Income Verification Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 588 To require State agencies to use Federal tax return information to verify income eligibility for Medicaid, the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES FEBRUARY 27, 2019 Mr. KENNEDY introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance A BILL To require State agencies to use Federal tax return informa- tion to verify income eligibility for Medicaid, the Tem- porary Assistance for Needy Families program, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Income Verification 4 Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:23 Mar 06, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S588.IS S588 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 588 IS SEC. 2. VERIFICATION OF TANF INCOME ELIGIBILITY. 1 (a) REQUIREMENT.—Section 408(a) of the Social Se- 2 curity Act (42 U.S.C. 608(a)) is amended by adding at 3 the end the following new paragraph: 4 ‘‘(13) VERIFICATION OF INCOME USING FED- 5 ERAL TAX RETURN INFORMATION.—A State to 6 which a grant is made under section 403 shall use 7 return information disclosed to the State agency re- 8 sponsible for administering the State program fund- 9 ed under this part in accordance with section 10 6103(l)(7) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to 11 verify the determination of an individual’s or fam- 12 ily’s income for purposes of determining the individ- 13 ual’s or family’s eligibility for, and amount of, as- 14 sistance under the State program funded under this 15 part.’’. 16 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 17 this section shall take effect on the date that is 180 days 18 after the date of enactment of this Act. 19 SEC. 3. VERIFICATION OF MEDICAID INCOME ELIGIBILITY. 20 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1902(e)(14) of the Social 21 Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1396a(e)(14)) is amended by add- 22 ing at the end the following new subparagraph: 23 ‘‘(L) VERIFICATION OF INCOME USING FED- 24 ERAL TAX RETURN INFORMATION.—A State shall 25 use return information disclosed to the State agency 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:23 Mar 06, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S588.IS S588 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 588 IS responsible for administering the State plan under 1 this title in accordance with section 6103(l)(7) of the 2 Internal Revenue Code to verify a determination of 3 income eligibility for any individual— 4 ‘‘(i) whose eligibility for medical assistance 5 is determined based on the application of modi- 6 fied adjusted gross income under subparagraph 7 (A); 8 ‘‘(ii) who is described in subclause (II), 9 (IV), or (V) of subparagraph (D)(i); or 10 ‘‘(iii) to whom clause (ii), (iii), or (iv) of 11 subparagraph (D) applies.’’. 12 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 13 this section shall take effect on the date that is 180 days 14 after the date of enactment of this Act. 15 SEC. 4. VERIFICATION OF SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRITION AS- 16 SISTANCE PROGRAM (SNAP) ELIGIBILITY. 17 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 11(e) of the Food and 18 Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2020(e)) is amended— 19 (1) in paragraph (25)(B)(ii), by striking ‘‘and’’ 20 at the end; 21 (2) in paragraph (26)(C)(ii), by striking the pe- 22 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 23 (3) by adding at the end the following: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:23 Mar 06, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S588.IS S588 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 588 IS ‘‘(27) that in determining the eligibility of an 1 applicant household under paragraph (3), the State 2 agency shall verify the income of the household 3 using return information for that household dis- 4 closed to the State agency under section 6103(l)(7) 5 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.’’. 6 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 7 this section shall take effect on the date that is 180 days 8 after the date of enactment of this Act. 9 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:23 Mar 06, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S588.IS S588 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS