I 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 220

To amend title II of the Social Security Act and the Internal Revenue 

Code of 1986 to protect the integrity and confidentiality of Social Security account numbers issued under such title, to prohibit the establishment in the Federal Government of any uniform national identifying 

number, and to prohibit Federal agencies from imposing standards for 

identification of individuals on other agencies or persons. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 4, 2005

Mr. PAUL (for himself, Mr. BARTLETT of Maryland, and Mr. HINCHEY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways 

and Means, and in addition to the Committee on Government Reform, 

for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case 

for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the 

committee concerned 

A BILL

To amend title II of the Social Security Act and the Internal 

Revenue Code of 1986 to protect the integrity and confidentiality of Social Security account numbers issued 

under such title, to prohibit the establishment in the 

Federal Government of any uniform national identifying 

number, and to prohibit Federal agencies from imposing 

standards for identification of individuals on other agencies or persons.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Identity Theft Preven3 tion Act of 2005’’. 

4 SEC. 2. RESTRICTIONS ON THE USE OF THE SOCIAL SECU5 RITY ACCOUNT NUMBER. 

6 (a) REPEAL OF PROVISIONS AUTHORIZING CERTAIN

7 USAGES OF THE SOCIAL SECURITY ACCOUNT NUMBER.—

8 Section 205(c)(2) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 

9 405(c)(2)) is amended—

10 (1) in subparagraph (C), by striking ‘‘(C)(i) It 

11 is the policy’’ and all that follows through clause 

12 (vi); 

13 (2) by striking subparagraphs (C)(ix), (E), and 

14 (H); and 

15 (3) by redesignating subparagraphs (F) and 

16 (G) as subparagraphs (E) and (F), respectively. 

17 (b) NEW RULES APPLICABLE TO SOCIAL SECURITY

18 ACCOUNT NUMBERS.—Section 205(c)(2) of such Act is 

19 amended further—

20 (1) by inserting after subparagraph (B) the fol21 lowing: 

22 ‘‘(C)(i) All social security account numbers issued 

23 under this subsection shall be randomly generated. 

24 ‘‘(ii) Except as otherwise provided in this para25 graph—
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1 ‘‘(I) the social security account number issued 

2 under this subsection to any individual shall be the 

3 exclusive property of such individual, and 

4 ‘‘(II) the Social Security Administration shall 

5 not divulge the social security account number 

6 issued to any individual under this subsection to any 

7 agency or instrumentality of the Federal Govern8 ment, to any State, political subdivision of a State, 

9 or agency or instrumentality of a State or political 

10 subdivision thereof, or to any other individual. 

11 ‘‘(iii) Clause (ii) shall not apply with respect to the 

12 use of the social security account number as an identifying 

13 number to the extent provided in section 6109(d) of the 

14 Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to use of the so15 cial security account number for social security and re16 lated purposes).’’; and 

17 (2) by redesignating clauses (vii) and (viii) of 

18 subparagraph (C) as clauses (iv) and (v), respec19 tively. 

20 (c) USE OF SOCIAL SECURITY ACCOUNT NUMBERS

21 UNDER INTERNAL REVENUE CODE.—Subsection (d) of 

22 section 6109 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is 

23 amended—

24 (1) in the heading, by inserting ‘‘for Social Se25 curity and Related Purposes’’ after ‘‘Number’’; and 
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1 (2) by striking ‘‘this title’’ and inserting ‘‘sec2 tion 86, chapter 2, and subtitle C of this title’’. 

3 (d) EFFECTIVE DATES AND RELATED RULES.—

4 (1) EFFECTIVE DATES.—Not later than 60 

5 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

6 Commissioner of Social Security shall publish in the 

7 Federal Register the date determined by the Com8 missioner, in consultation with the Secretary of the 

9 Treasury, to be the earliest date thereafter by which 

10 implementation of the amendments made by this 

11 section is practicable. The amendments made by 

12 subsection (a) shall take effect on the earlier of such 

13 date or the date which occurs 5 years after the date 

14 of the enactment of this Act. The amendments made 

15 by subsection (b) shall apply with respect to social 

16 security account numbers issued on or after such 

17 earlier date. The amendments made by subsection 

18 (c) shall apply with respect to calendar quarters and 

19 taxable years beginning on or after such earlier date. 

20 (2) REISSUANCE OF NUMBERS.—The Commis21 sioner of Social Security shall ensure that, not later 

22 than 5 years after the date of the enactment of this 

23 Act, all individuals who have been issued social secu24 rity account numbers under section 205(c) of the 

25 Social Security Act as of the date prior to the earlier 
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1 date specified in paragraph (1) are issued new social 

2 security account numbers in accordance with such 

3 section as amended by this section. Upon issuance of 

4 such new social security account numbers, any social 

5 security account numbers issued to such individuals 

6 prior to such earlier date specified in paragraph (1) 

7 shall be null and void and subject to the require8 ments of section 205(c)(2)(C)(ii)(II) of such Act, as 

9 amended by this section. Nothing in this section or 

10 the amendments made thereby shall be construed to 

11 preclude the Social Security Administration and the 

12 Secretary of the Treasury from cross-referencing 

13 such social security account numbers newly issued to 

14 individuals pursuant to this paragraph to the former 

15 social security account numbers of such individuals 

16 for purposes of administering title II or title XVI of 

17 such Act or administering the Internal Revenue 

18 Code of 1986 in connection with section 86, chapter 

19 2, and subtitle C thereof. 

20 SEC. 3. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS TO THE PRIVACY ACT 

21 OF 1974. 

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 7 of the Privacy Act of 

23 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a note, 88 Stat. 1909) is amended—

24 (1) in subsection (a), by striking paragraph (2) 

25 and inserting the following: 
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1 ‘‘(2) The provisions of paragraph (1) of this sub2 section shall not apply with respect to any disclosure which 

3 is required under regulations of the Commissioner of So4 cial Security pursuant to section 205(c)(2) of the Social 

5 Security Act or under regulations of the Secretary of the 

6 Treasury pursuant to section 6109(d) of the Internal Rev7 enue Code of 1986.’’; and 

8 (2) by striking subsection (b) and inserting the 

9 following: 

10 ‘‘(b) Except with respect to disclosures described in 

11 subsection (a)(2), no agency or instrumentality of the 

12 Federal Government, a State, a political subdivision of a 

13 State, or any combination of the foregoing may request 

14 an individual to disclose his social security account num15 ber, on either a mandatory or voluntary basis.’’. 

16 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

17 this section shall take effect on the earlier date specified 

18 in section 2(d)(1). 

19 SEC. 4. PROHIBITION OF GOVERNMENT-WIDE UNIFORM 

20 IDENTIFYING NUMBERS. 

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—Except as authorized under sec22 tion 205(c)(2) of the Social Security Act, any two agencies 

23 or instrumentalities of the Federal Government may not 

24 implement the same identifying number with respect to 

25 any individual. 
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1 (b) IDENTIFYING NUMBERS.—For purposes of this 

2 section—

3 (1) the term ‘‘identifying number’’ with respect 

4 to an individual means any combination of alpha-nu5 meric symbols which serves to identify such indi6 vidual, and 

7 (2) any identifying number and any one or 

8 more derivatives of such number shall be treated as 

9 the same identifying number. 

10 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The provisions of this section 

11 shall take effect January 1, 2006. 

12 SEC. 5. PROHIBITION OF GOVERNMENT-ESTABLISHED 

13 IDENTIFIERS. 

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subsection (b), a Fed15 eral agency may not—

16 (1) establish or mandate a uniform standard 

17 for identification of an individual that is required to 

18 be used by any other Federal agency, a State agen19 cy, or a private person for any purpose other than 

20 the purpose of conducting the authorized activities 

21 of the Federal agency establishing or mandating the 

22 standard; or 

23 (2) condition receipt of any Federal grant or 

24 contract or other Federal funding on the adoption, 

25 by a State, a State agency, or a political subdivision 
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1 of a State, of a uniform standard for identification 

2 of an individual. 

3 (b) TRANSACTIONS BETWEEN PRIVATE PERSONS.—

4 Notwithstanding subsection (a), a Federal agency may not 

5 establish or mandate a uniform standard for identification 

6 of an individual that is required to be used within the 

7 agency, or by any other Federal agency, a State agency, 

8 or a private person, for the purpose of—

9 (1) investigating, monitoring, overseeing, or 

10 otherwise regulating a transaction to which the Fed11 eral Government is not a party; or 

12 (2) administrative simplification. 

13 (c) CONFORMITY OF OTHER LAWS.—Any provision 

14 of Federal law enacted on or before the date of the enact15 ment of this Act is superseded by this section to the extent 

16 that such provision is inconsistent with subsection (a) or 

17 (b), including sections 1173(b) and 1177(a)(1) of the So18 cial Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1320d–2(b); 42 U.S.C. 

19 1320d–6(a)(1)) and subtitle B of title VII of the Intel20 ligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 

21 (Public Law 108–458), and, to the extent that any provi22 sion of Federal law enacted after such date is inconsistent 

23 with subsection (a) or (b), such provision shall be effective 

24 only if it specifically cross-refers to such subsection. 

25 (d) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section: 
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1 (1) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ means any 

2 of the following: 

3 (A) An Executive agency (as defined in 

4 section 105 of title 5, United States Code). 

5 (B) A military department (as defined in 

6 section 102 of such title). 

7 (C) An agency in the executive branch of 

8 a State government. 

9 (D) An agency in the legislative branch of 

10 the Government of the United States or a State 

11 government. 

12 (E) An agency in the judicial branch of the 

13 Government of the United States or a State 

14 government. 

15 (2) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means any of 

16 the several States, the District of Columbia, the Vir17 gin Islands, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, 

18 Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the 

19 Northern Mariana Islands, the Republic of the Mar20 shall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, or 

21 the Republic of Palau. 

22 (e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The provisions of this section 

23 shall take effect January 1, 2006.

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