116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4104 

AN ACT 

To amend the Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery 

Improvement Act of 2012, including making changes 

to the Do Not Pay Initiative, for improved detection, 

prevention, and recovery of improper payments to deceased individuals, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Stopping Improper 

3 Payments to Deceased People Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. DISTRIBUTION OF DEATH INFORMATION FUR5 NISHED TO OR MAINTAINED BY THE SOCIAL 

6 SECURITY ADMINISTRATION. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.— 

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 205(r) of the Social 

9 Security Act (42 U.S.C. 405(r)) is amended— 

10 (A) in paragraph (2)— 

11 (i) by striking ‘‘may’’ and inserting 

12 ‘‘shall’’; and 

13 (ii) by inserting ‘‘, and to ensure the 

14 completeness, timeliness, and accuracy of,’’ 

15 after ‘‘transmitting’’; 

16 (B) by striking paragraphs (3), (4), and 

17 (5) and inserting the following: 

18 ‘‘(3)(A) In the case of individuals with respect to 

19 whom federally funded benefits are provided by (or 

20 through) a Federal or State agency, the Commissioner of 

21 Social Security shall, to the extent feasible, provide such 

22 information through a cooperative arrangement with such 

23 agency for ensuring proper payment of those benefits with 

24 respect to such individuals if— 

25 ‘‘(i) under such arrangement the agency agrees 

26 to such safeguards as the Commissioner determines 
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1 are necessary or appropriate to protect the informa2 tion from unauthorized use or disclosure; 

3 ‘‘(ii) under such arrangement the agency pro4 vides reimbursement to the Commissioner of Social 

5 Security for the reasonable cost of carrying out such 

6 arrangement, including the reasonable costs associ7 ated with the collection and maintenance of informa8 tion regarding deceased individuals furnished to the 

9 Commissioner pursuant to paragraph (1); and 

10 ‘‘(iii) such arrangement does not conflict with 

11 the duties of the Commissioner of Social Security 

12 under paragraph (1). 

13 ‘‘(B) The Commissioner of Social Security shall, to 

14 the extent feasible, provide for the use of information re15 garding all deceased individuals furnished to or main16 tained by the Commissioner under this subsection, 

17 through a cooperative arrangement in order for a Federal 

18 agency to carry out any of the following purposes, if the 

19 requirements of clauses (i), (ii), and (iii) of subparagraph 

20 (A) are met: 

21 ‘‘(i) Under such arrangement, the agency oper22 ating the Do Not Pay working system established 

23 under section 5 of the Improper Payments Elimi24 nation and Recovery Improvement Act of 2012 may 

25 compare death information disclosed by the Commis-
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1 sioner with personally identifiable information re2 viewed through the working system, and may redis3 close such comparison of information, as appro4 priate, to any Federal or State agency authorized to 

5 use the working system. 

6 ‘‘(ii) The tax administration duties of the agen7 cy. 

8 ‘‘(iii) Oversight activities of the Inspector Gen9 eral of an agency that is provided information re10 garding all deceased individuals pursuant to this 

11 subsection. 

12 ‘‘(iv) Civil or criminal enforcement activities 

13 that are authorized by law. 

14 ‘‘(C) With respect to the reimbursement to the Com15 missioner of Social Security for the reasonable cost of car16 rying out a cooperative arrangement described in subpara17 graph (A) between the Commissioner of Social Security 

18 and an agency, the Commissioner shall— 

19 ‘‘(i) establish a defined calculation method for 

20 purposes of calculating the reasonable cost of car21 rying out the arrangement that does not take into 

22 account any services, information, or unrelated pay23 ments provided by the agency to the Commissioner; 

24 and 
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1 ‘‘(ii) reimbursement payments shall be ac2 counted for and recorded separately from other 

3 transactions. 

4 ‘‘(4) The Commissioner of Social Security may enter 

5 into similar arrangements with States to provide informa6 tion regarding all deceased individuals furnished to or 

7 maintained by the Commissioner under this subsection for 

8 use by States in programs wholly funded by the States, 

9 or for use in the administration of a benefit pension plan 

10 or retirement system for employees of a State or a political 

11 subdivision thereof, if the requirements of clauses (i), (ii), 

12 and (iii) of paragraph (3)(A) are met. For purposes of 

13 this paragraph, the terms retirement system and political 

14 subdivision have the meanings given such terms in section 

15 218(b). 

16 ‘‘(5) The Commissioner of Social Security may use 

17 or provide for the use of information regarding all de18 ceased individuals furnished to or maintained by the Com19 missioner under this subsection for statistical purposes 

20 and research activities by Federal and State agencies (in21 cluding research activities conducted under a contract or 

22 a cooperative arrangement (as such terms are defined for 

23 purposes of sections 6303 and 6305, respectively, of title 

24 31, United States Code) with such an agency) if the re-
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1 quirements of clauses (i) and (ii) of paragraph (3)(A) are 

2 met.’’; and 

3 (C) in paragraph (8)(A)(i), by striking 

4 ‘‘subparagraphs (A) and (B) of paragraph (3)’’ 

5 and inserting ‘‘clauses (i), (ii), and (iii) of para6 graph (3)(A)’’. 

7 (2) REPEAL.—Effective on the date that is 5 

8 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the 

9 amendments made by this subsection to paragraphs 

10 (3), (4), (5), and (8) of section 205(r) of the Social 

11 Security Act (42 U.S.C. 405(r)) are repealed, and 

12 the provisions of section 205(r) of the Social Secu13 rity Act (42 U.S.C. 405(r)) so amended are restored 

14 and revived as if such amendments had not been en15 acted. 

16 (b) AMENDMENTS TO INTERNAL REVENUE CODE.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 6103(d)(4) of the 

18 Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended— 

19 (A) in subparagraphs (A) and (B), by 

20 striking ‘‘Secretary of Health and Human Serv21 ices’’ each place it appears and inserting ‘‘Com22 missioner of Social Security’’; and 

23 (B) in subparagraph (B)(ii), by striking 

24 ‘‘such Secretary’’ and all that follows through 

25 ‘‘deceased individuals.’’ and inserting ‘‘such 
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1 Commissioner pursuant to such contract, except 

2 that such contract may provide that such infor3 mation is only to be used by the Social Security 

4 Administration (or any other Federal agency) 

5 for purposes authorized in the Social Security 

6 Act or this title.’’. 

7 (2) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made 

8 by this subsection take effect 180 days after the 

9 date of enactment of this Act. 

10 (c) REPORT TO CONGRESS ON ALTERNATIVE

11 SOURCES OF DEATH DATA.— 

12 (1) REQUIREMENTS.—The Commissioner of So13 cial Security, in coordination with the Secretary of 

14 the Treasury, shall conduct a review of potential al15 ternative sources of death data maintained by the 

16 non-Federal sources, including sources maintained 

17 by State agencies or associations of State agencies, 

18 for use by Federal agencies and programs. The re19 view shall include analyses of— 

20 (A) the accuracy and completeness of such 

21 data; 

22 (B) interoperability of such data; 

23 (C) the extent to which there is efficient 

24 accessibility of such data by Federal agencies; 
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1 (D) the cost to Federal agencies of access2 ing and maintaining such data; 

3 (E) the security of such data; 

4 (F) the reliability of such data; and 

5 (G) a comparison of the potential alternate 

6 sources of death data to the death data distrib7 uted by the Commissioner of Social Security. 

8 (2) REPORT.—Not later than 4 years after the 

9 date of enactment of this Act, the Director of the 

10 Office of Management and Budget shall submit a re11 port to Congress on the results of the review and 

12 analyses required under paragraph (1). The report 

13 shall include a recommendation by the Director of 

14 the Office of Management and Budget regarding 

15 whether to extend the agency access to death data 

16 distributed by the Commissioner of Social Security 

17 provided under the amendments made by subsection 

18 (a)(1) beyond the date on which such amendments 

19 are to be repealed under subsection (a)(2). 

20 SEC. 3. IMPROVING THE USE OF DATA BY GOVERNMENT 

21 AGENCIES TO CURB IMPROPER PAYMENTS. 

22 The Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery 

23 Improvement Act of 2012 (31 U.S.C. 3321 note) is 

24 amended by adding at the end the following: 
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1 ‘‘SEC. 8. IMPROVING THE USE OF DEATH DATA BY GOVERN2 MENT AGENCIES. 

3 ‘‘(a) GUIDANCE BY THE OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT

4 AND BUDGET.— 

5 ‘‘(1) GUIDANCE TO AGENCIES.—Not later than 

6 1 year after the date of enactment of this section, 

7 and in consultation with the Council of Inspectors 

8 General on Integrity and Efficiency and the heads of 

9 other relevant Federal, State, and local agencies, 

10 and Indian tribes and tribal organizations, the Di11 rector of the Office of Management and Budget 

12 shall issue guidance for each agency or component 

13 of an agency that operates or maintains a database 

14 of information relating to beneficiaries, annuity re15 cipients, or any purpose described in section 

16 205(r)(3)(B) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 

17 405(r)(3)(B)) for which improved data matching 

18 with databases relating to the death of an individual 

19 (in this section referred to as death databases) 

20 would be relevant and necessary regarding imple21 mentation of this section to provide such agencies or 

22 components access to the death databases no later 

23 than 1 year after such date of enactment. 

24 ‘‘(2) PLAN TO ASSIST STATES AND LOCAL

25 AGENCIES AND INDIAN TRIBES AND TRIBAL ORGANI26 ZATIONS.—Not later than 1 year after the date of 
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1 enactment of this section, the Secretary of Health 

2 and Human Services and the Secretary of the Treas3 ury shall jointly develop a plan to assist States and 

4 local agencies, and Indian tribes and tribal organiza5 tions, in providing electronically to the Federal Gov6 ernment records relating to the death of individuals, 

7 which may include recommendations to Congress for 

8 any statutory changes or financial assistance to 

9 States and local agencies and Indian tribes and trib10 al organizations that are necessary to ensure States 

11 and local agencies and Indian tribes and tribal orga12 nizations can provide such records electronically. 

13 The plan may include recommendations for the au14 thorization of appropriations or other funding to 

15 carry out the plan. 

16 ‘‘(b) REPORTS.— 

17 ‘‘(1) REPORT TO CONGRESS ON IMPROVING

18 DATA MATCHING REGARDING PAYMENTS TO DE19 CEASED INDIVIDUALS.—Not later than 1 year after 

20 the date of enactment of this section, the Secretary 

21 of the Treasury, in consultation with the heads of 

22 other relevant Federal agencies, and in consultation 

23 with States and local agencies, Indian tribes and 

24 tribal organizations, shall submit to Congress a plan 

25 to improve how States and local agencies and Indian 
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1 tribes and tribal organizations that provide benefits 

2 under a federally funded program will improve data 

3 matching with the Federal Government with respect 

4 to the death of individuals who are recipients of such 

5 benefits. 

6 ‘‘(2) ANNUAL REPORT.—Not later than 1 year 

7 after the date of enactment of this section, and for 

8 each of the 4 succeeding years, the Secretary of the 

9 Treasury shall submit to Congress a report regard10 ing the implementation of this section. The first re11 port submitted under this paragraph shall include 

12 the recommendations of the Secretary required 

13 under subsection (a)(2). 

14 ‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the terms Indian 

15 tribe and tribal organization have the meanings given 

16 those terms in section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination 

17 and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 450b).’’. 

18 SEC. 4. PLAN FOR ENSURING THE ACCURACY AND COM19 PLETENESS OF DEATH DATA MAINTAINED 

20 AND DISTRIBUTED BY THE SOCIAL SECURITY 

21 ADMINISTRATION. 

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 

23 date of enactment of this Act, the Commissioner of Social 

24 Security shall submit to Congress a plan, which shall in25 clude an estimate of the cost of implementing the policies 
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1 and procedures described in such plan, to improve the ac2 curacy and completeness of the death data (including, 

3 where feasible and cost-effective, data regarding individ4 uals who are not eligible for or receiving benefits under 

5 titles II or XVI of the Social Security Act) maintained 

6 and distributed by the Social Security Administration. 

7 (b) CONTENT OF PLAN.—In developing the plan re8 quired under subsection (a), the Commissioner of Social 

9 Security shall consider whether to include the following 

10 elements: 

11 (1) Procedures for— 

12 (A) identifying individuals who are ex13 tremely elderly, as determined by the Commis14 sioner, but for whom no record of death exists 

15 in the records of the Social Security Adminis16 tration; 

17 (B) verifying the information contained in 

18 the records of the Social Security Administra19 tion with respect to individuals described in 

20 subparagraph (A) and correcting any inaccura21 cies; and 

22 (C) where appropriate, disclosing correc23 tions made to the records of the Social Security 

24 Administration. 
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1 (2) Improved policies and procedures for identi2 fying and correcting erroneous death records, includ3 ing policies and procedures for— 

4 (A) identifying individuals listed as dead 

5 who are actually alive; 

6 (B) identifying individuals listed as alive 

7 who are actually dead; and 

8 (C) allowing individuals or survivors of de9 ceased individuals to notify the Social Security 

10 Administration of potential errors. 

11 (3) Improved policies and procedures to identify 

12 and correct discrepancies in the records of the Social 

13 Security Administration, including social security 

14 number records. 

15 (4) A process for employing statistical analysis 

16 of the death data maintained and distributed by the 

17 Social Security Administration to determine an esti18 mate of the number of erroneous records. 

19 (5) Recommendations for legislation, as nec20 essary. 

21 SEC. 5. REPORT ON INFORMATION SECURITY. 

22 Not later than 90 days after the date of the enact23 ment of this Act, the Commissioner of Social Security 

24 shall submit a report to the Committees on Ways and 

25 Means, Oversight and Reform, and Homeland Security of 
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1 the House of Representatives, and the Committees on Fi2 nance and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

3 of the Senate that— 

4 (1) identifies all information systems of the So5 cial Security Administration containing sensitive in6 formation; and 

7 (2) describes the measures the Commissioner is 

8 taking to secure and protect such information sys9 tems. 

10 SEC. 6. LIMITED ACCESS TO DEATH INFORMATION MAIN11 TAINED BY THE SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINIS12 TRATION FOR RECOVERY OF ERRONEOUS RE13 BATE PAYMENTS. 

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 205(r) of the Social Secu15 rity Act (42 U.S.C. 405(r)), as amended by section 2, is 

16 further amended by adding at the end the following new 

17 paragraph: 

18 ‘‘(10)(A) Notwithstanding any provision or require19 ment under paragraph (3), not later than 30 days after 

20 the date of enactment of this paragraph, the Commis21 sioner of Social Security shall provide the Secretary with 

22 access to any records or information maintained by the 

23 Commissioner of Social Security pursuant to paragraph 

24 (1), provided that— 
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1 ‘‘(i) such records and information are used by 

2 the Secretary solely for purposes of carrying out 

3 subsection (h) of section 6428 of the Internal Rev4 enue Code of 1986; and 

5 ‘‘(ii) the Secretary agrees to establish safe6 guards to assure the maintenance of the confiden7 tiality of any records or information disclosed. 

8 ‘‘(B) In this paragraph, the term ‘Secretary’ means 

9 the Secretary of the Treasury or the Secretary’s dele10 gate.’’. 

11 (b) RECOVERY OF REBATE PAYMENTS TO DECEASED

12 INDIVIDUALS.—Section 6428 of the Internal Revenue 

13 Code of 1986 is amended— 

14 (1) by redesignating subsection (h) as sub15 section (i), and 

16 (2) by inserting after subsection (g) the fol17 lowing new subsection: 

18 ‘‘(h) RECOVERY OF REBATE PAYMENTS TO DE19 CEASED INDIVIDUALS.—In the case of any individual who 

20 is shown on the records or information disclosed to the 

21 Secretary under section 205(r)(10) of the Social Security 

22 Act as being deceased before January 1, 2020, if the Sec23 retary has distributed a payment to such individual pursu24 ant to subsection (f), the Secretary shall, to the extent 
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1 practicable, carry out any measures as are deemed appro2 priate to suspend, cancel, and recover such payment.’’. 

3 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

4 this section shall take effect on the date of enactment of 

5 this Act. 

Passed the Senate June 30, 2020. 

Attest: 

Secretary. 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4104 

AN ACT 

To amend the Improper Payments Elimination and 

for other purposes. improper payments to deceased individuals, and improved detection, prevention, and recovery of making changes to the Do Not Pay Initiative, for Recovery Improvement Act of 2012, including