordered to be printed
______
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
59-010 WASHINGTON : 2016
COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin, Chairman
JOHN McCAIN, Arizona THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware
ROB PORTMAN, Ohio CLAIRE McCASKILL, Missouri
RAND PAUL, Kentucky JON TESTER, Montana
JAMES LANKFORD, Oklahoma TAMMY BALDWIN, Wisconsin
MICHAEL B. ENZI, Wyoming HEIDI HEITKAMP, North Dakota
KELLY AYOTTE, New Hampshire CORY A. BOOKER, New Jersey
JONI ERNST, Iowa GARY C. PETERS, Michigan
BEN SASSE, Nebraska
Christopher R. Hixon, Staff Director
Gabrielle D'Adamo Singer, Chief Counsel
Patrick J. Bailey, Chief Counsel for Governmental Affairs
Gabrielle A. Batkin, Minority Staff Director
John P. Kilvington, Minority Deputy Staff Director
Mary Beth Schultz, Minority Chief Counsel
Katherine C. Sybenga, Minority Chief Counsel for Governmental Affairs
Ellen W. Harrington, Minority Professional Staff Member
Laura W. Kilbride, Chief Clerk
Calendar No. 456
114th Congress } { Report
SENATE
2d Session } { 114-249
======================================================================
STOPPING IMPROPER PAYMENTS TO DECEASED PEOPLE ACT
_______
May 9, 2016.--Ordered to be printed
_______
Mr. Johnson, from the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs, submitted the following
R E P O R T
[To accompany S. 1073]
The Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs, to which was referred the bill (S. 1073) to amend the
Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Improvement Act of
2012, including making changes to the Do Not Pay initiative,
for improved detection, prevention, and recovery of improper
payments to deceased individuals, and for other purposes,
having considered the same, reports favorably thereon with
amendments and recommends that the bill, as amended, do pass.
CONTENTS
Page
I. Purpose and Summary..............................................1
II. Background and Need for the Legislation..........................2
III. Legislative History..............................................4
IV. Section-by-Section Analysis......................................5
V. Evaluation of Regulatory Impact..................................6
VI. Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate........................6
VII. Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill, as Reported............8
I. Purpose and Summary
S. 1073 seeks to reduce inadvertent and improper payments
by Federal agencies to individuals who are deceased and to
reduce the number of living people mistakenly listed as dead by
the Federal Government. The bill accomplishes these goals by
requiring the Social Security Administration (SSA) to develop a
process to improve the accuracy of the death data it collects
and by sharing that death information with additional federal
agencies for the purposes of preventing improper payments,
improving tax administration, aiding law enforcement, and for
other purposes.
II. Background and the Need for Legislation
This legislation is the result of six years of
congressional oversight by the Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs Committee into improper payments by the
Federal Government to people who are deceased. The Committee's
first investigation resulted in a report by the then-Ranking
Member of the Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management,
Senator Tom Coburn, titled Federal Programs to Die for:
American Tax Dollars Sent Six Feet Under.\1\ The report
identified over $1 billion paid out to more than 250,000
deceased individuals in the decade preceding the report.\2\ The
report highlighted farm subsidies, rental assistance, and
stimulus checks to individuals who were deceased.\3\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\Senator Tom Coburn, Federal Programs to Die For: American Tax
Dollars Sent Six Feet Under (Oct. 2010) (on file with Comm. staff).
\2\Id.
\3\Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Of concern is the Federal Government's inability to ensure
that all recipients of Federal funds are alive. The report by
Senator Coburn noted a response to the Committee by then-
Commissioner of the Social Security Administration (SSA)
Michael Astrue that ``it is extremely expensive and may even be
impossible to determine if a person is alive or dead
particularly if the person died many years ago.''\4\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\4\Id. at 3.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Committee hearings and continued oversight in both the
113th and 114th congressional sessions have found that the
death data available to Federal agencies is not always
accurate, and that many agencies that provide Federal benefits
do not have access to all of the information they need to
prevent improper payments to deceased individuals.\5\ While the
SSA maintains a file with the death reports it receives from
family members, funeral homes, states, Federal agencies, postal
authorities, and financial institutions, most Federal agencies
do not have access to the complete death information and
instead rely on a slimmed down, less complete, and less timely
version of this file that is commonly referred to as the Death
Master File.\6\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\5\See, e.g., Curbing Federal Agency Waste and Fraud: New Steps to
Strengthen the Integrity of Federal Payments: Hearing Before the S.
Comm. on Homeland Sec. & Governmental Affairs, 113th Cong. (2013);
Examining Federal Improper Payments and Errors in the Death Master
File: Hearing Before the S. Comm. on Homeland Sec. & Governmental
Affairs, 114th Cong. (2015) [hereinafter Examining Federal Improper
Payments and Errors in the Death Master File].
\6\Gov't Accountability Office, GAO-13-574T, Social Security
Administration: Preliminary Observations on the Death Master File 2-3
(2013), available at http://www.gao.gov/assets/660/654411.pdf
[hereinafter, SSA Preliminary Observations].
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
SSA became the Federal clearinghouse for death data
following a 1983 amendment to the Social Security Act
authorizing the agency to collect and pay for death information
from individual state vital records agencies.\7\ Recognizing
the value of this authorization, SSA began contracting with
state vital records agencies to provide reports of death.\8\ To
incentivize faster death reports, SSA pays these state agencies
more based on the timeliness of their reporting.\9\ Faster
reports of death allow SSA to cut off benefits payments more
quickly and in some cases help avoid devoting agency resources
to recouping overpayments from grieving families.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\7\42 U.S.C. Sec. 405(r).
\8\SSA Preliminary Observations at 3.
\9\Gov't Accountability Office, GAO-14-46: Social Security Death
Data: Additional Action Needed to Address Data Errors and Federal
Agency Access 7 (2013), available at http://www.gao.gov/assets/660/
659289.pdf [hereinafter Social Security Death Data].
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
When SSA receives a death report from a state vital record
agency, it does not verify the report prior to entering it into
the death data.\10\ This is because states that participate in
the electronic death registry program submit their reports over
the Internet, and reports cannot be filed unless the fields are
an exact match.\11\ Therefore, these death reports are
considered the most accurate and are unlikely to contain basic
keystroke errors. If SSA receives a death report from a funeral
home or family member, the agency enters the information
manually and only verifies the death report if the individual
was receiving benefits from SSA.\12\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\10\Social Security Death Data at 10.
\11\Id. at 12.
\12\Id. at 10, 11.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The increased reliance on death data provided by the states
through electronic death registry has resulted in improvements
in SSA's death data, making it more valuable for SSA and other
Federal agencies that are able to utilize this information to
prevent payments to deceased people in their own programs.\13\
However, the law that authorized SSA to contract with the state
agencies for the death reports only allowed SSA to share such
information for the purpose of ensuring proper payments of
benefits.\14\ This is why SSA creates two versions of the death
data: one complete list that is provided to agencies considered
to be benefit-paying agencies, and one partial list, the DMF,
that does not contain the data from the state vital records
agencies.\15\ The DMF is then sold to eligible private sector
entities and other government agencies by the Department of
Commerce's National Technical Information Service (NTIS).\16\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\13\Id. at 5.
\14\Id. at 19.
\15\Id. at 21-22.
\16\Id. at 21.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
As a result of the SSA's interpretation of which agencies
are ``benefit-paying'' and which are not, some Federal agencies
purchase a version of the death data from NTIS that is
incomplete and more likely to be inaccurate than the complete
death data provided to other Federal agencies.\17\ Furthermore,
the DMF will contain fewer of the total deaths over time.\18\
As states and jurisdictions increasingly adopt electronic
processes for providing the death reports to SSA, the state-
provided death reports will become a larger percentage of the
overall death reports received by SSA.\19\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\17\Id. at 22.
\18\Id.
\19\Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Accuracy problems with the DMF have real-world
consequences. For example, the SSA Office of Inspector General
(OIG) found that SSA mistakenly listed 6.5 million holders of
Social Security Numbers (SSNs) as alive who were older than 112
years old, despite the fact that there was only one known
living person of that age in the United States at that
time.\20\ The OIG did not conduct an extensive investigation
into the potential misuse of all of these 6.5 million SSNs, but
did find that over a five-year period, $3.1 billion in earnings
were reported under approximately 67,000 of the SSNs.\21\ The
OIG also found that over a three-year period, there were
approximately 4,000 E-Verify inquiries submitted to SSA through
the Department of Homeland Security for SSNs of individuals
over 112,\22\ indicating that someone was attempting to obtain
employment using those numbers.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\20\Examining Federal Improper Payments and Errors in the Death
Master File at 2 (statement of the Honorable Patrick P. O'Carroll, Jr.,
Inspector General, U.S. Social Security Administration).
\21\Id.
\22\Id. at 3.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
In addition to concerns over improper payments resulting
from an inaccurate DMF, the OIG raised concerns about SSA
mistakenly listing living individuals as deceased.\23\
According to SSA, there are nearly 1,000 living individuals
each month who are mistakenly listed as deceased in the
DMF.\24\ For some of these individuals, it is a relatively
simple error to correct. For others, however, the result can be
devastating.\25\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\23\Id.
\24\Id.
\25\Examining Federal Improper Payments and Errors in the Death
Master File (statement of Judy Rivers).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
S. 1073 directs the SSA to share the most complete death
data with the Department of the Treasury's Do Not Pay system
and all Federal agencies for the purposes of preventing
improper payments, aiding law enforcement, and improving tax
administration and collection. This requirement will end five
years after the bill is enacted to allow Congress to reassess
whether there is an alternative source of death data for
Federal agencies. The legislation also requires that SSA
develop a plan to improve the accuracy and completeness of the
death data it collects and improves the use of death data by
government agencies.
S. 1073 builds on recently enacted improper payments laws,
including the Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act of
2010 (P.L. 111-204), the Improper Payments Elimination and
Recovery Improvement Act of 2012 (P.L. 112-248), and S. 1360,
the Improper Payments Agency Cooperation Enhancement Act of
2013, introduced by Senators Carper, Coburn, Ayotte, Johnson,
McCaskill, and Tester and passed by the Senate in the 113th
Congress.
III. Legislative History
Ranking Member Carper introduced S. 1073 with Chairman
Johnson and Senators Mark Warner, Daniel Coats, and Cory Booker
on April 23, 2015, and the bill was referred to the Committee.
Senators Claire McCaskill, Thom Tillis, and Tammy Baldwin
joined as cosponsors on May 4, June 3, and July 28, 2015,
respectively.
The Committee considered S. 1073 at a business meeting on
July 29, 2015. During the business meeting, an amendment by
Senators Johnson and Carper, and an amendment by Senator Ben
Sasse related to information security were offered. The
legislation, as modified by the two amendments, passed by voice
vote en bloc with Senators Johnson, Portman, Lankford, Ernst,
Sasse, Carper, Baldwin, Heitkamp, and Peters present for the
votes.
Consistent with the Committee's order on technical and
conforming changes at the meeting, the Committee reports the
bill with a technical amendment by mutual agreement of the full
Committee majority and minority staff.
IV. Section-by-Section Analysis of the Bill, as Reported
Section 1. Short title
This section establishes the short title of the bill as the
``Stopping Improper Payments to Deceased People Act.''
Section 2. Distribution of death information furnished to or maintained
by the Social Security Administration
Subsection (a) amends Section 205(r) of the Social Security
Act to require, rather than allow, SSA to compensate states for
the provision of death information, and makes ensuring the
completeness, timeliness, and accuracy of the death data a
reason for the compensation.
Subsection (a) strikes paragraphs (3), (4), and (5) of
section 205(r) of the Social Security Act and reauthorizes
these authorities with some technical drafting changes in new
subsections (3)(A), (4), and (5). Subsection (a) also requires
the Commissioner of Social Security, to the extent feasible, to
provide for the use of information regarding all deceased
individuals furnished to or maintained by the SSA through a
cooperative arrangement in order for a Federal agency to carry
out any of the following purposes: (1) operating the Do Not Pay
working system; (2) to ensure proper payments under a Federal
program or the proper payments of federal funded benefits; (3)
to carry out tax administration or debt collection duties of
the agency; or (4) for use by any policing agency of the
federal government with the principal function of prevention,
detection, or investigation of crime or apprehension of
offenders. The agreements will require agencies to reimburse
SSA for the reasonable cost of providing such information.
Subsection (a) also provides that the amendments made by this
subsection are repealed five years after the date of enactment.
Subsection (b) amends section 6103(d)(4) of the Internal
Revenue Code to require States to have an agreement in place
with the Commissioner of Social Security, instead of the
Secretary of Health and Human Services, in order to receive
certain Federal tax return information. Current law already
requires states to have an agreement with the Secretary of
Health and Human Services to receive certain federal tax
information. Subsection (b) changes current law so that the
agreement would be made with the Commissioner of Social
Security, instead of the Secretary of Health and Human
Services, and would allow the Commissioner of Social Security
to share the state provided death information for the
additional purposes in subsection (a) of this bill.
Subsection (c) requires the Director of the Office of
Management and Budget to provide to Congress a report with the
results of a review of potential alternative sources of death
data maintained by nonfederal sources, including sources
maintained by State agencies for the use by Federal agencies
and partners. The report should include a recommendation
regarding whether to extend the agency access to the death data
provided by SSA under this bill.
Section 3. Improving the use of death data by government agencies to
curb improper payments
This section creates a new section in the Improper Payments
Elimination and Recovery Improvement Act of 2012 that requires
the Office of Management and Budget to provide guidance to
Federal agencies regarding the use of death data within six
months, and to develop a plan within one year to assist states,
local governments, and Indian tribes in providing electronic
death records to SSA.
This section also requires a report to Congress within 270
days after enactment on how States, local governments, and
Indian tribes will improve data matching with the Federal
Government with respect to the death of individuals.
Section 4. Plan for ensuring the accuracy and completeness of death
data maintained by the Social Security Administration
This section requires the Commissioner of SSA to submit a
plan to Congress within one year of enactment to improve the
accuracy and completeness of death data maintained and
distributed by SSA. The plan must include a procedure for
identifying individuals who are listed as alive but older than
the oldest known living person in SSA records, improved
procedures for identifying and correcting erroneous records,
and a process for employing statistical analysis of the death
data to determine and estimate the number of erroneous records.
Section 5. Report on information security
This section requires the Commissioner of SSA to report to
Congress on information security within 90 days of enactment.
V. Evaluation of Regulatory Impact
Pursuant to the requirements of paragraph 11(b) of rule
XXVI of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee has
considered the regulatory impact of this bill and determined
that the bill will have no regulatory impact within the meaning
of the rules. The Committee agrees with the Congressional
Budget Office's statement that the bill contains no
intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the
Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) and would impose no costs
on state, local, or tribal governments.
VI. Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate
February 17, 2016.
Hon. Ron Johnson,
Chairman, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, U.S.
Senate, Washington, DC.
Dear Mr. Chairman: The Congressional Budget Office has
prepared the enclosed cost estimate for S. 1073, the Stopping
Improper Payments to Deceased People Act.
If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be
pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contacts are Noah
Meyerson and Matt Pickford.
Sincerely,
Keith Hall.
Enclosure.
S. 1073--Stopping Improper Payments to Deceased People Act
S. 1073 would expand the use of data on deaths by federal
and state agencies to limit improper federal payments. The bill
would require the Social Security Administration (SSA) to share
all such information with more agencies and for a broader range
of purposes.
CBO estimates that implementing S. 1073 would have an
insignificant net effect on discretionary spending. Because
enacting S. 1073 could reduce direct spending, pay-as-you-go
procedures apply. However, CBO estimates that such effects
would probably be insignificant for each year over the next 10
years. The bill would not affect revenues. CBO estimates that
enacting S. 1073 would not increase net direct spending or on-
budget deficits by more than $5 billion in any of the four
consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2027.
Under current law, the Social Security Administration
collects information on deaths and maintains a record of all
deaths reported to the agency dating to 1936. SSA has about 105
million death records, which include the deceased person's
name, social security number, date of birth, and date of death.
SSA uses those data to administer its own programs and shares
the information with other agencies that administer federal
benefit programs.
SSA provides the entire death file to some federal
agencies, such as the Internal Revenue Service. SSA also has
agreements with other agencies, such as state agencies
administering the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, so
that those agencies can periodically verify that program
applicants and recipients are not included in those death
records. The Department of Commerce makes the Death Master File
(DMF), a subset of those data, available to nongovernmental
organizations after the department certifies that they have a
legitimate purpose for use of the data, for example to prevent
fraud. The DMF, which has information on about 90 million
deceased individuals, excludes death data reported by states,
because SSA may share data on deaths reported by states only in
limited circumstances, such as to agencies that pay federal
benefits. (A subset of the DMF, which is available to the
general public through the Department of Commerce, excludes
both death data reported by states and data on deaths within
the past three years.)
S. 1073 would require SSA to share its complete death
records with more agencies and for a broader range of purposes.
It also would make the complete death records, rather than only
the DMF, part of the Do Not Pay program--a program administered
by the Department of the Treasury that allows agencies to check
various databases before making payments in order to identify
ineligible recipients. Hence, there would likely be more
frequent checks against the more complete death records than
occur under current law. Those provisions would expire five
years after enactment of the bill. The bill requires the
director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to
recommend, within four years of enactment, whether to extend
the broader data access.
The expanded availability of information on deaths would
probably reduce the amount of mistaken payments. However, large
benefit-paying agencies generally already use the complete
death records, so CBO expects that enacting the bill would not
reduce the number of payments to deceased people by a
significant amount. In addition, the Department of the Treasury
has mechanisms to recover improper payments that are identified
at a later time, so many such payments are already recovered.
For those reasons, CBO estimates that enacting S. 1073 would
decrease direct spending by an insignificant amount.
The bill also would require the director of OMB to review
alternative sources of death data and report its findings to
the Congress, to provide guidance to relevant agencies on how
to access death data, and to develop a plan to assist state and
local governments in providing death data to the federal
government. CBO estimates that implementing those provisions
would increase agency administrative costs by an insignificant
amount.
S. 1073 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and
would impose no costs on state, local, or tribal governments.
The CBO staff contacts for this estimate are Noah Meyerson
and Matthew Pickford. The estimate was approved by H. Samuel
Papenfuss, Deputy Assistant Director for Budget Analysis.
VII. Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill, as Reported
UNITED STATES CODE
* * * * * * *
TITLE 26--THE INTERNAL REVENUE CODE
* * * * * * *
Subtitle F--Procedure and Administration
* * * * * * *
CHAPTER 61--INFORMATION AND RETURNS
* * * * * * *
Subchapter B--Miscellaneous Provisions
* * * * * * *
SEC. 6103. CONFIDENTIALITY AND DISCLOSURE OF RETURNS AND RETURN
INFORMATION.
(a) * * *
* * * * * * *
(d) Disclosure to State Tax Officials and State and Local
Law Enforcement Agencies.--
(1) * * *
* * * * * * *
(4)
(A) In general.--No returns or return
information may be disclosed under paragraph
(1) to any agency, body, or commission of any
State (or any legal representative thereof)
during any period during which a contract
meeting the requirements of subparagraph (B) is
not in effect between such State and the
[Secretary of Health and Human Services]
Commissioner of Social Security.
(B) Contractual requirements.--A contract
meets the requirements of this subparagraph
if--
(i) such contract requires the State
to furnish the [Secretary of Health and
Human Services] Commissioner of Social
Security information concerning
individuals with respect to whom death
certificates (or equivalent documents
maintained by the State or any
subdivision thereof) have been
officially filed with it, and
(ii) such contract does not include
any restriction on the use of
information obtained by [such Secretary
pursuant to such contract, except that
such contract may provide that such
information is only to be used by the
Secretary (or any other Federal agency)
for purposes of ensuring that Federal
benefits or other payments are not
erroneously paid to deceased
individuals] such Commissioner pursuant
to such contract, except that such
contract may provide that such
information is only to be used by the
Social Security Administration (or any
other Federal agency) for purposes
authorized in the Social Security Act
or this title.
Any information obtained by the [Secretary of
Health and Human Services] Commissioner of
Social Security under such a contract shall be
exempt from disclosure under section 552 of
title 5, United States Code, and from the
requirements of section 552a of such title 5.
* * * * * * *
TITLE 31--MONEY AND FINANCE
* * * * * * *
Section. 3321. Disbursing authority in the executive branch
* * * * * * *
Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Improvement
* * * * * * *
SEC. 7. IMPROVING THE USE OF DATA BY GOVERNMENT AGENCIES FOR CURBING
IMPROPER PAYMENTS.
(a) * * *
(b) * * *
(c) Guidance to Agencies Regarding Data Matching With Death
Databases.--
(1) Guidance to agencies.--Not later than 6 months
after the date of enactment of this subsection, and in
consultation with the Council of Inspectors General on
Integrity and Efficiency and the heads of other
relevant Federal, State, and local agencies, and Indian
tribes and tribal organizations, the Director of the
Office of Management and Budget shall issue guidance
for each agency or component of an agency that operates
or maintains a database of information relating to
beneficiaries, annuity recipients, or any purpose
described in section 205(r)(3)(B) of the Social
Security Act (42 U.S.C. 405(r)(3)(B)) for which
improved data matching with databases relating to the
death of an individual (in this subsection referred to
as ``death databases'') would be relevant and necessary
regarding implementation of this subsection to provide
such agencies or components access to the death
databases no later than 6 months after such date of
enactment.
(2) Plan to assist states and local agencies and
indian tribes and tribal organizations.--Not later than
1 year after the date of enactment of this subsection,
the Director of the Office of Management and Budget
shall develop a plan to assist States and local
agencies, and Indian tribes and tribal organizations,
in providing electronically to the Federal Government
records relating to the death of individuals, which may
include recommendations to Congress for any statutory
changes or financial assistance to States and local
agencies and Indian tribes and tribal organizations
that are necessary to ensure States and local agencies
and Indian tribes and tribal organizations can provide
such records electronically. The plan may include
recommendations for the authorization of appropriations
or other funding to carry out the plan.
(d) Reports.--
(1) Report to congress on improving data matching
regarding payments to deceased individuals.--Not later
than 270 days after the date of enactment of this
subsection, the Director of the Office of Management
and Budget, in consultation with the heads of other
relevant federal agencies, and in consultation with
States and local agencies, Indian tribes and tribal
organizations, shall submit to Congress a plan to
improve how States and local agencies and Indian tribes
and tribal organizations that provide benefits under a
federally funded program will improve data matching
with the Federal Government with respect to the death
of individuals who are recipients of such benefits.
(2) Annual report.--Not later than 1 year after the
date of enactment of this subsection, and for each of
the 4 succeeding years, the Director of the Office of
Management and Budget shall submit to Congress a report
regarding the implementation of this subsection (c) and
paragraph (1). The first report submitted under this
paragraph shall include the recommendations of the
Director required under subsection (c)(2).
(e) Definitions.--In this section, the terms ``Indian
tribe'' and ``tribal organization'' have the meanings given
those terms in section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and
Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 450b).
* * * * * * *
TITLE 42--THE PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARE
* * * * * * *
CHAPTER 7--SOCIAL SECURITY
* * * * * * *
Subchapter II--Federal Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance
Benefits
* * * * * * *
SEC. 405. EVIDENCE, PROCEDURE, AND CERTIFICATION FOR PAYMENTS.
(a) * * *
* * * * * * *
(r)
(1) * * *
(2) Each State (or political subdivision thereof)
which furnishes the Commissioner of Social Security
with information on records of deaths in the State or
subdivision under this subsection [may] shall be paid
by the Commissioner of Social Security from amounts
available for administration of this chapter the
reasonable costs (established by the Commissioner of
Social Security in consultations with the States) for
transcribing and transmitting, and to ensure the
completeness, timeliness, and accuracy of such
information to the Commissioner of Social Security.
[(3) In the case of individuals with respect to whom
federally funded benefits are provided by (or through)
a Federal or State agency other than under this
chapter, the Commissioner of Social Security shall to
the extent feasible provide such information through a
cooperative arrangement with such agency, for ensuring
proper payment of those benefits with respect to such
individuals if--
[(A) under such arrangement the agency
provides reimbursement to the Commissioner of
Social Security for the reasonable cost of
carrying out such arrangement, and
[(B) such arrangement does not conflict with
the duties of the Commissioner of Social
Security under paragraph (1).
[(4) The Commissioner of Social Security may enter
into similar agreements with States to provide
information for their use in programs wholly funded by
the States if the requirements of subparagraphs (A) and
(B) of paragraph (3) are met.
[(5) The Commissioner of Social Security may use or
provide for the use of such records as may be corrected
under this section, subject to such safeguards as the
Commissioner of Social Security determines are
necessary or appropriate to protect the information
from unauthorized use or disclosure, for statistical
and research activities conducted by Federal and State
agencies.]
(3)
(A) The Commissioner of Social Security
shall, to the extent feasible, provide for the
use of information regarding all deceased
individuals furnished to or maintained by the
Commissioner under this subsection in
accordance with subparagraph (B), subject to
such safeguards as the Commissioner of Social
Security determines are necessary or
appropriate to protect the information from
unauthorized use or disclosure, by any Federal
or State agency providing federally funded
benefits or administering a Federal program for
such benefits, including the agency operating
the Do Not Pay working system for ensuring
proper payment of those benefits, through a
cooperative arrangement with the agency (that
includes the agency's Inspector General) or
with an agency's Inspector General, if--
(i) under such arrangement the agency
(including, if applicable, the agency's
Inspector General) provides
reimbursement to the Commissioner of
Social Security for the reasonable cost
of carrying out such arrangement,
including the reasonable costs
associated with the collection and
maintenance of information regarding
deceased individuals furnished to the
Commissioner pursuant to paragraph (1),
and
(ii) such arrangement does not
conflict with the duties of the
Commissioner of Social Security under
paragraph (1).
(B) The Commissioner of Social Security
shall, to the extent feasible, provide for the
use of information regarding all deceased
individuals furnished to or maintained by the
Commissioner under this subsection, through a
cooperative arrangement in order for a Federal
agency to carry out any of the following
purposes, if the requirements of clauses (i)
and (ii) of subparagraph (A) are met:
(i) Operating the Do Not Pay working
system established by section 5 of the
Improper Payments Elimination and
Recovery Improvement Act of 2012. Under
such arrangement, the agency operating
the working system may compare death
information disclosed by the
Commissioner with personally
identifiable information reviewed
through the working system, and may
redisclose such comparison of
information, as appropriate, to any
Federal or State agency authorized to
use the working system.
(ii) To ensure proper payments under
a Federal program or the proper payment
of federally funded benefits, including
for purposes of payment certification,
payment disbursement, and the
prevention, identification, or
recoupment of improper payments.
(iii) To carry out tax administration
or debt collection duties of the
agency.
(iv) For use by any policing agency
of the Federal Government with the
principle function of prevention,
detection, or investigation of crime or
the apprehension of alleged offenders.
(4) The Commissioner of Social Security may enter
into similar arrangements with States to provide
information regarding all deceased individuals
furnished to or maintained by the Commissioner under
this subsection, for any of the purposes specified in
paragraph (3)(B), for use by States in programs wholly
funded by the States, or for use in the administration
of a benefit pension plan or retirement system for
employees of a State or a political subdivision
thereof, if the requirements of clauses (i) and (ii) of
paragraph (3)(A) are met. For purposes of this
paragraph, the terms ``retirement system'' and
``political subdivision'' have the meanings given such
terms in section 218(b).
(5) The Commissioner of Social Security may use or
provide for the use of information regarding all
deceased individuals furnished to or maintained by the
Commissioner under this subsection, subject to such
safeguards as the Commissioner of Social Security
determines are necessary or appropriate to protect the
information from unauthorized use or disclosure, for
statistical purposes and research activities by Federal
and State agencies if the requirements of clauses (i)
and (ii) of paragraph (3)(A) are met. For purposes of
this paragraph, the term ``statistical purposes'' has
the meaning given that term in section 502 of the
Confidential Information Protection and Statistical
Efficiency Act of 2002.
* * * * * * *
(8)
(A) The Commissioner of Social Security
shall, upon the request of the official
responsible for a State driver's license agency
pursuant to the Help America Vote Act of 2002--
(i) enter into an agreement with such
official for the purpose of verifying
applicable information, so long as the
requirements of [subparagraphs (A) and
(B) of paragraph (3)] clauses (i) and
(ii) of paragraph (3)(A) are met; and
(ii) include in such agreement
safeguards to assure the maintenance of
the confidentiality of any applicable
information disclosed and procedures to
permit such agency to use the
applicable information for the purpose
of maintaining its records.
* * * * * * *
[all]