I

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1918

To provide for implementation of prohibitions against payment of Social

Security benefits to prisoners, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 25, 1999

Mr. HERGER (for himself, Mr. CLEMENT, Mr. CRANE, Mr. RAMSTAD, Ms.

DUNN, Mr. WATKINS, Mr. HAYWORTH, Mr. WELLER, Mr. FOLEY, and

Mr. TANNER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Ways and Means

A BILL

To provide for implementation of prohibitions against payment of Social Security benefits to prisoners, 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 ‘‘Criminal Welfare Pre5 vention Act, Part II’’.

6 SEC. 2. IMPLEMENTATION OF PROHIBITION AGAINST PAY7 MENT OF TITLE II BENEFITS TO PRISONERS.

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 202(x)(3) of the Social

9 Security Act (42 U.S.C. 402(x)(3)) is amended—
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1 (1) by inserting ‘‘(A)’’ after ‘‘(3)’’; and

2 (2) by adding at the end the following new sub3 paragraph:

4 ‘‘(B)(i) The Commissioner shall enter into an agree5 ment under this subparagraph with any interested State

6 or local institution comprising a jail, prison, penal institu7 tion, or correctional facility, or comprising any other insti8 tution a purpose of which is to confine individuals as de9 scribed in paragraph (1)(A)(ii). Under such agreement—

10 ‘‘(I) the institution shall provide to the Com11 missioner, on a monthly basis and in a manner spec12 ified by the Commissioner, the names, Social Secu13 rity account numbers, dates of birth, confinement

14 commencement dates, and, to the extent available to

15 the institution, such other identifying information

16 concerning the individuals confined in the institution

17 as the Commissioner may require for the purpose of

18 carrying out paragraph (1); and

19 ‘‘(II) the Commissioner shall pay to the institu20 tion, with respect to information described in sub21 clause (I) concerning each individual who is confined

22 therein as described in paragraph (1)(A), who re23 ceives a benefit under this title for the month pre24 ceding the first month of such confinement, and

25 whose benefit under this title is determined by the
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1 Commissioner to be not payable by reason of con2 finement based on the information provided by the

3 institution, $400 (subject to reduction under clause

4 (ii)) if the institution furnishes the information to

5 the Commissioner within 30 days after the date such

6 individual’s confinement in such institution begins,

7 or $200 (subject to reduction under clause (ii)) if

8 the institution furnishes the information after 30

9 days after such date but within 90 days after such

10 date.

11 ‘‘(ii) The dollar amounts specified in clause (i)(II)

12 shall be reduced by 50 percent if the Commissioner is also

13 required to make a payment to the institution with respect

14 to the same individual under an agreement entered into

15 under section 1611(e)(1)(I).

16 ‘‘(iii) The provisions of section 552a of title 5, United

17 States Code, shall not apply to any agreement entered into

18 under clause (i) or to information exchanged pursuant to

19 such agreement.

20 ‘‘(iv) There is authorized to be transferred from the

21 Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund and

22 the Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund, as appro23 priate, such sums as may be necessary to enable the Com24 missioner to make payments to institutions required by

25 clause (i)(II).
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1 ‘‘(v) The Commissioner is authorized to provide, on

2 a reimbursable basis, information obtained pursuant to

3 agreements entered into under clause (i) to any agency

4 administering a Federal or federally-assisted cash, food,

5 or medical assistance program for eligibility purposes.’’.

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

7 this section shall apply to individuals whose period of con8 finement in an institution commences on or after the first

9 day of the fourth month beginning after the month in

10 which this Act is enacted.

11 SEC. 3. ELIMINATION OF TITLE II REQUIREMENT THAT

12 CONFINEMENT STEM FROM CRIME PUNISH13 ABLE BY IMPRISONMENT FOR MORE THAN 1

14 YEAR.

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 202(x)(1)(A) of the Social

16 Security Act (42 U.S.C. 402(x)(1)(A)) is amended—

17 (1) in the matter preceding clause (i), by strik18 ing ‘‘during’’ and inserting ‘‘throughout’’;

19 (2) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘an offense punish20 able by imprisonment for more than 1 year (regard21 less of the actual sentence imposed)’’ and inserting

22 ‘‘a criminal offense’’; and

23 (3) in clause (ii)(I), by striking ‘‘an offense

24 punishable by imprisonment for more than 1 year’’

25 and inserting ‘‘a criminal offense’’.
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1 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by

2 this section shall apply to individuals whose period of con3 finement in an institution commences on or after the first

4 day of the fourth month beginning after the month in

5 which this Act is enacted.

6 SEC. 4. CONFORMING TITLE XVI AMENDMENTS.

7 (a) FIFTY PERCENT REDUCTION IN TITLE XVI PAY8 MENT IN CASE INVOLVING COMPARABLE TITLE II PAY9 MENT.—Section 1611(e)(1)(I) of the Social Security Act

10 (42 U.S.C. 1382(e)(1)(I)) is amended—

11 (1) in clause (i)(II), by inserting ‘‘(subject to

12 reduction under clause (ii))’’ after ‘‘$400’’ and after

13 ‘‘$200’’;

14 (2) by redesignating clauses (ii) and (iii) as

15 clauses (iii) and (iv) respectively; and

16 (3) by inserting after clause (i) the following

17 new clause:

18 ‘‘(ii) The dollar amounts specified in clause (i)(II)

19 shall be reduced by 50 percent if the Commissioner is also

20 required to make a payment to the institution with respect

21 to the same individual under an agreement entered into

22 under section 202(x)(3)(B).’’.

23 (b) EXPANSION OF CATEGORIES OF INSTITUTIONS

24 ELIGIBLE TO ENTER INTO AGREEMENTS WITH THE COM25 MISSIONER.—Section 1611(e)(1)(I)(i) of such Act (42
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1 U.S.C. 1382(e)(1)(I)(i)) is amended in the matter pre2 ceding subclause (I) by striking ‘‘institution’’ and all that

3 follows through ‘‘section 202(x)(1)(A),’’ and inserting ‘‘in4 stitution comprising a jail, prison, penal institution, or

5 correctional facility, or with any other interested State or

6 local institution a purpose of which is to confine individ7 uals as described in section 202(x)(1)(A)(ii),’’.

8 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by

9 this section shall take effect as if included in the enact10 ment of section 203(a) of the Personal Responsibility and

11 Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (Public Law

12 104–193; 110 Stat. 2186). The reference to section

13 202(x)(1)(A)(ii) of the Social Security Act in section

14 1611(e)(1)(I)(i) of such Act as amended by subsection (b)

15 shall be deemed a reference to such section

16 202(x)(1)(A)(ii) as amended by section 3(a)(3).

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