[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 220 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 220

 To amend title II of the Social Security Act and the Internal Revenue 
  Code of 1986 to protect the integrity and confidentiality of Social 
   Security account numbers issued under such title, to prohibit the 
    establishment in the Federal Government of any uniform national 
  identifying number, and to prohibit Federal agencies from imposing 
   standards for identification of individuals on other agencies or 
                                persons.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 6, 1999

   Mr. Paul introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
   Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on 
 Government Reform, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 
  Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall 
           within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend title II of the Social Security Act and the Internal Revenue 
  Code of 1986 to protect the integrity and confidentiality of Social 
   Security account numbers issued under such title, to prohibit the 
    establishment in the Federal Government of any uniform national 
  identifying number, and to prohibit Federal agencies from imposing 
   standards for identification of individuals on other agencies or 
                                persons.

    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 ``Freedom and Privacy Restoration Act 
of 1999''.

SEC. 2. RESTRICTIONS ON THE USE OF THE SOCIAL SECURITY ACCOUNT NUMBER.

    (a) Repeal of Provisions Authorizing Use of the Social Security 
Account Number.--Subparagraph (C) of section 205(c)(2) of the Social 
Security Act (42 U.S.C. 405(c)(2)(C)) is amended by striking ``(C)(i) 
It is the policy'' and all that follows through clause (vi) and 
inserting the following:
    ``(C)(i) Except as otherwise provided in this paragraph, no agency 
or instrumentality of the Federal Government, any State, any political 
subdivision of a State, or any combination of the foregoing may use a 
social security account number issued under this subsection or any 
derivative of such a number as the means of identifying any individual.
    ``(ii) Clause (i) shall not apply with respect to the use of the 
social security account number as an identifying number to the extent 
provided in section 6109(d) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 
(relating to use of the social security account number for social 
security and related purposes).
    ``(iii) If and to the extent that any provision of Federal law 
enacted before January 1, 2001, is inconsistent with the policy set 
forth in clause (i), such provision shall, on and after such date, be 
null, void, and of no effect.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendments.--
            (1) Clauses (vii) and (viii) of section 205(c)(2)(D) of 
        such Act (42 U.S.C. 405(c)(2)(D)(vii) and (viii)) are 
        redesignated as clauses (iv) and (v), respectively.
            (2) Subsection (d) of section 6109 of the Internal Revenue 
        Code of 1986 is amended--
                    (A) in the heading, by inserting ``for Social 
                Security and Related Purposes'' after ``Number''; and
                    (B) by striking ``this title'' and inserting 
                ``section 86, chapter 2, and subtitle C of this 
                title''.

SEC. 3. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS TO PRIVACY ACT OF 1974.

    Section 7 of the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a note, 88 Stat. 
1909) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a), by striking paragraph (2) and 
        inserting the following:
    ``(2) The provisions of paragraph (1) of this subsection shall not 
apply with respect to any disclosure which is required under 
regulations of the Commissioner of Social Security pursuant to section 
205(c)(2) of the Social Security Act or under regulations of the 
Secretary of the Treasury pursuant to section 6109(d) of the Internal 
Revenue Code of 1986.'';
        and
            (2) by striking subsection (b) and inserting the following:
    ``(b) Except with respect to disclosures described in subsection 
(a)(2), no agency or instrumentality of the Federal Government, a 
State, a political subdivision of a State, or any combination of the 
foregoing may request an individual to disclose his social security 
account number, on either a mandatory or voluntary basis.''.

SEC. 4. PROHIBITION OF GOVERNMENT-WIDE UNIFORM IDENTIFYING NUMBERS.

    (a) In General.--Except as authorized under section 205(c)(2) of 
the Social Security Act, any two agencies or instrumentalities of the 
Federal Government may not implement the same identifying number with 
respect to any individual.
    (b) Identifying Numbers.--For purposes of this section--
            (1) the term ``identifying number'' with respect to an 
        individual means any combination of alpha-numeric symbols which 
        serves to identify such individual, and
            (2) any identifying number and any one or more derivatives 
        of such number shall be treated as the same identifying number.

SEC. 5. PROHIBITION OF GOVERNMENT-ESTABLISHED IDENTIFIERS.

    (a) In General.--Subject to subsection (b), a Federal agency may 
not--
            (1) establish or mandate a uniform standard for 
        identification of an individual that is required to be used by 
        any other Federal agency, a State agency, or a private person 
        for any purpose other than the purpose of conducting the 
        authorized activities of the Federal agency establishing or 
        mandating the standard; or
            (2) condition receipt of any Federal grant or contract or 
        other Federal funding on the adoption, by a State, a State 
        agency, or a political subdivision of a State, of a uniform 
        standard for identification of an individual.
    (b) Transactions Between Private Persons.--Notwithstanding 
subsection (a), a Federal agency may not establish or mandate a uniform 
standard for identification of an individual that is required to be 
used within the agency, or by any other Federal agency, a State agency, 
or a private person, for the purpose of--
            (1) investigating, monitoring, overseeing, or otherwise 
        regulating a transaction to which the Federal Government is not 
        a party; or
            (2) administrative simplification.
    (c) Repealer.--Any provision of Federal law enacted before, on, or 
after the date of the enactment of this Act that is inconsistent with 
subsection (a) or (b) is repealed, including sections 1173(b) and 
1177(a)(1) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1320d-2(b); 42 U.S.C. 
1320d-6(a)(1)) and section 656 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and 
Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (5 U.S.C. 301 note).
    (d) Definitions.--For purposes of this section:
            (1) Agency.--The term ``agency'' means any of the 
        following:
                    (A) An Executive agency (as defined in section 105 
                of title 5, United States Code).
                    (B) A military department (as defined in section 
                102 of such title).
                    (C) An agency in the executive branch of a State 
                government.
                    (D) An agency in the legislative branch of the 
                Government of the United States or a State government.
                    (E) An agency in the judicial branch of the 
                Government of the United States or a State government.
            (2) State.--The term ``State'' means any of the several 
        States, the District of Columbia, the Virgin Islands, the 
        Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the 
        Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Republic of 
        the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, or 
        the Republic of Palau.

SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    The provisions of this Act, including the amendments made thereby, 
shall take effect January 1, 2001.
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