[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 205 (Monday, October 23, 2000)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 63221-63223]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-27164]


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SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION

20 CFR Parts 416 and 422

RIN 0960-AF31


Supplemental Security Income; Disclosure of Information to 
Consumer Reporting Agencies and Overpayment Recovery Through 
Administrative Offset Against Federal Payments

AGENCY: Social Security Administration.

ACTION: Proposed rules.

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SUMMARY: We propose to modify the regulations dealing with the recovery 
of supplemental security income (SSI) overpayments made under title XVI 
of the Social Security Act (the Act). The modifications reflect 
statutory authority for the Social Security Administration (SSA) to 
selectively refer information about SSI overpayments to consumer 
reporting agencies and to recover SSI overpayments through 
administrative offset by the Department of the Treasury against other 
Federal payments to which the overpaid individual may be entitled. 
These collection practices would be limited to overpayments made to a 
person after he or she attained age 18 that are determined to be 
otherwise unrecoverable under section 1631(b) of the Act after the 
individual ceases to be a beneficiary under title XVI of the Act.

DATES: To be sure your comments are considered, we must receive them no 
later than December 22, 2000.

ADDRESSES: Comments should be submitted in writing to the Commissioner 
of Social Security, P.O. Box 1585, Baltimore, Maryland 21235-1585, sent 
by telefax to (410) 966-2830, sent by e-mail to 
``[email protected],'' or delivered to the Office of Process and 
Innovation Management, Social Security Administration, 2109 West Low 
Rise Building, 6401 Security Boulevard, Baltimore, MD 21235-6401, 
between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. on regular business days. Comments may be 
inspected during these same hours by making arrangements with the 
contact person shown below.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Robert J. Augustine, Social Insurance 
Specialist, Office of Process and Innovation Management, Social 
Security Administration, 2109 West Low Rise

[[Page 63222]]

Building, 6401 Security Boulevard, Baltimore, MD 21235-6401, (410) 966-
5121 or TTY (410) 966-5609 for information about these proposed rules. 
For information on eligibility or claiming benefits, call our national 
toll-free number, 1-800-772-1213 or TTY 1-800-325-0778 or visit our 
Internet site, SSA Online, at http://www.ssa.gov/.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 1631(b) of the Act prescribes the 
methods SSA may use to recover SSI overpayments. Until enactment of 
Pub. L. 106-169 on December 14, 1999, SSA was not authorized to use 
certain tools found in 31 U.S.C. Chapter 37 to recover title XVI 
program overpayments. Section 203 of Pub. L. 106-169 amended section 
1631(b) of the Act to permit SSA to use for SSI overpayments several of 
the debt collection practices that have been available for use 
regarding social security benefit overpayments under title II of the 
Act. Among other things, these practices include reporting delinquent 
debts to consumer reporting agencies and recovering debts by 
administrative offset against other Federal payments to which the 
overpaid person is entitled. Under section 1631(b) of the Act, these 
additional practices may be used only if the SSI overpayment was made 
to a person after he or she attained age 18 and the overpayment has 
been determined to be otherwise unrecoverable under section 1631(b) of 
the Act after the overpaid person is no longer entitled to benefits 
under title XVI of the Act.
    Before we would refer information to consumer reporting agencies or 
refer an SSI overpayment to the Department of the Treasury for 
administrative offset, we would:
     Send the overpaid person written notice (or, in the case 
of an individual for whom we do not have a current address, take 
reasonable action to locate and send written notice) describing, among 
other things, the amount and nature of the overpayment, the action that 
we propose to take, and the overpaid person's rights to request us to 
review the debt and to inspect or copy our records about the 
overpayment; and
     Give the overpaid person at least 60 calendar days to 
present evidence that all or part of the overpayment is not past-due or 
not legally enforceable, or enter into a written agreement to pay the 
overpayment.
    In these proposed rules, we set forth our proposed policies on 
referral of information on title XVI overpayment debts to consumer 
reporting agencies and referral of such debts to the Department of the 
Treasury for administrative offset. In the future, as we make the 
necessary systems changes and develop policies and procedures to enable 
us to use additional debt collection tools for recovery of SSI 
overpayments, we will make further modifications to our overpayment 
recovery rules.

Explanation of Changes to Regulations

    We propose to add a new Sec. 416.590 to our regulations to explain 
that we will use the additional tools authorized by section 1631(b) of 
the Act when the title XVI program overpayments occurred after the 
individual attained age 18, and the overpayment has been determined to 
be otherwise unrecoverable under section 1631(b) of the Act after the 
individual is no longer entitled to benefits under title XVI of the 
Act. Proposed Sec. 416.590 also contains the criteria under which we 
determine that an overpayment is otherwise unrecoverable under section 
1631(b) of the Act. An overpayment will be determined to be 
unrecoverable when all of the following conditions are met:
     We completed our billing sequence (i.e., we have sent the 
overpaid person an initial notice of the overpayment, a reminder 
notice, and a past-due notice) or suspended or terminated collection 
activity in accordance with the Federal Claims Collection Standards in 
4 CFR 104.2 and 104.3;
     There is no installment payment agreement, or the overpaid 
person has failed to pay in accordance with such an agreement for two 
consecutive months;
     We cannot collect the overpayment by adjusting benefits 
payable to individuals other than the overpaid person.
    For purposes of proposed Sec. 416.590, if the overpaid person is a 
member of an eligible couple that is legally separated and/or living 
apart, we will deem unrecoverable from the other spouse that part of 
the overpayment which the other spouse did not receive. Adjustment of 
benefits will be waived for the overpaid person's spouse when that 
spouse is without fault (as defined in Sec. 416.552) and waiver is 
requested under these circumstances. See Sec. 416.554.
    We propose to add to Sec. 416.1403(a) (the list of administrative 
actions that are not initial determinations) new paragraphs (18) and 
(19) to include our determinations whether we will refer information 
about an overpayment to consumer reporting agencies and whether we will 
refer the overpayment to the Department of the Treasury for offset 
against other Federal payments due the overpaid person. Administrative 
actions that are not initial determinations may be reviewed by us, but 
they are not subject to the administrative review process provided by 
subpart N of our regulations at 20 CFR Part 416, and they are not 
subject to judicial review.
    We also propose to expand our existing regulations in subpart D of 
part 422 to cover SSI overpayments. Specifically, we would revise 
Sec. 422.301 to add language to specify that the debt collection tools 
in subpart D may be used to recover title XVI program overpayments the 
Commissioner has determined, through proposed Sec. 416.590, to be 
unrecoverable under section 1631(b) of the Act. In Sec. 422.305, we 
would revise both the section title and paragraph (a). The effect of 
the changes we propose to make to Secs. 422.301 and 422.305 would allow 
us to apply to overpayments under both title II and title XVI of the 
Act the rules in subpart D of the referral of information to consumer 
reporting agencies and the use of administrative offset.

Clarity of This Regulation

    Executive Order (E.O.) 12866 and the President's memorandum of June 
1, 1998, require each agency to write all rules in plain language. In 
addition to your substantive comments on these proposed rules, we 
invite your comments on how to make these proposed rules easier to 
understand.
    For example:
     Have we organized the material to suit your needs?
     Are the requirements in the rules clearly stated?
     Do the rules contain technical language or jargon that is 
unclear?
     Would a different format (grouping and order of sections, 
use of headings, paragraphing) make the rules easier to understand?
     Would more (but shorter) sections be better?
     Could we improve clarity by adding tables, lists, or 
diagrams?
     What else could we do to make the rules easier to 
understand?

Electronic Version

    The electronic file of this document is available on the date of 
publication in the Federal Register on the Internet site for the 
Government Printing Office: http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/aces/aces140.html. It is also available on the Internet site for SSA (i.e., 
SSA Online): http://www.ssa.gov/.

[[Page 63223]]

Regulatory Procedures

Executive Order 12866

    We have consulted with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 
and determined that these proposed rules do not meet the criteria for a 
significant regulatory action under Executive Order 12866. Thus, they 
are not subject to OMB review.

Regulatory Flexibility Act

    We certify that these proposed regulations will not have a 
significant impact on a substantial number of small entities. 
Therefore, a regulatory flexibility analysis, as provided in the 
Regulatory Flexibility Act, as amended, is not required.

Paperwork Reduction Act

    These proposed regulations will impose no new reporting on 
recordkeeping requirements requiring OMB clearance.

(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Programs No. 96.006, 
Supplemental Security Income)

List of Subjects

20 CFR Part 416

    Administrative practice and procedure, Aged, Blind, Disability 
benefits, Public assistance programs, Reporting and recordkeeping 
requirements, Supplemental Security Income (SSI).

20 CFR Part 422

    Administrative practice and procedure, Organization and functions 
(Government agencies), Social Security.

    Dated: October 5, 2000.
Kenneth S. Apfel,
Commissioner of Social Security.

    For the reasons set out in the preamble, we propose to amend 
subparts E and N of Part 416 and subpart D of Part 422 of Chapter III 
of Title 20 of the Code of Federal Regulations as follows:

PART 416--SUPPLEMENTAL SECURITY INCOME FOR THE AGED, BLIND, AND 
DISABLED

    1. The authority citation for subpart E of Part 416 continues to 
read as follows:

    Authority: Secs. 702(a)(5), 1601, 1602, 1611(c) and (e), and 
1631(a)-(d) and (g) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 902(a)(5), 
1381, 1381a, 1382(c) and (e), and 1383(a)-(d) and (g)); 31 U.S.C. 
3720A.

    2. Section 416.590 is added to read as follows:


Sec. 416.590  Are there additional methods for recovery of title XVI 
benefit overpayments?

    (a) General. In addition to the methods specified in Secs. 416.560, 
416.570 and Sec. 416.580, we may recover an overpayment under title XVI 
of the Act from you under the rules in subpart D of part 422 of this 
chapter, provided:
    (1) The overpayment occurred after you attained age 18;
    (2) You are no longer entitled to benefits under title XVI of the 
Act; and
    (3) Pursuant to paragraph (b) of this section, we have determined 
that the overpayment is otherwise unrecoverable under section 1631(b) 
of the Act.
    (b) When we consider an overpayment to be otherwise unrecoverable. 
We consider an overpayment under title XVI of the Act to be otherwise 
unrecoverable under section 1631(b) of the Act if all of the following 
conditions are met:
    (1) We have completed our billing system sequence (i.e., we have 
sent you an initial notice of the overpayment, a reminder notice, and a 
past-due notice) or we have suspended or terminated collection activity 
under the Federal Claims Collection Standards in 4 CFR 104.2 or 104.3.
    (2) We have not entered into an installment payment arrangement 
with you or, if we have entered into such an arrangement, you have 
failed to make any payment for two consecutive months.
    (3) You have not requested waiver pursuant to Sec. 416.550 or 
Sec. 416.582 or, after a review conducted pursuant to those sections, 
we have determined that we will not waive collection of the 
overpayment.
    (4) You have requested reconsideration of the initial overpayment 
determination pursuant to Secs. 416.1407 and 416.1409 or, after a 
review conducted pursuant to Sec. 416.1413, we have affirmed all or 
part of the initial overpayment determination.
    (5) We cannot recover your overpayment pursuant to Sec. 416.570 by 
adjustment of benefits payable to any individual other than you. For 
purposes of this paragraph, if you are a member of an eligible couple 
that is legally separated and/or living apart, we will deem 
unrecoverable from the other person that part of your overpayment which 
he or she did not receive.
    3. The authority citation for subpart N of Part 416 is revised to 
read as follows:

    Authority: Secs. 702(a)(5), 1631, and 1633 of the Social 
Security Act (42 U.S.C. 902(a)(5), 1383, and 1383b).

    4. In Sec. 416.1403, paragraph (a) is amended by removing the word 
``and'' at the end of paragraph (a)(16), removing the first period in 
paragraph (a)(17), replacing ``See'' with ``see'' in the parenthetical 
in paragraph (a)(17), replacing the second period at the end of 
paragraph (a)(17) with a semicolon, and adding new paragraphs (a)(18) 
and (a)(19) to read as follows:


Sec. 41.1403  Administrative actions that are not initial 
determinations.

    (a) * * *
    (18) Determining whether we will refer information about your 
overpayment to a consumer reporting agency (see Sec. 416.590 and 
Sec. 422.305 of this chapter); and
    (19) Determining whether we will refer your overpayment to the 
Department of the Treasury for collection by offset against Federal 
payment due you (see Sec. 416.590 and Sec. 422.310 of this chapter).
* * * * *

PART 422--ORGANIZATION AND PROCEDURES

    5. The authority citation for subpart D of Part 422 is revised to 
read as follows:

    Authority: Secs. 204(f), 205(a), 702(a)(5), and 1631(b) of the 
Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 404(f), 405(a), 902(a)(5), and 
1383(b)); 31 U.S.C. 3711(e); 31 U.S.C. 3716.


Sec. 422.301  [Amended]

    6. Section 422.301(b) is amended by removing the words ``title II'' 
and by replacing ``Sec. 404.527'' with ``Secs. 404.527 and 416.590.''


Sec. 422.305  [Amended]

    7. Section 422.305 is amended by removing the reference to ``title 
II'' in the heading and in paragraph (a).

[FR Doc. 00-27164 Filed 10-20-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4191-02-P