[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 50 Introduced in House (IH)]







111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 H. R. 50

  To protect seniors from identity theft and strengthen our national 
  security by providing for the issuance of a secure Social Security 
                                 card.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 6, 2009

 Mr. Kirk (for himself and Mr. Roskam) introduced the following bill; 
         which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To protect seniors from identity theft and strengthen our national 
  security by providing for the issuance of a secure Social Security 
                                 card.

    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 Identity Theft 
Prevention Act''.

SEC. 2. UPDATED AND SECURE SOCIAL SECURITY CARDS.

    (a) In General.--Section 205(c)(2)(G) of the Social Security Act 
(42 U.S.C. 405(c)(2)(G)) is amended--
            (1) by inserting ``(i)'' after ``(G)'';
            (2) in the last sentence, by striking ``shall be made of 
        banknote paper, and''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following new clauses:
    ``(ii) A social security card issued pursuant to clause (i) of this 
subparagraph to an individual described in subparagraph (B)(ii) shall--
            ``(I) be made of tamperproof and wear-resistant material;
            ``(II) have clearly marked on its face the name and social 
        security account number of the individual to whom the card is 
        issued;
            ``(III) in the case of a card issued to an individual after 
        attaining age 16, display a digital image, captured directly by 
        an officer or employee of the Social Security Administration 
        acting in his or her official capacity, of the person to whom 
        the social security account number was issued and the date on 
        which that image was captured; and
            ``(IV) contain an encrypted, machine-readable electronic 
        record which shall include records of biometric identifiers 
        unique to the individual to whom the card is issued, including 
        a copy of any digitized facial image printed on the face of the 
        card pursuant to subclause (III).
    ``(iii) The Commissioner shall take such actions as are necessary 
to ensure that replacement cards meeting the requirements of clause 
(ii)(III) are issued to individuals upon attaining age 16.
    ``(iv) The Commissioner may charge a reasonable fee to the 
recipient as a condition for issuance of a social security card under 
this subparagraph to an individual described in subparagraph (B)(ii). 
Fees charged under this clause shall be in amounts not greater than 
amounts necessary to meet the administrative costs attributable to the 
requirements of clauses (ii) and (iii) of this subparagraph. Amounts 
received by the Commissioner under this clause shall be deposited in 
the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund and shall be 
available for use by the Commissioner solely for purposes of meeting 
such requirements.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by subsection (a) of this 
section shall apply with respect to social security cards issued after 
2 years after the date of the enactment of this Act. Nothing in this 
Act or the amendments made thereby shall be construed to require the 
reissuance of a social security card that has been issued during or 
prior to such 2-year period in a form that meets the standards 
established in such amendments, unless the reissuance of such card is 
determined by the Commissioner of Social Security to be necessary by 
reason of loss or theft of, or damage to, the card.
                                 <all>