Description:
S. 218 would prohibit federal agencies from including social security account numbers on any documents sent by mail unless the agency determines that inclusion of the number is necessary. There are many federal laws and regulations that address the protection of sensitive information including the Federal Information Security Management Act, the Privacy Act of 1974, and a 2007 memorandum from the Office of Management and Budget on safeguarding and responding to the disclosure of personally identifiable information. Because of those laws and rules, CBO expects that most agencies are working to limit the amount of personally identifiable information that they collect and disseminate. As a consequence, CBO estimates that implementing S. 218 would have no significant cost over the next five years.
Enacting the legislation could affect direct spending by agencies not funded through annual appropriations; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures apply. CBO estimates, however, that any net increase in spending by those agencies would be negligible. Enacting S. 218 would not affect revenues.
CBO estimates that enacting S. 218 would not increase net direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2028.
S. 218 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would impose no costs on state, local, or tribal governments.
On February 24, 2017, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for H.R. 624, the Social Security Fraud Prevention Act of 2017, as ordered reported by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on February 14, 2017. The two pieces of legislation are similar and CBO’s estimates of their budgetary effects are the same.
