I

103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4130

To require that all Federal recurring payments be paid by electronic funds

transfer, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 24, 1994

Mr. DARDEN (for himself, Mr. LIGHTFOOT, and Mr. HOYER) introduced the

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Government Operations

A BILL

To require that all Federal recurring payments be paid by

electronic funds transfer, 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. ELECTRONIC FUNDS TRANSFER.

4 Section 3332 of title 31, United States Code, is

5 amended to read as follows:

6 ‘‘§ 3332. Required and presumed direct deposit

7 ‘‘(a) MANNER OF PAYMENTS.—

8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other

9 provision of law and subject to subsection (b), all re10 curring Federal payments, including Federal wage,
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1 salary, and retirement payments, shall be paid by

2 electronic funds transfer in accordance with regula3 tions prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury.

4 ‘‘(2) DESIGNATION BY RECIPIENT OF PAYEE FI5 NANCIAL INSTITUTION.—Each recipient of any class

6 of recurring Federal payments, including Federal

7 wage, salary, or retirement payments, shall—

8 ‘‘(A) designate 1 or more financial institu9 tions to which any such payment shall be made;

10 and

11 ‘‘(B) provide the agency responsible for

12 certifying or authorizing such payment with

13 such information as may be necessary for the

14 recipient to receive electronic funds transfer

15 payments through the institutions so des16 ignated.

17 ‘‘(3) AUTHORITY TO LIMIT NUMBER OF DES18 IGNATIONS.—The Secretary of the Treasury may

19 limit the number of financial institutions which an

20 individual may designate under paragraph (2)(A)

21 with respect to any payment to not fewer than 3 fi22 nancial institutions.

23 ‘‘(b) PRESUMPTION OF REQUEST TO RECEIVE PAY24 MENTS BY ELECTRONIC FUNDS TRANSFER.—The recipi25 ent of any class of recurring benefits payments shall be
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1 presumed to have requested that any payment be made

2 by electronic funds transfer unless a waiver is requested

3 under subsection (c) by such recipient.

4 ‘‘(c) WAIVER OF REQUIREMENT.—

5 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the

6 Treasury may waive the requirements of subsection

7 (a) of this section for any group of recipients or

8 class of payments upon the written request of the

9 head of an agency under standards prescribed by the

10 Secretary of the Treasury.

11 ‘‘(2) DELEGATION AUTHORITY.—The Secretary

12 of the Treasury may delegate the authority to waive

13 the requirements of subsection (a) with respect to an

14 individual recipient, or a group of individual recipi15 ents, of any class of recurring Federal payments to

16 the head of the agency responsible for certifying or

17 authorizing such payments upon the written request

18 by such individual recipient or group of recipients.

19 ‘‘(3) ALTERNATIVE METHOD OF PAYMENT.—

20 Recurring Federal payments with respect to which a

21 waiver has been granted under paragraph (1) or (2)

22 shall be paid by any method determined to be appro23 priate by the Secretary of the Treasury.

24 ‘‘(d) TRANSFER TO DESIGNATED INSTITUTIONS

25 CONSTITUTES FULL PAYMENT.—The crediting of the
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1 amount of a payment to the appropriate accounts on the

2 books of the financial institutions designated by the pay3 ment recipient under this section shall constitute a com4 plete payment to the United States for the amount of the

5 payment.

6 ‘‘(e) REGULATIONS.—

7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para8 graphs (2) and (3), the Secretary of the Treasury

9 shall prescribe regulations for all agencies in carry10 ing out this section.

11 ‘‘(2) SENATE.—The Secretary of the Senate

12 shall prescribe regulations for the Senate in carrying

13 out this section.

14 ‘‘(3) HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.—With the

15 approval of the Committee on House Administration

16 of the House of Representatives, the Director of

17 Nonlegislative and Financial Services of the House

18 of Representatives shall prescribe regulations for the

19 House in carrying out this section.’’.

20 SEC. 2. CLERICAL AMENDMENT.

21 Chapter 33 of title 31, United States Code, is amend22 ed by striking the item relating to section 3332 and insert23 ing the following new item:

‘‘3332. Required and presumed direct deposit.’’.

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