I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2003 

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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 23, 2015 

Mrs. BUSTOS (for herself, Mr. RIBBLE, Mrs. BROOKS of Indiana, Mr. COOPER, Mr. COSTA, Mr. PETERS, Mr. SCHRADER, Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ

of California, Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, Mr. VELA, Miss RICE of New 

York, Ms. SINEMA, Mr. ASHFORD, Ms. GRAHAM, Ms. BROWNLEY of California, Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. MURPHY of Florida, Mr. 

FITZPATRICK, Mr. CARNEY, Mr. KILMER, Mr. MOULTON, Mr. RUIZ, Mr. 

KIND, and Ms. DUCKWORTH) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the 

Committee on Oversight and 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 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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Stopping Improper 

3 Payments to Deceased People Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. DISTRIBUTION OF DEATH INFORMATION FUR5 NISHED TO OR MAINTAINED BY THE SOCIAL 

6 SECURITY ADMINISTRATION. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.— 

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 205(r) of the Social 

9 Security Act (42 U.S.C. 405(r)) is amended— 

10 (A) in paragraph (2)— 

11 (i) by striking ‘‘may’’ and inserting 

12 ‘‘shall’’; and 

13 (ii) by inserting ‘‘, and to ensure the 

14 completeness, timeliness, and accuracy of,’’ 

15 after ‘‘transmitting’’; 

16 (B) by striking paragraphs (3), (4), and 

17 (5) and inserting the following: 

18 ‘‘(3)(A) The Commissioner of Social Security shall, 

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

20 regarding all deceased individuals furnished to or main21 tained by the Commissioner under this subsection in ac22 cordance with subparagraph (B), subject to such safe23 guards as the Commissioner of Social Security determines 

24 are necessary or appropriate to protect the information 

25 from unauthorized use or disclosure, by any Federal or 

26 State agency providing federally funded benefits or adminVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:07 May 08, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2003.IH H2003

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1 istering a Federal program for such benefits, including the 

2 agency operating the Do Not Pay working system for en3 suring proper payment of those benefits, through a cooper4 ative arrangement with the agency (that includes the 

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

6 General, if— 

7 ‘‘(i) under such arrangement the agency (in8 cluding, if applicable, the agency’s Inspector Gen9 eral) provides reimbursement to the Commissioner of 

10 Social Security for the reasonable cost of carrying 

11 out such arrangement, including the reasonable 

12 costs associated with the collection and maintenance 

13 of information regarding deceased individuals fur14 nished to the Commissioner pursuant to paragraph 

15 (1), and 

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

17 the duties of the Commissioner of Social Security 

18 under paragraph (1). 

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

20 the extent feasible, provide for the use of information re21 garding all deceased individuals furnished to or main22 tained by the Commissioner under this subsection, 

23 through a cooperative arrangement in order for a Federal 

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


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

2 are met: 

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

4 established by section 5 of the Improper Payments 

5 Elimination and Recovery Improvement Act of 2012. 

6 Under such arrangement, the agency operating the 

7 working system may compare death information dis8 closed by the Commissioner with personally identifi9 able information reviewed through the working sys10 tem, and may redisclose such comparison of infor11 mation, as appropriate, to any Federal or State 

12 agency authorized to use the working system. 

13 ‘‘(ii) To ensure proper payments under a Fed14 eral program or the proper payment of federally 

15 funded benefits, including for purposes of payment 

16 certification, payment disbursement, and the preven17 tion, identification, or recoupment of improper pay18 ments. 

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

20 collection duties of the agency. 

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

22 Federal Government with the principle function of 

23 prevention, detection, or investigation of crime or 

24 the apprehension of alleged offenders. 


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

2 into similar arrangements with States to provide informa3 tion regarding all deceased individuals furnished to or 

4 maintained by the Commissioner under this subsection, 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

12 subdivision’ have the meanings given such terms in section 

13 218(b). 

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

15 or provide for the use of information regarding all de16 ceased individuals furnished to or maintained by the Com17 missioner under this subsection, subject to such safe18 guards as the Commissioner of Social Security determines 

19 are necessary or appropriate to protect the information 

20 from unauthorized use or disclosure, for statistical pur21 poses and research activities by Federal and State agen22 cies if the requirements of clauses (i) and (ii) of paragraph 

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

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


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1 section 502 of the Confidential Information Protection 

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

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

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

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

6 (3)(A)’’. 

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

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

9 amendments made by this subsection to paragraphs 

10 (3), (4), (5), and (8) of section 205(r) of the Social 

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

12 the provisions of section 205(r) of the Social Secu13 rity Act (42 U.S.C. 605(r)) so amended are restored 

14 and revived as if such amendments had not been en15 acted. 

16 (b) AMENDMENT TO INTERNAL REVENUE CODE.— 

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

18 is amended— 

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

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

21 place it appears and inserting ‘‘Commissioner of So22 cial Security’’; and 

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

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

25 individuals.’’ and inserting ‘‘such Commissioner purVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:07 May 08, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2003.IH H2003

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1 suant to such contract, except that such contract 

2 may provide that such information is only to be used 

3 by the Social Security Administration (or any other 

4 Federal agency) for purposes authorized in the So5 cial Security Act or this title.’’. 

6 (c) REPORT TO CONGRESS ON ALTERNATIVE

7 SOURCES OF DEATH DATA.— 

8 (1) REQUIREMENTS.—The Director of the Of9 fice of Management and Budget shall conduct a re10 view of potential alternative sources of death data 

11 maintained by the non-Federal sources, including 

12 sources maintained by State agencies or associations 

13 of State agencies, for use by Federal agencies and 

14 programs. The review shall include analyses of— 

15 (A) the accuracy and completeness of such 

16 data; 

17 (B) interoperability of such data; 

18 (C) the extent to which there is efficient 

19 accessability of such data by Federal agencies; 

20 (D) the cost to Federal agencies of access21 ing and maintaining such data; 

22 (E) the security of such data; 

23 (F) the reliability of such data; and 


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1 (G) a comparison of the potential alternate 

2 sources of death data to the death data distrib3 uted by the Commissioner of Social Security. 

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

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

6 Office of Management and Budget shall submit a re7 port to Congress on the results of the review and 

8 analyses required under paragraph (1). The report 

9 shall include a recommendation by the Director of 

10 the Office of Management and Budget regarding 

11 whether to extend the agency access to death data 

12 distributed by the Commissioner of Social Security 

13 provided under the amendments made by subsection 

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

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

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

17 AGENCIES TO CURB IMPROPER PAYMENTS. 

18 The Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery 

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

20 amended by adding at the end the following: 

21 ‘‘SEC. 7. IMPROVING THE USE OF DEATH DATA BY GOVERN22 MENT AGENCIES. 

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

24 AND BUDGET.— 


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

2 6 months after the date of enactment of this section, 

3 and in consultation with the Council of Inspectors 

4 General on Integrity and Efficiency and the heads of 

5 other relevant Federal, State, and local agencies, 

6 and Indian tribes and tribal organizations, the Di7 rector of the Office of Management and Budget 

8 shall issue guidance for each agency or component 

9 of an agency that operates or maintains a database 

10 of information relating to beneficiaries, annuity re11 cipients, or any purpose described in section 

12 205(r)(3)(B) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 

13 405(r)(3)(B)) for which improved data matching 

14 with databases relating to the death of an individual 

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

16 would be relevant and necessary regarding imple17 mentation of this section to provide such agencies or 

18 components access to the death databases no later 

19 than 6 months after such date of enactment. 

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

21 AGENCIES AND INDIAN TRIBES AND TRIBAL ORGANI22 ZATIONS.—Not later than 1 year after the date of 

23 enactment of this section, the Director of the Office 

24 of Management and Budget shall develop a plan to 

25 assist States and local agencies, and Indian tribes 


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1 and tribal organizations, in providing electronically 

2 to the Federal Government records relating to the 

3 death of individuals, which may include rec4 ommendations to Congress for any statutory 

5 changes or financial assistance to States and local 

6 agencies and Indian tribes and tribal organizations 

7 that are necessary to ensure States and local agen8 cies and Indian tribes and tribal organizations can 

9 provide such records electronically. The plan may in10 clude recommendations for the authorization of ap11 propriations or other funding to carry out the plan. 

12 ‘‘(b) REPORTS.— 

13 ‘‘(1) REPORT TO CONGRESS ON IMPROVING

14 DATA MATCHING REGARDING PAYMENTS TO DE15 CEASED INDIVIDUALS.—Not later than 270 days 

16 after the date of enactment of this section, the Di17 rector of the Office of Management and Budget, in 

18 consultation with the heads of other relevant Federal 

19 agencies, and in consultation with States and local 

20 agencies, Indian tribes and tribal organizations, shall 

21 submit to Congress a plan to improve how States 

22 and local agencies and Indian tribes and tribal orga23 nizations that provide benefits under a federally 

24 funded program will improve data matching with the 


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1 Federal Government with respect to the death of in2 dividuals who are recipients of such benefits. 

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

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

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

6 Office of Management and Budget shall submit to 

7 Congress a report regarding the implementation of 

8 this section. The first report submitted under this 

9 paragraph shall include the recommendations of the 

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

11 ‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the terms ‘In12 dian tribe’ and ‘tribal organization’ have the meanings 

13 given those terms in section 4 of the Indian Self-Deter14 mination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 

15 450b).’’. 

16 SEC. 4. PLAN FOR ENSURING THE ACCURACY AND COM17 PLETENESS OF DEATH DATA MAINTAINED 

18 AND DISTRIBUTED BY THE SOCIAL SECURITY 

19 ADMINISTRATION. 

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 

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

22 Security, in consultation with the Secretary of Commerce, 

23 shall submit to Congress a plan, which shall include the 

24 elements described in subsection (b), to ensure the accu25 racy and completeness of the death data (including data 


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1 regarding individuals who are not eligible for or receiving 

2 benefits under titles II or XVI of the Social Security Act) 

3 maintained and furnished by the Social Security Adminis4 tration. 

5 (b) CONTENT OF PLAN.—The plan required under 

6 subsection (a) shall include the following elements: 

7 (1) A procedure for identifying extremely elder8 ly individuals who are still alive according to the 

9 records of the Social Security Administration and 

10 verifying the accuracy of this information. 

11 (2) Improved policies and procedures for identi12 fying and correcting erroneous records, including 

13 policies and procedures for— 

14 (A) identifying individuals listed as dead 

15 who are actually alive; 

16 (B) identifying individuals listed as alive 

17 who are actually dead; and 

18 (C) allowing individuals or survivors of de19 ceased individuals to notify the Social Security 

20 Administration of potential errors. 

21 (3) Improved policies and procedures to identify 

22 and correct errors in the records of the Numerical 

23 Identification System, and death data. 

24 (4) A process for employing statistical analysis 

25 of the death data maintained and distributed by the 


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1 Social Security Administration to determine an esti2 mate of the number of erroneous records. 

3 (5) Recommendations for legislation. 

4 (c) IMPLEMENTATION OF PLAN.—Not later than 2 

5 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the Commis6 sioner of Social Security shall implement the plan required 

7 under subsection (a). 

Æ 


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