U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE

WASHINGTON : 

1 

89–010 

" ! SENATE 115TH CONGRESS

2d Session 

REPORT

2018

115–352 

Calendar No. 639 

STOPPING IMPROPER PAYMENTS TO 

DECEASED PEOPLE ACT 

R E P O R T 

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND 

GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS 

UNITED STATES SENATE 

TO ACCOMPANY

S. 2374 

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 

NOVEMBER 13, 2018.—Ordered to be printed 


E:\Seals\Congress.#13
(II) 

COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS 

RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin, Chairman 

JOHN MCCAIN, Arizona 

ROB PORTMAN, Ohio 

RAND PAUL, Kentucky 

JAMES LANKFORD, Oklahoma 

MICHAEL B. ENZI, Wyoming 

JOHN HOEVEN, North Dakota 

STEVE DAINES, Montana 

CLAIRE MCCASKILL, Missouri 

THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware 

HEIDI HEITKAMP, North Dakota 

GARY C. PETERS, Michigan 

MAGGIE HASSAN, New Hampshire 

KAMALA D. HARRIS, California 

DOUG JONES, Alabama 

CHRISTOPHER R. HIXON, Staff Director 

GABRIELLE D’ADAMO SINGER, Chief Counsel 

PATRICK J. BAILEY, Chief Counsel for Governmental Affairs 

MARGARET E. DAUM, Minority Staff Director 

CHARLES A. MOSKOWITZ, Minority Senior Legislative Counsel 

KATHERINE C. SYBENGA, Minority Counsel 

LAURA W. KILBRIDE, Chief Clerk 

Calendar No. 639 

115TH CONGRESS SENATE REPORT " ! 2d Session 115–352 

STOPPING IMPROPER PAYMENTS TO DECEASED 

PEOPLE ACT 

NOVEMBER 13, 2018.—Ordered to be printed 

Mr. JOHNSON, from the Committee on Homeland Security and 

Governmental Affairs, submitted the following 

R E P O R T 

[To accompany S. 2374] 

[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office] 

The Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, 

to which was referred the bill (S. 2374) 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, having considered the 

same, reports favorably thereon with an amendment (in the nature 

of a substitute) and recommends that the bill, as amended, do pass. 

CONTENTS 

Page 

I. Purpose and Summary .................................................................................. 1 

II. Background and the Need for Legislation ................................................... 2 

III. Legislative History ......................................................................................... 4 

IV. Section-by-Section Analysis .......................................................................... 5 

V. Evaluation of Regulatory Impact .................................................................. 6 

VI. Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate ................................................ 6 

VII. Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill, as Reported ........................... 8 

I. PURPOSE AND SUMMARY

S. 2374, the Stopping Improper Payments to Deceased People 

Act, seeks to reduce inadvertent and improper payments by Federal agencies to individuals who are deceased and to reduce the 

number of living people mistakenly listed as dead by the Federal 

Government. The bill accomplishes these goals by requiring the Social Security Administration (SSA) to develop a process to improve 

2 

1On June 29, 2015, the Committee approved S. 1073, the Stopping Improper Payments to Deceased People Act. That bill is substantially similar to S. 2374, which has been modified only 

slightly. Accordingly, this committee report is in large part a reproduction of Chairman Johnson’s committee report for S. 1073, S. Rep. No. 114–249 (2015). 2Senator Tom Coburn, Federal Programs to Die For: American Tax Dollars Sent Six Feet 

Under (Oct. 2010), available at https://www.restoreaccountability.com/sites/restoreacc/uploads/ 

documents/library_docs/FINAL-Federal_Programs_To_Di_For.pdf. 3 Id. 

4 Id. 

5 Id. at 3. 6See, e.g., Curbing Federal Agency Waste and Fraud: New Steps to Strengthen the Integrity 

of Federal Payments: Hearing Before the S. Comm. on Homeland Sec. & Governmental Affairs, 

113th Cong. (2013); Examining Federal Improper Payments and Errors in the Death Master File: 

Hearing Before the S. Comm. on Homeland Sec. & Governmental Affairs, 114th Cong. (2015) 

[hereinafter Examining Federal Improper Payments and Errors in the Death Master File]. 7Gov’t Accountability Office, GAO–13–574T, Social Security Administration: Preliminary Observations on the Death Master File 2–3 (2013), available at http://www.gao.gov/assets/660/ 

654411.pdf [hereinafter, SSA Preliminary Observations]. 8 42 U.S.C. § 405(r). 

the accuracy of the death data it collects and by sharing such death 

information with additional Federal agencies for the purposes of 

preventing improper payments, improving tax administration, aiding law enforcement, and for other purposes.1

II. BACKGROUND AND THE NEED FOR LEGISLATION

S. 2374 is the result of years of congressional oversight by the 

Committee into improper payments by the Federal Government to 

people who are deceased. The Committee’s first investigation resulted in a report by the then-Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Senator Tom 

Coburn, titled Federal Programs to Die for: American Tax Dollars 

Sent Six Feet Under.2 The report identified over $1 billion paid to 

more than 250,000 deceased individuals in the decade preceding 

the report.3 The report highlighted the payment of farm subsidies, 

rental assistance, and stimulus support to individuals who were deceased.4

Of concern is the Federal Government’s inability to ensure that 

all recipients of Federal funds are alive. The report by Senator 

Coburn noted a response to the Committee by then-SSA Commissioner Michael Astrue that ‘‘it is extremely expensive and may even 

be impossible to determine if a person is alive or dead particularly 

if the person died many years ago.’’ 5

Committee hearings and continued oversight in both the 113th 

and 114th congressional sessions have found that the death data 

available to Federal agencies is not always accurate, and that 

many agencies that provide Federal benefits do not have access to 

all of the information they need to prevent improper payments to 

deceased individuals.6 While SSA maintains a file with the death 

reports it receives from family members, funeral homes, states, 

Federal agencies, postal authorities, and financial institutions, 

most Federal agencies do not have access to the complete death information and instead rely on a slimmed down, less complete, and 

less timely version of this file that is commonly referred to as the 

‘‘Death Master File.’’ 7

SSA became the Federal clearinghouse for death data following 

a 1983 amendment to the Social Security Act authorizing the agency to collect and pay for death information from individual state 

vital records agencies.8 Recognizing the value of this authorization, 

SSA began contracting with state vital records agencies to provide 

3 

9SSA Preliminary Observations at 3. 

10Gov’t Accountability Office, GAO–14–46: Social Security Death Data: Additional Action 

Needed to Address Data Errors and Federal Agency Access (2013), available at http:// 

www.gao.gov/assets/660/659289.pdf [hereinafter Social Security Death Data]. 11Social Security Death Data at 10. 12 Id. at 12. 13 Id. at 10, 11. 14 Id. at 5. 15 Id. at 19. 16 Id. at 21–22. 17 Id. at 21. 18 Id. at 22. 19 Id. 20 Id. 

reports of death.9 To incentivize faster reporting of deaths by 

states, SSA pays these state agencies more based on the timeliness 

of their reporting.10 Faster reports of death allow SSA to cease benefit payments more quickly and in some cases help avoid devoting 

agency resources to recouping overpayments from grieving families. 

When SSA receives a death report from a state vital record agency, it does not verify the report prior to entering it into the death 

data.11 This is because states that participate in the electronic 

death registry program submit their reports over the Internet, and 

reports cannot be filed unless the fields are an exact match.12

Therefore, these death reports are considered the most accurate 

and are unlikely to contain basic keystroke errors. If SSA receives 

a death report from a funeral home or family member, the agency 

enters the information manually and only verifies the death report 

if the individual was receiving benefits from SSA.13

The increased reliance on death data provided by the states 

through electronic death registry has resulted in improvements in 

SSA’s death data, making it more valuable for SSA and other Federal agencies that are able to utilize this information to prevent 

payments to deceased people in their own programs.14 However, 

the law that authorized SSA to contract with the state agencies for 

the death reports only allowed SSA to share such information for 

the purpose of ensuring proper payments of benefits.15 This is why 

SSA creates two versions of the death data: one complete list that 

is provided to agencies considered to be benefit-paying agencies, 

and one partial list, the DMF, that does not contain the data from 

the state vital records agencies.16 The DMF is then sold to eligible 

private sector entities and other government agencies by the Department of Commerce’s National Technical Information Service 

(NTIS).17

As a result of SSA’s interpretation of which agencies are ‘‘benefitpaying’’ and which are not, some Federal agencies purchase a 

version of the death data from NTIS that is incomplete and more 

likely to be inaccurate than the complete death data provided to 

other Federal agencies.18 Furthermore, the DMF will contain fewer 

of the total deaths over time.19 As states and jurisdictions increasingly adopt electronic processes for providing the death reports to 

SSA, the state-provided death reports will become a larger percentage of the overall death reports received by SSA.20

Accuracy problems with the DMF have real-world consequences. 

For example, the SSA Office of Inspector General (OIG) found that 

SSA mistakenly listed 6.5 million holders of Social Security Numbers (SSNs) as alive who were older than 112 years old, despite the 

fact that there was only one known living person of that age in the 

4 

21 Examining Federal Improper Payments and Errors in the Death Master File at 2 (statement 

of the Honorable Patrick P. O’Carroll, Jr., Inspector General, U.S. Social Security Administration). 22 Id. 23 23 Id. at 3. 24 Id. 25 Id. 26 Examining Federal Improper Payments and Errors in the Death Master File (statement of 

Judy Rivers). 27Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General, A–06–18–50568, Match of Treasury Death Information Against Social Security Administration Records (2013), available at 

https://oig.ssa.gov/sites/default/files/audit/full/pdf/A-06-18-50568.pdf. 

United States at that time.21 The OIG did not conduct an extensive 

investigation into the potential misuse of all of these 6.5 million 

SSNs, but did find that over a five-year period, $3.1 billion in earnings were reported under approximately 67,000 of the SSNs.22 The 

OIG also found that over a three-year period, there were approximately 4,000 E-Verify inquiries submitted to SSA through the Department of Homeland Security for SSNs of individuals over 112,23

indicating that someone was attempting to obtain employment 

using those numbers. 

In addition to concerns over improper payments resulting from 

an inaccurate DMF, the OIG raised concerns about SSA mistakenly 

listing living individuals as deceased.24 According to SSA, there are 

nearly 1,000 living individuals each month who are mistakenly listed as deceased in the DMF.25 For some of these individuals, it is 

a relatively simple error to correct. For others, however, the result 

can be devastating.26

Problems persist despite continued oversight and congressional 

interest, evidencing the need for legislation. For example, the OIG 

reported again in August 2018 that it had identified hundreds 

more SSA beneficiaries who received benefits, despite Treasury Department records indicating they were deceased.27

S. 2374 directs SSA to share the most complete death data with 

the Department of the Treasury’s Do Not Pay system and all Federal agencies for the purposes of preventing improper payments, 

aiding law enforcement, and improving tax administration and collection. This requirement will end five years after the bill is enacted to allow Congress to reassess whether there is an alternative 

source of death data for Federal agencies. The legislation also requires that SSA develop a plan to improve the accuracy and completeness of the death data it collects and improves the use of 

death data by government agencies. 

III. LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

Senator Tom Carper (D–DE) introduced S. 2374 on February 5, 

2018. The bill was referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. 

The Committee considered S. 2374 at a June 13, 2018, business 

meeting. The Committee favorably reported the bill, as amended by 

a substitute amendment, en bloc by voice vote. Senators present for 

the vote were Johnson, Portman, Lankford, Enzi, McCaskill, Carper, Peters, Hassan, Harris, and Jones. 

5 

IV. SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS OF THE BILL, AS REPORTED

Section 1. Short title 

This section establishes the short title of the bill as the ‘‘Stopping 

Improper Payments to Deceased People Act.’’ 

Section 2. Distribution of death information furnished to or maintained by the Social Security Administration 

Subsection (a) amends Section 205(r) of the Social Security Act 

to require, rather than allow, SSA to compensate states for the provision of death information, and makes ensuring the completeness, 

timeliness, and accuracy of the death data a reason for the compensation. 

Subsection (a) strikes paragraphs (3), (4), and (5) of section 

205(r) of the Social Security Act and reauthorizes these authorities 

with some technical drafting changes in new subsections (3)(A), (4), 

and (5). Subsection (a) also requires the Commissioner of Social Security, to the extent feasible, to provide for the use of information 

regarding all deceased individuals furnished to or maintained by 

SSA through a cooperative arrangement in order for a Federal 

agency to carry out any of the following purposes: (1) operating the 

Do Not Pay working system; (2) oversight by inspectors general; (3) 

to carry out tax administration or debt collection duties of the 

agency; or (4) for use by any policing agency of the federal government with the principle function of prevention, detection, or investigation of crime or apprehension of offenders. The agreements will 

require agencies to reimburse SSA for the reasonable cost of providing such information. Subsection (a) also provides that the 

amendments made by this subsection are repealed five years after 

the date of enactment. 

Subsection (b) amends section 6103(d)(4) of the Internal Revenue 

Code to require States to have an agreement in place with the 

Commissioner of Social Security, instead of the Secretary of Health 

and Human Services, in order to receive certain Federal tax return 

information. Current law already requires states to have an agreement with the Secretary of Health and Human Services to receive 

certain federal tax information. Subsection (b) changes current law 

so that the agreement would be made with the Commissioner of 

Social Security, instead of the Secretary of Health and Human 

Services, and would allow the Commissioner of Social Security to 

share the state provided death information for the additional purposes in subsection (a) of this bill. It also includes an effective date 

180 days after enactment. 

Subsection (c) requires the SSA Commissioner, in consultation 

with the Treasury Secretary, to provide to Congress a report with 

the results of a review of potential alternative sources of death 

data maintained by nonfederal sources, including sources maintained by State agencies for the use by Federal agencies and partners. The report should include a recommendation regarding 

whether to extend the agency access to the death data provided by 

SSA under this bill. 

6 

Section 3. Improving the use of death data by Government Agencies 

to curb improper payments 

This section creates a new section in the Improper Payments 

Elimination and Recovery Improvement Act of 2012 that requires 

the Office of Management and Budget to provide guidance to Federal agencies regarding the use of death data and to develop a plan 

to assist states, local governments, and Indian tribes in providing 

electronic death records to SSA within one year. 

This section also requires a report to be submitted to Congress 

within one year concerning how States, local governments, and Indian tribes will improve data matching with the Federal Government with respect to the death of individuals. 

Section 4. Plan for ensuring the accuracy and completeness of death 

data maintained by the Social Security Administration 

This section requires the Commissioner of SSA to submit a plan 

to Congress within one year of enactment to improve the accuracy 

and completeness of death data maintained and distributed by 

SSA. The plan must include a procedure for identifying individuals 

who are listed as alive but older than the oldest known living person in SSA records, improved procedures for identifying and correcting erroneous records, and a process for employing statistical 

analysis of the death data to determine and estimate the number 

of erroneous records. 

Section 5. Report on information security 

This section requires the Commissioner of SSA to report to Congress on information security within 90 days of enactment. 

V. EVALUATION OF REGULATORY IMPACT

Pursuant to the requirements of paragraph 11(b) of rule XXVI of 

the Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee has considered 

the regulatory impact of this bill and determined that the bill will 

have no regulatory impact within the meaning of the rules. The 

Committee agrees with the Congressional Budget Office’s statement that the bill contains no intergovernmental or private-sector 

mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and 

would impose no costs on state, local, or tribal governments. 

VI. CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE COST ESTIMATE

U.S. CONGRESS, CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE, Washington, DC, July 16, 2018. 

Hon. RON JOHNSON, 

Chairman, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, U.S. Senate, Washington, DC. 

DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: The Congressional Budget Office has prepared the enclosed cost estimate for S. 2374, the Stopping Improper 

Payments to Deceased People Act. 

7 

If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be pleased 

to provide them. The CBO staff contacts are Noah Meyerson and 

Matt Pickford. 

Sincerely, 

KEITH HALL, Director. 

Enclosure. 

S. 2374—Stopping Improper Payments to Deceased People Act 

S. 2374 would expand how data on deaths is used by federal and 

state agencies for the purpose of limiting improper federal payments. The bill would require the Social Security Administration 

(SSA) to share all such information with more agencies and for a 

broader range of purposes. 

CBO estimates that implementing S. 2374 would increase discretionary costs by an insignificant amount. Enacting S. 2374 could 

reduce direct spending; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures apply. 

However, CBO estimates that such effects would probably be insignificant. The bill would not affect revenues. 

CBO estimates that enacting S. 2374 would not increase net direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 

10-year periods beginning in 2029. 

Under current law, SSA collects information on deaths and maintains a record of all deaths reported to the agency dating to 1936. 

SSA has almost 118 million death records, which include the deceased person’s name, social security number, date of birth, and 

date of death. SSA uses those data to administer its own programs 

and shares the information with other agencies that administer 

federal benefit programs. 

SSA provides the entire death file to some federal agencies, such 

as the Internal Revenue Service. SSA also has agreements with 

other agencies, such as state agencies administering the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, so that those agencies can 

periodically verify that program applicants and recipients are not 

included in those death records. The Department of Commerce 

makes the Death Master File (DMF), a subset of those data, available to nongovernmental organizations after the department certifies that they have a legitimate purpose for using the data; for example, preventing fraud. The DMF, which has information on more 

than 96 million deceased individuals, excludes death data reported 

by states, because SSA may share data on deaths reported by 

states only in limited circumstances, such as to agencies that pay 

federal benefits. (A subset of the DMF, which is available to the 

general public through the Department of Commerce, excludes both 

death data reported by states and data on deaths within the past 

three years.) 

S. 2374 would require SSA to share its complete death records 

with more agencies and for a broader range of purposes. It also 

would make the complete death file, rather than only the DMF, 

available to the Do Not Pay program—a program administered by 

the Department of the Treasury that allows agencies to check various databases before making payments in order to identify ineligible recipients. Hence, there would likely be more frequent checks 

against the more complete file than occurs under current law. 

Those provisions would expire five years after enactment of the 

8 

bill. The bill would require the director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to recommend, within four years of enactment, whether to extend the broader data access. 

The expanded availability of information on deaths would probably reduce the amount of mistaken payments. However, large benefit-paying agencies generally already use the complete death file, 

so CBO expects that enacting the bill would not reduce the number 

of payments to deceased people by a significant amount. In addition, the Department of the Treasury has mechanisms to recover 

improper payments that are identified at a later time, so many 

such payments are already recovered. For those reasons, CBO estimates that enacting S. 2374 would reduce direct spending by an insignificant amount. 

The bill also would require the director of OMB to review alternative sources of death data and report its findings to the Congress, to provide guidance to relevant agencies on how to access 

death data, and to develop a plan to assist state and local governments in providing death data to the federal government. However, 

under current law and OMB guidance, agencies already are required to assess their programs for risk and initiate program improvements to reduce and eliminate payment errors. In addition, 

CBO expects that many options to eliminate improper payments 

have been reviewed and analyzed by OMB and agencies. Thus, 

CBO estimates that implementing those provisions would increase 

agency administrative costs by an insignificant amount. 

S. 2374 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would 

impose no costs on state, local, or tribal governments. 

The CBO staff contacts for this estimate are Noah Meyerson and 

Matthew Pickford. The estimate was reviewed by H. Samuel 

Papenfuss, Deputy Assistant Director for Budget Analysis. 

VII. CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW MADE BY THE BILL, AS REPORTED

In compliance with paragraph 12 of rule XXVI of the Standing 

Rules of the Senate, changes in existing law made by the bill, as 

reported, are shown as follows: (existing law proposed to be omitted 

is enclosed in brackets, new matter is printed in italic, and existing 

law in which no change is proposed is shown in roman): 

UNITED STATES CODE 

* * * * * * * 

TITLE 26—THE INTERNAL REVENUE CODE 

* * * * * * * 

Subtitle F—Procedure and Administration 

* * * * * * * 

CHAPTER 61—INFORMATION AND RETURNS 

* * * * * * * 

9 

Subchapter B—Miscellaneous Provisions 

* * * * * * * 

SEC. 6103. CONFIDENTIALITY AND DISCLOSURE OF RETURNS AND RETURN INFORMATION. 

(a) * * * 

* * * * * * * 

(d) DISCLOSURE TO STATE TAX OFFICIALS AND STATE AND LOCAL

LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES.— 

(1) * * * 

* * * * * * * 

(4) * * * 

(A) IN GENERAL.—No returns or return information may 

be disclosed under paragraph (1) to any agency, body, or 

commission of any State (or any legal representative thereof) during any period during which a contract meeting the 

requirements of subparagraph (B) is not in effect between 

such State and the øSecretary of Health and Human Services¿ Commissioner of Social Security. 

(B) CONTRACTUAL REQUIREMENTS.—A contract meets the 

requirements of this subparagraph if— 

(i) such contract requires the State to furnish the 

øSecretary of Health and Human Services¿ Commissioner of Social Security information concerning individuals with respect to whom death certificates (or 

equivalent documents maintained by the State or any 

subdivision thereof) have been officially filed with it, 

and 

(ii) such contract does not include any restriction on 

the use of information obtained by øsuch Secretary 

pursuant to such contract, except that such contract 

may provide that such information is only to be used 

by the Secretary (or any other Federal agency) for purposes of ensuring that Federal benefits or other payments are not erroneously paid to deceased individuals¿ such Commissioner pursuant to such contract, 

except that such contract may provide that such information is only to be used by the Social Security Administration (or any other Federal agency) for purposes 

authorized in the Social Security Act or this title. 

Any information obtained by the øSecretary of Health and Human 

Services¿ Commissioner of Social Security under such a contract 

shall be exempt from disclosure under section 552 of title 5, United 

States Code, and from the requirements of section 552a of such 

title 5. 

* * * * * * * 

TITLE 31—MONEY AND FINANCE 

* * * * * * * 

§ 3321. Disbursing authority in the executive branch 

* * * * * * * 

10 

Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery 

Improvement 

* * * * * * * 

SEC. 1. SHORT TITLE. 

* * * * * * * 

SEC. 8. IMPROVING THE USE OF DATA BY GOVERNMENT AGENCIES 

FOR CURBING IMPROPER PAYMENTS. 

(a) GUIDANCE BY THE OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET.— (1) GUIDANCE TO AGENCIES.—Not later than 1 year after the 

date of enactment of this section, and in consultation with the 

Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency and 

the heads of other relevant Federal, State, and local agencies, 

and Indian tribes and tribal organizations, the Director of the 

Office of Management and Budget shall issue guidance for each 

agency or component of an agency that operates or maintains 

a database of information relating to beneficiaries, annuity recipients, or any purpose described in section 205(r)(3)(B) of the 

Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 405(r)(3)(B)) for which improved 

data matching with databases relating to the death of an individual (in this section referred to as ‘death databases’) would be 

relevant and necessary regarding implementation of this section 

to provide such agencies or components access to the death 

databases no later than 1 year after such date of enactment. 

(2) PLAN TO ASSIST STATES AND LOCAL AGENCIES AND INDIAN

TRIBES AND TRIBAL ORGANIZATIONS.—Not later than 1 year 

after the date of enactment of this section, the Secretary of 

Health and Human Services and the Secretary of the Treasury 

shall jointly develop a plan to assist States and local agencies, 

and Indian tribes and tribal organizations, in providing electronically to the Federal Government records relating to the 

death of individuals, which may include recommendations to 

Congress for any statutory changes or financial assistance to 

States and local agencies and Indian tribes and tribal organizations that are necessary to ensure States and local agencies 

and Indian tribes and tribal organizations can provide such 

records electronically. The plan may include recommendations 

for the authorization of appropriations or other funding to carry 

out the plan. 

(b) REPORTS.— 

(1) REPORT TO CONGRESS ON IMPROVING DATA MATCHING REGARDING PAYMENTS TO DECEASED INDIVIDUALS.—Not later than 

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

of the Treasury, in consultation with the heads of other relevant 

Federal agencies, and in consultation with States and local 

agencies, Indian tribes and tribal organizations, shall submit to 

Congress a plan to improve how States and local agencies and 

Indian tribes and tribal organizations that provide benefits 

under a federally funded program will improve data matching 

with the Federal Government with respect to the death of individuals who are recipients of such benefits. 

(2) ANNUAL REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date of 

enactment of this section, and for each of the 4 succeeding 

years, the Secretary of the Treasury shall submit to Congress a 

11 

report regarding the implementation of this section. The first report submitted under this paragraph shall include the recommendations of the Secretary required under subsection (a)(2). 

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

and ‘‘tribal organization’’ have the meanings given those terms 

in section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 450b). 

* * * * * * * 

TITLE 42—THE PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARE 

* * * * * * * 

CHAPTER 7—SOCIAL SECURITY 

* * * * * * * 

Subchapter II—Federal Old-age, Survivors, and Disability 

Insurance Benefits 

* * * * * * * 

SEC. 405. EVIDENCE, PROCEDURE, AND CERTIFICATION FOR PAYMENTS. 

(a) * * * 

* * * * * * * 

(r) * * * 

(1) * * * 

(2) Each State (or political subdivision thereof) which furnishes the Commissioner of Social Security with information 

on records of deaths in the State or subdivision under this subsection ømay¿ shall be paid by the Commissioner of Social Security from amounts available for administration of this chapter the reasonable costs (established by the Commissioner of 

Social Security in consultations with the States) for transcribing and transmitting, and to ensure the completeness, 

timeliness, and accuracy of such information to the Commissioner of Social Security. 

ø(3) In the case of individuals with respect to whom federally 

funded benefits are provided by (or through) a Federal or State 

agency other than under this chapter, the Commissioner of Social Security shall to the extent feasible provide such information through a cooperative arrangement with such agency, for 

ensuring proper payment of those benefits with respect to such 

individuals if— 

ø(A) under such arrangement the agency provides reimbursement to the Commissioner of Social Security for the 

reasonable cost of carrying out such arrangement, and 

ø(B) such arrangement does not conflict with the duties 

of the Commissioner of Social Security under paragraph 

(1).¿ 

ø(4) The Commissioner of Social Security may enter into 

similar agreements with States to provide information for their 

use in programs wholly funded by the States if the requirements of subparagraphs (A) and (B) of paragraph (3) are met.¿ 

12 

ø(5) The Commissioner of Social Security may use or provide 

for the use of such records as may be corrected under this section, subject to such safeguards as the Commissioner of Social 

Security determines are necessary or appropriate to protect the 

information from unauthorized use or disclosure, for statistical 

and research activities conducted by Federal and State agencies.¿ 

(3)(A) In the case of individuals with respect to whom federally funded benefits are provided by (or (through) a Federal or 

State agency, the Commissioner of Social Security shall to the 

extent feasibly provide such information through a cooperative 

arrangement with such agency for ensuring proper payment of 

those benefits with respect to such individuals if— 

(i) under such arrangement the agency agrees to such 

safeguards as the Commissioner determines are necessary 

or appropriate to protect the information from unauthorized us or disclosure; 

(ii) under such arrangement the agency provides reimbursement to the Commissioner of Social Security for the 

reasonable cost of carrying out such arrangement, including the reasonable costs associated with the collection and 

maintenance of information regarding deceased individuals 

furnished to the Commissioner pursuant to paragraph (1); 

and 

(iii) such arrangement does not conflict with the duties of 

the Commissioner of Social Security under paragraph (1). 

(B) The Commissioner of Social Security shall, to the extent 

feasible, provide for the use of information regarding all deceased individuals furnished to or maintained by the Commissioner under this subsection, through a cooperative arrangement in order for a Federal agency to carry out any of the following purposes, if the requirements of clauses (i), (ii), and (iii) 

of subparagraph (A) are met: 

(i) Operating the Do Not Pay working system established 

by section 5 of the Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Improvement Act of 2012. Under such arrangement, 

the agency operating the working system may compare 

death information disclosed by the Commissioner with personally identifiable information reviewed through the working system, and may redisclose such comparison of information, as appropriate, to any Federal or State agency authorized to use the working system. 

(ii) The tax administration duties of the agency. 

(iii) Oversight activities of the Inspector General of an 

agency that is provided information regarding all deceased 

individuals pursuant to this subsection. 

(iv) Civil or criminal enforcement activities that are authorized by law. 

(C) With respect to the reimbursement to the Commissioner of 

Social Security for the reasonable cost of carrying out a cooperative arrangement described in subparagraph (A) between the 

Commissioner of Social Security and an agency, the Commissioner shall— 

(i) establish a defined calculation method for purposes of 

calculating the reasonable cost of carrying out the arrangeVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:27 Nov 18, 2018 Jkt 089010 PO 00000 Frm 00014 Fmt 6659 Sfmt 6603 E:\HR\OC\SR352.XXX SR352
13 

ment that does not take into account any services, information, or unrelated payments provided by the agency to the 

Commissioner; and 

(ii) reimbursement payments shall be accounted for and 

recorded separately from other transactions. 

(4) The Commissioner of Social Security may enter into similar arrangements with States to provide information regarding 

all deceased individuals furnished to or maintained by the 

Commissioner under this subsection, for any of the purposes 

specified in paragraph (3)(B), for use by States in programs 

wholly funded by the States, or for use in the administration 

of a benefit pension plan or retirement system for employees of 

a State or a political subdivision thereof, if the requirements of 

clauses (i), (ii), and (iii) of paragraph (3)(A) are met. For purposes of this paragraph, the terms ‘retirement system’ and ‘political subdivision’ have the meanings given such terms in section 

218(b). 

(5) The Commissioner of Social Security may use or provide 

for the use of information regarding all deceased individuals 

furnished to or maintained by the Commissioner under this 

subsection for statistical purposes and research activities by 

Federal and State agencies (including research activities conducted by nongovernment researchers under a contract or a cooperative arrangement (as such terms are defined for purposes 

of sections 6303 and 6305, respectively, of title 31, United 

States Code) with such and agency) if the requirements of 

clauses (i) and (ii) of paragraph (3)(A) are met. 

* * * * * * * 

(8)(A) The Commissioner of Social Security shall, upon the 

request of the official responsible for a State driver’s license 

agency pursuant to the Help America Vote Act of 2002— 

(i) enter into an agreement with such official for the purpose of verifying applicable information, so long as the requirements of øsubparagraphs (A) and (B) of paragraph 

(3)¿ clauses (i) and (ii) of paragraph (3)(A) are met; and 

(ii) include in such agreement safeguards to assure the 

maintenance of the confidentiality of any applicable information disclosed and procedures to permit such agency to 

use the applicable information for the purpose of maintaining its records. 

* * * * * * * 

Æ