II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4104 

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. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 30, 2020 

Mr. PAUL (for himself, Mr. KENNEDY, and Ms. COLLINS) introduced the following bill; which was read twice, considered, read the third time, and 

passed 

A BILL 

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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

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

5 Payments to Deceased People Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. DISTRIBUTION OF DEATH INFORMATION FUR2 NISHED TO OR MAINTAINED BY THE SOCIAL 

3 SECURITY ADMINISTRATION. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.— 

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

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

7 (A) in paragraph (2)— 

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

9 ‘‘shall’’; and 

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

11 completeness, timeliness, and accuracy of,’’ 

12 after ‘‘transmitting’’; 

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

14 (5) and inserting the following: 

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

16 whom federally funded benefits are provided by (or 

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

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

19 information through a cooperative arrangement with such 

20 agency for ensuring proper payment of those benefits with 

21 respect to such individuals if— 

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

23 to such safeguards as the Commissioner determines 

24 are necessary or appropriate to protect the informa25 tion from unauthorized use or disclosure; 


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1 ‘‘(ii) under such arrangement the agency pro2 vides reimbursement to the Commissioner of Social 

3 Security for the reasonable cost of carrying out such 

4 arrangement, including the reasonable costs associ5 ated with the collection and maintenance of informa6 tion regarding deceased individuals furnished to the 

7 Commissioner pursuant to paragraph (1); and 

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

9 the duties of the Commissioner of Social Security 

10 under paragraph (1). 

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

12 the extent feasible, provide for the use of information re13 garding all deceased individuals furnished to or main14 tained by the Commissioner under this subsection, 

15 through a cooperative arrangement in order for a Federal 

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

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

18 (A) are met: 

19 ‘‘(i) Under such arrangement, the agency oper20 ating the Do Not Pay working system established 

21 under section 5 of the Improper Payments Elimi22 nation and Recovery Improvement Act of 2012 may 

23 compare death information disclosed by the Commis24 sioner with personally identifiable information re25 viewed through the working system, and may redisVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:42 Jul 01, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4104.CPS S4104

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1 close such comparison of information, as appro2 priate, to any Federal or State agency authorized to 

3 use the working system. 

4 ‘‘(ii) The tax administration duties of the agen5 cy. 

6 ‘‘(iii) Oversight activities of the Inspector Gen7 eral of an agency that is provided information re8 garding all deceased individuals pursuant to this 

9 subsection. 

10 ‘‘(iv) Civil or criminal enforcement activities 

11 that are authorized by law. 

12 ‘‘(C) With respect to the reimbursement to the Com13 missioner of Social Security for the reasonable cost of car14 rying out a cooperative arrangement described in subpara15 graph (A) between the Commissioner of Social Security 

16 and an agency, the Commissioner shall— 

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

18 purposes of calculating the reasonable cost of car19 rying out the arrangement that does not take into 

20 account any services, information, or unrelated pay21 ments provided by the agency to the Commissioner; 

22 and 

23 ‘‘(ii) reimbursement payments shall be ac24 counted for and recorded separately from other 

25 transactions. 


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

2 into similar arrangements with States to provide informa3 tion regarding all deceased individuals furnished to or 

4 maintained by the Commissioner under this subsection for 

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

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

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

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

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

10 this paragraph, the terms retirement system and political 

11 subdivision have the meanings given such terms in section 

12 218(b). 

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

14 or provide for the use of information regarding all de15 ceased individuals furnished to or maintained by the Com16 missioner under this subsection for statistical purposes 

17 and research activities by Federal and State agencies (in18 cluding research activities conducted under a contract or 

19 a cooperative arrangement (as such terms are defined for 

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

21 31, United States Code) with such an agency) if the re22 quirements of clauses (i) and (ii) of paragraph (3)(A) are 

23 met.’’; and 

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

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


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1 and inserting ‘‘clauses (i), (ii), and (iii) of para2 graph (3)(A)’’. 

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

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

5 amendments made by this subsection to paragraphs 

6 (3), (4), (5), and (8) of section 205(r) of the Social 

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

8 the provisions of section 205(r) of the Social Secu9 rity Act (42 U.S.C. 405(r)) so amended are restored 

10 and revived as if such amendments had not been en11 acted. 

12 (b) AMENDMENTS TO INTERNAL REVENUE CODE.— 

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

14 Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended— 

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

16 striking ‘‘Secretary of Health and Human Serv17 ices’’ each place it appears and inserting ‘‘Com18 missioner of Social Security’’; and 

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

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

21 ‘‘deceased individuals.’’ and inserting ‘‘such 

22 Commissioner pursuant to such contract, except 

23 that such contract may provide that such infor24 mation is only to be used by the Social Security 

25 Administration (or any other Federal agency) 


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1 for purposes authorized in the Social Security 

2 Act or this title.’’. 

3 (2) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made 

4 by this subsection take effect 180 days after the 

5 date of enactment of this Act. 

6 (c) REPORT TO CONGRESS ON ALTERNATIVE

7 SOURCES OF DEATH DATA.— 

8 (1) REQUIREMENTS.—The Commissioner of So9 cial Security, in coordination with the Secretary of 

10 the Treasury, shall conduct a review of potential al11 ternative sources of death data maintained by the 

12 non-Federal sources, including sources maintained 

13 by State agencies or associations of State agencies, 

14 for use by Federal agencies and programs. The re15 view shall include analyses of— 

16 (A) the accuracy and completeness of such 

17 data; 

18 (B) interoperability of such data; 

19 (C) the extent to which there is efficient 

20 accessibility of such data by Federal agencies; 

21 (D) the cost to Federal agencies of access22 ing and maintaining such data; 

23 (E) the security of such data; 

24 (F) the reliability of such data; and 


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1 (G) a comparison of the potential alternate 

2 sources of death data to the death data distrib3 uted by the Commissioner of Social Security. 

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

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

6 Office of Management and Budget shall submit a re7 port to Congress on the results of the review and 

8 analyses required under paragraph (1). The report 

9 shall include a recommendation by the Director of 

10 the Office of Management and Budget regarding 

11 whether to extend the agency access to death data 

12 distributed by the Commissioner of Social Security 

13 provided under the amendments made by subsection 

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

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

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

17 AGENCIES TO CURB IMPROPER PAYMENTS. 

18 The Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery 

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

20 amended by adding at the end the following: 

21 ‘‘SEC. 8. IMPROVING THE USE OF DEATH DATA BY GOVERN22 MENT AGENCIES. 

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

24 AND BUDGET.— 


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

2 1 year after the date of enactment of this section, 

3 and in consultation with the Council of Inspectors 

4 General on Integrity and Efficiency and the heads of 

5 other relevant Federal, State, and local agencies, 

6 and Indian tribes and tribal organizations, the Di7 rector of the Office of Management and Budget 

8 shall issue guidance for each agency or component 

9 of an agency that operates or maintains a database 

10 of information relating to beneficiaries, annuity re11 cipients, or any purpose described in section 

12 205(r)(3)(B) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 

13 405(r)(3)(B)) for which improved data matching 

14 with databases relating to the death of an individual 

15 (in this section referred to as death databases) 

16 would be relevant and necessary regarding imple17 mentation of this section to provide such agencies or 

18 components access to the death databases no later 

19 than 1 year after such date of enactment. 

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

21 AGENCIES AND INDIAN TRIBES AND TRIBAL ORGANI22 ZATIONS.—Not later than 1 year after the date of 

23 enactment of this section, the Secretary of Health 

24 and Human Services and the Secretary of the Treas25 ury shall jointly develop a plan to assist States and 


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1 local agencies, and Indian tribes and tribal organiza2 tions, in providing electronically to the Federal Gov3 ernment records relating to the death of individuals, 

4 which may include recommendations to Congress for 

5 any statutory changes or financial assistance to 

6 States and local agencies and Indian tribes and trib7 al organizations that are necessary to ensure States 

8 and local agencies and Indian tribes and tribal orga9 nizations can provide such records electronically. 

10 The plan may include recommendations for the au11 thorization of appropriations or other funding to 

12 carry out the plan. 

13 ‘‘(b) REPORTS.— 

14 ‘‘(1) REPORT TO CONGRESS ON IMPROVING

15 DATA MATCHING REGARDING PAYMENTS TO DE16 CEASED INDIVIDUALS.—Not later than 1 year after 

17 the date of enactment of this section, the Secretary 

18 of the Treasury, in consultation with the heads of 

19 other relevant Federal agencies, and in consultation 

20 with States and local agencies, Indian tribes and 

21 tribal organizations, shall submit to Congress a plan 

22 to improve how States and local agencies and Indian 

23 tribes and tribal organizations that provide benefits 

24 under a federally funded program will improve data 

25 matching with the Federal Government with respect 


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1 to the death of individuals who are recipients of such 

2 benefits. 

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

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

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

6 Treasury shall submit to Congress a report regard7 ing the implementation of this section. The first re8 port submitted under this paragraph shall include 

9 the recommendations of the Secretary required 

10 under subsection (a)(2). 

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

12 tribe and tribal organization have the meanings given 

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

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

15 SEC. 4. PLAN FOR ENSURING THE ACCURACY AND COM16 PLETENESS OF DEATH DATA MAINTAINED 

17 AND DISTRIBUTED BY THE SOCIAL SECURITY 

18 ADMINISTRATION. 

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

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

21 Security shall submit to Congress a plan, which shall in22 clude an estimate of the cost of implementing the policies 

23 and procedures described in such plan, to improve the ac24 curacy and completeness of the death data (including, 

25 where feasible and cost-effective, data regarding individVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:42 Jul 01, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4104.CPS S4104

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1 uals who are not eligible for or receiving benefits under 

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

3 and distributed by the Social Security Administration. 

4 (b) CONTENT OF PLAN.—In developing the plan re5 quired under subsection (a), the Commissioner of Social 

6 Security shall consider whether to include the following 

7 elements: 

8 (1) Procedures for— 

9 (A) identifying individuals who are ex10 tremely elderly, as determined by the Commis11 sioner, but for whom no record of death exists 

12 in the records of the Social Security Adminis13 tration; 

14 (B) verifying the information contained in 

15 the records of the Social Security Administra16 tion with respect to individuals described in 

17 subparagraph (A) and correcting any inaccura18 cies; and 

19 (C) where appropriate, disclosing correc20 tions made to the records of the Social Security 

21 Administration. 

22 (2) Improved policies and procedures for identi23 fying and correcting erroneous death records, includ24 ing policies and procedures for— 


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1 (A) identifying individuals listed as dead 

2 who are actually alive; 

3 (B) identifying individuals listed as alive 

4 who are actually dead; and 

5 (C) allowing individuals or survivors of de6 ceased individuals to notify the Social Security 

7 Administration of potential errors. 

8 (3) Improved policies and procedures to identify 

9 and correct discrepancies in the records of the Social 

10 Security Administration, including social security 

11 number records. 

12 (4) A process for employing statistical analysis 

13 of the death data maintained and distributed by the 

14 Social Security Administration to determine an esti15 mate of the number of erroneous records. 

16 (5) Recommendations for legislation, as nec17 essary. 

18 SEC. 5. REPORT ON INFORMATION SECURITY. 

19 Not later than 90 days after the date of the enact20 ment of this Act, the Commissioner of Social Security 

21 shall submit a report to the Committees on Ways and 

22 Means, Oversight and Reform, and Homeland Security of 

23 the House of Representatives, and the Committees on Fi24 nance and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

25 of the Senate that— 


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1 (1) identifies all information systems of the So2 cial Security Administration containing sensitive in3 formation; and 

4 (2) describes the measures the Commissioner is 

5 taking to secure and protect such information sys6 tems. 

7 SEC. 6. LIMITED ACCESS TO DEATH INFORMATION MAIN8 TAINED BY THE SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINIS9 TRATION FOR RECOVERY OF ERRONEOUS RE10 BATE PAYMENTS. 

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 205(r) of the Social Secu12 rity Act (42 U.S.C. 405(r)), as amended by section 2, is 

13 further amended by adding at the end the following new 

14 paragraph: 

15 ‘‘(10)(A) Notwithstanding any provision or require16 ment under paragraph (3), not later than 30 days after 

17 the date of enactment of this paragraph, the Commis18 sioner of Social Security shall provide the Secretary with 

19 access to any records or information maintained by the 

20 Commissioner of Social Security pursuant to paragraph 

21 (1), provided that— 

22 ‘‘(i) such records and information are used by 

23 the Secretary solely for purposes of carrying out 

24 subsection (h) of section 6428 of the Internal Rev25 enue Code of 1986; and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) the Secretary agrees to establish safe2 guards to assure the maintenance of the confiden3 tiality of any records or information disclosed. 

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

5 the Secretary of the Treasury or the Secretary’s dele6 gate.’’. 

7 (b) RECOVERY OF REBATE PAYMENTS TO DECEASED

8 INDIVIDUALS.—Section 6428 of the Internal Revenue 

9 Code of 1986 is amended— 

10 (1) by redesignating subsection (h) as sub11 section (i), and 

12 (2) by inserting after subsection (g) the fol13 lowing new subsection: 

14 ‘‘(h) RECOVERY OF REBATE PAYMENTS TO DE15 CEASED INDIVIDUALS.—In the case of any individual who 

16 is shown on the records or information disclosed to the 

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

18 Act as being deceased before January 1, 2020, if the Sec19 retary has distributed a payment to such individual pursu20 ant to subsection (f), the Secretary shall, to the extent 

21 practicable, carry out any measures as are deemed appro22 priate to suspend, cancel, and recover such payment.’’. 


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

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

3 this Act. 

Æ 


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