I
105TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 231
To improve the integrity of the Social Security card and to provide for
criminal penalties for fraud and related activity involving work authoriza-
tion documents for purposes of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY 7, 1997
Mr. MCCOLLUM (for himself, Mr. SCHUMER, Mr. STENHOLM, Mr. HORN, Mr.
GALLEGLY, Mr. CANADY of Florida, Mr. HUNTER, Mr. FRANK of Massa-
chusetts, Mr. ACKERMAN, Mr. BEREUTER, Mr. BILBRAY, Mr. BRYANT,
Mr. CAMPBELL, Mr. CUNNINGHAM, Mr. DEFAZIO, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of
Texas, Mr. KIM, Mr. LAFALCE, Mr. LATOURETTE, Mr. PACKARD, Mr.
ROHRABACHER, Mr. SHAYS, Mr. STARK, Mr. TRAFICANT, and Mr. WAX-
MAN) 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 pur-
poses of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
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SECTION 1. PROTECTING THE INTEGRITY OF THE SOCIAL
SECURITY ACCOUNT NUMBER CARD.
(a) IMPROVEMENTS TO CARD.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of carrying out
section 274A of the Immigration and Nationality
Act, the Commissioner of Social Security (in this
section referred to as the ‘‘Commissioner’’) shall
make such improvements to the physical design,
technical specifications, and materials of the social
security account number card as are necessary to
ensure that it is a genuine official document and
that it offers the best possible security against coun-
terfeiting, forgery, alteration, and misuse.
(2) PERFORMANCE
STANDARDS.—In making
the improvements required in paragraph (1), the
Commissioner shall—
(A) make the card as secure against coun-
terfeiting as the 100 dollar Federal Reserve
note, with a rate of counterfeit detection com-
parable to the 100 dollar Federal Reserve note,
and
(B) make the card as secure against fraud-
ulent use as a United States passport.
(3) REFERENCE.—In this section, the term ‘‘se-
cured social security account number card’’ means a
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social security account number card issued in ac-
cordance with the requirements of this subsection.
(4) EFFECTIVE DATE.—All social security ac-
count number cards issued after January 1, 2000,
whether new or replacement, shall be secured social
security account number cards.
(b) USE FOR EMPLOYMENT VERIFICATION.—Begin-
ning on January 1, 2006, a document described in section
274A(b)(1)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act is
a secured social security account number card (other than
such a card which specifies on the face that the issuance
of the card does not authorize employment in the United
States).
(c) NOT
A NATIONAL IDENTIFICATION CARD.—
Cards issued pursuant to this section shall not be required
to be carried upon one’s person, and nothing in this sec-
tion shall be construed as authorizing the establishment
of a national identification card.
(d) NO NEW DATABASES.—Nothing in this section
shall be construed as authorizing the establishment of any
new databases.
(e) EDUCATION CAMPAIGN.—The Commissioner of
Immigration and Naturalization, in consultation with the
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Commissioner of Social Security, shall conduct a com-
prehensive campaign to educate employers about the secu-
rity features of the secured social security card and how
to detect counterfeit or fraudulently used social security
account number cards.
(f) ANNUAL REPORTS.—The Commissioner of Social
Security shall submit to Congress by July 1 of each year
a report on—
(1) the progress and status of developing a se-
cured social security account number card under this
section,
(2) the incidence of counterfeit production and
fraudulent use of social security account number
cards, and
(3) the steps being taken to detect and prevent
such counterfeiting and fraud.
(g) GAO ANNUAL AUDITS.—The Comptroller Gen-
eral shall perform an annual audit, the results of which
are to be presented to the Congress by January 1 of each
year, on the performance of the Social Security Adminis-
tration in meeting the requirements in subsection (a).
(h) EXPENSES.—No costs incurred in developing and
issuing cards under this section that are above the costs
that would have been incurred for cards issued in the ab-
sence of this section shall be paid for out of any Trust
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Fund established under the Social Security Act. There are
authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be nec-
essary to carry out this section.
SEC. 2. CRIMINAL PENALTIES FOR FRAUD AND RELATED
ACTIVITY 
WITH 
WORK 
AUTHORIZATION
DOCUMENTS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1028 of title 18, United
States Code, is amended—
(1) in subsection (a)—
(A) in paragraphs (1) and (2) by striking
‘‘an identification document or a false identi-
fication document’’ each place it appears and
inserting ‘‘an identification document, false
identification document, work authorization
document, or false work authorization docu-
ment’’;
(B) in paragraph (3) by striking ‘‘identi-
fication documents (other than those issued
lawfully for the use of the possessor) or false
identification documents’’ and inserting ‘‘identi-
fication or work authorization documents (other
than those issued lawfully for the use of the
possessor) or false identification or work au-
thorization documents’’;
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(ii) by inserting ‘‘or’’ at the end of
clause (ii); and
(iii) by inserting the following new
clause after clause (ii):
‘‘(iii) a work authorization docu-
ment;’’; and
(C) by striking ‘‘identification documents
or false identification documents’’ in subpara-
graph (B) and inserting ‘‘identification docu-
ments, false identification documents, work au-
thorization documents, or false work authoriza-
tion documents’’;
(3) in subsection (b)(2)(A) by striking ‘‘an
identification document or false identification docu-
ment’’ and inserting ‘‘an identification document,
false identification document, work authorization
document, or false work authorization document’’;
(4) in subsection (c)—
(A) by striking ‘‘identification document or
false identification document’’ each place it ap-
pears in paragraph (1) and inserting ‘‘identi-
fication document, false identification docu-
ment, work authorization document, or false
work authorization document’’; and
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(B) by adding ‘‘work authorization docu-
ment, false work authorization document,’’ after
‘‘false identification document,’’ in paragraph
(3); and
(5) in subsection (d)—
(A) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of para-
graph (4);
(B) by striking the period at the end of
paragraph (5) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and
(C) by inserting after paragraph (5) the
following new paragraph:
‘‘(6) the term ‘work authorization document’
means 
any 
document 
described 
in 
section
274A(b)(1)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality
Act.’’.
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The heading for
section 1028 of title 18, United States Code, is amended
to read as follows:
‘‘§ 1028. Fraud and related activity in connection
with identification and work authoriza-
tion documents’’.
(c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The item relating to
section 1028 in the table of sections at the beginning of
chapter 47 of title 18, United States Code, is amended
to read as follows:
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‘‘1028. Fraud and related activity in connection with identification and work au-
thorization documents.’’.
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