January 31, 2025
Mr. Rulli (for himself, Mr. Graves, and Mr. Webster of Florida) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
To prohibit the Administrator of the Small Business Administration from garnishing social security benefits with respect to certain named individuals of covered loans who are victims of identity theft, and for other purposes.
Section 1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the Beat Bad Bureaucrats Act
.
Sec. 2. Protection of Social Security benefits from garnishment in certain cases of identity theft
(a) In general
Notwithstanding section 3716(c)(3)(A)(i) of title 31, United States Code, the Administrator may not, with respect to a covered loan, garnish payments made to the named individual of such covered loan under section 202 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 402 et seq.) for the purposes of repayment of such covered loan.
(b) Exception
Subsection (a) does not apply if the Administrator determines that the named individual is not a victim of identity theft.
(c) Revision of rule
Not later than 30 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall revise section 140.11(e)(1) of title 13, Code of Federal Regulations, to add to the list of notice requirements in such section information about how to report identity theft to the Administrator.
(d) Definitions
In this section:
(1) Administrator
The term Administrator
means the Administrator of the Small Business Administration.
(2) Covered loan
The term covered loan
means—
(A)
a loan made under paragraph (36) or (37) of section 7(a) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 636(a)); or
(B)
a loan made under section 7(b) of such Act (15 U.S.C. 636(b)) in response to COVID–19 during the covered period (as defined in section 1110(a) of the CARES Act (15 U.S.C. 9009).
(3) Named individual
The term named individual
means an individual—
(A)
under whose name a covered loan was fraudulently made; and
(B)
that has notified the Administrator, using the procedure posted on a public website of the Small Business Administration, that such individual is a victim of identity theft with respect to such covered loan.