H.R. 10326 — Preventing Rip-offs and Obtaining Oversight of Funds Act
Executive Summary
The PROOF Act mandates that state agencies administering major federal programs (including Medicaid, SNAP, TANF, UI, and various COVID-19 relief funds) share specific data with the Attorney General upon request to investigate and prosecute fraud. It aims to bridge the information-sharing gap between state administrators and federal law enforcement, responding to widespread reports of pandemic-era and entitlement program fraud. To mitigate civil liberties concerns, the bill imposes strict privacy and data security safeguards, requiring encryption, restricted access, and the permanent destruction of data once an investigation concludes.
Arguments For
- Fiscal Hawk Appeal: Directly targets the massive, highly publicized fraud in pandemic relief and entitlement programs, offering a concrete mechanism to claw back stolen federal funds.
- Law Enforcement Empowerment: Removes bureaucratic hurdles for the DOJ by mandating state cooperation, streamlining the investigative process for complex, cross-state fraud rings.
- Privacy Cover: Includes robust data destruction and encryption mandates, allowing supporters to argue they are balancing aggressive fraud prosecution with strict civil liberties protections.
Likely Supporters
Arguments Against
- State Burden/Unfunded Mandate: State agencies will likely argue this imposes significant administrative and IT burdens to securely extract and transmit sensitive data to the DOJ without providing additional funding.
- Privacy and Overreach Concerns: Civil liberties advocates may view the broad scope ('Any other information, as determined appropriate') as a potential backdoor for federal surveillance of vulnerable populations receiving social safety net benefits.
- Federalism Friction: Mandating state executives to comply with federal DOJ requests could trigger Tenth Amendment/anti-commandeering objections from states' rights advocates.
Likely Opponents
📋 Key Provisions
- Requires state agencies to provide data to the Attorney General upon written request for fraud investigations across 13+ specified federal programs, plus any others deemed vulnerable to fraud.
- Defines the scope of accessible information to include identity verification records, benefit disbursement logs, provider billing statements, and relevant demographic data.
- Mandates strict privacy safeguards, including compliance with the Privacy Act of 1974 and HIPAA, industry-standard encryption, and restricted personnel access.
- Requires that all transferred data be destroyed and permanently removed from any database upon the conclusion of the relevant legal proceedings or investigation.
- Restricts the use of obtained data strictly to law enforcement purposes related to fraud, explicitly prohibiting unrelated administrative or commercial use.
- Requires the Attorney General to submit an annual report to the House and Senate Judiciary Committees detailing the number of requests, targeted programs, and resulting convictions.
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Requires states to provide information upon a written request from the Attorney General.
"of a written request from the Attorney General"
Includes the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) as a covered program.
"The supplemental nutrition assistance pro-"
Requires data to be destroyed after the investigation concludes.
"is destroyed and permanently removed from"
Prohibits the use of information for unrelated commercial purposes.
"such information for any unrelated administrative or com-"