I

103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4557

To amend the Social Security Act to require the Secretary of Health and

Human Services to establish a program to verify employee social security

information, and to require employers to use the program.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JUNE 9, 1994

Mr. CALVERT (for himself, Mr. HALL of Texas, Mr. MCCOLLUM, Mr. TRAFICANT, Mr. BILBRAY, Mr. HOLDEN, Mr. SMITH of Texas, Mr. COLLINS

of Georgia, Mr. LEVY, Mr. HUNTER, Mr. MCKEON, Mr. GALLEGLY, Mr.

ARCHER, Mr. CUNNINGHAM, Mr. LEHMAN, Mr. SMITH of Oregon, Mr.

EMERSON, Mr. ROHRABACHER, Mr. SHAYS, Mr. CANADY, Mr. KIM, Mr.

GOSS, Ms. MOLINARI, Mr. GALLO, Mrs. VUCANOVICH, Mr. LEWIS of

Florida, Mrs. ROUKEMA, and Mr. MOORHEAD) introduced the following

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means

A BILL

To amend the Social Security Act to require the Secretary

of Health and Human Services to establish a program

to verify employee social security information, and to

require employers to use the program.

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 ‘‘Social Security Ac5 count Number Anti-Fraud Act’’.
2

•HR 4557 IH

1 SEC. 2. STATEMENT OF PURPOSE.

2 The purpose of this Act is to reduce the use of fraud3 ulent social security documents for employment purposes.

4 SEC. 3. SOCIAL SECURITY ACCOUNT NUMBER ANTI-FRAUD

5 PROGRAM.

6 Section 205 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.

7 405) is amended by adding at the end the following new

8 subsection:

9 ‘‘Verification of Employee Social Security Account

10 Numbers

11 ‘‘(u)(1)(A) Not later than 10 years after the date of

12 the enactment of the Social Security Account Number

13 Anti-Fraud Act, the Secretary, in consultation with the

14 Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization and the

15 Secretary of Labor, shall establish a program under

16 which—

17 ‘‘(i) each American employer, either by tele18 phone through use of a toll-free telephone number or

19 by other electronic device—

20 ‘‘(I) shall transmit the social security ac21 count number and name of each new employee

22 of the employer, and any other information con23 cerning the employee that the Secretary re24 quires by regulation, to the Secretary within 30

25 days after the commencement of employment of

26 the employee; and
3

•HR 4557 IH

1 ‘‘(II) may transmit the social security ac2 count number and name of any employee of the

3 employer to whom subclause (I) does not apply,

4 and any other information concerning the em5 ployee that the Secretary requires by regula6 tion, to the Secretary; and

7 ‘‘(ii) notwithstanding any provision of section

8 552a of title 5, United States Code, the Secretary

9 shall, upon receiving the information transmitted

10 under clause (i), instantaneously notify the employer

11 that there is or is not a discrepancy concerning the

12 information, by sending a communication to the

13 same electronic device through which the informa14 tion was transmitted to the Secretary.

15 ‘‘(B)(i) The Secretary shall give each employer a ver16 ification number for each employee social security account

17 number that the employer transmits under the program

18 established under this paragraph.

19 ‘‘(ii) The Secretary shall maintain, for at least the

20 amount of time during which prosecution for crimes relat21 ing to fraudulent use of a social security account number

22 would be allowable under applicable statutes of limita23 tions, records of all contacts that occur under subpara24 graph (A) or (D) between the Secretary and an employer.
4

•HR 4557 IH

1 ‘‘(C) The Secretary shall establish guidelines to de2 scribe the characteristics that constitute a discrepancy

3 concerning a social security account number transmitted

4 to the Secretary under the program established under this

5 paragraph. Under the guidelines, a discrepancy concerning

6 a social security account number shall be indicated if any

7 of the following factors is present regarding the number:

8 ‘‘(i) An invalid social security account number.

9 ‘‘(ii) A social security account number submit10 ted for verification under the program with a name

11 that does not belong to the correct holder of the so12 cial security account number.

13 ‘‘(iii) Unusually frequent use of a social security

14 account number.

15 ‘‘(iv) Use of a social security account number in

16 geographically distant locations within a relatively

17 short period of time.

18 ‘‘(v) Any other factor that the Secretary deter19 mines to be appropriate.

20 ‘‘(D) If a discrepancy concerning the social security

21 account number of an employee is indicated under the pro22 gram established under this paragraph—

23 ‘‘(i) the Secretary shall notify the Commissioner

24 of Immigration and Naturalization, within 24 hours

25 after the discrepancy is indicated, of—
5

•HR 4557 IH

1 ‘‘(I) the fact that a discrepancy has been

2 indicated regarding the employee; and

3 ‘‘(II) the nature of the discrepancy;

4 ‘‘(ii) the Secretary may not, pursuant to this

5 subsection, notify the employer of the nature of the

6 discrepancy;

7 ‘‘(iii) an employer notified of the discrepancy

8 under subparagraph (A)(ii) shall notify the employee

9 that a discrepancy has been indicated within 14 days

10 after the employer receives the notification;

11 ‘‘(iv) the employee shall contact an office of the

12 Social Security Administration within 14 days after

13 being notified of the discrepancy under clause (iii);

14 ‘‘(v) the Secretary shall notify the employee of

15 the nature of the discrepancy, upon a written re16 quest by the employee or a request made by the em17 ployee in person at an office of the Social Security

18 Administration;

19 ‘‘(vi) the Secretary shall notify the employee,

20 the current employer of the employee, and the Com21 missioner of Immigration and Naturalization, in

22 writing, of the resolution or confirmation of the dis23 crepancy, within 30 days after the employee contacts

24 the Social Security Administration under clause (iv);
6

•HR 4557 IH

1 ‘‘(vii) the current employer of the employee

2 shall reverify the social security account number

3 through the program established under this para4 graph within 10 days after the Secretary notifies the

5 employer, under clause (vi), that the discrepancy has

6 been resolved; and

7 ‘‘(viii) unless the Secretary notifies the em8 ployer, under clause (vi), that the discrepancy has

9 been confirmed, the employer may not take any ac10 tion to penalize the employee based on the discrep11 ancy.

12 ‘‘(E)(i) The Secretary may not charge a fee to any

13 employer or employee in connection with the utilization of

14 the program established under this paragraph.

15 ‘‘(ii) No employer may charge a fee to—

16 ‘‘(I) an employee of the employer in connection

17 with the utilization of the program; or

18 ‘‘(II) a job applicant in connection with, or an19 ticipation of, utilization of the program.

20 ‘‘(2) The Secretary may by regulation exempt any

21 employer from the obligation to use the program estab22 lished under paragraph (1) regarding any employee whose

23 employment with the employer includes only the perform24 ance of services described in subparagraph (B) or (C) of
7

•HR 4557 IH

1 section 209(a)(6) for remuneration described in such sub2 paragraph.

3 ‘‘(3)(A) Failure by an employer to comply with para4 graph (1) of this subsection shall be considered to be a

5 violation of section 274A(a)(1)(A) of the Immigration and

6 Naturalization Act (8 U.S.C. 1324a(a)(1)(A)), for pur7 poses of section 274A(e) of such Act, as modified by sub8 paragraph (B).

9 ‘‘(B) For purposes of subparagraph (A), section

10 274A(e) of the Immigration and Naturalization Act (8

11 U.S.C. 1324a(e)) shall be applied by substituting the term

12 ‘employee’ for the term ‘unauthorized alien’ in clause (i)

13 of section 274A(e)(4)(A) of such Act, and for the term

14 ‘alien’ in clauses (ii) and (iii) of such section.

15 ‘‘(4)(A) Any person or business who knowingly and

16 willfully requests or obtains any record, or information,

17 from or under the program established under paragraph

18 (1) under false pretenses shall be guilty of an infraction

19 and shall be subject to a fine as provided in title 18,

20 United States Code.

21 ‘‘(B) The penalties described in section 552a(i) of

22 title 5, United States Code, shall not apply to an activity

23 that is subject to a penalty under subparagraph (A).

24 ‘‘(5) For purposes of this subsection:
8

•HR 4557 IH

1 ‘‘(A) The term ‘American employer’ has the

2 meaning given the term in section 210(e), as such

3 section may from time to time be amended, except

4 that the terms ‘State’ and ‘United States’ within

5 such section shall have the meaning given the term

6 ‘United States’ in subparagraph (D) of this para7 graph.

8 ‘‘(B) The term ‘employee’ has the meaning

9 given the term in section 210(j), as such section may

10 from time to time be amended, and does not include

11 a job applicant.

12 ‘‘(C) The term ‘new employee’ means an em13 ployee who commences an employment more than 10

14 years after the date of the enactment of the Social

15 Security Account Number Anti-Fraud Act.

16 ‘‘(D) The term ‘United States’ has the meaning

17 given the term in section 101(38) of the Immigra18 tion and Nationality Act, as such section may from

19 time to time be amended.’’.

20 SEC. 4. IMPLEMENTATION OF SOCIAL SECURITY ACCOUNT

21 NUMBER ANTI-FRAUD PROGRAM.

22 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM.—Not later than

23 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the

24 Secretary shall implement the Social Security Account
9

•HR 4557 IH

1 Number Anti-Fraud Program on a partial and interim

2 basis, as provided in this section.

3 (b) INITIAL PERIOD.—The Secretary shall make the

4 Social Security Account Number Anti-Fraud Program

5 available for the 18-month period beginning 180 days

6 after the date of the enactment of this Act to each em7 ployer that participates in Phase II of the Telephone Ver8 ification System administered by the Immigration and

9 Naturalization Service. If fewer than 200 of the employers

10 agree to participate in the program, the Secretary may

11 make the program available to additional employers in the

12 States of California, Florida, Illinois, New York, and

13 Texas until the program is available to 200 employers.

14 (c) REPORT ON INITIAL IMPLEMENTATION.—Not

15 later than 15 months after the beginning of the 18-month

16 period described in subsection (b), the Secretary shall sub17 mit to the Congress a report that contains—

18 (1) an evaluation of the effectiveness of the So19 cial Security Account Number Anti-Fraud Program

20 as the program is implemented under subsections (a)

21 and (b) of this section; and

22 (2) a description of any cooperation between the

23 Social Security Administration and the Immigration

24 and Naturalization Service regarding the program.

25 (d) 5-YEAR EXPANSION.—
10

•HR 4557 IH

1 (1) REQUIREMENT REGARDING NEW EMPLOY2 EES.—

3 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 5 years

4 after the expiration of the 18-month period de5 scribed in subsection (b), each employer in the

6 States of California, Florida, Illinois, New

7 York, and Texas shall use the Social Security

8 Account Number Anti-Fraud Program to verify,

9 within 30 days after the commencement of the

10 employment of the employee, the social security

11 account number of each new employee of the

12 employer.

13 (B) EXCEPTION.—Paragraph (1) shall not

14 be construed to require an employer to verify

15 the social security account number of an em16 ployee if, under regulations issued under section

17 205(u)(2) of the Social Security Act (as added

18 by this Act), the employer is not required to

19 verify the social security account number of the

20 employee.

21 (2) AVAILABILITY REGARDING OTHER EMPLOY22 EES.—Not later than 5 years after the expiration of

23 the 18-month period described in subsection (b), the

24 Secretary shall make the Social Security Account

25 Number Anti-Fraud Program available to each em-
11

•HR 4557 IH

1 ployer in the States of California, Florida, Illinois,

2 New York, and Texas.

3 (e) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section:

4 (1) The term ‘‘employee’’ has the meaning

5 given the term in section 210(j) of the Social Secu6 rity Act (42 U.S.C. 410(j)), as such section may

7 from time to time be amended, and does not include

8 a job applicant.

9 (2) The term ‘‘new employee’’ means an em10 ployee who commences an employment more than 5

11 years after the expiration of the 18-month period de12 scribed in subsection (b).

13 (3) The term ‘‘Social Security Account Number

14 Anti-Fraud Program’’ means the program estab15 lished under subsection (u) of section 205 of the So16 cial Security Act (as added by this Act), but does

17 not include paragraph (1)(A)(i)(I) or (3) of such

18 subsection.

Æ