HB2716 would amend the Social Security Act to strengthen cross-agency coordination with the Do Not Pay system. The core change requires the Social Security Administration to share information it collects with the Do Not Pay system for authorized uses that prevent improper payments and support recovery efforts.
The bill also creates a cooperative framework with the Do Not Pay system and state death-data contributors to define how state costs are shared and reviewed over time. It closes gaps by adding a new notification provision when errors are identified and by tightening the evidentiary standard for recording a death in SSA records.
The amendments take effect on December 27, 2026, giving agencies time to implement the new data-sharing and cost-sharing arrangements.
At a Glance
What It Does
Amends SSA 205(r) to require sharing data with the Do Not Pay system for authorized uses, establishes a methodology for state death-data cost sharing, and adds an error-notification requirement among cooperating agencies. It also sets an evidentiary standard (clear and convincing) for recording deaths and provides a future effective date.
Who It Affects
SSA, the Do Not Pay program, federal partner agencies with cooperative arrangements, and state agencies that supply death-data.
Why It Matters
Strengthens cross-agency mechanisms to prevent improper payments to deceased individuals, improves recovery of overpayments, and aligns federal-state cost sharing for death data; raises questions about data use scope and implementation timing.
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What This Bill Actually Does
The bill revises how the Social Security Administration interacts with the Do Not Pay system. It requires SSA to share information it has about individuals with the Do Not Pay system for uses that help prevent and recover improper payments to people who are deceased, subject to existing safeguards.
This sharing happens under a cooperative arrangement that includes a plan for sharing the costs of state death data, with periodic reviews.
Additionally, the bill adds an explicit mechanism to notify any agency that has a cooperative arrangement with SSA if Do Not Pay identifies an error related to such data or payments. It also tightens the rules around recording a death in SSA records, requiring clear and convincing evidence before a death record can be created for purposes that would feed Do Not Pay and other cross-agency systems.Finally, the amendments specify an effective date of December 27, 2026, signaling that agencies will have time to implement the new interagency and data-sharing routines.
Taken together, these provisions are designed to reduce improper payments by improving data accuracy and enabling quicker recovery of funds, while distributing the data-sharing costs more explicitly between federal and state partners.
The Five Things You Need to Know
The bill requires SSA to share death-related data with Do Not Pay for authorized uses to prevent and recover improper payments.
A new interagency framework sets how state death data costs will be shared and reviewed over time.
A new subsection requires notifying cooperating agencies when Do Not Pay detects an error.
An evidentiary standard—clear and convincing evidence—limits SSA’s ability to record a death for cross-agency use.
The amendments take effect December 27, 2026.
Section-by-Section Breakdown
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Amendment to SSA 205(r)(11) — Data sharing with Do Not Pay
The Commissioner of Social Security must, to the extent feasible, provide information furnished under paragraph (1) to the Do Not Pay system for authorized uses that help prevent improper payments and support recovery efforts, through a cooperative arrangement with the Do Not Pay system. This sharing is conditioned on meeting the requirements of subparagraphs (A) and (B) of paragraph (3). The arrangement should include a methodology for determining the proportional share of state death data costs that the SSA and the Do Not Pay system will cover, with periodic reviews.
Section 205(r)(7) — New notice to cooperating agencies (subparagraph (C))
The existing cross-agency error-notification mechanism is expanded by adding a new subparagraph (C). It requires SSA to notify any agency that has a cooperative arrangement with SSA under paragraph (3) or (11) when the Do Not Pay system identifies an error related to the data or payments involved. This ensures timely coordination to correct records and prevent further improper payments.
Effective date and implementation
The amendments made by this section take effect on December 27, 2026. This gives agencies time to establish data-sharing protocols, cost-sharing arrangements for state death data, and the incident-notification process wired into Do Not Pay workflows.
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Every bill creates winners and losers. Here's who stands to gain and who bears the cost.
Who Benefits
- The Do Not Pay program gains access to additional death-data through SSA, improving accuracy and enforcement against improper payments.
- The Social Security Administration benefits from clearer processes for sharing death-data with Do Not Pay and from a defined cost-sharing framework with states.
- Federal agencies that rely on Do Not Pay for cross-agency risk management gain a formal notification pathway to address errors efficiently.
- State governments that contribute death data benefit from an explicit, periodically reviewed cost-sharing arrangement, which may stabilize funding for data provision.
Who Bears the Cost
- SSA bears costs associated with implementing the data-sharing and periodic reviews.
- Do Not Pay bears costs associated with integrating SSA data feeds and maintaining cross-agency data protections.
- States incur costs related to providing death-data data and participating in the proportionate-cost framework.
- Other federal agencies that operationalize the Do Not Pay interface may incur compliance and IT costs to align with the new notification and data-sharing requirements.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
Balancing swift, coordinated prevention of improper payments with the risk of misrecording deaths, data-sharing burdens, and ensuring that all cooperating agencies maintain robust safeguards against data misuse.
The bill creates a more formalized data-sharing ecosystem between SSA and the Do Not Pay system, anchored by a proportional-cost framework for state death data and a new error-notification obligation. While this promises tighter controls on improper payments related to deceased individuals, it raises questions about data-use scope, privacy protections, and the administrative burden of interagency coordination.
Agencies will need to implement data exchange agreements, ensure data quality, and manage notification workflows without introducing new bottlenecks in benefits processing or debt recovery. The raised evidentiary standard for recording a death in SSA records also interacts with how death-data are fed into Do Not Pay, potentially slowing near-term updates if evidence is contested or delayed.
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