[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 116 (Monday, June 19, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 27939-27942]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-12580]


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SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION

[Docket No: SSA-2017-0031]


Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Request and 
Comment Request

    The Social Security Administration (SSA) publishes a list of 
information

[[Page 27940]]

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 
revisions 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.

(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].

    Or you may submit your comments online through www.regulations.gov, 
referencing Docket ID Number [SSA-2017-0031].
    I. The information collection below is pending at SSA. SSA will 
submit it to OMB within 60 days from the date of this notice. To be 
sure we consider your comments, we must receive them no later than 
August 18, 2017. Individuals can obtain copies of the collection 
instrument by writing to the above email address.
    Application for Search of Census Records for Proof of Age--20 CFR 
404.716--0960-0097. When preferred evidence of age is not available, or 
the available evidence is not convincing, SSA may ask the U.S. 
Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, to search its records to 
establish a claimant's date of birth. SSA collects information from 
claimants using Form SSA-1535-U3 to provide the Census Bureau with 
sufficient identification information to allow an accurate search of 
census records. Additionally, the Census Bureau uses a completed, 
signed SSA-1535-U3 to bill SSA for the search. The respondents are 
applicants for Social Security benefits who need to establish their 
date of birth as a factor of entitlement.
    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-1535-U3.................................          18,030                1               12            3,606
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    II. SSA submitted the information collections below to OMB for 
clearance. Your comments regarding these 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 19, 2017. Individuals can obtain copies of the 
OMB clearance packages by writing to [email protected].
    1. Statement Regarding Contributions--20 CFR 404.360-404.366 and 
404.736--0960-0020. SSA uses the SSA-783 to collect information 
regarding a child's current sources of support when determining the 
child's entitlement to Social Security benefits. We request this 
information from adults acting on behalf of the child claimants who can 
provide SSA with any sources of support or substantial contributions 
for the child. These adults inform the claims representative as part of 
the initial benefits process. If the individual capable of providing 
the information does not accompany the child claimant, we mail the SSA-
783 to the individual for completion, or if the person has access to a 
computer, we will refer them to SSA's Web site. The respondents are 
individuals providing information about a child's sources of support.
    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-783.....................................          30,000                1               17            8,500
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    2. Request for Waiver of Overpayment Recovery or Change in 
Repayment Notice--20 CFR 404.502-404.513, 404.515 and 20 CFR 416.550-
416.570, 416.572--0960-0037. When Social Security beneficiaries and 
Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients receive an overpayment, 
they must return the extra money. These beneficiaries and recipients 
can use Form SSA-632-BK to take one of three actions: (1) Request an 
exemption from repaying, as recovery of the payment would cause 
financial hardship; (2) inform SSA they want to repay the overpayment 
at a monthly rate over a period longer than 36 months; or (3) request a 
different rate of recovery. In the latter two cases, the respondents 
must also provide financial information to help the agency determine 
how much the overpaid person can afford to repay each month. 
Respondents are overpaid beneficiaries or SSI recipients who are 
requesting: (1) A waiver of recovery of an overpayment, or (2) a lesser 
rate of withholding.
    Type of Request: Revision of an OMB-approved information 
collection.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                  Average burden     Estimated
             Modality of completion                  Number of     Frequency of    per response    total annual
                                                    respondents      response        (minutes)    burden (hours)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Waiver of Overpayment (Completes Whole Paper             400,000               1             120         800,000
 Form)..........................................

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Change in Repayment (Completes Partial Paper             100,000               1              45          75,000
 Form)..........................................
Regional Application (New York Debt Management).          44,000               1             120          88,000
Internet Instructions...........................         500,000               1               5          41,667
rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
    Totals......................................       1,044,000  ..............  ..............       1,004,667
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    3. Teacher Questionnaire and Request for Administrative 
Information--20 CFR 404.1513, 416.913, and 416.924a(a)--0960-0646. When 
determining the effects of a child's impairment(s), SSA obtains 
information about the child's functioning from teachers; parents; and 
others who observe the child on a daily basis. SSA obtains results of 
formal testing, teacher reports, therapy progress notes, individualized 
education programs, and other records of a child's educational aptitude 
and achievement using Forms SSA-5665-BK and SSA-5666. The respondents 
are parents, teachers, and other education personnel.
    Type of Request: Revision of an OMB-approved information 
collection.
    Note: This is a correction Notice. When we published the first 
Notice at 82 FR 17494 on April 11, 2017, we included a line for the 
paper Form SSA-5665-BK; however, we no longer use the paper forms 
unless the electronic version is not available (which is why we 
estimated no use of the form in our previous published Notice). 
Therefore, we are removing that line from the burden chart here. This 
change does not change the burden we published in April.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                  Average burden     Estimated
             Modality of completion                  Number of     Frequency of    per response    total annual
                                                    respondents      response        (minutes)    burden (hours)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SSA-5665-BK.....................................         293,375               1              40         195,583
SSA-5666........................................         111,189               1              30          55,595
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals......................................         404,564  ..............  ..............         251,178
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    4. Electronic Records Express--20 CFR 404.1512 and 416.912--0960-
0753. Electronic Records Express (ERE) is a Web-based SSA program which 
allows medical and educational providers to electronically submit 
disability claimant data to SSA. Both medical providers and other third 
parties with connections to disability applicants or recipients (e.g., 
teachers and school administrators for child disability applicants) use 
this system once they complete the registration process. SSA employees 
and State agency employees request the medical and educational records 
collected through the ERE Web site. The agency uses the information 
collected through ERE to make a determination on an Application for 
Benefits. We also use the ERE Web site to order and receive 
consultative examinations when we are unable to collect enough medical 
records to determine disability findings. The respondents are medical 
providers who evaluate or treat disability claimants or recipients, and 
other third parties with connections to disability applicants or 
recipients (e.g., Teachers and school administrators for child 
disability applicants), who voluntarily choose to use ERE for 
submitting information.
    Type of Request: Revision of an OMB-approved information 
collection.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                  Average burden     Estimated
             Modality of completion                  Number of     Frequency of    per response    total annual
                                                    respondents      response        (minutes)    burden (hours)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ERE.............................................       5,376,998               1              10         896,166
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    5. 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.). We developed this collection 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;

[[Page 27942]]

appropriateness; accuracy of information; courtesy; efficiency of 
service delivery; and resolution of issues with service delivery. We 
will assess responses to plan and inform efforts to improve or maintain 
the quality of service offered to the public. If we do not collect this 
information, we would not have access to vital feedback from customers 
and stakeholders on SSA's services.
    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) we collect personally identifiable 
information (PII) only to the extent necessary and we do not retain it; 
(6) we will use information gathered only internally for general 
service improvement and program management purposes and we will not 
release it outside of the agency; (7) we will not use information we 
gather for the purpose of substantially informing influential policy 
decisions; and (8) information we gather 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.
    Total Estimated Number of Respondents: 205,485.
    Below we provide projected average estimates for the next three 
years:
    Annual Respondents: 68,495.
    Annual Responses: 68,495.
    Frequency of Response: Once per request.
    Average Minutes per Response: 18 minutes.
    Estimated Annual Burden: 205,549 hours.

    Dated: June 13, 2017.
Naomi R. Sipple,
Reports Clearance Officer, Social Security Administration.
[FR Doc. 2017-12580 Filed 6-16-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4191-02-P