[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
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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:
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Average cost Estimated
Collection format Number of Frequency of responses per record annual cost
respondents request burden
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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]
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