[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 134 (Friday, July 11, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 40005-40007]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-15752]


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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 requiring clearance by the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) in compliance with Public Law (Pub. L.) 
104-13, the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, effective October 1, 1995. 
This notice includes revisions to OMB-approved information collections 
and extensions (no change) of existing 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 ways to minimize the 
burden on respondents, including the use of automated collection 
techniques or other forms of information technology. Mail, e-mail, or 
fax your comments and recommendations on the information collection(s) 
to the OMB Desk Officer and the SSA Reports Clearance Officer to the 
addresses or fax numbers listed below.
    (OMB), Office of Management and Budget, Attn: Desk Officer for SSA, 
Fax: 202-395-6974, e-mail address: [email protected];
    (SSA), Social Security Administration, DCBFM, Attn: Reports 
Clearance Officer, 1333 Annex Building, 6401 Security Blvd., Baltimore, 
MD 21235, Fax: 410-965-6400, e-mail address: [email protected].
    I. The information collections listed below are pending at SSA. SSA 
will submit them to OMB within 60 days from the date of this notice. 
Therefore, your comments would be most helpful if you submit them 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. Disability Update Report--20 CFR 404.1589-.1595, 416.988-.996--
0960-0511. SSA periodically reviews current disability benefits 
recipients' cases to determine if these beneficiaries should continue 
to receive disability payments. In cases where these reviews indicate 
beneficiaries might have experienced a medical improvement, SSA must 
investigate further. The Agency uses form SSA-455/SSA-455-OCR-SM, the 
Disability Update Report, for this purpose. Specifically, SSA uses the 
information it gathers on this form to determine if (1) There is enough

[[Page 40006]]

evidence to warrant referring the beneficiary for a full medical 
Continuing Disability Review (CDR); (2) the beneficiary's impairment 
has not changed enough to warrant a CDR; or (3) there are unresolved 
work-related issues for the beneficiary. The respondents are Title II 
and Title XVI disability payment recipients.
    Type of Request: Extension of an OMB-approved information 
collection.
    Number of Respondents: 880,000.
    Frequency of Response: 1.
    Average Burden per Response: 15 minutes.
    Estimated Annual Burden: 220,000 hours.
    2. Help America Vote Act (HAVA)--0960-0706. H.R. 3295, the Help 
America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002, mandates that States verify the 
identities of newly registered voters. When newly registered voters do 
not have drivers' licenses or State-issued ID cards, they must supply 
the last four digits of their Social Security Numbers (SSNs) to their 
local State election agencies for verification. The election agencies 
forward this information to their State Motor Vehicle Administration 
(MVA) that inputs the data into the American Association of Motor 
Vehicle Administrations, a central consolidation system that routes the 
voter data to SSA's Help America Vote Verification system. Once SSA's 
HAVV system has confirmed the identity of the voter, the information 
will be returned along the same route (in reverse) until it reaches the 
State election agency. The official respondents for this collection are 
the State MVAs.
    Type of Request: Extension of an OMB-approved information 
collection.
    Number of Respondents: 2,352,204.
    Frequency of Response: 1.
    Average Burden per Response: 2 minutes.
    Estimated Annual Burden: 78,407 hours.
    3. National Direct Deposit Initiative--31 CFR 210--0960-0711. Many 
SSA benefits recipients choose to receive their payments via the Direct 
Deposit Program, in which SSA transfers funds directly to recipients' 
accounts at a financial institution (FI). However, many Title II 
payment recipients still receive their payments through traditional 
paper checks. In an effort to encourage these beneficiaries to change 
from paper checks to the Direct Deposit Program, SSA is collaborating 
with the Department of the Treasury and several FIs to implement the 
National Direct Deposit Initiative. In this program, SSA will work with 
FIs to determine which of the target Title II beneficiaries have 
accounts at the participating banks. The banks will then send forms to 
these beneficiaries encouraging them to enroll in the Direct Deposit 
Program. The respondents are the participating FIs and Title II 
beneficiaries currently receiving their payments via check.
    Type of Request: Extension of an OMB-approved information 
collection.

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                                                                                   Average     Estimated                         Estimated
                                      Information       Number of    Frequency      burden       annual                         cost burden     Total
       Type of  respondent             collection      respondents  of response    response      burden     Cost  requirement       per      annual cost
                                      requirement                                 (minutes)     (hours)                          respondent     burden
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Title II Payment Recipients.....  Direct Deposit           100,000            1            2        3,333  N/A                          N/A          N/A
                                   Enrollment Form.
Financial Institutions (banks)..  Data screening/               10            1          240           40  Printing/ mailing         $1,039      $10,390
                                   matching                                                                 of 100,000
                                   activities; SSA's                                                        enrollment forms.
                                   data management
                                   requirements.
                                                      --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals......................  ...................      110,000  ...........  ...........        3,373  ...................  ...........       10,390
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Total Estimated Annual Burden (hours): 3,373 hours.
    Total Estimated Annual Cost Burden ($): $10,390.
    4. Authorization to Disclose Information to Social Security 
Administration--20 CFR 404.1512 & 20 CFR 416.912--0960-0623. SSA must 
obtain sufficient medical evidence to make eligibility determinations 
for Social Security disability benefits and SSI payments. For SSA to 
obtain medical evidence, an applicant must authorize his or her medical 
source(s) to release the information to SSA. The applicant may use form 
SSA-827 to provide consent for the release of information. Generally, 
the State DDS completes the form(s) based on information provided by 
the applicant, and sends the form(s) to the designated medical 
source(s). The respondents are applicants for Title II benefits and 
Title XVI payments.
    Type of Request: Revision of an OMB-approved information 
collection.

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                                                     Number of                       Estimated
                                                    reports by     Total annual      number of     Total burden
                Total respondents                      each          responses      minutes per        hours
                                                    respondent                       response
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                            Reading, Signing, and Dating the 1st SSA-827 (10 minutes)
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3,853,928.......................................               1       3,853,928              10         642,321
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                                  Signing and Dating Three Additional SSA-827s
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3,853,928.......................................               3      11,561,784               1         192,696
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                             Reading the Explanation of the SSA-827 on the Internet
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586,232.........................................               1         586,232               3          29,312
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[[Page 40007]]

Collectively:

    Number of Respondents: 3,853,928.
    Frequency of Response (Average per case): 4.
    Average Burden per Response: 13 minutes to complete all 4 forms.
    Average Burden to Read Internet Instructions: 3 minutes.
    Estimated Annual Burden for Reading Internet Explanation: 29,312.
    Estimated Annual Burden to read instructions and complete the form: 
864,329 hours.
    5. Review of the Disability Hearing Officer's Reconsidered 
Determinations Before It Is Issued--20 CFR 404.913-404.918, 404.1512-
404.1515, 404.1589, 416.912-416.915, 416.989, 416.1413-416.1418, 
404.918(d) and 416.1418(d)--0960-0709. When SSA approves a claimant for 
Social Security Disability Benefits, it periodically conducts a 
Continuing Disability Review (CDR), during which the Agency reviews the 
claimant's status to see if his/her condition has improved to the point 
where the claimant is capable of working. If SSA notifies a claimant 
that the Agency will cease paying his/her benefits, he/she may appeal 
that determination. The first appeal gives the claimant the opportunity 
for a full evidentiary hearing before a Disability Hearing Officer 
(DHO). A federal component reviews a small sample of the DHOs' 
determinations. It is rare for the reviewing component to reverse a DHO 
determination favorable to the claimant. Before SSA can effect the 
unfavorable determination, the claimant has 10 days to provide a 
written statement explaining why SSA should not stop his/her payments. 
That written statement is the information collected in this process. In 
the last three years, we experienced an average of eight instances 
where the reviewing unit reversed the DHO determination. Respondents 
are CDR claimants whose benefits are going to cease.
    Type of Request: Extension of an OMB-approved information 
collection.
    Number of Respondents: 8.
    Frequency of Response: 1.
    Average Burden per Response: 60 minutes.
    Estimated Annual Burden: 8 hours.
    II. SSA has submitted the information collections listed below. 
Your comments on the information collections will be most useful if OMB 
and SSA receive them within 30 days from the date of this publication. 
You can request a copy of the information collections by e-mail, 
[email protected], fax 410-965-6400, or by calling the SSA Reports 
Clearance Officer at 410-965-0454.

1. Youth Transition Process Demonstration Evaluation Data Collection--
0960-0687

Background

    The purpose of the Youth Transition Demonstration (YTD) project is 
to help young people with disabilities make the transition from school 
to work. While participating in the project, youth can continue to work 
and/or continue their education because SSA waives certain disability 
program rules and offers services to youth who are receiving disability 
benefits or have a high probability of receiving them. SSA will fully 
implement YTD projects in 10 sites across the country. The evaluation 
will produce empirical evidence on the effects of the waivers and 
project services including educational attainment, employment, 
earnings, and receipt of benefits by youth with disabilities but also 
on the Social Security Trust Fund and federal income tax revenues. This 
type of project is authorized by Sections 1110 and 234 of the Social 
Security Act.

Project Description

    Given the importance of estimating YTD effects as accurately as 
possible, we will evaluate the project using rigorous analytic methods 
based on randomly assigning youth to a treatment or control group. We 
will conduct several data collections. These include (1) Baseline 
interviews with youth and their parents or guardians prior to random 
assignment; (2) follow-up interviews at 12 and 36 months after random 
assignment; (3) interviews and/or roundtable discussions with local 
program administrators, program supervisors, and service delivery 
staff; and (4) focus groups of youths, their parents, and service 
providers. The respondents are youths with disabilities enrolled in the 
project; their parents or guardians; program staff; and service 
providers.
    Type of Request: Revision of an existing OMB clearance.

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                                                                                      Average
                                                     Number of     Responses per    burden per    Total response
     Data collection year          Collection       respondents     respondent       response         burden
                                                                                      (hours)         (hours)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2008..........................  Baseline........           2,531               1           0.55            1,392
                                Informed consent           2,531               1           0.083             210
                                12 month follow-           1,502               1           0.83            1,247
                                 up.
                                In-depth                     120               1           0.42               50
                                 interviews.
                                Focus group.....              60               1           1.5                90
                                Program staff/                32               1           1                  32
                                 service
                                 provider.
                                                                                                 ---------------
    Total 2008................  ................  ..............  ..............  ..............           3,021
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    Dated: July 7, 2008.
Elizabeth A. Davidson,
Reports Clearance Officer, Social Security Administration.
[FR Doc. E8-15752 Filed 7-10-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4191-02-P