[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 451 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 451

To establish civil and criminal penalties for the sale or purchase of a 
                        social security number.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 1, 2001

  Mr. Nelson of Florida introduced the following bill; which was read 
             twice and referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To establish civil and criminal penalties for the sale or purchase of a 
                        social security number.

    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 ``Social Security Number Protection 
Act of 2001''.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITION OF THE SALE OR PURCHASE OF A SOCIAL SECURITY 
              NUMBER.

    (a) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Purchase.--The term ``purchase'' means providing 
        directly or indirectly, anything of value in exchange for a 
        social security number.
            (2) Sale.--The term ``sale'' means obtaining, directly or 
        indirectly, anything of value in exchange for a social security 
        number.
            (3) Social security number.--The term ``social security 
        number'' has the meaning given that term in section 208(c) of 
        the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 408(c)), and includes a 
        social security account number (as defined in such section) and 
        any identifying portion or derivative of such a number.
    (b) Prohibition of the Sale or Purchase of a Social Security 
Number.--No person may sell or purchase a social security number.
    (c) Civil Money Penalties.--
            (1) In general.--Any person who the Attorney General 
        determines has violated subsection (b) shall be subject, in 
        addition to any other penalties that may be prescribed by law, 
        to a civil money penalty of not more than--
                    (A) in the case of an individual, $10,000 for each 
                such violation; and
                    (B) in the case of any other person, $100,000 for 
                each such violation.
            (2) Enforcement procedures.--The provisions of section 
        1128A of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1320a-7a) (other 
        than subsections (a), (b), (f), (h), (i), (j), and (m), and the 
        first sentence of subsection (c)), and the provisions of 
        subsections (d) and (e) of section 205 of the Social Security 
        Act (42 U.S.C. 405), shall apply to a civil money penalty 
        imposed under this subsection in the same manner as such 
        provisions apply, respectively, to a penalty or proceeding 
        under section 1128A(a) of that Act or to a hearing, 
        investigation, or other proceeding authorized or directed under 
        title II of that Act, except that, for purposes of this 
        paragraph, any reference in section 1128A of that Act to ``the 
        Secretary'' and any reference in section 205 of that Act to 
        ``the Commissioner of Social Security'' shall be deemed to be a 
        reference to the ``Attorney General''.
    (d) Criminal Sanctions.--Section 208(a) of the Social Security Act 
(42 U.S.C. 408(a)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (8), by inserting ``or'' after the 
        semicolon; and
            (2) by inserting after paragraph (8) the following new 
        paragraph:
            ``(9) knowingly and willfully sells or purchases (as such 
        terms are defined in section 2(a) of the Social Security Number 
        Protection Act of 2001) a social security number (as defined in 
        subsection (c));''.
                                 <all>