Number:104-26
Date: July 2, 1996

ADDITIONAL SSA-RELATED PROVISIONS
IN H.R. 3507, "THE PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY
AND WORK OPPORTUNITY ACf OF 1996"

 

Legislative Bulletin 104-25 provided descriptions of SSA-related provisions in the House Ways and Means Committee markup of H.R. 3507. Below are additional SSA-related provisions in that legislation.

Suspension of Benefits to Prisoners

  • Would provide for incentive payments from program funds to State and local institutions for furnishing information (date of confinement and certain identifying information) to SSA which results in suspension of Social Security or SSI benefits (up to $400 for information received within 30 days of confinement or up to $200 for information received from 3I to 90 days after confinement).

Effective with respect to benefits payable for months beginning more than 180 days after enactment.

  • Would eliminate the Social Security benefit suspension requirement that inmates be confined for a crime punishable by imprisonment for more than 1 year. Suspension of Social Security benefits would apply to individuals confined
    throughout a calendar month.

Effective with respect to benefits payable for months beginning more than 180 days after enactment.

  • Would exempt prisoner reporting agreements from the Computer Matching and
    Privacy Protection Act of 1988.

Effective upon the date of enactment.

  • Would require SSA to complete a study and report to Congress within 1 year of the date of enactment on feasibility of prisoner reporting by courts and mandatory electronic reporting by correctional facilities.

    Social Security Benefits

  • Would prohibit the payment of Social Security benefits to any noncitizen in the U.S. for any month the noncitizen is not lawfully present in the U.S. (to be determined by the Attorney General).

Effective for benefits based on applications filed on or after the date of enactment.

Recovery of SSI Overpayments from Social Security Benefits

  • Would provide that the Commissioner of Social Security can recover the amount of an overpayment of SSI benefits from an individual' s Social Security benefits. Also provides that the reduction in the individual' s Social Security benefit resulting from the recovery shall not make the individual eligible for SSI, or, if the individual is already eligible, result in an increase in the SSI benefit.

Effective upon enactment with respect to overpayments outstanding on or after the date of enactment.

Social Security Card

  • Would require that the Commissioner of Social Security to develop a prototype of a counterfeit-resistant Social Security card that:

    • is made of durable, tamper-resistant material (e.g ., plastic);
    • employs technologies that provide security features (e.g ., magnetic stripe); and
    • provides individuals with reliable proof of citizenship or legal resident alien status.

  • Would require that the Commissioner of Social Security study and report on different methods of improving the Social Security card application process, including:
    • evaluation of the cost and workload implications of issuing a counterfeit-resistant Social Security card for all individuals ove r a 3-. 5-.
      and 10-year period;
    • evaluation of the feasibility and cost implications of imposing a user fee for replacement cards and cards issued to individuals who apply for such a card prior to the scheduled 3-, 5-, and lO-year phase-in options.

  • Would require the Conunissioner to submit the report and a facsimile of the prototype card to the Congress within I year of the date of enactrnent.

Collection and Use of SSNs for Use in Child Support Enforcement

  • Would provide that State child support enforcement procedures would have to require that the SSN of any applicant for a professional license, commercial driver's license, occupational license, or marriage license be recorded on the application. The SSN of any person subject to a divorce decree, support order, or paternity determination or acknowledgement would have to be placed in the pertinent records. SSN' s would also have to be recorded on death certificates.

Effective upon the date of enactment.

Expansion of the Federal Parent Locator Service

  • Would require HHS to transmit to SSA, for verification purposes, certain information about individuals and employers maintained under the Federal Parent Locator Service in an automated directory to be known as the National Directory of New llires. SSA would be required to verify the accuracy of, correct, or supply to the extent possible, and report to HHS the name, SSN, and birth date of individuals and the employer identification number of employers. SSA would be reimbursed by HHS for the cost of this verification service.

Effective upon the date of enactment.