I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2860 
To amend title II of the Social Security Act to permit American Indian 
tribal councils to enter into agreements with the Commissioner of Social 
Security to obtain social security coverage for services performed by 
tribal council members. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 8, 2017 
Mr. REICHERT (for himself, Mr. KILMER, Ms. DELBENE, and Mr. COLE) in-
troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways 
and Means 
A BILL 
To amend title II of the Social Security Act to permit Amer-
ican Indian tribal councils to enter into agreements with 
the Commissioner of Social Security to obtain social se-
curity coverage for services performed by tribal council 
members. 
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 ‘‘Tribal Social Security 
Fairness Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. VOLUNTARY AGREEMENTS FOR COVERAGE OF 
SERVICES BY AMERICAN INDIAN TRIBAL 
COUNCIL MEMBERS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Title II of the Social Security Act 
(42 U.S.C. 401 et seq.) is amended by inserting after sec-
tion 218 the following new section: 
‘‘VOLUNTARY AGREEMENTS FOR COVERAGE OF INDIAN 
TRIBAL COUNCIL MEMBERS 
‘‘Purpose of Agreement 
‘‘SEC. 218A. (a)(1) The Commissioner of Social Se-
curity shall, at the request of any Indian tribe, enter into 
an agreement with such Indian tribe for the purpose of 
extending the insurance system established by this title to 
services performed by individuals as members of such In-
dian tribe’s tribal council. Any agreement with an Indian 
tribe under this section must include all services per-
formed by individuals in their capacity as members of the 
tribal council. 
‘‘(2) Notwithstanding section 210(a), for the pur-
poses of this title, the term ‘employment’ includes any 
service included under an agreement entered into under 
this section. 
‘‘Definitions 
‘‘(b) For the purposes of this section: 
‘‘(1) The term ‘member’ means, with respect to 
a tribal council— 
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‘‘(A) an individual who is serving as a 
member of the tribal council; and 
‘‘(B) the head of the tribal council. 
‘‘(2) The term ‘tribal council’ means the gov-
erning body of a federally recognized Indian tribe. 
‘‘Effective Date of Agreement 
‘‘(c) Any agreement or modification of an agreement 
under this section shall be effective with respect to services 
performed after an effective date specified in such agree-
ment or modification, except that such date may not be 
earlier than the first day of the next calendar month after 
which the Indian tribe signs the agreement and sends it 
to the Commissioner for signature. 
‘‘Duration of Agreement 
‘‘(d) No agreement under this section may be termi-
nated, either in its entirety or with respect to any member, 
on or after the effective date of the agreement.’’. 
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 3121(d)(4) 
of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by in-
serting ‘‘or 218A’’ after ‘‘section 218’’. 
(c) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this Act 
or the amendments made by this Act shall be construed 
to affect application of any Federal income tax with-
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holding requirements under the Internal Revenue Code of 
1986. 
Æ 
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