CLOSE Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 5719 To amend the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to modify the standards to determine eligibility to receive supplemental nutrition assistance pro- gram benefits, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 30, 2020 Mr. ARRINGTON (for himself, Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota, Mr. YOHO, Mr. ADERHOLT, and Mr. SMITH of Nebraska) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture A BILL To amend the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to modify the standards to determine eligibility to receive supple- mental nutrition assistance program benefits, and for other purposes. 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 ‘‘Closing Loopholes On 4 SafetyNet Exploitation Act’’ or the ‘‘CLOSE Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS. 6 (a) ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS.—Section 5(a) of 7 the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2014(a)) 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:14 Feb 04, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5719.IH H5719 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 5719 IH is amended by adding at the end the following: ‘‘However, 1 no individual shall be eligible to receive benefits pursuant 2 to this section if they do not meet the same income and 3 resource criteria to which other applicants are subjected 4 under subsections (c) and (g).’’. 5 (b) FINANCIAL ASSET VERIFICATION.—The Food 6 and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.) is 7 amended by inserting after section 11 the following: 8 ‘‘SEC. 11A. FINANCIAL ASSET VERIFICATION THROUGH AC- 9 CESS TO INFORMATION HELD BY FINANCIAL 10 INSTITUTIONS. 11 ‘‘(a) IMPLEMENTATION.— 12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the provisions of 13 this section, each State shall implement a financial 14 asset verification program described in subsection 15 (b), for purposes of determining or redetermining 16 the eligibility of an individual to participate in the 17 supplemental nutrition assistance program. 18 ‘‘(2) PLAN SUBMITTAL.—In order to meet the 19 requirement of paragraph (1), each State shall— 20 ‘‘(A) submit not later than a deadline spec- 21 ified by the Secretary consistent with paragraph 22 (3), a State plan amendment that describes how 23 the State intends to implement the asset 24 verification program; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:14 Feb 04, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5719.IH H5719 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 5719 IH ‘‘(B) provide for implementation of such 1 program for eligibility determinations and rede- 2 terminations made on or after 6 months after 3 the deadline established for submittal of such 4 plan amendment. 5 ‘‘(3) PHASE-IN.— 6 ‘‘(A) IMPLEMENTATION IN STATES.—The 7 Secretary shall require States to submit and 8 implement a financial asset verification pro- 9 gram under this subsection in such manner as 10 is designed to result in the application of such 11 programs, in the aggregate for all such States, 12 to households of approximately, but not less 13 than, the following percentage of households, in 14 the aggregate for all such States, by the end of 15 the fiscal year involved: 16 ‘‘(i) 12.5 percent by the end of fiscal 17 year 2021. 18 ‘‘(ii) 25 percent by the end of fiscal 19 year 2022. 20 ‘‘(iii) 50 percent by the end of fiscal 21 year 2023. 22 ‘‘(iv) 75 percent by the end of fiscal 23 year 2024. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:14 Feb 04, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5719.IH H5719 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 5719 IH ‘‘(v) 100 percent by the end of fiscal 1 year 2025. 2 ‘‘(B) CONSIDERATION.—In selecting States 3 under subparagraph (A), the Secretary shall 4 consult with the States involved and take into 5 account the feasibility of implementing asset 6 verification programs in each such State. 7 ‘‘(C) CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in sub- 8 paragraph (A) shall be construed as preventing 9 a State from requesting, and the Secretary 10 from approving, the implementation of a finan- 11 cial asset verification program in advance of the 12 deadline otherwise established under such sub- 13 paragraph. 14 ‘‘(4) EXEMPTION OF TERRITORIES.—This sec- 15 tion shall only apply to the 50 States and the Dis- 16 trict of Columbia. 17 ‘‘(b) FINANCIAL ASSET VERIFICATION PROGRAM.— 18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this sec- 19 tion, a financial asset verification program means a 20 program described in paragraph (2) under which a 21 State— 22 ‘‘(A) requires each applicant for, or recipi- 23 ent of, supplemental nutrition assistance pro- 24 gram benefits to provide authorization by such 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:14 Feb 04, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5719.IH H5719 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 5719 IH applicant or recipient (and any other person 1 whose resources are required by law to be dis- 2 closed to determine the eligibility of the appli- 3 cant or recipient for such benefits) for the State 4 to obtain (subject to the cost reimbursement re- 5 quirements of section 1115(a) of the Right to 6 Financial Privacy Act but at no cost to the ap- 7 plicant or recipient) from any financial institu- 8 tion (within the meaning of section 1101(1) of 9 such Act) any financial record (within the 10 meaning of section 1101(2) of such Act) held 11 by the institution with respect to the applicant 12 or recipient (and such other person, as applica- 13 ble), whenever the State determines the record 14 is needed in connection with a determination 15 with respect to such eligibility for (or the 16 amount or extent of) such benefits; and 17 ‘‘(B) uses the authorization provided under 18 subparagraph (A) to verify the financial re- 19 sources of such applicant or recipient (and such 20 other person, as applicable), in order to deter- 21 mine or redetermine the eligibility of such appli- 22 cant or recipient to receive supplemental nutri- 23 tion assistance program benefits. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:14 Feb 04, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5719.IH H5719 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 5719 IH ‘‘(2) PROGRAM DESCRIBED.—A program de- 1 scribed in this paragraph is a program for verifying 2 individual assets in a manner consistent with the ap- 3 proach used by the Commissioner of Social Security 4 under section 1631(e)(1)(B)(ii) of the Social Secu- 5 rity Act. 6 ‘‘(c) DURATION OF AUTHORIZATION.—Notwith- 7 standing section 1104(a)(1) of the Right to Financial Pri- 8 vacy Act, an authorization provided to a State under sub- 9 section (b)(1) shall remain effective until the earliest of— 10 ‘‘(1) the rendering of a final adverse decision on 11 the applicant’s application to participate in the sup- 12 plemental nutrition assistance program; 13 ‘‘(2) the cessation of the recipient’s eligibility to 14 participate in the supplemental nutrition assistance 15 program; or 16 ‘‘(3) the express revocation by the applicant or 17 recipient (or such other person described in sub- 18 section (b)(1), as applicable) of the authorization, in 19 a written notification to the State. 20 ‘‘(d) TREATMENT OF RIGHT TO FINANCIAL PRIVACY 21 ACT REQUIREMENTS.— 22 ‘‘(1) An authorization obtained by the State 23 under subsection (b)(1) shall be considered to meet 24 the requirements of the Right to Financial Privacy 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:14 Feb 04, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5719.IH H5719 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 5719 IH Act for purposes of section 1103(a) of such Act, and 1 need not be furnished to the financial institution, 2 notwithstanding section 1104(a) of such Act. 3 ‘‘(2) The certification requirements of section 4 1103(b) of the Right to Financial Privacy Act shall 5 not apply to requests by the State pursuant to an 6 authorization provided under subsection (b)(1). 7 ‘‘(3) A request by the State pursuant to an au- 8 thorization provided under subsection (b)(1) is 9 deemed to meet the requirements of section 10 1104(a)(3) of the Right to Financial Privacy Act 11 and of section 1102 of such Act, relating to a rea- 12 sonable description of financial records. 13 ‘‘(e) REQUIRED DISCLOSURE.—The State shall in- 14 form any person who provides authorization pursuant to 15 subsection (b)(1)(A) of the duration and scope of the au- 16 thorization. 17 ‘‘(f) REFUSAL OR REVOCATION OF AUTHORIZA- 18 TION.—If an applicant for, or recipient of, supplemental 19 nutrition assistance program benefits (or such other per- 20 son described in subsection (b)(1), as applicable) refuses 21 to provide, or revokes, any authorization made by the ap- 22 plicant or recipient (or such other person, as applicable) 23 under subsection (b)(1)(A) for the State to obtain from 24 any financial institution any financial record, the State 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:14 Feb 04, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5719.IH H5719 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 5719 IH may, on that basis, determine that the applicant or recipi- 1 ent is ineligible to participate in the supplemental nutri- 2 tion assistance program. 3 ‘‘(g) USE OF CONTRACTOR.—For purposes of imple- 4 menting a financial asset verification program under this 5 section, a State may select and enter into a contract with 6 a public or private entity meeting such criteria and quali- 7 fications as the State determines appropriate, consistent 8 with requirements in regulations relating to general con- 9 tracting provisions and with section 1903(i)(2) of the So- 10 cial Security Act. In carrying out activities under such 11 contract, such an entity shall be subject to the same re- 12 quirements and limitations on use and disclosure of infor- 13 mation as would apply if the State were to carry out such 14 activities directly. 15 ‘‘(h) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary shall 16 provide States with technical assistance to aid in imple- 17 mentation of a financial asset verification program under 18 this section. 19 ‘‘(i) REPORTS.—A State implementing a financial 20 asset verification program under this section shall furnish 21 to the Secretary such reports concerning the program, at 22 such times, in such format, and containing such informa- 23 tion as the Secretary determines appropriate.’’. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:14 Feb 04, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5719.IH H5719 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 5719 IH SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE. 1 This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall 2 take effect on October 1, 2020. 3 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:14 Feb 04, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H5719.IH H5719 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS