[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7269 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 7269

    To amend title II of the Social Security Act to make the Social 
Security Trustees Report process more accountable and transparent, and 
                          for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           December 12, 2018

   Mr. Sam Johnson of Texas introduced the following bill; which was 
              referred to the Committee on Ways and Means

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To amend title II of the Social Security Act to make the Social 
Security Trustees Report process more accountable and transparent, and 
                          for other purposes.

    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 Trustees Report 
Accountability, Transparency, and Improvement Act of 2018''.

SEC. 2. MANAGEMENT OF THE TRUST FUNDS.

    Section 201(c) of the Social Security Act is amended to read as 
follows:
    ``(c)(1) With respect to the Federal Old-Age and Survivors 
Insurance Trust Fund and the Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund 
(hereinafter in this title called the `Trust Funds') there is hereby 
created a body to be known as the Board of Trustees of the Trust Funds 
(hereinafter in this title called the `Board of Trustees') which Board 
of Trustees shall be composed of the Commissioner of Social Security, 
the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Labor, and the 
Secretary of Health and Human Services, all ex officio, and of four 
members of the public (hereinafter in this title called `public 
trustees'), to be appointed in accordance with paragraph (2). The 
Secretary of the Treasury shall be the Managing Trustee of the Board of 
Trustees (hereinafter in this title called the `Managing Trustee'). The 
Deputy Commissioner of Social Security shall serve as Secretary of the 
Board of Trustees. The Board of Trustees shall meet not less frequently 
than once each calendar year. A person serving on the Board of Trustees 
shall not be considered to be a fiduciary and shall not be personally 
liable for actions taken in such capacity with respect to the Trust 
Funds.''.

SEC. 3. APPOINTMENT AND TERMS OF PUBLIC TRUSTEES.

    Section 201(c) of the Social Security Act, as amended by section 2, 
is further amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(2)(A) Public trustees shall be appointed as follows:
            ``(i) Two members (each member from a different political 
        party) shall be appointed by the President pro tempore of the 
        Senate with the advice of the Chairman and the Ranking Minority 
        Member of the Senate Committee on Finance.
            ``(ii) Two members (each member from a different political 
        party) shall be appointed by the Speaker of the House of 
        Representatives, with the advice of the Chairman and the 
        Ranking Minority Member of the House Committee on Ways and 
        Means
    ``(B)(i) Except as provided in clause (iii), each public trustee 
shall serve for a term beginning on the day after the expiration of the 
term of such member's predecessor and expiring on the fourth April 1 
occurring during such term (or, if later, the date on which the fourth 
report of the Board is issued under paragraph (3)(A)(ii) during such 
term).
    ``(ii) A public trustee may not serve more than two consecutive 
full terms. A public trustee nominated and confirmed to fill a vacancy 
occurring during a term shall be nominated and confirmed only for the 
remainder of such term.
    ``(iii) Clause (i) shall be applied with respect to initial 
appointments under this paragraph--
            ``(I) by substituting `first' for `fourth' each place it 
        appears in clause (i) with respect to one of the public 
        trustees appointed by the President pro tempore of the Senate 
        (as designated by the President pro tempore of the Senate at 
        the time of nomination);
            ``(II) by substituting `second' for `fourth' each place it 
        appears in clause (i) with respect to one of the public 
        trustees appointed by the Speaker of the House of 
        Representatives (as designated by the Speaker of the House of 
        Representatives at the time of nomination); and
            ``(III) by substituting `third' for `fourth' each place it 
        appears in clause (i) with respect to one of the public 
        trustees appointed by the President pro tempore of the Senate 
        (as designated by the President pro tempore of Senate at the 
        time of nomination).''.

SEC. 4. DUTIES OF THE BOARD AND THE PUBLIC TRUSTEES.

    Section 201(c) of the Social Security Act, as amended by sections 2 
and 3, is further amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(3)(A) It shall be the duty of the Board of Trustees to--
            ``(i) hold the Trust Funds;
            ``(ii) report to the Congress not later than the first day 
        of April of each year on the operation and status of the Trust 
        Funds during the preceding calendar year (and during the 
        preceding fiscal year) and on their expected operation and 
        status during the next ensuing 75 calendar years (and during 
        the next ensuing 75 fiscal years);
            ``(iii) report immediately to the Congress whenever the 
        Board of Trustees is of the opinion that the amount of either 
        of the Trust Funds is unduly small;
            ``(iv) recommend improvements in administrative procedures 
        and policies designed to effectuate the proper coordination of 
        the Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance program and 
        the Federal-State unemployment compensation program; and
            ``(v) review the general policies followed in managing the 
        Trust Funds, and recommend changes in such policies, including 
        necessary changes in the provisions of the law which govern the 
        way in which the Trust Funds are to be managed.
    ``(B) It shall be the duty of the public trustees to--
            ``(i) in any case in which the Board of Trustees determines 
        that the report provided for in subparagraph (A)(ii) will not 
        be completed by the first day of April, to provide written 
        notification of the expected issue date to the Committee on 
        Ways and Means of the House of Representatives and the 
        Committee on Finance of the Senate not later than the first day 
        of March, and written notification of an updated expected issue 
        date not later than 14 days prior to the issue date; and
            ``(ii) at the time such report is issued, report to the 
        Congress responding to recommendations from the Social Security 
        Advisory Board received during the previous year regarding the 
        techniques, methodologies, actuarial assumptions, and cost 
        estimates used in such report.''.

SEC. 5. TRUSTEES REPORT.

    Section 201(c) of the Social Security Act, as amended by sections 
2, 3, and 4, is further amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(4) The report provided for in paragraph (3)(A)(ii) shall include 
the following:
            ``(A) A statement of the assets of, and the disbursements 
        made from, the Trust Funds during the preceding calendar year 
        (and during the preceding fiscal year) and an estimate of the 
        expected future income to, and disbursements to be made from, 
        the Trust Funds during each of the next ensuing 75 calendar 
        years (and during the next ensuing 75 fiscal years).
            ``(B) A statement of the actuarial status of the Trust 
        Funds, including--
                    ``(i) a finding by the Board of Trustees as to 
                whether the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance 
                Trust Fund and the Federal Disability Insurance Trust 
                Fund, individually and collectively, are in close 
                actuarial balance (as defined by the Board of 
                Trustees); and
                    ``(ii) an actuarial opinion by the Chief Actuary of 
                the Social Security Administration certifying that the 
                techniques and methodologies used are generally 
                accepted within the actuarial profession and that the 
                assumptions and cost estimates used are reasonable.
            ``(C) An assessment of the previous annual report made in 
        the first calendar year of the 10-calendar year period ending 
        on the first day of the calendar year in which such report is 
        made comparing the projected values in such previous annual 
        report of each demographic and economic assumption made for 
        each of the 10 calendar years in such period with the actual 
        data available with respect to each such assumption for each 
        such calendar year.
            ``(D) An actuarial analysis of the benefit disbursements 
        made from the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust 
        Fund with respect to disabled beneficiaries.
Such report shall be printed as a House document of the session of the 
Congress to which the report is made. Such report shall also include 
the full names of the attendees of the Trustees Working Group during 
the report's development.''.

SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    The amendments make by this Act shall apply with respect to public 
trustees appointed for terms beginning after April 1, 2019, and with 
respect to reports issued for fiscal years after 2018.
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