II

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2554

To amend title XI of the Social Security Act to prohibit the display of

an individual’s social security number for commercial purposes without

the consent of the individual.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MAY 15, 2000

Mr. GREGG (for himself and Mr. DODD) introduced the following bill; which

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance

A BILL

To amend title XI of the Social Security Act to prohibit

the display of an individual’s social security number for

commercial purposes without the consent of the individual.

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 ‘‘Amy Boyer’s Law’’.
2

•S 2554 IS

1 SEC. 2. PROTECTING PRIVACY BY PROHIBITING DISPLAY

2 OF THE SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER TO THE

3 GENERAL PUBLIC FOR COMMERCIAL PUR4 POSES WITHOUT CONSENT.

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Part A of title XI of the Social

6 Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1301 et seq.) is amended by add7 ing at the end the following:

8 ‘‘PROHIBITION OF CERTAIN MISUSES OF THE SOCIAL

9 SECURITY NUMBER

10 ‘‘SEC. 1150A. (a) LIMITATION ON DISPLAY.—Except

11 as otherwise provided in this section, no person may dis12 play to the public any individual’s social security number,

13 or any identifiable derivative of such number, without the

14 affirmatively expressed consent, electronically or in writ15 ing, of such individual.

16 ‘‘(b) PROHIBITION OF WRONGFUL USE AS PER17 SONAL IDENTIFICATION NUMBER.—No person may obtain

18 any individual’s social security number, or any identifiable

19 derivative of such number, for purposes of locating or

20 identifying an individual with the intent to physically in21 jure, harm, or use the identity of the individual for illegal

22 purposes.

23 ‘‘(c) PREREQUISITES FOR CONSENT.—In order for

24 consent to exist under subsection (a), the person dis25 playing, or seeking to display, an individual’s social secu-
3

•S 2554 IS

1 rity number, or any identifiable derivative of such number,

2 shall—

3 ‘‘(1) inform the individual of the general pur4 poses for which the number will be utilized and the

5 types of persons to whom the number may be avail6 able; and

7 ‘‘(2) obtain affirmatively expressed consent elec8 tronically or in writing.

9 ‘‘(d) EXCEPTIONS.—Nothing in this section shall be

10 construed to—

11 ‘‘(1) prohibit any use of social security numbers

12 permitted or required under section 205(c)(2), sec13 tion 7(a)(2) of the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C.

14 552a note; 88 Stat. 1909), or section 6109(d) of the

15 Internal Revenue Code of 1986;

16 ‘‘(2) modify, limit, or supersede the operation

17 of, or the conduct of any activity permitted under,

18 the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681 et

19 seq.) or title V of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (15

20 U.S.C. 6801 et seq.);

21 ‘‘(3) except as set forth in subsection (b), pro22 hibit or limit the use of a social security number to

23 retrieve information about an individual without dis24 playing such number to the public;
4

•S 2554 IS

1 ‘‘(4) prohibit or limit the use of the social secu2 rity number for purposes of law enforcement, includ3 ing investigation of fraud; or

4 ‘‘(5) prohibit or limit the use of a social secu5 rity number obtained from a public record or docu6 ment lawfully acquired from a governmental agency.

7 ‘‘(e) CIVIL ACTION IN UNITED STATES DISTRICT

8 COURT; DAMAGES; ATTORNEYS FEES AND COSTS; REGU9 LATORY COORDINATION.—

10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Any individual aggrieved

11 by any act of any person in violation of this section

12 may bring a civil action in a United States district

13 court to recover—

14 ‘‘(A) such preliminary and equitable relief

15 as the court determines to be appropriate; and

16 ‘‘(B) the greater of—

17 ‘‘(i) actual damages;

18 ‘‘(ii) liquidated damages of $2,500; or

19 ‘‘(iii) in the case of a violation that

20 was willful and resulted in profit or mone21 tary gain, liquidated damages of $10,000.

22 ‘‘(2) ATTORNEY’S FEES AND COSTS.—In the

23 case of a civil action brought under paragraph

24 (1)(B)(iii) in which the aggrieved individual has sub25 stantially prevailed, the court may assess against the
5

•S 2554 IS

1 respondent a reasonable attorney’s fee and other liti2 gation costs and expenses (including expert fees)

3 reasonably incurred.

4 ‘‘(3) STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS.—No action

5 may be commenced under this subsection more than

6 3 years after the date on which the violation was or

7 should reasonably have been discovered by the ag8 grieved individual.

9 ‘‘(4) NONEXCLUSIVE REMEDY.—The remedy

10 provided under this subsection shall be in addition to

11 any other lawful remedy available to the individual.

12 ‘‘(f) CIVIL MONEY PENALTIES.—

13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Any person who the Com14 missioner of Social Security determines has violated

15 this section shall be subject, in addition to any other

16 penalties that may be prescribed by law, to—

17 ‘‘(A) a civil money penalty of not more

18 than $5,000 for each such violation, and

19 ‘‘(B) a civil money penalty of not more

20 than $50,000, if violations have occurred with

21 such frequency as to constitute a general busi22 ness practice.

23 ‘‘(2) DETERMINATION OF VIOLATIONS.— Any

24 willful violation committed contemporaneously with

25 respect to the social security numbers of 2 or more
6

•S 2554 IS

1 individuals by means of mail, telecommunication, or

2 otherwise shall be treated as a separate violation

3 with respect to each such individual.

4 ‘‘(3) ENFORCEMENT PROCEDURES.—The provi5 sions of section 1128A (other than subsections (a),

6 (b), (f), (h), (i), (j), and (m), and the first sentence

7 of subsection (c)) and the provisions of subsections

8 (d) and (e) of section 205 shall apply to civil money

9 penalties under this subsection in the same manner

10 as such provisions apply to a penalty or proceeding

11 under section 1128A(a), except that, for purposes of

12 this paragraph, any reference in section 1128A to

13 the Secretary shall be deemed a reference to the

14 Commissioner of Social Security.

15 ‘‘(4) COORDINATION WITH CRIMINAL ENFORCE16 MENT.—The Commissioner of Social Security shall

17 take such actions as are necessary and appropriate

18 to assure proper coordination of the enforcement of

19 the provisions of this section with criminal enforce20 ment under section 1028 of title 18, United States

21 Code (relating to fraud and related activity in con22 nection with identification documents). The Commis23 sioner shall enter into cooperative arrangements with

24 the Federal Trade Commission under section 5 of

25 the Identity Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act
7

•S 2554 IS

1 of 1998 (18 U.S.C. 1028 note) for purposes of

2 achieving such coordination.

3 ‘‘(g) LIMITATION ON REGULATION BY STATES.—No

4 requirement or prohibition may be imposed under the laws

5 of any State with respect to any subject matter regulated

6 under subsections (a) through (d).

7 ‘‘(h) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the term ‘dis8 play to the general public’ means the intentional placing

9 of an individual’s social security number, or identifying

10 portion thereof, in a viewable manner on a web site that

11 is available to the general public or in material made avail12 able or sold to the general public.’’.

13 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by

14 subsection (a) applies with respect to violations occurring

15 on and after the date which is 2 years after the date of

16 enactment of this Act.

Æ