Sponsors (6)
Last progress February 10, 2026 (2 weeks ago)
Introduced on January 28, 2025 by John Neely Kennedy
On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H634)
Passed/agreed to in Senate: Passed Senate with an amendment by Unanimous Consent.
President of the United States
Requires the Social Security Administration (SSA) to share death-record data with the agency that operates the Do Not Pay working system, to enter an agreement about cost-sharing for state death data, and to notify cooperating agencies when an individual was incorrectly recorded as deceased. It also bars the SSA from recording a person as deceased unless there is clear and convincing evidence that the person is dead, creating stronger safeguards before benefits or payments are stopped and enabling recovery/prevention of improper payments.
Amend Section 205(r) of the Social Security Act by striking existing paragraph (11) and inserting a new paragraph (11) that addresses sharing data with the Do Not Pay working system and cost-sharing agreements.
The Commissioner of Social Security shall, to the extent feasible, provide information furnished under paragraph (1) to the agency operating the Do Not Pay working system (31 U.S.C. 3354(c)) for the Do Not Pay system's authorized uses to help prevent improper payments and support recovery of improperly paid benefits or other payments, through a cooperative arrangement, provided paragraph (3) subparagraphs (A) and (B) requirements are met.
While the data is being provided to the Do Not Pay agency, the Commissioner and that agency must enter into an agreement based on an agreed methodology that covers the proportional share of State death data costs; the parties may periodically review that agreement.
The Commissioner of Social Security may not record a death to a record that may be provided under this section for any individual unless the Commissioner has found clear and convincing evidence to support that the individual should be presumed deceased.
Amend 205(r)(7) to require that, when an error occurs concerning an individual incorrectly identified as deceased, the Commissioner must notify any agency that has a cooperative arrangement with the Commissioner under paragraph (3) or (11).
Who is affected and how:
Individuals who receive federal benefits or payments: Stronger safeguards (clear-and-convincing evidence requirement) reduce the risk that someone will be wrongly declared dead and lose benefits or face recovery actions; notifications improve the speed of correction when errors occur.
Social Security Administration staff and systems: SSA must update procedures and IT/data-sharing interfaces to apply the new evidentiary standard, share designated death-data elements with the Do Not Pay operator, and implement notification workflows for corrected death determinations.
Agency that operates the Do Not Pay working system and other federal program offices: They will receive more complete death-data feeds and notifications about corrected records, enabling better screening to prevent improper payments and to coordinate recoveries; they may need to adapt business processes to accept corrected/deleted death indicators.
State vital records/data providers: States will negotiate cost‑sharing agreements with SSA for providing death records into federal screening—this could change transactional costs and require state operational adjustments to support federal data use.
Taxpayers and federal programs: Better data sharing and stricter evidence requirements should lower improper payments to deceased individuals over time and reduce recovery disputes, but there may be short-term administrative costs tied to implementation, agreement negotiations, and systems changes.
Other considerations:
2 meetings related to this legislation
Updated 22 minutes ago
Last progress April 8, 2025 (10 months ago)