I

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 3724

To improve the integrity of the Social Security card and to provide for

criminal penalties for fraud and related activity involving work authorization documents for purposes of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JUNE 26, 1996

Mr. MCCOLLUM (for himself, Mr. SCHUMER, Mr. STENHOLM, Mr. HORN, Mr.

LEVIN, Mr. CANADY of Florida, Mr. HUNTER, Mr. BEILENSON, Mr.

FRANK of Massachusetts, Mr. BOUCHER, Mr. BILBRAY, Mr. BRYANT of

Tennessee, Mr. CAMPBELL, Mr. CLYBURN, Mr. GILLMOR, Mr. HASTINGS

of Washington, Mr. KIM, Mr. MCKEON, Mr. MILLER of California, Mr.

MONTGOMERY, Mrs. ROUKEMA, Mr. SHAYS, Mr. TRAFICANT, Mr. WAXMAN, and Mr. WILSON) introduced the following bill; which was referred

to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on

Ways and Means, 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 improve the integrity of the Social Security card and

to provide for criminal penalties for fraud and related

activity involving work authorization documents for purposes of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

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. PROTECTING THE INTEGRITY OF THE SOCIAL

2 SECURITY ACCOUNT NUMBER CARD.

3 (a) IMPROVEMENTS TO CARD.—

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of carrying out

5 section 274A of the Immigration and Nationality

6 Act, the Commissioner of Social Security (in this

7 section referred to as the ‘‘Commissioner’’) shall

8 make such improvements to the physical design,

9 technical specifications, and materials of the social

10 security account number card as are necessary to

11 ensure that it is a genuine official document and

12 that it offers the best possible security against coun13 terfeiting, forgery, alteration, and misuse.

14 (2) PERFORMANCE STANDARDS.—In making

15 the improvements required in paragraph (1), the

16 Commissioner shall—

17 (A) make the card as secure against coun18 terfeiting as the 100 dollar Federal Reserve

19 note, with a rate of counterfeit detection com20 parable to the 100 dollar Federal Reserve note,

21 and

22 (B) make the card as secure against fraud23 ulent use as a United States passport.

24 (3) REFERENCE.—In this section, the term ‘‘se25 cured social security account number card’’ means a
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1 social security account number card issued in ac2 cordance with the requirements of this subsection.

3 (4) EFFECTIVE DATE.—All social security ac4 count number cards issued after January 1, 1999,

5 whether new or replacement, shall be secured social

6 security account number cards.

7 (b) USE FOR EMPLOYMENT VERIFICATION.—Begin8 ning on January 1, 2006, a document described in section

9 274A(b)(1)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act is

10 a secured social security account number card (other than

11 such a card which specifies on the face that the issuance

12 of the card does not authorize employment in the United

13 States).

14 (c) NOT A NATIONAL IDENTIFICATION CARD.—

15 Cards issued pursuant to this section shall not be required

16 to be carried upon one’s person, and nothing in this sec17 tion shall be construed as authorizing the establishment

18 of a national identification card.

19 (d) NO NEW DATABASES.—Nothing in this section

20 shall be construed as authorizing the establishment of any

21 new databases.

22 (e) EDUCATION CAMPAIGN.—The Commissioner of

23 Immigration and Naturalization, in consultation with the

24 Commissioner of Social Security, shall conduct a com25 prehensive campaign to educate employers about the secu-
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1 rity features of the secured social security card and how

2 to detect counterfeit or fraudulently used social security

3 account number cards.

4 (f) ANNUAL REPORTS.—The Commissioner of Social

5 Security shall submit to Congress by July 1 of each year

6 a report on—

7 (1) the progress and status of developing a se8 cured social security account number card under this

9 section,

10 (2) the incidence of counterfeit production and

11 fraudulent use of social security account number

12 cards, and

13 (3) the steps being taken to detect and prevent

14 such counterfeiting and fraud.

15 (g) GAO ANNUAL AUDITS.—The Comptroller Gen16 eral shall perform an annual audit, the results of which

17 are to be presented to the Congress by January 1 of each

18 year, on the performance of the Social Security Adminis19 tration in meeting the requirements in subsection (a).

20 (h) EXPENSES.—No costs incurred in developing and

21 issuing cards under this section that are above the costs

22 that would have been incurred for cards issued in the ab23 sence of this section shall be paid for out of any Trust

24 Fund established under the Social Security Act. There are
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1 authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be nec2 essary to carry out this section.

3 SEC. 2. CRIMINAL PENALTIES FOR FRAUD AND RELATED

4 ACTIVITY WITH WORK AUTHORIZATION

5 DOCUMENTS.

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1028 of title 18, United

7 States Code, is amended—

8 (1) in subsection (a)—

9 (A) in paragraphs (1) and (2) by striking

10 ‘‘an identification document or a false identi11 fication document’’ each place it appears and

12 inserting ‘‘an identification document, false

13 identification document, work authorization

14 document, or false work authorization docu15 ment’’;

16 (B) in paragraph (3) by striking ‘‘identi17 fication documents (other than those issued

18 lawfully for the use of the possessor) or false

19 identification documents’’ and inserting ‘‘identi20 fication or work authorization documents (other

21 than those issued lawfully for the use of the

22 possessor) or false identification or work au23 thorization documents’’;

24 (C) in paragraph (4) by striking ‘‘an iden25 tification document (other than one issued law-
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1 fully for the use of the possessor) or a false

2 identification document’’ and inserting ‘‘an

3 identification or work authorization document

4 (other than one issued lawfully for the use of

5 the possessor) or a false identification or work

6 authorization document’’;

7 (D) in paragraph (5) by inserting ‘‘or in

8 the production of a false work authorization

9 document’’ after ‘‘false identification docu10 ment’’; and

11 (E) in paragraph (6) by inserting ‘‘or work

12 authorization document’’ after ‘‘identification

13 document’’ each place it appears;

14 (2) in subsection (b)(1)—

15 (A) by striking ‘‘an identification docu16 ment or false identification document’’ in sub17 paragraph (A) and inserting ‘‘an identification

18 document, false identification document, work

19 authorization document, or false work author20 ization document’’;

21 (B) in subparagraph (A)—

22 (i) by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of

23 clause (i);

24 (ii) by inserting ‘‘or’’ at the end of

25 clause (ii); and
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1 (iii) by inserting the following new

2 clause after clause (ii):

3 ‘‘(iii) a work authorization docu4 ment;’’; and

5 (C) by striking ‘‘identification documents

6 or false identification documents’’ in subpara7 graph (B) and inserting ‘‘identification docu8 ments, false identification documents, work au9 thorization documents, or false work authoriza10 tion documents’’;

11 (3) in subsection (b)(2)(A) by striking ‘‘an

12 identification document or false identification docu13 ment’’ and inserting ‘‘an identification document,

14 false identification document, work authorization

15 document, or false work authorization document’’;

16 (4) in subsection (c)—

17 (A) by striking ‘‘identification document or

18 false identification document’’ each place it ap19 pears in paragraph (1) and inserting ‘‘identi20 fication document, false identification docu21 ment, work authorization document, or false

22 work authorization document’’; and

23 (B) by adding ‘‘work authorization docu24 ment, false work authorization document,’’ after
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1 ‘‘false identification document,’’ in paragraph

2 (3); and

3 (5) in subsection (d)—

4 (A) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of para5 graph (4);

6 (B) by striking the period at the end of

7 paragraph (5) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and

8 (C) by inserting after paragraph (5) the

9 following new paragraph:

10 ‘‘(6) the term ‘work authorization document’

11 means any document described in section

12 274A(b)(1)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality

13 Act.’’.

14 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The heading for

15 section 1028 of title 18, United States Code, is amended

16 to read as follows:

17 ‘‘§ 1028. Fraud and related activity in connection

18 with identification and work authoriza19 tion documents’’.

20 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The item relating to

21 section 1028 in the table of sections at the beginning of

22 chapter 47 of title 18, United States Code, is amended

23 to read as follows:

‘‘1028. Fraud and related activity in connection with identification and work authorization documents.’’.

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