VERIFICATION OF ELIGIBILITY FOR BENEFITS.

SEC. 5572. VERIFICATION OF ELIGIBILITY FOR BENEFITS. (a) Regulations and Guidance.—Section 432(a) of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1642(a)) is amended— (1) by inserting at the end of paragraph (1) the following: “Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, the Attorney General of the United States, after consultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Services, shall issue interim verification guidance.”; and (2) by adding after paragraph (2) the following new paragraph: “(3) Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, the Attorney General shall promulgate regulations which set forth the procedures by which a State or local government can verify whether an alien applying for a State or local public benefit is a qualified alien, a nonimmigrant under the Immigration and Nationality Act, or an alien paroled into the United States under section 212(d)(5) of the Immigration and Nationality Act for less than 1 year, for purposes of determining whether the alien is ineligible for benefits under section 411 of this Act.”. (b) Disclosure of Information for Verification.—Section 384(b) of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (division C of Public Law 104–208) is amended by adding after paragraph (4) the following new paragraph: “(5) The Attorney General is authorized to disclose information, to Federal, State, and local public and private agencies providing benefits, to be used solely in making determinations of eligibility for benefits pursuant to section 431(c) of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996.”.