,,ib ,union ,calendar ,no4 #eig #aaith ,,congress #b;d ,session ,h4 ,r4 #hdfd ,report ,no4 #aai-fhd ,,in ,,the ,,house ,,of ,,representatives ,april #bc1 #bjbf,mr4 ,comer 7for himself and ,mr4 ,arrington7 introduced the following bill2 which was referred to the ,committee on ,oversight and ,government ,reform ,june #c1 #bjbf;,additional sponsor3 ,mr4 ,calvert ,june #c1 #bjbf,reported with an amendment1 committed to the ,committee of the ,whole ,house on the ,state of the ,union1 and ordered to be printed,strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic,for text of introduced bill1 see copy of bill as introduced on ,april #bc1 #bjbf ,a ,,bill ,to amend title #ca1 ,united ,states ,code1 to authorize pausing and segmenting payments1 and for other purposes4 #a4 ,short title ,this ,act may be cited as the ,stopping ,fraudulent ,payments ,act4 #b4 ,authority to pause payments for further review and corrective action 7a7 ,treasury payment voucher waiver authority 7#a7 ,amendment ,subchapter ,,ii of chapter #cc of title #ca1 ,united ,states ,code1 is amended by adding at the end the following3 #cccg4 ,authority to pause payments for further review and corrective action 7a7 ,agency obligation to pause disbursement requests for corrective action ,the head of an agency shall take a corrective action to temporarily delay1 condition1 or segment a disbursement request before the certification of a payment voucher under section #ccbe if1 as determined by an official designated by the head of the agency1 the agency-- 7#a7 has sufficient reason to determine that the payment presents an elevated risk of fraud based on a fraud-risk indicator or an improper payment resulting in financial loss to the ,government as estimated under the requirements of section #cceb in accordance with the statutorily-defined eligibility requirements or other legally-established condition of the program for a payee to be eligible to receive payment2 7#b7 has sufficient reason to determine1 based on a notification by the relevant ,state or local government official in the case of a payment from ,federal funds disbursed by a ,state or local government under a ,state-administered and federally-funded program1 that the payment presents an elevated risk of fraud based on a fraud-risk indicator or an improper payment resulting in financial loss to the ,government as estimated under the requirements of section #cceb in accordance with the statutorily-defined eligibility requirements or other legally-established condition of the program for a payee to be eligible to receive payment2 or 7#c7 has been notified of an order from the ,secretary of the ,treasury described under subsection 7b74 7b7 ,treasury obligation to return payment voucher and issue corrective action order ,except where otherwise required by law1 the ,secretary shall promptly notify the relevant certifying official of an order to return a certified payment voucher submitted to a disbursing official under section #ccbe and issue a corrective action order to the head of an agency not later than #b days after the ,secretary makes a determination that in accordance with the statutorily-defined eligibility requirements or other legally-established condition of the program for a payee to be eligible to receive payment that such payment presents an elevated risk of fraud based on a fraud-risk indicator or an improper payment resulting in financial loss to the ,government based on an output of the ,do ,not ,pay system under section #cced4 7c7 ,agency documentation and time-limited corrective action ,an action taken by the head of an agency under subsection 7a7 shall-- 7#a7 be based on an objective1 documented fraud-risk indicator2 7#b7 be narrowly applied to the portion of the payment presenting the elevated risk2 and 7#c7 be limited in duration to the minimum period necessary1 as determined by the head of the agency1 to verify eligibility of the payee or accuracy of the payment per any program requirement associated with the payment or as stipulated under law4 7d7 ,payee notification and time limit of paused disbursement requests ,with respect to a disbursement request that has been delayed1 conditioned1 or segmented pursuant to subsection 7a7 or a payment voucher that is returned pursuant subsection 7b71 the head of the agency shall take the following actions3 7#a7 ,promptly provide to the payee 7not later than #b days after a determination under subsection 7a7 or a notification to the agency under subsection 7b771 as appropriate1 and for a case in which the payment from ,federal funds disbursed by a ,state or local government under a ,state-administered and federally-funded program also provides to such relevant ,state or local government official1 a notification that-- 7,a7 a disbursement has been temporarily paused1 conditioned1 or segmented2 7,b7 identifies the nature of the fraud-risk indicator or improper payment relied upon by the agency to make the corrective action determination under subsection 7a7 or notification to the agency under subsection 7b72 and 7,c7 outlines the process for the corrective action review period4 7#b7 ,use a process tailored to the specific requirements and design of the agency program for a payee1 or the ,state or local government described under paragraph 7#a71 to contest any factual inaccuracy or provide clarifying information during the corrective action review period4 7#c7 ,issue such payment not later than #cj days after a determination to take a corrective action is made by the head of the agency under subsection 7a7 or the agency was notified by the ,secretary under subsection 7b7 of a corrective action order1 but not later than #g days after the date on which the payee contests the corrective action under the process established pursuant to paragraph 7#b71 if the head of the agency determines that the payment does not present an elevated risk of fraud or an improper payment resulting in financial loss to the ,government4 7e7 ,segmentation of low-risk payments ,to the maximum extent practicable1 the head of each agency shall allow a routine1 historically consistent payment amount to proceed while temporarily holding an anomalous1 unusually large1 or high-risk portion of a payment1 or class of payments1 pending review and resolution of an agency corrective action determination under subsection 7a7 or a corrective action order under subsection 7b74 7f7 ,exemptions for law enforcement activities ,the head of an agency1 in consultation with the ,secretary and the ,attorney ,general1 may waive any provision in this section on a case-by-case basis if notified of or instructed by a ,federal law enforcement authority1 including an agency ,inspector ,general1 that the action will jeopardize an active criminal investigation or legal proceeding related to an effort to defraud the ,federal ,government or violate sections #cgbi through #cgcc of title #ca 7commonly known as the ,false ,claims ,act74 7g7 ,limitation of liability ,no officer or employee of the ,federal ,government shall be personally liable for an action taken in good faith under this section4 ,an action taken under this section may not constitute a final determination of eligibility1 liability1 or wrongdoing on the part of a payee4 7h7 ,rule of construction for program authorizing statute ,nothing in this section may be construed to supersede any other provision of law with respect to any statute that authorizes the payment or program the payment is made under4 7i7 ,regulations ,not later than #ahj days after the date of the enactment of this section1 and annually thereafter1 the ,secretary1 in consultation with the ,director1 shall issue regulations and establish procedures to administer the requirements of this section that shall be published in the ,federal ,register that1 at a minimum1 specify the following3 7#a7 ,the minimum seniority of an agency official designated under subsection 7a7 authorized to make a determination to issue a corrective action4 7#b7 ,the procedures by which the ,secretary of the ,treasury will use the ,do ,not ,pay system under section #cced to make a determination under subsection 7b7 in accordance with the statutorily-defined eligibility requirements or other legally-established condition of a program for a payee to be eligible to receive payment4 7#c7 ,the procedure for an agency to dispute an order to return a certified payment voucher and appeal a related corrective action order under subsection 7b7 to the ,fiscal ,assistant ,secretary1 which shall at a minimum include a requirement for the agency to receive a response not later than five days after making such a dispute or appeal to the ,department of the ,treasury4 7#d7 ,the minimum information requirements of a notification required under subsection 7d77#a74 7j7 ,definitions ,in this section3 7#a7 ,director ,the term ,director means the ,director of the ,office of ,management and ,budget4 7#b7 ,fraud-risk indicator ,the term fraud-risk indicator means an objective data point or analytic signal that indicates an anomalous payment pattern or increase in the volume of a payment amount1 a verified data mismatch1 network or behavioral anomaly1 or match identified by the ,do ,not ,pay system under section #cced and any payment1 account1 or payee validation program or service administered by the ,secretary that would result in financial loss to the ,government4 7#c7 ,routine1 historically consistent payment amount ,the term routine1 historically consistent payment amount means a payment amount that is consistent with previous payment history of the payee1 established program use patterns1 or other objective benchmarks determined by the certifying agency4 7#d7 ,secretary ,the term ,secretary means the ,secretary of the ,treasury4 4 7#b7 ,technical and conforming amendment ,the table of sections for chapter #cc of title #ca1 ,united ,states ,codes1 is amended by inserting after the item for section #cccf the following3 #cccg4 ,authority to pause payments for further review and corrective action4 4 7b7 ,requirements and authorities of payment disbursing officials ,paragraph 7#c7 of section #ccbe7;a7 of title #ca1 ,united ,states ,code1 is amended-- 7#a7 by inserting 1 compliance with an order to pause a payment pursuant to section #cccg7;b71 after except for the correctness of computations on a voucher2 and 7#b7 by striking 11 and inserting a comma4 7c7 ,relief of accountable officers ,section #cebg of title #ca1 ,united ,states ,code1 is amended-- 7#a7 in subsection 7a77#b71 by inserting after the loss or deficiency was not the result of an illegal or incorrect payment the following3 1 or was made as a result of a good faith effort to comply with the requirements of section #cccg2 and 7#b7 in subsection 7b77#a77;,a77ii71 by inserting after the loss or deficiency was not the result of an illegal or incorrect payment the following3 1 or was made as a result of a good faith effort to comply with the requirements of section #cccg4 7d7 ,requirements and authorities of payment certifying officials ,subsection 7a7 of section #cebh of title #ca1 ,united ,states ,code1 is amended-- 7#a7 in paragraph 7#d77;,c71 by striking 2 and and inserting a semicolon2 7#b7 in paragraph 7#e71 by striking the period at the end and inserting 2 and2 and 7#c7 by adding at the end the following 7#f7 complying with an order to take a corrective action to temporarily delay1 condition1 or segment a disbursement request pursuant to section #cccg4 4 7e7 ,relief of certifying officials ,subsection 7b77#a7 of section #cebh of title #ca1 ,united ,states ,code-- 7#a7 in subparagraph 7,a71 by striking 2 or and inserting a semicolon2 7#b7 in subparagraph 7,b77iii71 by striking the period at the end and inserting 2 or2 and 7#c7 by inserting at the end the following new subparagraph3 7,c7 the certification was made as a result of a good faith effort to comply with the requirements of section #cccg4 4 7f7 ,report on results of payments paused for further review and corrective action ,not later than #ah months after the date of the enactment of this ,act1 and annually thereafter1 the ,secretary of the ,treasury shall submit to the ,director of the ,office of ,management and ,budget1 the ,committees on ,appropriations of the ,senate and the ,house of ,representatives1 the ,committee on ,homeland ,security and ,governmental ,affairs of the ,senate1 and the ,committee on ,oversight and ,government ,reform of the ,house of ,representatives1 a report on the following3 7#a7 ,the total number of orders to return a certified payment voucher submitted to a disbursing official under section #ccbe of title #ca1 ,united ,states ,code1 and corrective action orders issued to the head of an agency under the authorities provided by section #cccg7;b7 of such title1 as added by this section4 7#b7 ,the percentage of such payments that are issued by the agency1 including by successful contestations filed by the recipient or payee with the agency1 and recommendations to mitigate such errors in the fraud-risk indicators of the ,department of the ,treasury in the future4 7#c7 ,the total savings to the ,federal ,government in payments determined to be fraudulent or result in financial loss to the ,government under the authorities provided by subsections 7a7 and 7b7 of section #cccg of title #ca1 ,united ,states ,code1 as added by this section4 7#d7 ,any necessary policy1 regulatory1 or legislative recommendations related to the authorities and requirements under section of section #cccg of title #ca1 ,united ,states ,code1 as added by this section1 or other relevant law4 7g7 ,effective date ,the amendments made by this section shall take effect #a year after the date of the enactment of this ,act4 ,june #c1 #bjbf,reported with an amendment1 committed to the ,committee of the ,whole ,house on the ,state of the ,union1 and ordered to be printed