AUTHORIZATION FOR DISCLOSURE OF SOCIAL SECURITY INFORMATION FOR PURPOSES OF PUBUC OR PRIVATE EPIDEMIOLOGICAL AND SIMILAR RESEARCH.

SEC. 311. AUTHORIZATION FOR DISCLOSURE OF SOCIAL SECURITY INFORMATION FOR PURPOSES OF PUBUC OR PRIVATE EPIDEMIOLOGICAL AND SIMILAR RESEARCH. (a) In General.— Section 1106 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1306) is amended— (1) by redesignating subsections (d) and (e) as subsections (e) and (f), respectively; (2) in subsection (f) (as so redesignated), by striking “subsection (d)” and inserting “subsection (e)”; and (3) by inserting after subsection (c) the following new subsection: “(d) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, in any case in which— “(1) information regarding whether an individual is shown on the records of the Secretary as being alive or deceased is requested from the Secretary for purposes of epidemiological or similar research which the Secretary finds may reasonably be expected to contribute to a national health interest, and “(2) the requester agrees to reimburse the Secretary for providing such information and to comply with limitations on safeguarding and rerelease or redisclosure of such information as may be specified by the Secretary, the Secretary shall comply with such request, except to the extent that compliance with such request would constitute a violation of the terms of any contract entered into under section 205(r).”. (b) Availability of Information Returns Regarding Wages Paid Employees.— Section 6103(1)(5) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to disclosure of returns and return information to the Department of Health and Human Services for purposes other than tax administration) is amended— (1) by striking “for the purpose of” and inserting “for the purpose of—”; (2) by striking “carrying out, in accordance with an agreement” and inserting the following: “(A) carrying out, in accordance with an agreement”; (3) by striking “program.” and inserting “program; or”; and (4) by adding at the end the following new subparagraph: “(B) providing information regarding the mortality status of individuals for epidemiological and similar research in accordance with section 1106(d) of the Social Security Act.”. 108 STAT. 1526 (c) Effective Date.— The amendments made by this section shall apply with respect to requests for information made after the date of the enactment of this Act.