II

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 249

To amend title IV of the Social Security Act to require States to establish

a 2-digit fingerprint matching identification system in order to prevent

multiple enrollments by an individual for benefits under such Act, and

for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JANUARY 19 (legislative day, JANUARY 10), 1995

Mrs. HUTCHISON (for herself, Mr. BROWN, Mr. D’AMATO, and Mrs. FEINSTEIN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred

to the Committee on Finance

A BILL

To amend title IV of the Social Security Act to require

States to establish a 2-digit fingerprint matching identification system in order to prevent multiple enrollments

by an individual for benefits under such Act, 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 ‘‘Welfare Antifraud Act

5 of 1995’’.
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1 SEC. 2. FINGERPRINT IDENTIFICATION TO PREVENT MUL2 TIPLE ENROLLMENT.

3 (a) STATE PLAN REQUIREMENT.—Section

4 402(a)(45) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.

5 602(a)(45)) is amended—

6 (1) by inserting ‘‘(A)’’ after ‘‘(45)’’;

7 (2) by striking the period at the end and insert8 ing ‘‘; and’’; and

9 (3) by adding at the end the following new sub10 paragraph:

11 ‘‘(B) provide that the State agency shall pro12 cure a 2-digit fingerprint matching identification

13 system on a competitive basis (or utilize such an ex14 isting system) and shall operate such system in ac15 cordance with section 418 for the purpose of pre16 venting multiple enrollments of an individual in the

17 aid to families with dependent children program

18 under the State plan.’’.

19 (b) FINGERPRINT MATCHING IDENTIFICATION SYS20 TEM.—Part A of title IV of the Social Security Act (42

21 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) is amended by adding after section

22 417 the following new section:

23 ‘‘2-DIGIT FINGERPRINT MATCHING IDENTIFICATION

24 SYSTEM

25 ‘‘SEC. 418. (a) IN GENERAL.—In order to operate

26 a 2-digit fingerprint matching identification system (here-
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1 after in this section referred to as the ‘system’) in accord2 ance with this section, a State shall—

3 ‘‘(1) scan the fingerprints of the index fingers

4 of each applicant for aid to families with dependent

5 children and each recipient of such aid into an auto6 mated fingerprint imaging system;

7 ‘‘(2) employ qualified individuals to scan finger8 prints as described in paragraph (1) and enter asso9 ciated identifying and case information into an auto10 mated fingerprint imaging system;

11 ‘‘(3) operate a computer matching database

12 containing all the scanned fingerprints, identifying

13 information, and case information described in para14 graph (2) that is able to determine whether an indi15 vidual is receiving or attempting to receive multiple

16 benefits under the aid to families with dependent

17 children program under the State plan as a result of

18 multiple enrollment;

19 ‘‘(4) consult a fingerprint specialist to verify a

20 fingerprint match if the computer matching

21 database determines that an individual’s fingerprints

22 match the fingerprints of an individual already re23 ceiving aid to families with dependent children; and
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1 ‘‘(5) establish procedures to ensure that the

2 data collected and maintained in the system be used

3 only as specified in this subsection.

4 ‘‘(b) DENIAL OF BENEFITS.—If an individual is iden5 tified under a system established under this section as re6 ceiving or attempting to receive multiple benefits under

7 the aid to families with dependent children program, the

8 needs of such individual shall not be taken into account

9 in making the determination under section 402(a)(7) with

10 respect to the individual’s family—

11 ‘‘(1) for a period of 6 months upon the first oc12 casion of such offense;

13 ‘‘(2) for a period of 12 months upon the second

14 occasion of such offense; and

15 ‘‘(3) permanently upon the third or a subse16 quent occasion of any such offense.

17 ‘‘(c) CRIMINAL PENALTY.—Any person who know18 ingly and intentionally makes or obtains any unauthorized

19 disclosure of data collected and maintained by a State sys20 tem operated in accordance with this section shall be im21 prisoned for not more than 6 months or fined up to

22 $10,000, or both.’’.

23 SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE.

24 (a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection

25 (b), the amendments made by this Act shall apply with
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1 respect to calendar quarters beginning on or after the date

2 of the enactment of this Act.

3 (b) DELAY FOR STATE LEGISLATION.—In the case

4 of a State which the Secretary of Health and Human

5 Services determines requires State legislation (other than

6 legislation authorizing or appropriating funds) in order to

7 comply with the amendments made by this Act, the State

8 shall not be regarded as failing to comply with such

9 amendments solely on the basis of its failure to meet the

10 requirements of such amendments before the first day of

11 the first calendar quarter beginning after the close of the

12 first regular session of the State legislature that begins

13 after the date of the enactment of this Act. For purposes

14 of the preceding sentence, in the case of a State that has

15 a 2-year legislative session, each year of such session shall

16 be deemed to be a separate regular session of the State

17 legislature.

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