September
27, 2001
Mrs. Mary Glenn-Croft
Special Advisor to the Commissioner
Social Security Administration
6401 Security Boulevard
Altmeyer Building, Room 900
Baltimore, MD 21235
Dear Mrs. Glenn-Croft:
During the months of May and June of this year, the Social Security
Agency (SSA) submitted a number of rules to the Office of Management
and Budget (OMB) for review under Executive Order No. 12866. These
rules include four draft proposed rules: (1) "Clarification of Rules
Involving Residual Functional Capacity Assessments; Clarification
of Use of Vocational Experts and Other Sources at Step 4 of the
Sequential Evaluation Process," submitted May 10, 2001; (2) "Filing
Claims Under the Federal Tort Claims Act and the Military Personnel
and Civilian Employees Claims Act," submitted May 14, 2001; (3)
"Revised Medical Criteria for Evaluating Hematologic Disorders and
Malignant Neoplastic Diseases," submitted June 14, 2001; and (4)
"Representative Payment Under the Title II and Title XVI of the
Social Security Act," submitted June 19, 2001. Two of these rules
clarify the criteria for evaluating claims for disability benefits,
two others modify existing regulations addressing the filing of
claims and representative payee provisions.
While we are inclined to believe the substance of these four rules
complies with the principles of Executive Order (E.O.) No. 12866,
as currently drafted they do not comply with the requirements of
the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA). Specifically, SSA has not properly
sought comment on the information collection requirements contained
in each of these four rules. Before these rules can be published,
the statutory requirements of the PRA need to be addressed. I understand
that my staff have discussed these concerns with SSA staff at length,
and have provided with SSA several suggestions as to how these rules
can be revised to bring them into compliance with the PRA.
Since the revisions necessary to address these concerns are likely
to take some additional time, I am returning these four rules to
you for reconsideration in accordance with section 6 of E.O. No.
12866. To ensure compliance with the PRA, upon resubmission of these
rules for OMB review, SSA should also submit the associated information
collection requests. My staff is available for further discussion
on how to satisfy the requirements of the PRA in these and any other
SSA rules. We look forward to working with you to improve these
important rulemaking efforts.
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Sincerely,
/s/
John D. Graham
Administrator
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs |
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