[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 220 Introduced in House (IH)]







107th 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 3, 2001

  Mr. Paul (for himself and Mr. Bartlett of Maryland) 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 ``Identity Theft Protection Act of 
2001''.

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

    (a) Repeal of Provisions Authorizing Certain Usages of the Social 
Security Account Number.--Section 205(c)(2) of the Social Security Act 
(42 U.S.C. 405(c)(2)) is amended--
            (1) in subparagraph (C), by striking ``(C)(i) It is the 
        policy'' and all that follows through clause (vi);
            (2) by striking subparagraphs (C)(ix), (E), and (H); and
            (3) by redesignating subparagraphs (F) and (G) as 
        subparagraphs (E) and (F), respectively.
    (b) New Rules Applicable to Social Security Account Numbers.--
Section 205(c)(2) of such Act is amended further--
            (1) by inserting after subparagraph (B) the following:
    ``(C)(i) All social security account numbers issued under this 
subsection shall be randomly generated.
    ``(ii) Except as otherwise provided in this paragraph--
            ``(I) the social security account number issued under this 
        subsection to any individual shall be the exclusive property of 
        such individual, and
            ``(II) the Social Security Administration shall not divulge 
        the social security account number issued to any individual 
        under this subsection to any agency or instrumentality of the 
        Federal Government, to any State, political subdivision of a 
        State, or agency or instrumentality of a State or political 
        subdivision thereof, or to any other individual.
    ``(iii) Clause (ii) 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).''; and
            (2) by redesignating clauses (vii) and (viii) of 
        subparagraph (C) as clauses (iv) and (v), respectively.
    (c) Use of Social Security Account Numbers Under Internal Revenue 
Code.--Subsection (d) of section 6109 of the Internal Revenue Code of 
1986 is amended--
            (1) in the heading, by inserting ``for Social Security and 
        Related Purposes'' after ``Number''; and
            (2) by striking ``this title'' and inserting ``section 86, 
        chapter 2, and subtitle C of this title''.
    (d) Effective Dates and Related Rules.--
            (1) Effective dates.--Not later than 60 days after the date 
        of the enactment of this Act, the Commissioner of Social 
        Security shall publish in the Federal Register the date 
        determined by the Commissioner, in consultation with the 
        Secretary of the Treasury, to be the earliest date thereafter 
        by which implementation of the amendments made by this section 
        is practicable. The amendments made by subsection (a) shall 
        take effect on the earlier of such date or the date which 
        occurs 5 years after the date of the enactment of this Act. The 
        amendments made by subsection (b) shall apply with respect to 
        social security account numbers issued on or after such earlier 
        date. The amendments made by subsection (c) shall apply with 
        respect to calendar quarters and taxable years beginning on or 
        after such earlier date.
            (2) Reissuance of numbers.--The Commissioner of Social 
        Security shall ensure that, not later than 5 years after the 
        date of the enactment of this Act, all individuals who have 
        been issued social security account numbers under section 
        205(c) of the Social Security Act as of the date prior to the 
        earlier date specified in paragraph (1) are issued new social 
        security account numbers in accordance with such section as 
        amended by this section. Upon issuance of such new social 
        security account numbers, any social security account numbers 
        issued to such individuals prior to such earlier date specified 
        in paragraph (1) shall be null and void and subject to the 
        requirements of section 205(c)(2)(C)(ii)(II) of such Act, as 
        amended by this section. Nothing in this section or the 
        amendments made thereby shall be construed to preclude the 
        Social Security Administration and the Secretary of the 
        Treasury from cross-referencing such social security account 
        numbers newly issued to individuals pursuant to this paragraph 
        to the former social security account numbers of such 
        individuals for purposes of administering title II or title XVI 
        of such Act or administering the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 
        in connection with section 86, chapter 2, and subtitle C 
        thereof.

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

    (a) In General.--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.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall take 
effect on the earlier date specified in section 2(d)(1).

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.
    (c) Effective Date.--The provisions of this section shall take 
effect January 1, 2003.

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)).
    (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.
    (e) Effective Date.--The provisions of this section shall take 
effect January 1, 2003.
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