I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 50 

To protect seniors from identity theft and strengthen our national security 

by providing for the issuance of a secure Social Security card. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 6, 2009 

Mr. KIRK (for himself and Mr. ROSKAM) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means 

A BILL 

To protect seniors from identity theft and strengthen our 

national security by providing for the issuance of a secure Social Security card. 

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 ‘‘Social Security Iden5 tity Theft Prevention Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. UPDATED AND SECURE SOCIAL SECURITY CARDS. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 205(c)(2)(G) of the Social 

8 Security Act (42 U.S.C. 405(c)(2)(G)) is amended— 

9 (1) by inserting ‘‘(i)’’ after ‘‘(G)’’; 


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1 (2) in the last sentence, by striking ‘‘shall be 

2 made of banknote paper, and’’; and 

3 (3) by adding at the end the following new 

4 clauses: 

5 ‘‘(ii) A social security card issued pursuant to clause 

6 (i) of this subparagraph to an individual described in sub7 paragraph (B)(ii) shall— 

8 ‘‘(I) be made of tamperproof and wear-resistant 

9 material; 

10 ‘‘(II) have clearly marked on its face the name 

11 and social security account number of the individual 

12 to whom the card is issued; 

13 ‘‘(III) in the case of a card issued to an indi14 vidual after attaining age 16, display a digital 

15 image, captured directly by an officer or employee of 

16 the Social Security Administration acting in his or 

17 her official capacity, of the person to whom the so18 cial security account number was issued and the 

19 date on which that image was captured; and 

20 ‘‘(IV) contain an encrypted, machine-readable 

21 electronic record which shall include records of bio22 metric identifiers unique to the individual to whom 

23 the card is issued, including a copy of any digitized 

24 facial image printed on the face of the card pursuant 

25 to subclause (III). 


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1 ‘‘(iii) The Commissioner shall take such actions as 

2 are necessary to ensure that replacement cards meeting 

3 the requirements of clause (ii)(III) are issued to individ4 uals upon attaining age 16. 

5 ‘‘(iv) The Commissioner may charge a reasonable fee 

6 to the recipient as a condition for issuance of a social secu7 rity card under this subparagraph to an individual de8 scribed in subparagraph (B)(ii). Fees charged under this 

9 clause shall be in amounts not greater than amounts nec10 essary to meet the administrative costs attributable to the 

11 requirements of clauses (ii) and (iii) of this subparagraph. 

12 Amounts received by the Commissioner under this clause 

13 shall be deposited in the Federal Old-Age and Survivors 

14 Insurance Trust Fund and shall be available for use by 

15 the Commissioner solely for purposes of meeting such re16 quirements.’’. 

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

18 subsection (a) of this section shall apply with respect to 

19 social security cards issued after 2 years after the date 

20 of the enactment of this Act. Nothing in this Act or the 

21 amendments made thereby shall be construed to require 

22 the reissuance of a social security card that has been 

23 issued during or prior to such 2-year period in a form that 

24 meets the standards established in such amendments, un25 less the reissuance of such card is determined by the ComVerDate Nov 24 2008 06:03 Jan 08, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H50.IH H50

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1 missioner of Social Security to be necessary by reason of 

2 loss or theft of, or damage to, the card. 

Æ 


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