I 
118TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 9783 
To establish a Government-wide approach to improving digital identity, and 
for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 24, 2024 
Mr. FOSTER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Oversight and Accountability 
A BILL 
To establish a Government-wide approach to improving 
digital identity, 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 ‘‘Improving Digital 
Identity Act of 2024’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) The lack of an easy, affordable, reliable, 
and secure way for organizations, businesses, and 
government agencies to identify whether an indi-
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vidual is who they claim to be online creates an at-
tack vector that is widely exploited by adversaries in 
cyberspace and precludes many high-value trans-
actions from being available online. 
(2) Incidents of identity theft and identity 
fraud continue to rise in the United States, where 
more than 293,000,000 people were impacted by 
data breaches in 2021. 
(3) Since 2017, losses resulting from identity 
fraud have increased by 333 percent, and, in 2020, 
those losses totaled $56,000,000,000. 
(4) The Director of the Financial Crimes En-
forcement Network of the Department of the Treas-
ury has stated that the abuse of personally identifi-
able information and other building blocks of iden-
tity is a key enabler behind much of the fraud and 
cybercrime affecting the United States today. 
(5) The inadequacy of current digital identity 
solutions degrades security and privacy for all people 
in the United States, and next generation solutions 
are needed that improve security, privacy, equity, 
and accessibility. 
(6) 
Government 
entities, 
as 
authoritative 
issuers of identity in the United States, are uniquely 
positioned to deliver critical components that ad-
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dress deficiencies in the digital identity infrastruc-
ture of the United States and augment private sec-
tor digital identity and authentication solutions. 
(7) State governments are particularly well-suit-
ed to play a role in enhancing digital identity solu-
tions used by both the public and private sectors, 
given the role of State governments as the issuers of 
driver’s licenses and other identity documents com-
monly used today. 
(8) The public and private sectors should col-
laborate to deliver solutions that promote confidence, 
privacy, choice, equity, accessibility, and innovation. 
The private sector drives much of the innovation 
around digital identity in the United States and has 
an important role to play in delivering digital iden-
tity solutions. 
(9) The bipartisan Commission on Enhancing 
National Cybersecurity has called for the Federal 
Government to ‘‘create an interagency task force di-
rected to find secure, user-friendly, privacy-centric 
ways in which agencies can serve as 1 authoritative 
source to validate identity attributes in the broader 
identity market. This action would enable Govern-
ment agencies and the private sector to drive signifi-
cant risk out of new account openings and other 
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high-risk, high-value online services, and it would 
help all citizens more easily and securely engage in 
transactions online.’’. 
(10) It should be the policy of the Federal Gov-
ernment to use the authorities and capabilities of the 
Federal Government, in coordination with State, 
local, Tribal, and territorial partners and private 
sector innovators, to enhance the security, reliability, 
privacy, equity, accessibility, and convenience of con-
sent-based digital identity solutions that support and 
protect transactions between individuals, government 
entities, and businesses, and that enable people in 
the United States to prove who they are online. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) APPROPRIATE
NOTIFICATION
ENTITIES.— 
The 
term 
‘‘appropriate 
notification 
entities’’ 
means— 
(A) the President; 
(B) the Committee on Homeland Security 
and Governmental Affairs of the Senate; and 
(C) the Committee on Oversight and Ac-
countability of the House of Representatives. 
(2) DIGITAL
IDENTITY
VERIFICATION.—The 
term ‘‘digital identity verification’’ means a process 
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to verify the identity or an identity attribute of an 
individual accessing a service online or through an-
other electronic means. 
(3) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 
the Director of the Task Force. 
(4) FEDERAL
AGENCY.—The term ‘‘Federal 
agency’’ has the meaning given the term in section 
102 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 
Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5122). 
(5) IDENTITY ATTRIBUTE.—The term ‘‘identity 
attribute’’ means a data element associated with the 
identity of an individual, including, the name, ad-
dress, or date of birth of an individual. 
(6) IDENTITY CREDENTIAL.—The term ‘‘iden-
tity credential’’ means a document or other evidence 
of the identity of an individual issued by a govern-
ment agency that conveys the identity of the indi-
vidual, including a driver’s license or passport. 
(7) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 
the Secretary of Homeland Security. 
(8) TASK
FORCE.—The term ‘‘Task Force’’ 
means the Improving Digital Identity Task Force 
established under section 4(a). 
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SEC. 4. IMPROVING DIGITAL IDENTITY TASK FORCE. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in the 
Executive Office of the President a task force to be known 
as the ‘‘Improving Digital Identity Task Force’’. 
(b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the Task Force shall 
be to establish and coordinate a government-wide effort 
to develop secure methods for Federal, State, local, Tribal, 
and territorial agencies to improve access and enhance se-
curity between physical and digital identity credentials, 
particularly by promoting the development of digital 
versions of existing physical identity credentials, including 
driver’s licenses, e-Passports, social security credentials, 
and birth certificates, to— 
(1) protect the privacy and security of individ-
uals; 
(2) support reliable, interoperable digital iden-
tity verification in the public and private sectors; 
and 
(3) in achieving paragraphs (1) and (2), place 
a particular emphasis on— 
(A) reducing identity theft and fraud; 
(B) enabling trusted transactions; and 
(C) ensuring equitable access to digital 
identity verification. 
(c) DIRECTOR.— 
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(1) IN GENERAL.—The Task Force shall have 
a Director, who shall be appointed by the President. 
(2) POSITION.—The Director shall serve at the 
pleasure of the President. 
(3) PAY AND ALLOWANCES.—The Director shall 
be compensated at the rate of basic pay prescribed 
for level II of the Executive Schedule under section 
5313 of title 5, United States Code. 
(4) QUALIFICATIONS.—The Director shall have 
substantive technical expertise and managerial acu-
men that— 
(A) is in the business of digital identity 
management, information security, or benefits 
administration; 
(B) is gained from not less than 1 organi-
zation; and 
(C) includes specific expertise gained from 
academia, advocacy organizations, or the pri-
vate sector. 
(5) EXCLUSIVITY.—The Director may not serve 
in any other capacity within the Federal Government 
while serving as Director. 
(6) TERM.—The term of the Director, including 
any official acting in the role of the Director, shall 
terminate on the date described in subsection (k). 
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(d) MEMBERSHIP.— 
(1) 
FEDERAL
GOVERNMENT
REPRESENTA-
TIVES.—The Task Force shall include the following 
individuals or the designees of such individuals: 
(A) The Secretary. 
(B) The Secretary of the Treasury. 
(C) The Director of the National Institute 
of Standards and Technology. 
(D) The Director of the Financial Crimes 
Enforcement Network. 
(E) The Commissioner of Social Security. 
(F) The Secretary of State. 
(G) The Administrator of General Services. 
(H) The Director of the Office of Manage-
ment and Budget. 
(I) The Postmaster General of the United 
States Postal Service. 
(J) The National Cyber Director. 
(K) The Attorney General. 
(L) The heads of other Federal agencies or 
offices as the President may designate or invite, 
as appropriate. 
(2) STATE, LOCAL, TRIBAL, AND TERRITORIAL 
GOVERNMENT
REPRESENTATIVES.—The 
Director 
shall appoint to the Task Force 6 State, local, Trib-
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