[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 117 (Wednesday, June 18, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 34824-34826]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-14207]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION


Agency Information Collection Activities: 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 104-13, the 
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, effective October 1, 1995. This notice 
includes three revisions and one extension 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 ways to minimize burden 
on respondents, including the use of automated collection techniques or 
other forms of information technology. Mail, email, or fax your 
comments and recommendations on the information collection(s) to the 
OMB Desk Officer and SSA Reports Clearance Officer at the following 
addresses or fax numbers.



[[Page 34825]]


(OMB), Office of Management and Budget, Attn: Desk Officer for SSA, 
Fax: 202-395-6974, Email address: [email protected]/.
(SSA), Social Security Administration, OLCA, Attn: Reports Clearance 
Director, 3100 West High Rise, 6401 Security Blvd., Baltimore, MD 
21235, Fax: 410-966-2830, Email address: [email protected].

    SSA submitted the information collections below to OMB for 
clearance. Your comments regarding the information collections would be 
most useful if OMB and SSA receive them 30 days from the date of this 
publication. To be sure we consider your comments, we must receive them 
no later than July 18, 2014. Individuals can obtain copies of the OMB 
clearance packages by writing to [email protected].
    1. Representative Payee Report--Adult, Representative Payee 
Report--Child, Representative Payee Report--Organizational 
Representative Payees--20 CFR 404.635, 404.2035, 404.2065, and 
416.665--0960-0068. When SSA determines it is not in an Old Age, 
Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) or Supplemental Security 
Income (SSI) recipient's best interest to receive Social Security 
payments directly, the agency will designate a representative payee for 
the recipient. The representative payee can be: (1) A family member; 
(2) a non-family member who is a private citizen and is acquainted with 
the beneficiary; (3) an organization; (4) a state or local government 
agency; or (5) a business. In the capacity of representative payee, the 
person or organization receives the SSA recipient's payments directly 
and manages these payments. As part of its stewardship mandate, SSA 
must ensure the representative payees are properly using the payments 
they receive for the recipients they represent. The agency annually 
collects the information necessary to make this assessment using the 
SSA-623, Representative Payee Report--Adult, SSA-6230, Representative 
Payee Report--Child, SSA-6234, Representative Payee Report--
Organizational Representative Payees, and through the electronic 
internet application Internet Representative Payee Accounting (iRPA). 
The respondents are representative payees of OASDI and SSI recipients.
    Type of Request: Revision to an OMB-approved information 
collection.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                                            Average burden
                   Modality of completion                         Number of respondents      Frequency of    per response      Estimated total annual
                                                                                               response        (minutes)           burden (hours)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SSA-623.....................................................                     2,811,819               1              15                       702,955
SSA-6230....................................................                     2,968,096               1              15                       742,024
SSA-6234....................................................                       719,469               1              15                       179,867
iRPA *......................................................                       650,000               1              15                       162,500
                                                             -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..................................................                     7,149,384  ..............  ..............                     1,787,346
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* One Internet platform encompasses all three paper forms.

    2. Statement of Income and Resources--20 CFR 416.207, 146.301-
416.310, 416.704, and 416.708--0960-0124. SSA collects information 
about income and resources for SSI claims and redeterminations on the 
SSA-8010-BK. SSA uses the information to make initial or continuing 
eligibility determinations for SSI claimants or recipients who are 
subject to deeming. The respondents are persons whose income and 
resources SSA may deem (consider to be available) to SSI applicants or 
recipients.
    Type of Request: Revision of an OMB-approved information 
collection.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                 Average burden  Estimated total
           Modality of completion                Number of       Frequency of     per response    annual burden
                                                respondents        response        (minutes)         (hours)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SSA-8010-BK.................................         341,000                1               26          147,767
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    3. Authorization to Obtain Earnings Data From the Social Security 
Administration--0960-0602. On occasion, public and private 
organizations and agencies, need to obtain detailed earnings 
information about specific Social Security number (SSN) holding wage 
earners for business purposes (e.g. pension funds, State agencies, 
etc.). Respondents use Form SSA-581 to identify the SSN holder whose 
information they are requesting, and provide authorization from the SSN 
holder, when applicable. SSA uses the information provided on Form SSA-
581 to: (1) Identify the wage earner; (2) establish the period of 
earnings information requested; (3) verify the wage earner authorized 
SSA to release this information to the requesting party; and (4) 
produce the Itemized Statement of Earnings (SSA-1826). The respondents 
are private businesses, state or local agencies, and other federal 
agencies.
    Type of Request: Revision of an OMB-approved information 
collection.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                 Average burden  Estimated total
           Modality of completion                Number of       Frequency of     per response    annual burden
                                                respondents        response        (minutes)         (hours)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SSA-581.....................................          24,000                1                2              800
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


[[Page 34826]]

    4. Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on 
Agency Service Delivery--0960-0788. SSA, as part of our continuing 
effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general 
public to take this opportunity to comment on the ``Generic Clearance 
for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery 
'' for approval under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3501 
et. seq.). This collection was developed as part of a Federal 
Government-wide effort to streamline the process for seeking feedback 
from the public on service delivery.
    Under the auspices of Executive Order 12862, Setting Customer 
Service Standards, SSA conducts multiple satisfaction surveys each 
year. This proposed information collection activity provides a means to 
garner qualitative customer and stakeholder feedback in an efficient, 
timely manner, in accordance with SSA's commitment to improving service 
delivery. By qualitative feedback we mean information that provides 
useful insights on perceptions and opinions, but are not statistical 
surveys that yield quantitative results that can be generalized to the 
population of study. This feedback will provide insights into customer 
or stakeholder perceptions, experiences and expectations, provide an 
early warning of issues with service, or focus attention on areas where 
communication, training or changes in operations might improve delivery 
of products or services. These collections will allow for ongoing, 
collaborative, and actionable communications between SSA and our 
customers and stakeholders.
    The solicitation of feedback will target areas such as: Timeliness, 
appropriateness, accuracy of information, courtesy, efficiency of 
service delivery, and resolution of issues with service delivery. 
Responses will be assessed to plan and inform efforts to improve or 
maintain the quality of service offered to the public. If this 
information is not collected, vital feedback from customers and 
stakeholders on SSA's services will be unavailable.
    We will only submit a collection for approval under this generic 
clearance if it meets the following conditions: (1) The collections are 
voluntary; (2) the collections are low-burden for respondents (based on 
considerations of total burden hours, total number of respondents, or 
burden-hours per respondent) and are low-cost for both the respondents 
and the Federal Government; (3) the collections are non-controversial 
and do not raise issues of concern to other Federal agencies; (4) any 
collection targeted to the solicitation of opinions from respondents 
who have experience with the program or may have experience with the 
program in the near future; (5) personally identifiable information 
(PII) is collected only to the extent necessary and is not retained; 
(6) information gathered will be used only internally for general 
service improvement and program management purposes and is not intended 
for release outside of the agency; (7) information gathered will not be 
used for the purpose of substantially informing influential policy 
decisions; and (8) information gathered will yield qualitative 
information; the collections will not be designed or expected to yield 
statistically reliable results or used as though the results are 
generalizable to the population of study.
    Feedback collected under this generic clearance provides useful 
information, but it does not yield data that can be generalized to the 
overall population. This type of generic clearance for qualitative 
information will not be used for quantitative information collections 
that are designed to yield reliably actionable results, such as 
monitoring trends over time or documenting program performance. Such 
data uses require more rigorous designs that address the target 
population to which generalizations will be made, the sampling frame, 
the sample design (including stratification and clustering), the 
precision requirements or power calculations that justify the proposed 
sample size, the expected response rate, methods for assessing 
potential non-response bias, the protocols for data collection, and any 
testing procedures that were or will be undertaken prior to fielding 
the study. Depending on the degree of influence the results are likely 
to have, such collections may still be eligible for submission for 
other generic mechanisms that are designed to yield quantitative 
results.
    As a general matter, information collections will not result in any 
new system of records containing privacy information and will not ask 
questions of a sensitive nature, such as sexual behavior and attitudes, 
religious beliefs, and other matters that are commonly considered 
private.
    The respondents are recipients of SSA services (including most 
members of the public), professionals, and individuals who work on 
behalf of SSA beneficiaries.
    Type of Request: Extension of an OMB-approved information 
collection.
    Affected Public: Individuals and households, businesses and 
organizations, State, Local or Tribal government.
    This is a correction notice: SSA published the incorrect burden 
information for this collection at 79 FR 17632, on 03/28/14. We are 
correcting this error here.
    Total Estimated Number of Respondents: 46,530.
    Below we provide projected average estimates for the next three 
years:
    Average Expected Annual Number of activities: 125.
    Annual Respondents: 15,510.
    Annual Responses: 15,510.
    Frequency of Response: Once per request.
    Average minutes per response: 41.53 minutes.
    Estimated Annual Burden: 10,581 hours.

    Dated: June 13, 2014.
Faye Lipsky,
Reports Clearance Director, Social Security Administration.
[FR Doc. 2014-14207 Filed 6-17-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4191-02-P