The new regulations on representatives will appear in the Federal Register tomorrow. It seems clear that these are intended as a response to the Wall Street Journal story. Social Security used an old proposal on recognizing entities as the basis for this although I think there is little connection between the two.
7 comments:
Does the timing of this suggest something ominus? Being released at a time when few people will be paying attention.
Part of the adversarial bent ODAR is taking these days?
These changes will be practically meaningless. SSA rarely ever sanctions a representative, as the comments to the regulations indicate, and this is not likely to change.
In fact, SSA prohibits its ALJs and attorneys at ODAR from reporting unethical behavior by claimant's representatives, even though we are obligated by the state that licensed us to report such behavior.
Are any advantages of that regulations or it's just formality before closing working year?
These final regulations resolve an important issue: whether a representative may rely upon state-bar rules not to submit adverse evidence. (Under some state-bar rules, an attorney should not help his or her client lose.) Until these final rules, SSA could not reasonably sanction an attorney representative for not submitting certain kinds of adverse evidence.
Every attorney representative should pay attention to this major statement of Agency policy. And there is a direct relationship between the final rules and the 12/22/11 WSJ article. They address the same issue: adverse evidence. The Agency can say that as of 12/23/11, SSA rules override state-bar rules.
Eric is correct. The Agency is as serious as a "heart attack" about enforcement. As one who is involved in the process, it is my distinct impression that more are on the way, stay tuned.
Can the agency really move that quickly "in response to the Wall Street Journal" article of the same day??
The 12/22/11 WSJ article had been in the works for a long time. First Eric Conn. Now B & B. The 12/23/11 regulations deal implicitly with Eric Conn and B & B. The Agency is racing to get ahead of the WSJ and Sen. Coburn -- or at least not to fall too far behind. The Agency is likely high fiving itself for getting the 12/23/11 regulations in place. This footrace was a dead heat. But the WSJ is not likely not done.
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