COMPUTER MATCHING OF FEDERAL BENEFITS INFORMATION AND PRIVACY PROTECTION.

SEC. 7201. COMPUTER MATCHING OF FEDERAL BENEFITS INFORMATION AND PRIVACY PROTECTION. (a) Short title.—This section may be cited as the “Computer Matching and Privacy Protection Amendments of 1990”. (b) Verification Requirements Amendment.—(1) Subsection (p) of section 552a of title 5, United States Code, is amended to read as follows: “(p) Verification and Opportunity to Contest Findings.—(1) In order to protect any individual whose records are used in a matching program, no recipient agency, non-Federal agency, or source agency may suspend, terminate, reduce, or make a final denial of any financial assistance or payment under a Federal benefit program to such individual, or take other adverse action against such individual, as a result of information produced by such matching program, until— “(A)(i) the agency has independently verified the information; or “(ii) the Data Integrity Board of the agency, or in the case of a non-Federal agency the Data Integrity Board of the source agency, determines in accordance with guidance issued by the Director of the Office of Management and Budget that— “(I) the information is limited to identification and amount of benefits paid by the source agency under a Federal benefit program; and “>(II) there is a high degree of confidence that the information provided to the recipient agency is accurate; “(B) the individual receives a notice from the agency containing a statement of its findings and informing the individual of the opportunity to contest such findings; and “(C)(i) the expiration of any time period established for the program by statute or regulation for the individual to respond to that notice; or “(ii) in the case of a program for which no such period is established, the end of the 30-day period beginning on the date on which notice under subparagraph (B) is mailed or otherwise provided to the individual. “(2) Independent verification referred to in paragraph (1) requires investigation and confirmation of specific information relating to an individual that is used as a basis for an adverse action against the individual, including where applicable investigation and confirmation of— “(A) the amount of any asset or income involved; “(B) whether such individual actually has or had access to such asset or income for such individual’s own use; and “(C) the period or periods when the individual actually had such asset or income. “(3) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), an agency may take any appropriate action otherwise prohibited by such paragraph if the agency determines that the public health or public safety may be adversely affected or significantly threatened during any notice period required by such paragraph.”, (2) Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall 104 STAT. 1388–335publish guidance under subsection (p)(I)(A)(ii) of section 552a of title 5, United States Code, as amended by this Act. (c) Limitation on Application of Verification Requirement.—Section 552a(p)(l)(A)(ii)(II) of title 5, United States Code, as amended by section 2, shall not apply to a program referred to in paragraph (1), (2), or (4) of section 1137(b) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1320b–7), until the earlier of— (1) the date on which the Data Integrity Board of the Federal agency which administers that program determines that there is not a high degree of confidence that information provided by that agency under Federal matching programs is accurate; or (2) 30 days after the date of publication of guidance under section 2(b).