I
105TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 3261
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, and to prohibit the estab-
lishment in the Federal Government of any uniform national identifying
number.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY 25, 1998
Mr. PAUL introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on Government
Reform and Oversight, 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 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, and to prohibit the establishment in
the Federal Government of any uniform national identi-
fying number.
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 ‘‘Privacy Protection Act
of 1997’’.
SEC. 2. RESTRICTIONS ON THE USE OF THE SOCIAL SECU-
RITY ACCOUNT NUMBER.
(a) REPEAL OF PROVISIONS AUTHORIZING USE OF
THE SOCIAL SECURITY ACCOUNT NUMBER.—Subpara-
graph (C) of section 205(c)(2) of the Social Security Act
(42 U.S.C. 405(c)(2)(C)) is amended by striking ‘‘(C)(i)
It is the policy’’ and all that follows through clause (vi)
and inserting the following:
‘‘(C)(i) Except as otherwise provided in this para-
graph, no agency or instrumentality of the Federal Gov-
ernment, any State, any political subdivision of a State,
or any combination of the foregoing may use a social secu-
rity account number issued under this subsection or any
derivative of such a number as the means of identifying
any individual.
‘‘(ii) Clause (i) 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 relat-
ed purposes).
‘‘(iii) If and to the extent that any provision of Fed-
eral law enacted before January 1, 2000, is inconsistent
with the policy set forth in clause (i), such provision shall,
on and after such date, be null, void, and of no effect.’’.
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—
(1) 
Clauses 
(vii) 
and 
(viii) 
of 
section
205(c)(2)(D) 
of 
such 
Act 
(42 
U.S.C.
405(c)(2)(D)(vii) and (viii)) are redesignated as
clauses (iv) and (v), respectively.
(2) Subsection (d) of section 6109 of the Inter-
nal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended—
(A) in the heading, by inserting ‘‘FOR SO-
CIAL
SECURITY
AND
RELATED
PURPOSES’’
after ‘‘NUMBER’’; and
(B) by striking ‘‘this title’’ and inserting
‘‘section 86, chapter 2, and subtitle C of this
title’’.
SEC. 3. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS TO PRIVACY ACT OF
1974.
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.’’.
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 individ-
ual, and
(2) any identifying number and any one or
more derivatives of such number shall be treated as
the same identifying number.
SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE.
The provisions of this Act, including the amendments
made thereby, shall take effect January 1, 2000.
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