S. 490

119th CONGRESS 1st Session

To provide that unauthorized access to the central payment systems of the Bureau of the Fiscal Service is unlawful.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES · February 6 (legislative day, February 5), 2025 · Sponsor: Mr. Schumer · Committee: Committee on Finance

Table of contents

• S. 490
  • SEC. 1. Short title
  • SEC. 2. Unauthorized access to the central payment systems of the Bureau of the Fiscal Service
  • SEC. 3. Confidentiality of returns and return information under Internal Revenue Code of 1986

SEC. 1. Short title

• This Act may be cited as the Protecting Americans’ Privacy Act of 2025.

SEC. 2. Unauthorized access to the central payment systems of the Bureau of the Fiscal Service

• (a) Prohibitions
  • (1) In general
    • It shall be unlawful for an individual to knowingly access or exercise administrative control over any public money receipt or payment system of the Department of the Treasury (including any payment system of the Bureau of the Fiscal Service (or any successor thereof)) if the individual—
    • In general
      • is not—
        • (i) a Federal employee; or
        • (ii) a Federal contractor whose current continuous service in a position on an agency's contract, as of the date of such access, is for a period of at least 1 year;
      • is a Federal employee—
        • (i) who is employed as the chief executive officer, chief financial officer, chief operating officer, or a position of similar stature at a covered entity;
        • (ii) who serves on the Board of Directors of a covered entity;
        • (iii) who has control over a covered entity; or
        • (iv) whose current continuous service in a position in the civil service (as that term is defined in section 2101 of title 5, United States Code), as of the date of such access, is for a period of less than 1 year; or
      • is a covered employee who—
        • (i) has a conflict of interest as described in section 208 of title 18, United States Code, with respect to such central payment system, or
        • (ii) has not signed a written ethics agreement with either the covered employee's respective agency or the Office of Government Ethics.
  • (2) Facilitation of access
    • It shall be unlawful for an individual to facilitate access to or the exercise of administrative control over any such public money receipt or payment system, or to knowingly permit such access or exercise of control, which such individual knows or should know is in violation of paragraph (1).
• (b) Enforcement by individuals
  • (1) In general
    • Any persons harmed by a violation of subsection (a) may file a civil action in any district court of the United States or State court of general jurisdiction to recover from the individual who engaged in the violation appropriate relief described in paragraph (2).
  • (2) Relief
    • In an action under this subsection, appropriate relief includes—
      • preliminary and other equitable or declaratory relief, as appropriate;
      • damages as described in paragraph (3);
      • punitive damages, as appropriate; and
      • reasonable attorney’s fees and other reasonable litigation costs.
  • (3) Damages
    • In an action under this subsection, a court may assess as damages an amount equal to the greater of—
      • the sum of the actual damages suffered by the plaintiff; or
      • $250,000 for each unauthorized access relating to the plaintiff.
  • (4) Joint and several liability
    • Any individual who violates subsection (a)(1) and any individual who violates subsection (a)(2) shall be jointly and severally liable to the extent such violations relate to the same access.
• (c) Definitions
  • In this section:
    • The term — agency
    • The term control means, with respect to an entity—
    • The term includes the following individuals: covered employee
    • The term covered entity means a corporation (and the subsidiaries it controls), company, association, firm, partnership, society, joint stock company, or any other organization or institution, including an organization described in section 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code.
    • The term Federal contractor means an individual, other than a Federal employee, working under a contract with an agency.
    • The term Federal employee means an individual employed by or holding office in an agency.
    • The term noncareer employee means an individual who is—
• (d) No inference
  • Nothing in this section shall be construed as creating any inference as to whether any act which occurred prior to the enactment of this Act was lawful or otherwise permitted.

SEC. 3. Confidentiality of returns and return information under Internal Revenue Code of 1986

• (a) In general
  • of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by redesignating subsection (q) as subsection (r) and by inserting after subsection (p) the following new subsection: Section 6103
    • (q) Prohibition on disclosure to certain employees
      • Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, no return or return information shall be disclosed by means of access to any public money receipt or payment system of the Department of the Treasury (including any payment system of the Bureau of the Fiscal Service (or any successor thereof)) to any individual described in subparagraph (B) or (C) of section 2(a)(1) of the .
• (b) Civil damages for unauthorized inspection or disclosure
  • (1) In general
    • Subsection (a) of of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph: section 7431
      • (3) Inspection or disclosure by certain employees
        • If any individual described in subparagraph (B) or (C) of section 2(a)(1) of the knowingly, or by reason of negligence, inspects or discloses any return or return information with respect to a taxpayer in violation of section 6103(q), such taxpayer may bring a civil action for damages against such person in a district court of the United States. In any action brought under this paragraph, subsection (c)(1)(A) shall be applied by substituting for . $250,000 $1,000
  • (2) Conforming amendment
    • Paragraph (1) of section 7431(a) of such Code is amended by striking in paragraph (1) and inserting Except as provided in paragraph (3), if any.
• (c) No inference
  • Nothing in the amendments made by this section shall be construed as creating any inference as to whether any disclosure or inspection prior to the enactment of this Act was lawful or permitted by of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. section 6103