II 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION 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. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 5, 2018 

Mr. CARPER (for himself, Mr. KENNEDY, Mrs. MCCASKILL, Mr. PETERS, and 

Mr. WARNER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

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) The Commissioner of Social Security shall, 

16 to the extent feasible, provide for the use of information 

17 regarding all deceased individuals furnished to or main18 tained by the Commissioner under this subsection in ac19 cordance with subparagraph (B), subject to such safe20 guards as the Commissioner of Social Security determines 

21 are necessary or appropriate to protect the information 

22 from unauthorized use or disclosure, by any Federal or 

23 State agency providing federally funded benefits or admin24 istering a Federal program for such benefits, including the 

25 agency operating the Do Not Pay working system for en26 suring proper payment of those benefits, through a cooperVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:25 Feb 06, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2374.IS S2374

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1 ative arrangement with the agency (that includes the 

2 agency’s Inspector General) or with an agency’s Inspector 

3 General, if— 

4 ‘‘(i) under such arrangement the agency (in5 cluding, if applicable, the agency’s Inspector Gen6 eral) provides reimbursement to the Commissioner of 

7 Social Security for the reasonable cost of carrying 

8 out such arrangement, including the reasonable 

9 costs associated with the collection and maintenance 

10 of information regarding deceased individuals fur11 nished to the Commissioner pursuant to paragraph 

12 (1); and 

13 ‘‘(ii) such arrangement does not conflict with 

14 the duties of the Commissioner of Social Security 

15 under paragraph (1). 

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

17 the extent feasible, provide for the use of information re18 garding all deceased individuals furnished to or main19 tained by the Commissioner under this subsection, 

20 through a cooperative arrangement in order for a Federal 

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

22 requirements of clauses (i) and (ii) of subparagraph (A) 

23 are met: 

24 ‘‘(i) Operating the Do Not Pay working system 

25 established by section 5 of the Improper Payments 


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1 Elimination and Recovery Improvement Act of 2012. 

2 Under such arrangement, the agency operating the 

3 working system may compare death information dis4 closed by the Commissioner with personally identifi5 able information reviewed through the working sys6 tem, and may redisclose such comparison of infor7 mation, as appropriate, to any Federal or State 

8 agency authorized to use the working system. 

9 ‘‘(ii) To ensure proper payments under a Fed10 eral program or the proper payment of federally 

11 funded benefits, including for purposes of payment 

12 certification, payment disbursement, and the preven13 tion, identification, or recoupment of improper pay14 ments. 

15 ‘‘(iii) To carry out tax administration or debt 

16 collection duties of the agency. 

17 ‘‘(iv) For use by any policing agency of the 

18 Federal Government with the principle function of 

19 prevention, detection, or investigation of crime or 

20 the apprehension of alleged offenders. 

21 ‘‘(C) With respect to the reimbursement to the Com22 missioner of Social Security for the reasonable cost of car23 rying out a cooperative arrangement described in subpara24 graph (A) between the Commissioner of Social Security 

25 and an agency, the Commissioner shall— 


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

2 purposes of calculating the reasonable cost of car3 rying out the arrangement that does not take into 

4 account any services, information, or unrelated pay5 ments provided by the agency to the Commissioner; 

6 and 

7 ‘‘(ii) reimbursement payments shall be ac8 counted for and recorded separately from other 

9 transactions. 

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

11 into similar arrangements with States to provide informa12 tion regarding all deceased individuals furnished to or 

13 maintained by the Commissioner under this subsection, 

14 for any of the purposes specified in paragraph (3)(B), for 

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

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

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

18 subdivision thereof, if the requirements of clauses (i) and 

19 (ii) of paragraph (3)(A) are met. For purposes of this 

20 paragraph, the terms ‘retirement system’ and ‘political 

21 subdivision’ have the meanings given such terms in section 

22 218(b). 

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

24 or provide for the use of information regarding all de25 ceased individuals furnished to or maintained by the ComVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:25 Feb 06, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2374.IS S2374

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1 missioner under this subsection, subject to such safe2 guards as the Commissioner of Social Security determines 

3 are necessary or appropriate to protect the information 

4 from unauthorized use or disclosure, for statistical pur5 poses and research activities by Federal and State agen6 cies if the requirements of clauses (i) and (ii) of paragraph 

7 (3)(A) are met. For purposes of this paragraph, the term 

8 ‘statistical purposes’ has the meaning given that term in 

9 section 502 of the Confidential Information Protection 

10 and Statistical Efficiency Act of 2002.’’; and 

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

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

13 and inserting ‘‘clauses (i) and (ii) of paragraph 

14 (3)(A)’’. 

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

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

17 amendments made by this subsection to paragraphs 

18 (3), (4), (5), and (8) of section 205(r) of the Social 

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

20 the provisions of section 205(r) of the Social Secu21 rity Act (42 U.S.C. 605(r)) so amended are restored 

22 and revived as if such amendments had not been en23 acted. 


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1 (b) AMENDMENT TO INTERNAL REVENUE CODE.— 

2 Section 6103(d)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 

3 is amended— 

4 (1) in subparagraphs (A) and (B), by striking 

5 ‘‘Secretary of Health and Human Services’’ each 

6 place it appears and inserting ‘‘Commissioner of So7 cial Security’’; and 

8 (2) in subparagraph (B)(ii), by striking ‘‘such 

9 Secretary’’ and all that follows through ‘‘deceased 

10 individuals.’’ and inserting ‘‘such Commissioner pur11 suant to such contract, except that such contract 

12 may provide that such information is only to be used 

13 by the Social Security Administration (or any other 

14 Federal agency) for purposes authorized in the So15 cial Security Act or this title.’’. 

16 (c) REPORT TO CONGRESS ON ALTERNATIVE

17 SOURCES OF DEATH DATA.— 

18 (1) REQUIREMENTS.—The Director of the Of19 fice of Management and Budget shall conduct a re20 view of potential alternative sources of death data 

21 maintained by the non-Federal sources, including 

22 sources maintained by State agencies or associations 

23 of State agencies, for use by Federal agencies and 

24 programs. The review shall include analyses of— 


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1 (A) the accuracy and completeness of such 

2 data; 

3 (B) interoperability of such data; 

4 (C) the extent to which there is efficient 

5 accessibility of such data by Federal agencies; 

6 (D) the cost to Federal agencies of access7 ing and maintaining such data; 

8 (E) the security of such data; 

9 (F) the reliability of such data; and 

10 (G) a comparison of the potential alternate 

11 sources of death data to the death data distrib12 uted by the Commissioner of Social Security. 

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

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

15 Office of Management and Budget shall submit a re16 port to Congress on the results of the review and 

17 analyses required under paragraph (1). The report 

18 shall include a recommendation by the Director of 

19 the Office of Management and Budget regarding 

20 whether to extend the agency access to death data 

21 distributed by the Commissioner of Social Security 

22 provided under the amendments made by subsection 

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

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


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

2 AGENCIES TO CURB IMPROPER PAYMENTS. 

3 The Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery 

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

5 amended by adding at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 8. IMPROVING THE USE OF DEATH DATA BY GOVERN7 MENT AGENCIES. 

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

9 AND BUDGET.— 

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

11 6 months after the date of enactment of this section, 

12 and in consultation with the Council of Inspectors 

13 General on Integrity and Efficiency and the heads of 

14 other relevant Federal, State, and local agencies, 

15 and Indian tribes and tribal organizations, the Di16 rector of the Office of Management and Budget 

17 shall issue guidance for each agency or component 

18 of an agency that operates or maintains a database 

19 of information relating to beneficiaries, annuity re20 cipients, or any purpose described in section 

21 205(r)(3)(B) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 

22 405(r)(3)(B)) for which improved data matching 

23 with databases relating to the death of an individual 

24 (in this section referred to as ‘death databases’) 

25 would be relevant and necessary regarding imple26 mentation of this section to provide such agencies or 


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1 components access to the death databases no later 

2 than 6 months after such date of enactment. 

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

4 AGENCIES AND INDIAN TRIBES AND TRIBAL ORGANI5 ZATIONS.—Not later than 1 year after the date of 

6 enactment of this section, the Director of the Office 

7 of Management and Budget shall develop a plan to 

8 assist States and local agencies, and Indian tribes 

9 and tribal organizations, in providing electronically 

10 to the Federal Government records relating to the 

11 death of individuals, which may include rec12 ommendations to Congress for any statutory 

13 changes or financial assistance to States and local 

14 agencies and Indian tribes and tribal organizations 

15 that are necessary to ensure States and local agen16 cies and Indian tribes and tribal organizations can 

17 provide such records electronically. The plan may in18 clude recommendations for the authorization of ap19 propriations or other funding to carry out the plan. 

20 ‘‘(b) REPORTS.— 

21 ‘‘(1) REPORT TO CONGRESS ON IMPROVING

22 DATA MATCHING REGARDING PAYMENTS TO DE23 CEASED INDIVIDUALS.—Not later than 270 days 

24 after the date of enactment of this section, the Di25 rector of the Office of Management and Budget, in 


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1 consultation with the heads of other relevant Federal 

2 agencies, and in consultation with States and local 

3 agencies, Indian tribes and tribal organizations, shall 

4 submit to Congress a plan to improve how States 

5 and local agencies and Indian tribes and tribal orga6 nizations that provide benefits under a federally 

7 funded program will improve data matching with the 

8 Federal Government with respect to the death of in9 dividuals who are recipients of such benefits. 

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

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

12 each of the 4 succeeding years, the Director of the 

13 Office of Management and Budget shall submit to 

14 Congress a report regarding the implementation of 

15 this section. The first report submitted under this 

16 paragraph shall include the recommendations of the 

17 Director required under subsection (a)(2). 

18 ‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the terms ‘In19 dian tribe’ and ‘tribal organization’ have the meanings 

20 given those terms in section 4 of the Indian Self-Deter21 mination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 

22 450b).’’. 


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1 SEC. 4. PLAN FOR ENSURING THE ACCURACY AND COM2 PLETENESS OF DEATH DATA MAINTAINED 

3 AND DISTRIBUTED BY THE SOCIAL SECURITY 

4 ADMINISTRATION. 

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

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

7 Security shall submit to Congress a plan, which shall in8 clude an estimate of the cost of implementing the policies 

9 and procedures described in such plan, to improve the ac10 curacy and completeness of the death data (including, 

11 where feasible and cost-effective, data regarding individ12 uals who are not eligible for or receiving benefits under 

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

14 and distributed by the Social Security Administration. 

15 (b) CONTENT OF PLAN.—In developing the plan re16 quired under subsection (a), the Commissioner of Social 

17 Security shall consider whether to include the following 

18 elements: 

19 (1) Procedures for— 

20 (A) identifying individuals who are ex21 tremely elderly, as determined by the Commis22 sioner, but for whom no record of death exists 

23 in the records of the Social Security Adminis24 tration; 

25 (B) verifying the information contained in 

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1 tion with respect to individuals described in 

2 subparagraph (A) and correcting any inaccura3 cies; and 

4 (C) where appropriate, disclosing correc5 tions made to the records of the Social Security 

6 Administration. 

7 (2) Improved policies and procedures for identi8 fying and correcting erroneous death records, includ9 ing policies and procedures for— 

10 (A) identifying individuals listed as dead 

11 who are actually alive; 

12 (B) identifying individuals listed as alive 

13 who are actually dead; and 

14 (C) allowing individuals or survivors of de15 ceased individuals to notify the Social Security 

16 Administration of potential errors. 

17 (3) Improved policies and procedures to identify 

18 and correct discrepancies in the records of the Social 

19 Security Administration, including social security 

20 number records. 

21 (4) A process for employing statistical analysis 

22 of the death data maintained and distributed by the 

23 Social Security Administration to determine an esti24 mate of the number of erroneous records. 


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1 (5) Recommendations for legislation, as nec2 essary. 

3 SEC. 5. REPORT ON INFORMATION SECURITY. 

4 Not later than 90 days after the date of the enact5 ment of this Act, the Commissioner of Social Security 

6 shall submit a report to the Committees on Ways and 

7 Means, Oversight and Government Reform, and Home8 land Security of the House of Representatives, and the 

9 Committees on Finance and Homeland Security and Gov10 ernmental Affairs of the Senate that— 

11 (1) identifies all information systems of the So12 cial Security Administration containing sensitive in13 formation; and 

14 (2) describes the measures the Commissioner is 

15 taking to secure and protect such information sys16 tems. 

Æ 


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