§1306c Restriction on access to the Death Master File

Summary

The Secretary of Commerce must not give out Death Master File information about a deceased person for the 3-calendar-year period starting on the date of death, unless the requester is certified by a Commerce program. The Secretary must create that certification program and do regular and surprise audits. To get certified, a person must say they need the data for legitimate fraud prevention or a legitimate business purpose under law, rule, or a fiduciary duty, have safeguards like those in section 6103(p)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, and agree to follow that section as if it applied to them. The Secretary must charge fees under section 9701 of title 31 that cover but do not exceed the costs of processing applications, audits, inspections, and monitoring. Fees collected go back to pay those costs. Each year the Secretary must report to the Committee on Finance of the Senate and the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives how much was collected and what the program cost. If a certified person shares or uses the information in ways not allowed during the 3-calendar-year period, penalties apply. Total penalties for one person cannot exceed $250,000 in any calendar year, unless the Secretary finds the violations were willful or intentional. The Death Master File means the name, Social Security account number, date of birth, and date of death of deceased people kept by the Commissioner of Social Security, excluding information given under section 405(r). No federal agency can be forced to give this data to someone who is not certified. For the Freedom of Information Act (section 552 of title 5), this law is treated as the kind of statute listed in subsection (b)(3) of that Act. Most of the rule takes effect 90 days after December 26, 2013; the rule about agencies not being compelled to disclose takes effect on December 26, 2013.