I
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 220
To amend title II of the Social Security Act and the Internal Revenue
Code of 1986 to protect the integrity and confidentiality of Social Secu-
rity account numbers issued under such title, to prohibit the establish-
ment in the Federal Government of any uniform national identifying
number, and to prohibit Federal agencies from imposing standards for
identification of individuals on other agencies or persons.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY 3, 2001
Mr. PAUL (for himself and Mr. BARTLETT of Maryland) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means,
and in addition to the Committee on Government Reform, for a period
to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consider-
ation of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee
concerned
A BILL
To amend title II of the Social Security Act and the Internal
Revenue Code of 1986 to protect the integrity and con-
fidentiality of Social Security account numbers issued
under such title, to prohibit the establishment in the
Federal Government of any uniform national identifying
number, and to prohibit Federal agencies from imposing
standards for identification of individuals on other agen-
cies or persons.
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 ‘‘Identity Theft Protec-
tion Act of 2001’’.
SEC. 2. RESTRICTIONS ON THE USE OF THE SOCIAL SECU-
RITY ACCOUNT NUMBER.
(a) REPEAL OF PROVISIONS AUTHORIZING CERTAIN
USAGES OF THE SOCIAL SECURITY ACCOUNT NUMBER.—
Section 205(c)(2) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.
405(c)(2)) is amended—
(1) in subparagraph (C), by striking ‘‘(C)(i) It
is the policy’’ and all that follows through clause
(vi);
(2) by striking subparagraphs (C)(ix), (E), and
(H); and
(3) by redesignating subparagraphs (F) and
(G) as subparagraphs (E) and (F), respectively.
(b) NEW RULES APPLICABLE TO SOCIAL SECURITY
ACCOUNT NUMBERS.—Section 205(c)(2) of such Act is
amended further—
(1) by inserting after subparagraph (B) the fol-
lowing:
‘‘(C)(i) All social security account numbers issued
under this subsection shall be randomly generated.
‘‘(ii) 
Except 
as 
otherwise 
provided 
in 
this
paragraph—
‘‘(I) the social security account number issued
under this subsection to any individual shall be the
exclusive property of such individual, and
‘‘(II) the Social Security Administration shall
not divulge the social security account number
issued to any individual under this subsection to any
agency or instrumentality of the Federal Govern-
ment, to any State, political subdivision of a State,
or agency or instrumentality of a State or political
subdivision thereof, or to any other individual.
‘‘(iii) Clause (ii) shall not apply with respect to the
use of the social security account number as an identifying
number to the extent provided in section 6109(d) of the
Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to use of the so-
cial security account number for social security and re-
lated purposes).’’; and
(2) by redesignating clauses (vii) and (viii) of
subparagraph (C) as clauses (iv) and (v), respec-
tively.
(c) USE OF SOCIAL SECURITY ACCOUNT NUMBERS
UNDER INTERNAL REVENUE CODE.—Subsection (d) of
section 6109 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is
amended—
(1) in the heading, by inserting ‘‘FOR SOCIAL
SECURITY AND RELATED PURPOSES’’ after ‘‘NUM-
BER’’; and
(2) by striking ‘‘this title’’ and inserting ‘‘sec-
tion 86, chapter 2, and subtitle C of this title’’.
(d) EFFECTIVE DATES AND RELATED RULES.—
(1) EFFECTIVE
DATES.—Not later than 60
days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the
Commissioner of Social Security shall publish in the
Federal Register the date determined by the Com-
missioner, in consultation with the Secretary of the
Treasury, to be the earliest date thereafter by which
implementation of the amendments made by this
section is practicable. The amendments made by
subsection (a) shall take effect on the earlier of such
date or the date which occurs 5 years after the date
of the enactment of this Act. The amendments made
by subsection (b) shall apply with respect to social
security account numbers issued on or after such
earlier date. The amendments made by subsection
(c) shall apply with respect to calendar quarters and
taxable years beginning on or after such earlier date.
(2) REISSUANCE OF NUMBERS.—The Commis-
sioner of Social Security shall ensure that, not later
than 5 years after the date of the enactment of this
Act, all individuals who have been issued social secu-
rity account numbers under section 205(c) of the
Social Security Act as of the date prior to the earlier
date specified in paragraph (1) are issued new social
security account numbers in accordance with such
section as amended by this section. Upon issuance of
such new social security account numbers, any social
security account numbers issued to such individuals
prior to such earlier date specified in paragraph (1)
shall be null and void and subject to the require-
ments of section 205(c)(2)(C)(ii)(II) of such Act, as
amended by this section. Nothing in this section or
the amendments made thereby shall be construed to
preclude the Social Security Administration and the
Secretary of the Treasury from cross-referencing
such social security account numbers newly issued to
individuals pursuant to this paragraph to the former
social security account numbers of such individuals
for purposes of administering title II or title XVI of
such Act or administering the Internal Revenue
Code of 1986 in connection with section 86, chapter
2, and subtitle C thereof.
SEC. 3. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS TO PRIVACY ACT OF
1974.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 7 of the Privacy Act of
1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a note, 88 Stat. 1909) is amended—
(1) in subsection (a), by striking paragraph (2)
and inserting the following:
‘‘(2) The provisions of paragraph (1) of this sub-
section shall not apply with respect to any disclosure which
is required under regulations of the Commissioner of So-
cial Security pursuant to section 205(c)(2) of the Social
Security Act or under regulations of the Secretary of the
Treasury pursuant to section 6109(d) of the Internal Rev-
enue Code of 1986.’’;
and
(2) by striking subsection (b) and inserting the
following:
‘‘(b) Except with respect to disclosures described in
subsection (a)(2), no agency or instrumentality of the
Federal Government, a State, a political subdivision of a
State, or any combination of the foregoing may request
an individual to disclose his social security account num-
ber, on either a mandatory or voluntary basis.’’.
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by
this section shall take effect on the earlier date specified
in section 2(d)(1).
SEC. 4. PROHIBITION OF GOVERNMENT-WIDE UNIFORM
IDENTIFYING NUMBERS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Except as authorized under sec-
tion 205(c)(2) of the Social Security Act, any two agencies
or instrumentalities of the Federal Government may not
implement the same identifying number with respect to
any individual.
(b) IDENTIFYING NUMBERS.—For purposes of this
section—
(1) the term ‘‘identifying number’’ with respect
to an individual means any combination of alpha-nu-
meric symbols which serves to identify such indi-
vidual, and
(2) any identifying number and any one or
more derivatives of such number shall be treated as
the same identifying number.
(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The provisions of this section
shall take effect January 1, 2003.
SEC. 
5. 
PROHIBITION 
OF 
GOVERNMENT-ESTABLISHED
IDENTIFIERS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subsection (b), a Fed-
eral agency may not—
(1) establish or mandate a uniform standard
for identification of an individual that is required to
be used by any other Federal agency, a State agen-
cy, or a private person for any purpose other than
the purpose of conducting the authorized activities
of the Federal agency establishing or mandating the
standard; or
(2) condition receipt of any Federal grant or
contract or other Federal funding on the adoption,
by a State, a State agency, or a political subdivision
of a State, of a uniform standard for identification
of an individual.
(b) TRANSACTIONS BETWEEN PRIVATE PERSONS.—
Notwithstanding subsection (a), a Federal agency may not
establish or mandate a uniform standard for identification
of an individual that is required to be used within the
agency, or by any other Federal agency, a State agency,
or a private person, for the purpose of—
(1) investigating, monitoring, overseeing, or
otherwise regulating a transaction to which the Fed-
eral Government is not a party; or
(2) administrative simplification.
(c) REPEALER.—Any provision of Federal law en-
acted before, on, or after the date of the enactment of
this Act that is inconsistent with subsection (a) or (b) is
repealed, including sections 1173(b) and 1177(a)(1) of the
Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1320d–2(b); 42 U.S.C.
1320d–6(a)(1)).
(d) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section:
(1) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ means any
of the following:
(A) An Executive agency (as defined in
section 105 of title 5, United States Code).
(B) A military department (as defined in
section 102 of such title).
(C) An agency in the executive branch of
a State government.
(D) An agency in the legislative branch of
the Government of the United States or a State
government.
(E) An agency in the judicial branch of the
Government of the United States or a State
government.
(2) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means any of
the several States, the District of Columbia, the Vir-
gin Islands, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico,
Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the
Northern Mariana Islands, the Republic of the Mar-
shall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, or
the Republic of Palau.
(e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The provisions of this section
shall take effect January 1, 2003.
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