The End of February Is Here -- And No Regs

In December 2005, the Commissioner or those around her were confidently predicting to Nancy Shor, the executive director of the National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives (NOSSCR), that the final regulations on the Commissioner's proposal to revamp disability determination at SSA would be done "by the end of February, if not earlier." The end of February has arrived and no final regulations have appeared in the Federal Register. Of course, it is possible that SSA will deliver the final regulations to the Office of Federal Register by the end of the day or, at least, very soon. There is no way of knowing if the delay is due to the difficulties of sorting out all of the issues raised by the comments made on the proposal or whether the delay has to do with budget problems.