I
104TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 3809
To improve the ability of the United States Government to collect debts
owed to it, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JULY 12, 1996
Mr. PALLONE (for himself, Mr. WYNN, Mr. KLUG, Mr. CANADY of Florida,
and Mr. PORTER) 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 juris-
diction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To improve the ability of the United States Government
to collect debts owed to it, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Debt Collection Act
Amendments of 1995’’.
SEC. 2. IMPROVED DEBT COLLECTION PRACTICES.
(a) USE OF CONTRACTORS SPECIALIZING IN DEBT
COLLECTION.—Section 3718(a) of title 31, United States
Code, is amended by striking ‘‘Under conditions’’ and all
that follows through ‘‘make’’ and inserting ‘‘The head of
an executive or legislative agency shall make’’.
(b) SALARY OFFSET.—Subsection (a)(1) of section
5514 of title 5, United States Code, is amended by strik-
ing ‘‘may be collected’’ and inserting ‘‘shall be collected’’.
(c) DISCLOSURE TO CONSUMER REPORTING AGEN-
CIES.—Subsection (f)(1) of section 3711 of title 31, Unit-
ed States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘may disclose’’
and inserting ‘‘shall disclose’’.
(d) ADMINISTRATIVE OFFSETS.—Subsection (a) of
section 3716 of title 31, United States Code, is amended
by striking ‘‘may’’ the first place it appears and inserting
‘‘shall’’.
(e) REPORT TO THE INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE
OF DEBTS PAID IN FULL.—Subchapter II of chapter 37
of title 31, United States Code, is amended by adding at
the end the following new section:
‘‘§ 3720B. Report to the Internal Revenue Service of
Debts Paid in Full
‘‘The head of a Federal agency shall report any debt
that has been paid in full to the Internal Revenue Service
promptly after the agency has determined that the debt
has been paid in full.’’.
of the United States. Notwithstanding the preceding sen-
tence, a percentage (which is hereafter specified by law)
of the amount recovered through such a contract shall be
paid to the agency on whose behalf such amount was re-
covered for use by such agency in collecting indebtedness
owed to such agency.’’
SEC. 3. IMPROVED LOAN ORIGINATION PROCEDURES.
(a) IMPROVED PRESCREENING PROCEDURES.—
(1) Chapter 97 of title 31, United States Code,
is amended by adding at the end the following new
section:
‘‘§ 9704. Improved prescreening procedures
‘‘The head of a Federal agency may not make a loan
to a loan applicant until the applicant has been
prescreened to determine if the applicant is creditworthy.
The determination of creditworthiness shall include an
evaluation of the ability and willingness of the applicant
to repay the debt, the agency’s level of acceptable risk,
other agency or Federal Government obligations that
could jeopardize or be jeopardized by the loan under con-
sideration, and the existence of other debts owed by the
loan applicant to the Federal Government, including a tax
delinquent account with the Internal Revenue Service.’’.
(2) Section 6103(m)(2)(A) of the Internal Rev-
enue Code of 1986 is amended by striking ‘‘the Sec-
retary may’’ and inserting ‘‘the Secretary shall’’.
(b) DENIAL OF CREDIT TO APPLICANTS WITH DE-
LINQUENT DEBTS.—Chapter 97 of title 31, United States
Code, as amended by subsection (a), is further amended
by adding at the end the following new section:
‘‘§ 9705. Denial of credit to applicants with delin-
quent debts
‘‘The head of a Federal agency may not make a loan
to a loan applicant who owes a delinquent debt to the Fed-
eral Government, including the Internal Revenue Serv-
ice.’’.
SEC. 4. USE OF ADMINISTRATIVE CHARGES TO IMPROVE
CREDIT MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES.
Section 3717 of title 31, United States Code, is
amended by adding at the end the following new sub-
section:
‘‘(i) The Secretary shall deposit in a special fund any
amounts received by a Federal agency to cover the cost
of processing and handling delinquent claims under sub-
section (e). The Secretary shall, without further appro-
priation and upon request by the agency, disburse money
from such fund to the agency solely for the use of improv-
ing credit management techniques, except that the access
of each agency to funds in the special account shall be
limited to the amount that the agency received to cover
the cost of processing and handling delinquent claims
under subsection (e).’’.
SEC. 5. TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS.
(a) CHAPTER 37 AMENDMENTS.—The table of sec-
tions at the beginning of chapter 37 of title 31, United
States Code, is amended by inserting after the item relat-
ing to section 3720A the following new item:
‘‘3720B. Report to the Internal Revenue Service of debts paid in full.’’.
(b) CHAPTER 97 AMENDMENTS.—The table of sec-
tions at the beginning of chapter 97 of title 31, United
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the follow-
ing new items:
‘‘9704. Improved prescreening procedures.
‘‘9705. Denial of credit to applicants with delinquent debts.’’.
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