[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 191 (Monday, October 4, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 59290-59292]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-22219]


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SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION


Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Request and 
Comment Request

    The Social Security Administration (SSA) publishes a list of 
information collection packages that will require clearance by the 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in compliance with Pub. L. 104-
13, the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, effective October 1, 1995. The 
information collection packages that may be included in this Notice are 
for revisions to OMB-approved information collections and extensions 
(no change) of OMB-approved information collections.
    SSA is soliciting comments on the accuracy of the agency's burden 
estimate; the need for the information; its practical utility; ways to 
enhance its quality, utility, and clarity; and on ways to minimize 
burden on respondents, including the use of automated collection 
techniques or other forms of information technology. Written comments 
and recommendations regarding the information collection(s) should be 
submitted to the OMB Desk Officer and the SSA Reports Clearance 
Officer. The information can be mailed and/or faxed to the individuals 
at the addresses and fax numbers listed below:
    (OMB), Office of Management and Budget, Attn: Desk Officer for SSA, 
New Executive Building, Room 10235, 725 17th St., NW., Washington, DC 
20503, Fax: 202-395-6974.
    (SSA), Social Security Administration, DCFAM, Attn: Reports 
Clearance Officer, 1338 Annex Building, 6401 Security Blvd., Baltimore, 
MD 21235, Fax: 410-965-6400.
    I. The information collections listed below are pending at SSA and 
will be submitted to OMB within 60 days from the date of this notice. 
Therefore, your comments should be submitted to SSA within 60 days from 
the date of this publication. You can obtain copies of the collection 
instruments by calling the SSA Reports Clearance Officer at 410-965-
0454 or by writing to the address listed above.
    1. Cessation or Continuance of Disability or Blindness 
Determination--20 CFR 404.1615, 20 CFR 404.1512, and 20 CFR 404.1588-
1599--0960-0443. The information on Form SSA-832-U3/C3 is used by SSA 
to document determinations as to whether an individual's disability 
benefits should be terminated or continued on the basis of his/her 
impairment. The respondents are State Disability Determination Service 
employees adjudicating Supplemental Security Income (SSI) disability 
claims.
    Type of Request: Extension of an OMB-approved information 
collection.
    Number of Respondents: 392,191.
    Frequency of Response: 1.
    Average Burden Per Response: 30 minutes.
    Estimated Annual Burden: 196,096 hours.
    2. Work Activity Report (Self-Employed Person)--20 CFR 404.1520(b), 
20 CFR 1571-.1576, 20 CFR 404.1584-.1593, and 20 CFR 416.971-.976--
0960-0598. The information on Form SSA-820-F4 is used by SSA to 
determine initial or continuing eligibility for SSI or Social Security 
disability benefits. Under titles II and XVI of the Act, applicants for 
disability benefits must prove an inability to perform any kind of 
Substantial Gainful Activity (SGA) generally available in the national 
economy for which they might be expected to qualify on the basis of 
age, education, and work experience. SSA needs to secure information 
about this work in order to ascertain whether the applicant was (or is) 
engaging in SGA. Work after a claimant becomes entitled can cause the 
cessation of disability benefits. The information obtained from form 
SSA-820-F4 is needed to determine if a cessation of benefits should 
occur. The respondents are applicants and claimants for SSI or Social 
Security benefits.
    Type of Request: Extension of an OMB-approved information 
collection.
    Number of Respondents: 100,000.
    Frequency of Response: 1.
    Average Burden Per Response: 30 minutes.
    Estimated Annual Burden: 50,000 hours.
    3. Representative Payee Report--20 CFR 404.2035, 20 CFR 404.2065, 
20 CFR 416.635, and 20 CFR 416.665--0960-0068. The information on Forms 
SSA-623 and SSA-6230 is used by SSA to determine whether payments 
certified to the representative payee have been used for the 
beneficiary's current maintenance and personal needs, and to determine 
whether the representative payee continues to be concerned with the 
beneficiary's welfare. The respondents are representative payees.
    Type of Request: Extension of an OMB-approved information 
collection.
    Number of Respondents: 6,000,000.
    Frequency of Response: 1.
    Average Burden Per Response: 15 minutes.
    Estimated Annual Burden: 1,500,000 hours.
    4. Modified Benefit Formula Questionnaire--0960-0395. The Social 
Security Administration uses the information collected by the SSA-150 
to determine the correct formula to be used in computing the Social 
Security benefit for someone who receives a pension from employment not 
covered by Social Security. The SSA-150 collects the information needed 
to make all the necessary benefit computations. The respondents are 
claimants for Social Security benefits who are entitled to both Social 
Security and a pension not covered by Social Security.
    Type of Request: Extension of an OMB-approved information 
collection.
    Number of Respondents: 90,000.
    Frequency of Response: 1.
    Average Burden Per Response: 8 minutes.
    Estimated Average Burden: 12,000 hours.
    5. Modified Benefit Formula Questionnaire-Employer--0960-0477. The 
information collected on Form SSA-58 is used by the SSA to verify the

[[Page 59291]]

claimant's allegations on Form SSA-150 (OMB No. 0960-0395). SSA must 
make a determination regarding whether the modified benefit formula is 
applicable and when to first apply it to a person's benefit. This form 
will be sent to an employer for pension-related information if the 
claimant is unable to provide it. The respondents are individuals who 
are eligible after 1985 for both Social Security benefits and a pension 
based on work not covered by Social Security.
    Type of Request: Extension of an OMB-approved information 
collection.
    Number of Respondents: 30,000.
    Frequency of Response: 1.
    Average Burden Per Response: 20 minutes.
    Estimated Average Burden: 10,000 hours.
    6. Report by Former Representative Payee--20 CFR 404.2060 and 20 
CFR 404.2065--0960-0112. SSA collects the information on Form SSA-625 
when a mental facility is terminating its payee services and a 
successor payee is to be named. The information is needed to determine 
the proper disposition of any conserved funds. The respondents are 
State institutions or agencies which are no longer serving as 
representative payee(s) for beneficiaries who are incapable of managing 
benefits.
    Type of Request: Extension of an OMB-approved information 
collection.
    Number of Respondents: 8,000.
    Frequency of Response: 1.
    Average Burden Per Response: 15 minutes.
    Estimated Average Burden: 2,000 hours.
    7. State Death Match--20 CFR 404.301, 20 CFR 404.310-311, 20 CFR 
404.316, 20 CFR 404.330-341, 20 CFR 404.350-352, 20 CFR 404.371, and 20 
CFR 416.912--0960-NEW

Background

    Section 205(r) of the Social Security Act requires SSA to contract 
with the States to obtain death certificate information in order to 
compare it to SSA's payment files. This match ensures the accuracy of 
our payment files by detecting unreported or inaccurate deaths of 
beneficiaries.
    Entitlement to retirement, disability, wife's, husband's or 
parent's benefits under the provisions of the Social Security Act 
terminates when the beneficiary dies. About 2.5 million people die in 
the United States each year. Approximately 2.0 million are SSA 
beneficiaries. Therefore, the information is instrumental in 
maintaining payment integrity.
    SSA is seeking clearance of both the current state death match 
reporting process and the new Web-based Electronic Death Registration 
(EDR) process described below:

State Death Match--Current Process

    The first participants in the death registration process, usually 
funeral directors, are charged by State law to complete the demographic 
information on the decedent and obtain necessary physicians' signatures 
to complete the death registration. Once the death registration 
information is completed, the first participant sends the information 
to the State's bureaus of vital statistics (SBVS). The SBVS officially 
registers the death and is the official keeper of the death record. 
Each State then furnishes this information to SSA, using current 
technology including Vital Information Systems Network (VISN), 
electronic Vital Information Systems Network (eVISN), and 
ConnectDirect. Under this process SSA must independently verify the 
State death data before taking a termination action. The respondents 
are the SBVS.

State Death Match-- EDR Online Verification of the Social Security 
Number in State Death Registration Process

    The States are now updating and further automating the death 
registration processes. This State reengineering effort is widely known 
as the Electronic Death Registration (EDR) initiative. The EDR system 
permits electronic transfer of the death certificate. Under EDR the 
first participant completes a portion and electronically sends the 
document to the next participant for completion and submission to the 
BVS.
    An additional feature of EDR is the Online Verification System 
(OVS) developed by the National Association for Public Health 
Statistics and Information System (NAPHSIS) in conjunction with SSA. 
The process allows the first participants in the death registration 
process to enter the decedent's demographic information including the 
social security number (SSN) into the EDR system. The system will 
verify the SSN online in real time and creates an electronic death 
certificate as well as a fact of death report. The States have agreed 
that the on-line verification of the SSN at the first point of 
collection in the registration process will satisfy the requirement to 
independently verify the SSN.
    EDR reduces the processing time needed to register deaths and 
greatly improves the business practices of the various participants in 
death registration process. EDR will result in the State's ability to 
send SSA the report with a verified SSN within 5 days of the date of 
death and within 24 hours of receipt in the State repository. SSA is 
using a phased-in approach to EDR. When fully implemented, SSA will 
save significant program dollars and work years annually. The 
respondents are the SBVS.
    Type of Request: New information collection.
    Estimated Annual Cost for all respondents:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                   Average cost      Estimated
           Collection format               Number of     Frequency of responses     per record      annual cost
                                          respondents                                 request         burden
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
State death match--current                          52  50,000 per state........             .67      $1,742,000
 registration process.
State death match--electronic death                  3  50,000 per state........           $2.48       $372,000
 registration (EDR).
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** Please note that both of these data matching processes are entirely electronic and there is no hourly burden
  for the respondent to provide this information.


[[Page 59292]]

II. The information collection listed below has been submitted to OMB 
for clearance.

    Your comments on the information collection would be most useful if 
received by OMB and SSA within 30 days from the date of this 
publication. You can obtain a copy of the OMB clearance package by 
calling the SSA Reports Clearance Officer at 410-965-0454, or by 
writing to the address listed above.
    Request for Waiver of Special Veterans Benefits (SVB) Overpayment 
Recovery or Change in Repayment Rate--0960--NEW

Background

    Section 251 of the Foster Care Independence Act of 1999, Pub. L. 
106-169, added Title VIII (Special Benefits for Certain World War II 
veterans) to the Social Security Act. Title VIII allows for the 
payments of monthly benefits to qualified World War II veterans who 
reside outside the United States. When an overpayment in SVB occurs, 
the beneficiary can request a waiver of recovery of the overpayment or 
a change in the overpayment rate.

The Information Collection

    Form SSA-2032-BK will be used by SSA to obtain the information 
necessary to determine whether the provisions of the Act regarding 
waiver of recovery of the overpayment are met. The information on the 
form is needed to determine a repayment rate if repayment cannot be 
waived. The information will be collected by personnel in SSA field 
offices, U.S. Embassies or consulates, or the Veterans Affairs Regional 
Office in the Philippines. Respondents to the SSA-2032 are 
beneficiaries who have overpayments on their Title VIII record and wish 
to file a claim for waiver of recovery or change in repayment rate.
    Type of Request: New Information Collection.
    Number of Respondents: 39.
    Frequency of Response: 1.
    Average Burden Per Response: 120 minutes.
    Estimated Annual Burden: 78 hours.

    Dated: September 28, 2004.
Elizabeth A. Davidson,
Reports Clearance Officer, Social Security Administration.
[FR Doc. 04-22219 Filed 10-1-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4191-02-P