SOCIAL SECURITY ACT
TITLE I OF THE SOCIAL SECURITY ACT
Chapter 531 of the 74th Congress, as amended
49 Stat. 620, as amended
SOCIAL SECURITY ACT
ch531
112–275
Statute Compilation
United States House of Representatives
Office of the Legislative Counsel
text/xml
EN
Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.
GPO Statute Compilations USLM converter, version 20210527.1
2021-10-15
Social Security Act-TITLE I (Grants to States for Old-Age Assistance for The Aged)
Federal Employees Unemployment Compensation Act
Health Insurance for the Aged Act
Medicaid Act
Medicare Act
Social Security Act
8754
74
1935-08-14
SOCIAL SECURITY ACT
[Chapter 531 of the 74th Congress, approved August 14, 1935, 49 Stat. 620.]
[As Amended Through P.L. 112–275, Enacted January 14, 2013]
[Currency: This publication is a compilation of the text of title I of Chapter 531 of the 74th Congress. It was last amended by the public law listed in the As Amended Through note above and below at the bottom of each page of the pdf version and reflects current law through the date of the enactment of the public law listed at https://www.govinfo.gov/app/collection/comps/]
[Note: While this publication does not represent an official version of any Federal statute, substantial efforts have been made to ensure the accuracy of its contents. The official version of Federal law is found in the United States Statutes at Large and in the United States Code. The legal effect to be given to the Statutes at Large and the United States Code is established by statute (1 U.S.C. 112, 204).]
[Each title of the Social Security Act has its own update through note that reflects amendments made to a provision of that title.]

AN ACT
To provide for the general welfare by establishing a system of Federal old-age benefits, and by enabling the several States to make more adequate provision for aged persons, blind persons, dependent and crippled children, maternal and child welfare, public health, and the administration of their unemployment compensation laws; to establish a Social Security Board; to raise revenue; and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
TITLE I—

GRANTS TO STATES FOR OLD-AGE ASSISTANCE FOR THE AGED1
^1
Title I of the Social Security Act is administered by the Department of Health and Human Services (formerly the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare). The Office of Family Assistance, Social Security Administration, administers benefit payments under title I. The Administration for Public Services, Office of Human Development Services, administers social services under title I.
P.L. 92?603, repealed title I effective January 1, 1974, except with respect to Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands. The Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas may elect to initiate a title I social services program if it chooses; see Vol. II, P.L. 94-241, approved March 24, 1976, 90 Stat. 263, [Covenant to Establish Northern Mariana Islands].

TABLE OF CONTENTS OF TITLE2
^2
This table of contents does not appear in the law.303,
Sec. 1.
Appropriation.
Sec. 2.
State old-age plans.
Sec. 3.
Payment to States.
Sec. 4.
Operation of State plans.
[ Sec. 5. Repealed. ]
Sec. 6.
Definition.

appropriation
Sec. 1.
[42 U.S.C. 301]
For the purpose of enabling each State, as far as practicable under the conditions in such State, to furnish financial assistance to aged needy individuals, there is hereby authorized to be appropriated for each fiscal year a sum sufficient to carry out the purposes of this title. The sums made available under this section shall be used for making payments to States which have submitted, and had approved by the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare3 (hereinafter referred to as the “Secretary”), State plans for old-age assistance.
^3
This was deemed to refer to the Secretary of Health and Human Services under section 509(a) of the “Department of Education Organization Act” (P.L. 96?88, 93 Stat. 695), effective May 4, 1980.

state old-age plans
Sec. 2.
[42 U.S.C. 302]
(a)
A State plan for old-age assistance must?
(1)
except to the extent permitted by the Secretary with respect to services, provide that it shall be in effect in all political subdivisions of the State, and, if administered by them, be mandatory upon them;
(2)
provide for financial participation by the State;
(3)
either provide for the establishment or designation of a single State agency to administer the plan, or provide for the establishment or designation of a single State agency to supervise the administration of the plan;
(4)
provide (A) for granting an opportunity for a fair hearing before the State agency to any individual whose claim for assistance under the plan is denied or is not acted upon with reasonable promptness, and (B) that if the State plan is administered in each of the political subdivisions of the State by a local agency and such local agency provides a hearing at which evidence may be presented prior to a hearing before the State agency, such local agency may put into effect immediately upon issuance its decision upon the matter considered at such hearing;
(5)
provide (A) such methods of administration (including methods relating to the establishment and maintenance of personnel standards on a merit basis, except that the Secretary shall exercise no authority with respect to the selection, tenure of office, and compensation of any individual employed in accordance with such methods) as are found by the Secretary to be necessary for the proper and efficient operation of the plan, and (B) for the training and effective use of paid subprofessional staff, with particular emphasis on the full-time or part-time employment of recipients and other persons of low income, as community service aides, in the administration of the plan and for the use of nonpaid or partially paid volunteers in a social service volunteer program in providing services to applicants and recipients and in assisting any advisory committees established by the State agency;
(6)
provide that the State agency will make such reports, in such form and containing such information, as the Secretary may from time to time require, and comply with such provisions as the Secretary may from time to time find necessary to assure the correctness and verification of such reports;
(7)
provide safeguards which permit the use or disclosure of information concerning applicants or recipients only (A) to public officials who require such information in connection with their official duties, or (B) to other persons for purposes directly connected with the administration of the State plan;
(8)
provide that all individuals wishing to make application for assistance under the plan shall have opportunity to do so, and that such assistance shall be furnished with reasonable promptness to all eligible individuals;
(9)
provide, if the plan includes assistance for or on behalf of individuals in private or public institutions, for the establishment or designation of a State authority or authorities which shall be responsible for establishing and maintaining standards for such institutions;
(10)
if the State plan includes old-age assistance?
(A)
provide that the State agency shall, in determining need for such assistance, take into consideration any other income and resources of an individual claiming old-age assistance, as well as any expenses reasonably attributable to the earning of any such income; except that, in making such determination, (i) the State agency may disregard not more than $7.50 per month of any income and (ii) of the first $80 per month of additional income which is earned the State agency may disregard not more than the first $20 thereof plus one-half of the remainder;
(B)
include reasonable standards, consistent with the objectives of this title, for determining eligibility for and the extent of such assistance; and
(C)
provide a description of the services (if any) which the State agency makes available (using whatever internal organizational arrangement it finds appropriate for this purpose) to applicants for and recipients of such assistance to help them attain self-care, including a description of the steps taken to assure, in the provision of such services, maximum utilization of other agencies providing similar or related services; and
(11)
provide that information is requested and exchanged for purposes of income and eligibility verification in accordance with a State system which meets the requirements of section 1137 of this Act.
(b)
The Secretary shall approve any plan which fulfills the conditions specified in subsection (a), except that he shall not approve any plan which imposes, as a condition of eligibility for assistance under the plan?
(1)
an age requirement of more than sixty-five years; or
(2)
any residence requirement which (A) in the case of applicants for old-age assistance, excludes any resident of the State who has resided therein five years during the nine years immediately preceding the application for old-age assistance and has resided therein continuously for one year immediately preceding the application, and (B) in the case of applicants for medical assistance for the aged, excludes any individual who resides in the State; or
(3)
any citizenship requirement which excludes any citizen of the United States.
At the option of the State, the plan may provide that manuals and other policy issuances will be furnished to persons without charge for the reasonable cost of such materials, but such provision shall not be required by the Secretary as a condition for the approval of such plan under this title.
(c)
Nothing in this title shall be construed to permit a State to have in effect with respect to any period more than one State plan approved under this title.

payment to states
Sec. 3.
[42 U.S.C. 303]
(a)
From the sums appropriated therefor, the Secretary of the Treasury shall pay to each State which has a plan approved underthis title, for each quarter, beginning with the quarter commencing October 1, 1960?
[(1)
Stricken.]
(2)
in the case of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Guam, an amount equal to one-half of the total of the sums expended during such quarter as old-age assistance under the State plan, not counting so much of any expenditure with respect to any month as exceeds $37.50 multiplied by the total number of recipients of old-age assistance for such month; plus
[(3)
Stricken.]
(4)
in the case of any State, an amount equal to 50 percent of the total amounts expended during such quarter as found necessary by the Secretary for the proper and efficient administration of the State plan.
(b)
The method of computing and paying such amounts shall be as follows:
(1)
The Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare shall, prior to the beginning of each quarter, estimate the amount to be paid to the State for such quarter under the provisions of subsection (a), such estimate to be based on (A) a report filed by the State containing its estimate of the total sum to be expended in such quarter in accordance with the provisions of such subsection, and stating the amount appropriated or made available by the State and its political subdivisions for such expenditures in such quarter, and if such amount is less than the State's proportionate share of the total sum of such estimated expenditures, the source or sources from which the difference is expected to be derived, (B) records showing the number of aged individuals in the State, and (C) such other investigation as the Secretary may find necessary.
(2)
The Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare shall then certify to the Secretary of the Treasury the amount so estimatedby the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, (A) reduced or increased, as the case may be, by any sum by which he finds that his estimate for any prior quarter was greater or less thanthe amount which should have been paid to the State under subsection (a) for such quarter, and (B) reduced by a sum equivalent to the pro rata share to which the United States is equitably entitled, as determined by the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, of the net amount recovered during any prior quarter by the State or any political subdivision thereof with respect to assistance furnished under the State plan; except that such increases or reductions shall not be made to the extent that such sums have been applied to make the amount certified for any prior quarter greater or less than the amount estimated by the Secretary for such prior quarter: Provided, That any part of the amount recovered from the estate of a deceased recipient which is not in excess of the amount expended by the State or any political subdivision thereof for the funeral expenses of the deceased shall not be considered as a basis for reduction under clause (B) of this paragraph.
(3)
The Secretary of the Treasury shall thereupon, through the Division of Disbursement of the Treasury Department and prior to audit or settlement by the General Accounting Office, pay to the State, at the time or times fixed by the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, the amount so certified.

operation of state plans
Sec. 4.
[42 U.S.C. 304]
In the case of any State plan which has been approved under this title by the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, if the Secretary, after reasonable notice and opportunity for hearing to the State agency administering or supervising the administration of such plan, finds?
(1)
that the plan has been so changed as to impose any age, residence, or citizenship requirement prohibited by section 2(b), or that in the administration of the plan any such prohibited requirement is imposed, with the knowledge of such State agency, in a substantial number of cases; or
(2)
that in the administration of the plan there is a failure to comply substantially with any provision required by section 2(a) to be included in the plan;
the Secretary shall notify such State agency that further payments will not be made to the State (or, in his discretion, that payments will be limited to categories under or parts of the State plan not affected by such failure) until the Secretary is satisfied that such prohibited requirement is no longer so imposed, and that there is no longer any such failure to comply. Until he is so satisfied he shall make no further payments to such State (or shall limit payments to categories under or parts of the State plan not affected by such failure).
Sec. 5.
[Repealed.]

definition
Sec. 6.
[42 U.S.C. 306]
(a)4
For the purposes of this title, the term “old-age assistance” means money payments to, or (if provided in or after the third month before the month in which the recipient makes application for assistance) medical care in behalf of or any type of remedial care recognized under State law in behalf of, needy individuals who are 65 years of age or older, but does not include any such payments to or care in behalf of any individual who is an inmate of a public institution (except as a patient in a medical institution). Such term also includes payments which are not included within the meaning of such term under the preceding sentence, but which would be so included except that they are made on behalf of such a needy individual to another individual who (as determined in accordance with standards prescribed by the Secretary) is interested in or concerned with the welfare of such needy individual, but only with respect to a State whose State plan approved under section 2 includes provision for?
^4
As in original; “(a)” should be stricken.
(1)
determination by the State agency that such needy individual has, by reason of his physical or mental condition, such inability to manage funds that making payments to him would be contrary to his welfare and, therefore, it is necessary to provide such assistance through payments described in this sentence;
(2)
making such payments only in cases in which such payments will, under the rules otherwise applicable under the State plan for determining need and the amount of old-age assistance to be paid (and in conjunction with other income and resources), meet all the need5 of the individuals with respect to whom such payments are made;
^5
So in original. Should be “needs”.
(3)
undertaking and continuing special efforts to protect the welfare of such individual and to improve, to the extent possible, his capacity for self-care and to manage funds;
(4)
periodic review by such State agency of the determination under paragraph (1) to ascertain whether conditions justifying such determination still exist, with provision for termination of such payments if they do not and for seeking judicial appointment of a guardian or other legal representative, as described in section 1111, if and when it appears that such action will best serve the interests of such needy individual; and
(5)
opportunity for a fair hearing before the State agency on the determination referred to in paragraph (1) for any individual with respect to whom it is made.
At the option of a State (if its plan approved under this title so provides), such term (i) need not include money payments to an individual who has been absent from such State for a period in excess of 90 consecutive days (regardless of whether he has maintained his residence in such State during such period) until he has been present in such State for 30 consecutive days in the case of such an individual who has maintained his residence in such State during such period or 90 consecutive days in the case of any other such individual, and (ii) may include rent payments made directly to a public housing agency on behalf of a recipient or a group or groups of recipients of assistance under such plan.