H.R. 4053 (112th): Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Improvement Act of 2012

Introduced:
Feb 16, 2012 (112th Congress, 2011–2013)
Sponsor:
Rep. Edolphus “Ed” Towns [D-NY10]
Status:
Signed by the President
Slip Law:
This bill became Pub.L. 112-248.

The bill’s title was written by the bill’s sponsor. H.R. stands for House of Representatives bill.

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Status

This bill was enacted after being signed by the President on January 10, 2013.

Progress
Introduced Feb 16, 2012
Referred to Committee Feb 16, 2012
Reported by Committee Sep 20, 2012
Passed House Dec 13, 2012
Passed Senate Dec 20, 2012
Signed by the President Jan 10, 2013
Votes

House Vote on Passage
Dec 13, 2012 11:42 a.m.
Passed 402/0

Cosponsors
20 cosponsors (19D, 1R) (show)
Committees

House Oversight and Government Reform

The committee chair determines whether a bill will move past the committee stage.

Full Title

To intensify efforts to identify, prevent, and recover payment error, waste, fraud, and abuse within Federal spending.

Summary

No summaries available.

Text

Read Bill Text »

Last updated Jan 01, 2012.
8 pages

Primary Source

View on THOMAS (The Library of Congress)

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Citation

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GovTrack’s Bill Summary

We don’t have a summary available yet.

Library of Congress Summary

The summary below was written by the Congressional Research Service, which is a nonpartisan division of the Library of Congress.

12/20/2012.
Section 3 -
Requires the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to:
(1) identify, annually, a list of high-priority federal programs for greater levels of oversight and review in which the highest dollar value or highest rate of improper payments occur or for which there is a higher risk of improper payments;
(2) coordinate with agencies responsible for administering high-priority programs to establish annual targets and semi-annual or quarterly actions for reducing improper payments; and
(3) provide guidance to agencies for improving estimates of improper payments.
Requires federal agencies to report annually to their Inspectors General on any high-dollar improper payments identified.
Requires OMB to make such reports available to the public on a central website.
Requires the Inspectors General to:
(1) review the assessment of the level of risk associated with agency programs and the quality of the improper payment estimates and agency methodologies in making such estimates,
(2) review the oversight or financial controls to identify and prevent improper payments, and
(3) submit recommendations to Congress for improving improper payment information and estimation methodology.
Section 5 -
Requires federal agencies to review prepayment and preaward procedures and available databases to determine program or award eligibility and prevent improper payments before releasing any federal funds.
Includes among the databases that agencies shall review:
(1) the Death Master File of the Social Security Administration (SSA),
(2) the General Services Administration (GSA) Excluded Parties List System,
(3) the Debt Check Database of the Department of the Treasury,
(4) the Credit Alert System or Credit Alert Interactive Voice Response System of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and
(5) the List of Excluded Individuals/Entities of the Office of Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Establishes the Do Not Pay Initiative, which shall include the use of the aforementioned databases and any other databases designated by OMB. Directs OMB to report annually on the operation of the Initiative, with an evaluation of whether the Initiative has reduced improper payments or awards, and provide the frequency of corrections or identification of incorrect database information.
Requires OMB to establish a working system for prepayment and preaward review that includes the Do Not Pay Initiative. Requires each agency to review, not later than June 1, 2013, all of its payments and awards for all programs established through the working system.
Authorizes agency heads and Inspectors General to enter into computer matching agreements to assist in the detection and prevention of improper payments.
Requires OMB to issue guidance to agencies in implementing matching agreements and to establish procedures for correcting data in the Do Not Pay Initiative database.
Requires the Attorney General to report on using data on the conviction and incarceration status of individuals to identify and prevent improper payments by federal agencies.
Requires OMB to establish and report to Congress on a plan for improving the quality, accuracy, and timeliness of death data maintained by SSA.
Section 6 -
Directs OMB to determine current and historical rates and amounts of recovery of improper payments and targets for recovering improper payments, including specific information on amounts and payments recovered by recovery audit contractors.

House Republican Conference Summary

The summary below was written by the House Republican Conference, which is the caucus of Republicans in the House of Representatives.

This summary can be found at http://www.gop.gov/bill/112/2/hr4053.

Background

According to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, improper payments are “any payment that should not have been made or that was made in an incorrect amount (including overpayments and underpayments) under statutory, contractual, administrative, or other legally applicable requirements.”

Summary

The bill would expand requirements for Federal agencies to identify, prevent and recover improper payments.  The bill would require the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to identify and report on Federal programs at high risk for improper payments and create a standardized methodology for estimating improper payments, in order to achieve consistent reporting across the government.

The bill would modify the Privacy Act of 1974 to allow for multilateral data sharing between agencies, and would require a government-wide “Do Not Pay Initiative” to require prepayment and contract award screening against databases containing relevant payee eligibility information. The bill would also require OMB to determine a plan for curbing improper payments to deceased individuals.

Cost

CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 4053 would have no significant cost over the next five years.  The bill could affect direct spending by agencies not funded through annual appropriations; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures apply.  CBO estimates, however, that any net increase in spending by those agencies would not be significant.  Enacting H.R. 4053 would not affect revenues.

House Democratic Caucus Summary

The House Democratic Caucus does not provide summaries of bills.

So, yes, we display the House Republican Conference’s summaries when available even if we do not have a Democratic summary available. That’s because we feel it is better to give you as much information as possible, even if we cannot provide every viewpoint.

We’ll be looking for a source of summaries from the other side in the meanwhile.

The bill contains the following citations to other parts of U.S. law:

Slip Laws

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United States Code

The United States Code is the compilation of permanent laws enacted by Congress. Temporary and other non-permanent laws do not appear in the United States Code. (About half of the United States Code is the law itself, called positive law. The other half is merely a compilation of the laws but has no legal significance.)