[105th Congress Public Law 306]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office]


<DOC>
[DOCID: f:publ306.105]


[[Page 2925]]

 NONCITIZEN BENEFIT CLARIFICATION AND OTHER TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS ACT OF 
                                  1998

[[Page 112 STAT. 2926]]

Public Law 105-306
105th Congress

                                 An Act


 
 To make technical amendments to clarify the provision of benefits for 
  noncitizens, and to improve the provision of unemployment insurance, 
 child support, and supplemental security income benefits. <<NOTE: Oct. 
                       28, 1998 -  [H.R. 4558]>> 

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress <<NOTE: Noncitizen Benefit 
Clarification and Other Technical Amendments Act of 1998.>> assembled,

SECTION 1. <<NOTE: 42 USC 1305 note.>> SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Noncitizen Benefit Clarification and 
Other Technical Amendments Act of 1998''.

SEC. 2. CONTINUING ELIGIBILITY FOR SSI AND RELATED BENEFIT FOR 
            NONQUALIFIED ALIENS WHO WERE RECEIVING BENEFITS ON THE DATE 
            OF THE ENACTMENT OF THE PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY AND WORK 
            OPPORTUNITY RECONCILIATION ACT OF 1996.

    Section 401(b) of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity 
Reconciliation Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1611(b)) is amended by inserting 
after paragraph (4) the following new paragraph:
            ``(5) Subsection (a) shall not apply to eligibility for 
        benefits for the program defined in section 402(a)(3)(A) 
        (relating to the supplemental security income program), or to 
        eligibility for benefits under any other program that is based 
        on eligibility for benefits under the program so defined, for an 
        alien who was receiving such benefits on August 22, 1996.''.

SEC. 3. EXTENSION OF AUTHORIZATION OF SELF-EMPLOYMENT ASSISTANCE 
            PROGRAMS.

    (a) In General.--Paragraph (2) of section 507(e) of the North 
American Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act (26 U.S.C. 3306 note) 
is hereby repealed.
    (b) Conforming Amendments.--Subsection (e) of section 507 of such 
Act is further amended--
            (1) by amending the heading after the subsection designation 
        to read ``Effective Date.--''; and
            (2) by striking ``(1) Effective date.--'' and by running in 
        the remaining text of subsection (e) immediately after the 
        heading therefor, as amended by paragraph (1).

SEC. 4. CORRECTIONS TO THE CHILD SUPPORT PERFORMANCE AND INCENTIVE ACT 
            OF 1998.

    (a) Reduction of Penalty for State Failure to Meet Deadline for 
Compliance With Child Support Data Processing and Information Retrieval 
Requirements if Performance of Certain Aspect of State IV-D Program 
Meets Performance Threshold.--

[[Page 112 STAT. 2927]]

            (1) In general.--Section 455(a)(4)(C) of the Social Security 
        Act (42 U.S.C. 655(a)(4)(C)) is amended by adding at the end the 
        following:

    ``(iii) The Secretary shall reduce the amount of any reduction that, 
in the absence of this clause, would be required to be made under this 
paragraph by reason of the failure of a State to achieve compliance with 
section 454(24)(B) during the fiscal year, by an amount equal to 20 
percent of the amount of the otherwise required reduction, for each 
State performance measure described in section 458A(b)(4) with respect 
to which the applicable percentage under section 458A(b)(6) for the 
fiscal year is 100 percent, if the Secretary has made the determination 
described in section 458A(b)(5)(B) with respect to the State for the 
fiscal year.''.
            (2) Effective <<NOTE: 42 USC 655 note.>> Date.--The 
        amendment made by paragraph (1) of this subsection shall take 
        effect as if included in the enactment of section 101(a) of the 
        Child Support Performance and Incentive Act of 1998, and the 
        amendment shall be considered to have been added by section 
        101(a) of such Act for purposes of section 201(f )(2)(B) of such 
        Act.

    (b) Clarification of Effective Date for Certain Medical Child 
Support Provisions.--
            (1) In general.--Section 401(c)(3) of the Child Support 
        Performance and Incentive Act of 1998 (42 U.S.C. 652 note) is 
        amended by striking ``of the enactment of this Act'' and 
        inserting ``specified in subparagraph (A)''.
            (2) Effective <<NOTE: 42 USC 652 note.>> date.--The 
        amendment made by paragraph (1) of this subsection shall take 
        effect as if included in the enactment of section 401(c)(3) of 
        the Child Support Performance and Incentive Act of 1998.

SEC. 5. ELIGIBILITY OF NONRESIDENT ALIENS TO RENEW PROFESSIONAL 
            LICENSES.

    (a) Federal.--Section 401(c)(2) of the Personal Responsibility and 
Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1611(c)(2)) is 
amended--
            (1) at the end of subparagraph (A) by striking ``or'';
            (2) at the end of subparagraph (B) by striking the period 
        and inserting ``; or''; and
            (3) by inserting after subparagraph (B) the following new 
        subparagraph:
                    ``(C) to the issuance of a professional license to, 
                or the renewal of a professional license by, a foreign 
                national not physically present in the United States.''.

    (b) State or Local.--Section 411(c)(2) of the Personal 
Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 
1621(c)(2)) is amended--
            (1) at the end of subparagraph (A) by striking ``or'';
            (2) at the end of subparagraph (B) by striking the period 
        and inserting ``; or''; and
            (3) by inserting after subparagraph (B) the following new 
        subparagraph:
                    ``(C) to the issuance of a professional license to, 
                or the renewal of a professional license by, a foreign 
                national not physically present in the United States.''.

[[Page 112 STAT. 2928]]

SEC. 6. CLARIFICATION OF OBLIGATION OF WELFARE-TO-WORK FUNDS.

    (a) In General.--Section 403(a)(5)(A)(iv)(II) of the Social 
Security Act (42 U.S.C. 603(a)(5)(A)(iv)(II)) is amended by striking 
``or sub-State entity'' and inserting ``, other than funds reserved by 
the State for distribution under clause (vi)(III) and funds distributed 
pursuant to clause (vi)(I) in any State in which the service delivery 
area is the State''.
    (b) Retroactivity.--The <<NOTE: Effective date. 42 USC 603 
note.>> amendment made by subsection (a) shall take effect as if 
included in the enactment of section 5001 of the Balanced Budget Act of 
1997.

SEC. 7. DISREGARD OF LIMITED AWARDS MADE TO CHILDREN WITH LIFE-
            THREATENING CONDITIONS UNDER THE SUPPLEMENTAL SECURITY 
            INCOME PROGRAM.

    (a) Income Disregard.--Section 1612(b) of the Social Security Act 
(42 U.S.C. 1382a(b)) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``and'' at the end of paragraph (20);
            (2) by striking the period at the end of paragraph (21) and 
        inserting ``; and''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(22) any gift to, or for the benefit of, an individual who 
        has not attained 18 years of age and who has a life-threatening 
        condition, from an organization described in section 501(c)(3) 
        of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 which is exempt from 
        taxation under section 501(a) of such Code--
                    ``(A) in the case of an in-kind gift, if the gift is 
                not converted to cash; or
                    ``(B) in the case of a cash gift, only to the extent 
                that the total amount excluded from the income of the 
                individual pursuant to this paragraph in the calendar 
                year in which the gift is made does not exceed 
                $2,000.''.

    (b) Resource Disregard.--Section 1613(a) of the Social 
Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1382b(a)) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``and'' at the end of paragraph (11);
            (2) by striking the period at the end of paragraph (12) and 
        inserting ``; and''; and
            (3) by inserting after paragraph (12) the following:
            ``(13) any gift to, or for the benefit of, an individual who 
        has not attained 18 years of age and who has a life-threatening 
        condition, from an organization described in section 501(c)(3) 
        of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 which is exempt from 
        taxation under section 501(a) of such Code--
                    ``(A) in the case of an in-kind gift, if the gift is 
                not converted to cash; or
                    ``(B) in the case of a cash gift, only to the extent 
                that the total amount excluded from the resources of the 
                individual pursuant to this paragraph in the calendar 
                year in which the gift is made does not exceed 
                $2,000.''.

    (c) Retroactivity.--The <<NOTE: Effective date. 42 USC 1382a 
note.>> amendments made by this section shall apply to gifts made on or 
after the date that is 2 years before the date of the enactment of this 
Act.

SEC. 8. ENHANCED RECOVERY OF SSI OVERPAYMENTS FROM SOCIAL SECURITY 
            BENEFITS.

    (a) In General.--Part A of title XI of the Social Security Act is 
amended by adding at the end the following new section:

[[Page 112 STAT. 2929]]

      ``recovery of ssi overpayments from social security benefits

    ``Sec. 1147. (a) In <<NOTE: 42 USC
1320b-17.>> General.--(1) Whenever the Commissioner of Social Security 
determines that more than the correct amount of any payment has been 
made under the supplemental security income program under title XVI of 
this Act (including, for purposes of this section, under section 1616(a) 
of this Act or section 212(b) of Public Law 93-66) to a person who is 
not currently eligible for cash benefits under the program, the 
Commissioner, notwithstanding section 207 of this Act but subject to 
paragraph (2) of this subsection, may recover the amount incorrectly 
paid by decreasing any amount which is payable to the person under title 
II of this Act in any month by not more than 10 percent of the amount 
payable under title II.

    ``(2) The 10 percent limitation set forth in paragraph (1) shall not 
apply to an overpayment made to a person if--
            ``(A) the person or the spouse of the person was involved in 
        willful misrepresentation or concealment of material information 
        in connection with the overpayment; or
            ``(B) the person so requests.

    ``(b) No Effect on SSI Eligibility or Benefit Amount.--In any case 
in which the Commissioner of Social Security takes action in accordance 
with subsection (a) to recover an amount incorrectly paid to any person, 
neither that person, nor any individual whose eligibility for benefits 
under the supplemental security income program under title XVI, or whose 
amount of such benefits, is determined by considering any part of that 
person's income, shall, as a result of such action--
            ``(1) become eligible for benefits under such program; or
            ``(2) if such person or individual is otherwise so eligible, 
        become eligible for increased benefits under such program.''.

    (b) Conforming Amendments.--
            (1) Section 204 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 404) is amended by 
        adding at the end the following:

    ``(g) For payments which are adjusted or withheld to recover an 
overpayment of supplemental security income benefits paid under title 
XVI of this Act (including State supplementary payments paid under an 
agreement pursuant to section 1616(a) of this Act or section 212(b) of 
Public Law 93-66), see section 1147.''.
            (2) Section 1631(b) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 1383(b)) is 
        amended by adding at the end the following:

    ``(5) For provisions relating to the recovery of benefits 
incorrectly paid under this title from benefits payable under title II, 
see section 1147.''.

[[Page 112 STAT. 2930]]

    (c) Effective <<NOTE: 42 USC 404 note.>> Date.--The amendments made 
by this section shall take effect on the date of the enactment of this 
Act and shall apply to amounts incorrectly paid which remain outstanding 
on or after such date.

  

    Approved October 28, 1998.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY--H.R. 4558:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

HOUSE REPORTS: No. 105-735, Pt. 1 (Comm. on Ways and Means).
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 144 (1998):
            Sept. 23, considered and passed House.
            Oct. 8, considered and passed Senate.
WEEKLY COMPILATION OF PRESIDENTIAL DOCUMENTS, Vol. 34 (1998):
            Oct. 28, Presidential statement.

                                  <all>