Guaranteed income pilot program

(a) In general The Secretary, in consultation with the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, shall establish and implement a 3-year pilot program (hereinafter referred to as the program) to provide a guaranteed monthly income to certain eligible individuals in accordance with this section. (b) Income subsidy (1) Selection of participating eligible individuals The Secretary, in consultation with the Commissioner and the external partner selected pursuant to subsection (d), shall develop selection criteria that the Secretary will use to select 20,000 total eligible individuals for participation in the program. (2) Amount of income subsidy Of the eligible individuals participating in the program, 10,000 shall receive a cash payment each month equal to the fair market rent for a 2-bedroom home in the ZIP Code in which the eligible individual resides, or a substantially similar amount as determined by the Secretary, in consultation with the Commissioner and the external partner. (3) Monthly distribution of income subsidy Each participating eligible individual shall receive the cash payment on the 15th day of each month. (c) Responsibilities of Commissioner of Internal Revenue The Commissioner of Internal Revenue shall be responsible for— (1) providing the Secretary access to tax records to administer and study the program under this section; and (2) updating the Secretary and the external partner on changes to the taxable income of a participating eligible individual. (d) External partner (1) Selection The Secretary shall select an external partner to provide assistance with the design, administration, and evaluation of the program. (2) Qualifications An organization selected to be the external partner shall have demonstrated experience in— (A) mixed-methods experimental design; and (B) implementing cash-transfer programs. (3) Confidentiality The external partner, and any employee of the external partner, shall be treated as a Federal employee for purposes of section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. (4) Data collection The external partner shall collect data from participating eligible individuals as necessary to complete the study and reports required under section 4, and to conduct any additional research as the Secretary determines necessary. (e) Disregard of cash payments for purposes of all Federal and Federally assisted programs Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any payment made to participating eligible individuals under this section shall not be taken into account as income, and shall not be taken into account as resources for a period of 12 months from receipt, for purposes of determining the eligibility of such eligible individual (or any other individual) for benefits or assistance (or the amount or extent of benefits or assistance) under any Federal program or any State or local program financed in whole or in part with Federal funds.