[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2498 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>






115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2498

                       To reduce identity fraud.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 5, 2018

 Mr. Scott (for himself, Mrs. McCaskill, Mr. Cassidy, and Mr. Peters) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
                          Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
                       To reduce identity fraud.

    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 ``Protecting Children From Identity 
Theft Act''.

SEC. 2. REDUCING IDENTITY FRAUD.

    (a) Purpose.--The purpose of this section is to reduce the 
prevalence of synthetic identity fraud, which disproportionally affects 
vulnerable populations, such as minors and recent immigrants, by 
facilitating the validation by permitted entities of fraud protection 
data, pursuant to electronically received consumer consent, through use 
of a database maintained by the Commissioner.
    (b) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Commissioner.--The term ``Commissioner'' means the 
        Commissioner of the Social Security Administration.
            (2) Financial institution.--The term ``financial 
        institution'' has the meaning given the term in section 509 of 
        the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (15 U.S.C. 6809).
            (3) Fraud protection data.--The term ``fraud protection 
        data'' means a combination of the following information with 
        respect to an individual:
                    (A) The name of the individual (including the first 
                name and any family forename or surname of the 
                individual).
                    (B) The Social Security number of the individual.
                    (C) The date of birth (including the month, day, 
                and year) of the individual.
            (4) Permitted entity.--The term ``permitted entity'' means 
        a financial institution or a service provider, subsidiary, 
        affiliate, agent, subcontractor, or assignee of a financial 
        institution.
    (c) Efficiency.--
            (1) Reliance on existing methods.--The Commissioner shall 
        evaluate the feasibility of making modifications to any 
        database that is in existence as of the date of enactment of 
        this Act or a similar resource such that the database or 
        resource--
                    (A) is reasonably designed to effectuate the 
                purpose of this section; and
                    (B) meets the requirements of subsection (d).
            (2) Execution.--The Commissioner shall make the 
        modifications necessary to any database that is in existence as 
        of the date of enactment of this Act or similar resource, or 
        develop a database or similar resource, to effectuate the 
        requirements described in paragraph (1).
    (d) Protection of Vulnerable Consumers.--The database or similar 
resource described in subsection (c) shall--
            (1) compare fraud protection data provided in an inquiry by 
        a permitted entity against such information maintained by the 
        Commissioner in order to confirm (or not confirm) the validity 
        of the information provided;
            (2) be scalable and accommodate reasonably anticipated 
        volumes of verification requests from permitted entities with 
        commercially reasonable uptime and availability;
            (3) allow permitted entities to submit--
                    (A) one or more individual requests electronically 
                for real-time machine-to-machine (or similar 
                functionality) accurate responses; and
                    (B) multiple requests electronically, such as those 
                provided in a batch format, for accurate electronic 
                responses within a reasonable period of time from 
                submission, not to exceed 24 hours;
            (4) be funded, including any appropriate upgrades, 
        maintenance, and associated direct and indirect administrative 
        costs, by users of the database or similar resource, in a 
        manner consistent with that described in section 1106(b) of the 
        Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1306(b)); and
            (5) not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of 
        this Act, be fully operational.
    (e) Certification Required.--Before providing confirmation of fraud 
protection data to a permitted entity, the Commissioner shall ensure 
that the Commissioner has a certification from the permitted entity 
that is dated not more than 2 years before the date on which that 
confirmation is provided that includes the following declarations:
            (1) The entity is a permitted entity.
            (2) The entity is in compliance with this section.
            (3) The entity is, and will remain, in compliance with its 
        privacy and data security requirements, as described in title V 
        of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (15 U.S.C. 6801 et seq.), with 
        respect to information the entity receives from the 
        Commissioner pursuant to this section.
            (4) The entity will retain sufficient records to 
        demonstrate its compliance with its certification and this 
        section for a period of not less than 2 years.
    (f) Consumer Consent.--
            (1) In general.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law 
        or regulation, a permitted entity may submit a request to the 
        database or similar resource described in subsection (c) only--
                    (A) pursuant to the written, including electronic, 
                consent received by a permitted entity from the 
                individual who is the subject of the request; and
                    (B) in connection with a credit transaction or any 
                circumstance described in section 604 of the Fair 
                Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681b).
            (2) Electronic consent requirements.--For a permitted 
        entity to use the consent of an individual received 
        electronically pursuant to paragraph (1)(A), the permitted 
        entity must obtain the individual's electronic signature, as 
        defined in section 106 of the Electronic Signatures in Global 
        and National Commerce Act (15 U.S.C. 7006).
            (3) Effectuating electronic consent.--No provision of law 
        or requirement, including section 552a of title 5, United 
        States Code, shall prevent the use of electronic consent for 
        purposes of this subsection or for use in any other consent 
        based verification under the discretion of the Commissioner.
    (g) Compliance and Enforcement.--
            (1) Audits and monitoring.--
                    (A) In general.--The Commissioner may--
                            (i) conduct audits and monitoring to--
                                    (I) ensure proper use by permitted 
                                entities of the database or similar 
                                resource described in subsection (c); 
                                and
                                    (II) deter fraud and misuse by 
                                permitted entities with respect to the 
                                database or similar resource described 
                                in subsection (c); and
                            (ii) terminate services for any permitted 
                        entity that prevents or refuses to allow the 
                        Commissioner to carry out the activities 
                        described in clause (i).
            (2) Enforcement.--
                    (A) In general.--Notwithstanding any other 
                provision of law, including the matter preceding 
                paragraph (1) of section 505(a) of the Gramm-Leach-
                Bliley Act (15 U.S.C. 6805(a)), any violation of this 
                section and any certification made under this section 
                shall be enforced in accordance with paragraphs (1) 
                through (7) of such section 505(a) by the agencies 
                described in those paragraphs.
                    (B) Relevant information.--Upon discovery by the 
                Commissioner, pursuant to an audit described in 
                paragraph (1)(A), of any violation of this section or 
                any certification made under this section, the 
                Commissioner shall forward any relevant information 
                pertaining to that violation to the appropriate agency 
                described in subparagraph (A) for evaluation by the 
                agency for purposes of enforcing this section.
                                 <all>