About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline

S. 1073, Stopping Improper Payments to Deceased People Act 1 (February 17, 2016)

handle is hein.congrec/cbo2812 and id is 1 raw text is: 




                  CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE
                             COST ESTIMATE

                                                                 February 17, 2016



                                    S. 1073
           Stopping Improper Payments to Deceased People Act

              As ordered reported by the Senate Committee on Homeland
                 Security and Governmental Affairs on July 29, 2015


S. 1073 would expand the use of data on deaths by federal and state agencies to limit
improper federal payments. The bill would require the Social Security Administration
(SSA) to share all such information with more agencies and for a broader range of
purposes.

CBO estimates that implementing S. 1073 would have an insignificant net effect on
discretionary spending. Because enacting S. 1073 could reduce direct spending,
pay-as-you-go procedures apply. However, CBO estimates that such effects would
probably be insignificant for each year over the next 10 years. The bill would not affect
revenues. CBO estimates that enacting S. 1073 would not increase net direct spending or
on-budget deficits by more than $5 billion in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods
beginning in 2027.

Under current law, the Social Security Administration collects information on deaths and
maintains a record of all deaths reported to the agency dating to 1936. SSA has about
105 million death records, which include the deceased person's name, social security
number, date of birth, and date of death. SSA uses those data to administer its own
programs and shares the information with other agencies that administer federal benefit
programs.

SSA provides the entire death file to some federal agencies, such as the Internal Revenue
Service. SSA also has agreements with other agencies, such as state agencies administering
the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, so that those agencies can periodically
verify that program applicants and recipients are not included in those death records. The
Department of Commerce makes the Death Master File (DMF), a subset of those data,
available to nongovernmental organizations after the department certifies that they have a
legitimate purpose for use of the data, for example to prevent fraud. The DMF, which has
information on about 90 million deceased individuals, excludes death data reported by
states, because SSA may share data on deaths reported by states only in limited
circumstances, such as to agencies that pay federal benefits. (A subset of the DMF, which
is available to the general public through the Department of Commerce, excludes both
death data reported by states and data on deaths within the past three years.)

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

profiles profiles most