I

106TH 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 6, 1999

Mr. PAUL 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 ‘‘Freedom and Privacy

3 Restoration Act of 1999’’.

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

6 (a) REPEAL OF PROVISIONS AUTHORIZING USE OF

7 THE SOCIAL SECURITY ACCOUNT NUMBER.—Subpara8 graph (C) of section 205(c)(2) of the Social Security Act

9 (42 U.S.C. 405(c)(2)(C)) is amended by striking ‘‘(C)(i)

10 It is the policy’’ and all that follows through clause (vi)

11 and inserting the following:

12 ‘‘(C)(i) Except as otherwise provided in this para13 graph, no agency or instrumentality of the Federal Gov14 ernment, any State, any political subdivision of a State,

15 or any combination of the foregoing may use a social secu16 rity account number issued under this subsection or any

17 derivative of such a number as the means of identifying

18 any individual.

19 ‘‘(ii) Clause (i) shall not apply with respect to the

20 use of the social security account number as an identifying

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

22 Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to use of the so23 cial security account number for social security and relat24 ed purposes).

25 ‘‘(iii) If and to the extent that any provision of Fed26 eral law enacted before January 1, 2001, is inconsistent
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1 with the policy set forth in clause (i), such provision shall,

2 on and after such date, be null, void, and of no effect.’’.

3 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—

4 (1) Clauses (vii) and (viii) of section

5 205(c)(2)(D) of such Act (42 U.S.C.

6 405(c)(2)(D)(vii) and (viii)) are redesignated as

7 clauses (iv) and (v), respectively.

8 (2) Subsection (d) of section 6109 of the Inter9 nal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended—

10 (A) in the heading, by inserting ‘‘FOR SO11 CIAL SECURITY AND RELATED PURPOSES’’

12 after ‘‘NUMBER’’; and

13 (B) by striking ‘‘this title’’ and inserting

14 ‘‘section 86, chapter 2, and subtitle C of this

15 title’’.

16 SEC. 3. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS TO PRIVACY ACT OF

17 1974.

18 Section 7 of the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a

19 note, 88 Stat. 1909) is amended—

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

21 and inserting the following:

22 ‘‘(2) The provisions of paragraph (1) of this sub23 section shall not apply with respect to any disclosure which

24 is required under regulations of the Commissioner of So25 cial Security pursuant to section 205(c)(2) of the Social
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1 Security Act or under regulations of the Secretary of the

2 Treasury pursuant to section 6109(d) of the Internal Rev3 enue Code of 1986.’’;

4 and

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

6 following:

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

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

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

10 State, or any combination of the foregoing may request

11 an individual to disclose his social security account num12 ber, on either a mandatory or voluntary basis.’’.

13 SEC. 4. PROHIBITION OF GOVERNMENT-WIDE UNIFORM

14 IDENTIFYING NUMBERS.

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—Except as authorized under sec16 tion 205(c)(2) of the Social Security Act, any two agencies

17 or instrumentalities of the Federal Government may not

18 implement the same identifying number with respect to

19 any individual.

20 (b) IDENTIFYING NUMBERS.—For purposes of this

21 section—

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

23 to an individual means any combination of alpha-nu24 meric symbols which serves to identify such individ25 ual, and
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1 (2) any identifying number and any one or

2 more derivatives of such number shall be treated as

3 the same identifying number.

4 SEC. 5. PROHIBITION OF GOVERNMENT-ESTABLISHED

5 IDENTIFIERS.

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subsection (b), a Fed7 eral agency may not—

8 (1) establish or mandate a uniform standard

9 for identification of an individual that is required to

10 be used by any other Federal agency, a State agen11 cy, or a private person for any purpose other than

12 the purpose of conducting the authorized activities

13 of the Federal agency establishing or mandating the

14 standard; or

15 (2) condition receipt of any Federal grant or

16 contract or other Federal funding on the adoption,

17 by a State, a State agency, or a political subdivision

18 of a State, of a uniform standard for identification

19 of an individual.

20 (b) TRANSACTIONS BETWEEN PRIVATE PERSONS.—

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

22 establish or mandate a uniform standard for identification

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

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

25 or a private person, for the purpose of—
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1 (1) investigating, monitoring, overseeing, or

2 otherwise regulating a transaction to which the Fed3 eral Government is not a party; or

4 (2) administrative simplification.

5 (c) REPEALER.—Any provision of Federal law en6 acted before, on, or after the date of the enactment of

7 this Act that is inconsistent with subsection (a) or (b) is

8 repealed, including sections 1173(b) and 1177(a)(1) of the

9 Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1320d–2(b); 42 U.S.C.

10 1320d–6(a)(1)) and section 656 of the Illegal Immigration

11 Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (5

12 U.S.C. 301 note).

13 (d) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section:

14 (1) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ means any

15 of the following:

16 (A) An Executive agency (as defined in

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

18 (B) A military department (as defined in

19 section 102 of such title).

20 (C) An agency in the executive branch of

21 a State government.

22 (D) An agency in the legislative branch of

23 the Government of the United States or a State

24 government.
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1 (E) An agency in the judicial branch of the

2 Government of the United States or a State

3 government.

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

5 the several States, the District of Columbia, the Vir6 gin Islands, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico,

7 Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the

8 Northern Mariana Islands, the Republic of the Mar9 shall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, or

10 the Republic of Palau.

11 SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE.

12 The provisions of this Act, including the amendments

13 made thereby, shall take effect January 1, 2001.

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