[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1698 Introduced in House (IH)]







104th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1698

  To amend title 31, United States Code, to require electronic funds 
  transfer for all Federal payments by 2001 to promote efficiency and 
  economy in the disbursement of Federal funds and to eliminate crime 
              incident to the issuance of Treasury checks.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 24, 1995

Mr. Lightfoot (for himself, Mr. Hoyer, Mr. Clinger, Mr. Visclosky, and 
  Mr. Horn) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
              Committee on Government Reform and Oversight

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend title 31, United States Code, to require electronic funds 
  transfer for all Federal payments by 2001 to promote efficiency and 
  economy in the disbursement of Federal funds and to eliminate crime 
              incident to the issuance of Treasury checks.
    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Mandatory Electronic Funds Transfer 
Expansion Act of 1995''.

SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO TITLE 31, UNITED STATES CODE.

    Section 3332 of title 31, United States Code, popularly known as 
the Federal Financial Management Act of 1994, is amended--
            (1) by redesignating subsection (e) as subsection (h), and 
        inserting after subsection (d) the following new subsections:
    ``(e)(1) Notwithstanding subsections (a) through (d) of this 
section, all Federal payments to a recipient who begins to receive that 
type of payments on or after January 1, 1996, shall be made by 
electronic funds transfer.
    ``(2) The head of a Federal agency shall, with respect to Federal 
payments made or authorized by the agency, waive the application of 
paragraph (1) to a recipient of those payments upon receipt of written 
certification from the recipient that the recipient does not have an 
account with a financial institution or an authorized payment agent.
    ``(f) Notwithstanding any other provision of law (including 
subsections (a) through (e)), all Federal payments made after January 
1, 2001, shall be made by electronic funds transfer.
    ``(g) Each recipient of Federal payments required to be made by 
electronic funds transfer shall--
            ``(1) designate 1 or more financial institutions or other 
        authorized agents to which such payments shall be made; and
            ``(2) provide to the Federal agency that makes or 
        authorizes the payments information necessary for the recipient 
        to receive electronic funds transfer payments through each 
        institution or agent designated under paragraph (1).''; and
            (2) by adding after subsection (h) (as so redesignated) the 
        following new subsections:
    ``(i) The Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe regulations that 
the Secretary considers necessary to carry out this section.
    ``(j) For purposes of this section--
            ``(1) The term `electronic funds transfer' means any 
        transfer of funds, other than a transaction originated by cash, 
        check, or similar paper instrument, that is initiated through 
        an electronic terminal, telephone, computer, or magnetic tape, 
        for the purpose of ordering, instructing, or authorizing a 
        financial institution to debit or credit an account. The term 
        includes Automated Clearing House transfers, Fed Wire 
        transfers, transfers made at automatic teller machines, and 
        point-of-sale terminals.
            ``(2) The term `Federal agency' means--
                    ``(A) an agency (as defined in section 101 of this 
                title); and
                    ``(B) a Government corporation (as defined in 
                section 103 of title 5).
            ``(3) The term `Federal payments' includes--
                    ``(A) Federal wage, salary, and retirement 
                payments;
                    ``(B) vendor and expense reimbursement payments; 
                and
                    ``(C) benefit payments.''.
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