FCW – July 15, 2022
A bill from Rep. Bill Foster (D-Ill.) and its Senate companion would raise the federal government’s profile in the digital ID ecosystem.
A bill meant to ramp up federal government participation in the digital identity ecosystem is inching closer to passage. The bill is poised to be advanced by the House Committee on Oversight and Reform and a Senate version was just introduced.
The bipartisan “Improving Digital Identity Act” was first introduced by Rep. Bill Foster (D-Ill.) in 2020, but never never voted out of committee. It also didn’t get a Senate version in that session of Congress. Foster reintroduced the measure last year.
In the House, the committee recessed on Thursday before finishing officially recorded votes to report Foster’s bill and others out of the committee. That will happen when the committee picks back up on the markup, a committee aid confirmed with FCW.
Sen. Krysten Sinema (D-Ariz.) along with Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo) introduced a Senate counterpart on Wednesday.
The bill includes a few deliverables but the main impact will likely be felt from its proposed policy shift that puts the federal government more squarely in the digital ID business.
The legislation pushes the federal government to use existing authority to help Amerians “prove who they are online,” by providing opt-in ID validation services that “augment private sector digital identity and authentication solutions.”
The bill would also set up a task force on digital identity and establish a grant program at the Department of Homeland Security to support the creation of interoperable identity credentialing systems for digital identity verification on the state and local level.
This all comes in the midst of a government still grappling with increased identity fraud since the start of the pandemic. Identity fraud losses shot up from $16.9 billion in 2019 to $56 billion in 2020, according to Javelin Strategy and Research.