I

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 502

To amend the Social Security Act to require the Secretary of Health and

Human Services to establish a program to verify employee social security

information, and to require employers to use the program.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JANUARY 13, 1995

Mr. CALVERT (for himself, Mr. HASTERT, Ms. MOLINARI, Mr. ROHRABACHER,

Mr. MANZULLO, Mr. CASTLE, Mr. HUNTER, Mr. CUNNINGHAM, Mr.

SAXTON, Mr. CANADY of Florida, Mr. SKEEN, Mr. MOORHEAD, Mr.

HOLDEN, Mr. BONO, Mr. MCKEON, and Mr. LAUGHLIN) introduced the

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means

A BILL

To amend the Social Security Act to require the Secretary

of Health and Human Services to establish a program

to verify employee social security information, and to

require employers to use the program.

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 Ac5 count Number Anti-Fraud Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. STATEMENT OF PURPOSE.

7 The purposes of this Act are—
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1 (1) to require the Social Security Administration and

2 the Immigration and Naturalization Service to establish

3 a system that allows employers to verify social security

4 account numbers of employees; and

5 (2) to reduce the use of fraudulent social security

6 documents for employment purposes.

7 SEC. 3. SOCIAL SECURITY ACCOUNT NUMBER ANTI-FRAUD

8 PROGRAM.

9 Section 205 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.

10 405) is amended by adding at the end the following new

11 subsection:

12 ‘‘Verification of Employee Social Security Account

13 Numbers

14 ‘‘(u)(1)(A) Not later than 2 years after the date of

15 the enactment of the Social Security Account Number

16 Anti-Fraud Act, the Secretary, in consultation with the

17 Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization and the

18 Secretary of Labor, shall establish a program under

19 which—

20 ‘‘(i) each American employer, either by tele21 phone through use of a toll-free telephone number or

22 by other electronic device—

23 ‘‘(I) shall transmit the social security ac24 count number and name of each new employee

25 of the employer, and any other information con-
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1 cerning the employee that the Secretary re2 quires by regulation, to the Secretary not later

3 than 72 hours after the commencement of em4 ployment of the employee; and

5 ‘‘(II) may transmit the social security ac6 count number and name of any employee of the

7 employer to whom subclause (I) does not apply,

8 and any other information concerning the em9 ployee that the Secretary specifies by regula10 tion, to the Secretary; and

11 ‘‘(ii) notwithstanding any provision of section

12 552a of title 5, United States Code, the Secretary

13 shall, upon receiving the information transmitted

14 under clause (i), instantaneously notify the employer

15 that there is or is not a discrepancy concerning the

16 information, by sending a communication to the

17 same electronic device through which the informa18 tion was transmitted to the Secretary.

19 ‘‘(B)(i) With respect to each employee social security

20 account number that an employer transmits under the

21 program established under this paragraph, the Secretary

22 shall give the employer—

23 (I) a verification number; and
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1 (II) a number indicating whether there is or is

2 not a discrepancy concerning the employee social se3 curity account number.

4 ‘‘(ii) The Secretary shall maintain, for at least the

5 amount of time during which prosecution for crimes relat6 ing to fraudulent use of a social security account number

7 would be allowable under applicable statutes of limita8 tions, records of all contacts that occur under subpara9 graph (A) or (D) between the Secretary and an employer.

10 ‘‘(iii) Each employer shall maintain, for at least the

11 amount of time referred to in clause (ii), records of all

12 information (including numbers referred to in clause (i))

13 provided to the employer under this subsection with re14 spect to any employee social security account number, or

15 any other employee-related information, submitted pursu16 ant to subparagraph (A)(i). The employer shall make such

17 records available, upon request, for inspection by the Sec18 retary or the designee of the Secretary for purposes of

19 evaluating the compliance of the employer with this sub20 section.

21 ‘‘(C) The Secretary shall establish guidelines to de22 scribe the characteristics that constitute a discrepancy

23 concerning a social security account number transmitted

24 to the Secretary under the program established under this

25 paragraph. Under the guidelines, a discrepancy concerning
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1 a social security account number shall be indicated if any

2 of the following factors is present regarding the number:

3 ‘‘(i) An invalid social security account number.

4 ‘‘(ii) A social security account number submit5 ted for verification under the program with a name

6 that does not belong to the correct holder of the so7 cial security account number.

8 ‘‘(iii) Unusually frequent use of a social security

9 account number.

10 ‘‘(iv) Use of a social security account number in

11 geographically distant locations within a relatively

12 short period of time.

13 ‘‘(v) Any other factor that the Secretary deter14 mines to be appropriate.

15 ‘‘(D) If a discrepancy concerning the social security

16 account number of an employee is indicated under the pro17 gram established under this paragraph—

18 ‘‘(i) the Secretary shall notify the Commissioner

19 of Immigration and Naturalization, within 24 hours

20 after the discrepancy is indicated, of—

21 ‘‘(I) the fact that a discrepancy has been

22 indicated regarding the employee; and

23 ‘‘(II) the nature of the discrepancy;
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1 ‘‘(ii) the Secretary may not, pursuant to this

2 subsection, notify the employer of the nature of the

3 discrepancy;

4 ‘‘(iii) an employer notified of the discrepancy

5 under subparagraph (A)(ii) shall notify the employee

6 that a discrepancy has been indicated within 3 days

7 after the employer receives the notification;

8 ‘‘(iv) the employee shall contact an office of the

9 Social Security Administration within 3 days after

10 being notified of the discrepancy under clause (iii);

11 ‘‘(v) the Secretary shall notify the employee of

12 the nature of the discrepancy, upon request by the

13 employee to the Secretary (including a request made

14 to an office of the Social Security Administration);

15 ‘‘(vi) the Secretary shall notify the employee,

16 the current employer of the employee, and the Com17 missioner of Immigration and Naturalization, in

18 writing, of the resolution or confirmation of the dis19 crepancy, within 30 days after the employee contacts

20 the Social Security Administration under clause (iv);

21 ‘‘(vii) the current employer of the employee

22 shall reverify the social security account number

23 through the program established under this para24 graph within 10 days after the Secretary notifies the
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1 employer, under clause (vi), that the discrepancy has

2 been resolved; and

3 ‘‘(viii) unless the Secretary notifies the em4 ployer, under clause (vi), that the discrepancy has

5 been confirmed, the employer may not take any ac6 tion to penalize the employee based on the discrep7 ancy.

8 ‘‘(E)(i) The Secretary may not charge a fee to any

9 employer or employee in connection with the utilization of

10 the program established under this paragraph.

11 ‘‘(ii) No employer may charge a fee to—

12 ‘‘(I) an employee of the employer in connection

13 with the utilization of the program; or

14 ‘‘(II) a job applicant in connection with, or an15 ticipation of, utilization of the program.

16 ‘‘(2) The Secretary may by regulation exempt any

17 employer from the obligation to use the program estab18 lished under paragraph (1) regarding any employee whose

19 employment with the employer includes only the perform20 ance of services described in subparagraph (B) or (C) of

21 section 209(a)(6) for remuneration described in such sub22 paragraph.

23 ‘‘(3)(A) Failure by an employer to comply with para24 graph (1) of this subsection shall be considered to be a

25 violation of section 274A(a)(1)(A) of the Immigration and
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1 Naturalization Act (8 U.S.C. 1324a(a)(1)(A)), for pur2 poses of section 274A(e) of such Act, as modified by sub3 paragraph (B) of this paragraph.

4 ‘‘(B) For purposes of subparagraph (A), section

5 274A(e) of the Immigration and Naturalization Act (8

6 U.S.C. 1324a(e)) shall be applied by substituting the term

7 ‘employee’ for the term ‘unauthorized alien’ in clause (i)

8 of section 274A(e)(4)(A) of such Act, and for the term

9 ‘alien’ in clauses (ii) and (iii) of such section.

10 ‘‘(4)(A) Any person or business who knowingly and

11 willfully requests or obtains any record, or information,

12 from or under the program established under paragraph

13 (1) under false pretenses shall be guilty of an infraction

14 and shall be subject to a fine as provided in title 18, Unit15 ed States Code.

16 ‘‘(B) The penalties described in section 552a(i) of

17 title 5, United States Code, shall not apply to an activity

18 that is subject to a penalty under subparagraph (A).

19 ‘‘(5) The Secretary shall establish by regulation a

20 mechanism (such as the use of a personal identification

21 number or taxpayer identification number) by which the

22 Secretary may verify the identity of each employer trans23 mitting and receiving information under this subsection

24 and may ensure that each person who transmits or re25 ceives information under this subsection as if such person
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1 were an employer is an employer who is legitimately enti2 tled to use the program established under this subsection.

3 ‘‘(6) The Secretary shall establish a toll-free number

4 through which an employee may contact an office of the

5 Social Security Administration as required by paragraph

6 (1)(D)(iv).

7 ‘‘(7) For purposes of this subsection:

8 ‘‘(A) The term ‘American employer’ has the

9 meaning given the term in section 210(e), as such

10 section may from time to time be amended, except

11 that the terms ‘State’ and ‘United States’ within

12 such section shall have the meaning given the term

13 ‘United States’ in subparagraph (D) of this para14 graph.

15 ‘‘(B) The term ‘employee’ has the meaning

16 given the term in section 210(j), as such section may

17 from time to time be amended, and does not include

18 a job applicant.

19 ‘‘(C) The term ‘new employee’ means an em20 ployee who commences an employment more than 2

21 years after the date of the enactment of the Social

22 Security Account Number Anti-Fraud Act.

23 ‘‘(D) The term ‘United States’ has the meaning

24 given the term in section 101(38) of the Immigra-
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1 tion and Nationality Act, as such section may from

2 time to time be amended.’’.

3 SEC. 4. IMPLEMENTATION OF SOCIAL SECURITY ACCOUNT

4 NUMBER ANTI-FRAUD PROGRAM.

5 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM.—The Secretary

6 of Health and Human Services shall implement the Social

7 Security Account Number Anti-Fraud Program on a par8 tial and interim basis, as provided in this section, for a

9 period beginning not later than 180 days after the date

10 of the enactment of this Act and ending on the nationwide

11 implementation date.

12 (b) AVAILABILITY TO EMPLOYERS.—The Secretary

13 shall make the Social Security Account Number Anti14 Fraud Program, as implemented under subsection (a),

15 available to all employers in the States of California, Flor16 ida, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, and Texas.

17 (c) REPORT ON INITIAL IMPLEMENTATION.—Not

18 later than 45 days after the expiration of the first 12-

19 month period in which the Social Security Account Num20 ber Anti-Fraud Program is implemented under subsection

21 (a), the Secretary shall submit to the Congress a report

22 that contains—

23 (1) an evaluation of the effectiveness of the So24 cial Security Account Number Anti-Fraud Program
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1 as the program is implemented under subsections (a)

2 and (b) of this section; and

3 (2) a description of any cooperation between the

4 Social Security Administration and the Immigration

5 and Naturalization Service regarding the program.

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

7 (1) The term ‘‘nationwide implementation date’’

8 means the date on which the Secretary establishes

9 the program required by subsection (u)(1)(A) of sec10 tion 205 of the Social Security Act (as added by this

11 Act).

12 (2) The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary

13 of Health and Human Services.

14 (3) The term ‘‘Social Security Account Number

15 Anti-Fraud Program’’ means the program estab16 lished under subsection (u) of section 205 of the So17 cial Security Act (as added by this Act), but does

18 not include paragraph (1)(A)(i)(I) or (3) of such

19 subsection.

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