Requirements of State eligibility systems

the State shall require, as a condition of eligibility for benefits under any program listed in subsection (b), that each applicant for or recipient of benefits under that program furnish to the State his social security account number (or numbers, if he has more than one such number), and the State shall utilize such account numbers in the administration of that program so as to enable the association of the records pertaining to the applicant or recipient with his account number;

wage information from agencies administering State unemployment compensation laws available pursuant to section 3304(a)(16) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, wage information reported pursuant to paragraph (3) of this subsection, and wage, income, and other information from the Social Security Administration and the Internal Revenue Service available pursuant to section 6103( l )(7) of such Code, shall be requested and utilized to the extent that such information may be useful in verifying eligibility for, and the amount of, benefits available under any program listed in subsection (b), as determined by the Secretary of Health and Human Services (or, in the case of the unemployment compensation program, by the Secretary of Labor, or, in the case of the supplemental nutrition assistance program, by the Secretary of Agriculture);

employers (as defined in section 653a(a)(2)(B) of this title ) (including State and local governmental entities and labor organizations) in such State are required, effective September 30, 1988 , to make quarterly wage reports to a State agency (which may be the agency administering the State’s unemployment compensation law) except that the Secretary of Labor (in consultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Secretary of Agriculture) may waive the provisions of this paragraph if he determines that the State has in effect an alternative system which is as effective and timely for purposes of providing employment related income and eligibility data for the purposes described in paragraph (2), and except that no report shall be filed with respect to an employee of a State or local agency performing intelligence or counterintelligence functions, if the head of such agency has determined that filing such a report could endanger the safety of the employee or compromise an ongoing investigation or intelligence mission, and except that in the case of wage reports with respect to domestic service employment, a State may permit employers (as so defined) that make returns with respect to such employment on a calendar year basis pursuant to section 3510 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to make such reports on an annual basis;

the State agencies administering the programs listed in subsection (b) adhere to standardized formats and procedures established by the Secretary of Health and Human Services (in consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture) under which—

(A) the agencies will exchange with each other information in their possession which may be of use in establishing or verifying eligibility or benefit amounts under any other such program;

(B) such information shall be made available to assist in the child support program under part D of subchapter IV of this chapter, and to assist the Secretary of Health and Human Services in establishing or verifying eligibility or benefit amounts under subchapters II and XVI of this chapter, but subject to the safeguards and restrictions established by the Secretary of the Treasury with respect to information released pursuant to section 6103( l ) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986; and

(C) the use of such information shall be targeted to those uses which are most likely to be productive in identifying and preventing ineligibility and incorrect payments, and no State shall be required to use such information to verify the eligibility of all recipients;

adequate safeguards are in effect so as to assure that—

(A) the information exchanged by the State agencies is made available only to the extent necessary to assist in the valid administrative needs of the program receiving such information, and the information released pursuant to section 6103( l ) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is only exchanged with agencies authorized to receive such information under such section 6103( l ); and

(B) the information is adequately protected against unauthorized disclosure for other purposes, as provided in regulations established by the Secretary of Health and Human Services, or, in the case of the unemployment compensation program, the Secretary of Labor, or, in the case of the supplemental nutrition assistance program, the Secretary of Agriculture, or 1 1 So in original. Probably should be followed by a comma. in the case of information released pursuant to section 6103( l ) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, the Secretary of the Treasury;

all applicants for and recipients of benefits under any such program shall be notified at the time of application, and periodically thereafter, that information available through the system will be requested and utilized; and

accounting systems are utilized which assure that programs providing data receive appropriate reimbursement from the programs utilizing the data for the costs incurred in providing the data.