From a press release:
On Thursday , September 28 , 2017, the House of Representatives approved by a vote of 224 to 171 an amended version of H.R. 2792 , a bill to cut off Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits entirely for certain people with disabilities, as well as seniors. The proposed cut would bar payment of SSI benefits to people with an outstanding arrest warrant for an alleged felony or for an alleged violation of probation or parole.
H.R. 2792 would revive an old, failed policy that had catastrophic effects for many people with disabilities and seniors, employing procedures that did not withstand judicial scrutiny. This proposal would not help law enforcement secure arrests. The Social Security Act already prohibits payments to people fleeing from law enforcement to avoid prosecution or imprisonment. ...
Based on prior experience with SSA’s failed former policy, the people who would be affected are those whose cases are inactive and whom law enforcement is not pursuing. Most of the warrants in question are decades old and involve minor infractions, including warrants routinely issued when a person was unable to pay a fine or court fee, or a probation supervision fee. Many people are not even aware that a warrant was issued for them, as warrants are often not served on the individual. Some people will be swept up as a result of mistaken identity, or paperwork errors, which can take months or even years to resolve. ...
So it sounds like reps should be proactive about this issue and make sure clients clear up any warrant problems they might have well before their final SSI interview?
ReplyDeleteThat doesn't help with mistaken identity. When I first went to college at a rather large university, they had the incoming freshman sit together by first letter of the last name. By chance, I sat next to someone with the same first, middle and last names. His birthday was only a couple days off from mine, in the same month of the same year. Our social security numbers had many of the same numbers in the same places and the last four were identical. It was a little... spooky.
ReplyDelete1% chance of being enacted according to Skoposlabs.com. Follow @GovTrack on Twitter to learn when bills are enacted.
ReplyDeleteDan Smith, many clients that I had back in the day when this policy was in effect did not know or realize, or had forgotten, about the old charges. That may sound like an unreasonably dysfunctional way to handle one's life affairs, but it happens and happened. Many people asked me why, if a warrant was out there, no one had ever notified them. That's a reasonable assumption - that if the authorities have a warrant for your arrest, they'll come arrest you. Except that doesn't happen in many cases.
ReplyDeleteThen, the client cut off of SSI has no way to contest the action against the SSA. There are no appeal rights. They are simply told to go and clear the warrant. I had clients who appeared at the local sheriff's office asking to clear the warrant, but the local authorities don't want to arrest them, especially for an out of state warrant. The authorities know that the originating state isn't going to extradite, so if the current residence arrests the beneficiary, they foot all the costs.
It's a holy mess for everyone except the SSA. The City of Los Angeles at that time had a unit of the public defender's office devoted just to helping out with these kind of issues. I sure hope the poster giving odds that this won't pass is correct.
@ 1:51
ReplyDeleteOur experience was similar, most were not even aware of the warrant. The striking thing was the incredibly harsh impact on those affected These are people with little to no income or resources with severe disabilities. With no resources and considering their disabilities, they typically can't resolve the warrant by themselves. Take their SSI and they often have no means on support and in some states that means no Medicaid either. Result? Some become homeless, get even sicker, wind up in our already strained charity emergency room and hospital programs, and they die prematurely. I'd be surprised if the bill sponsors did not know that already, but it appears they don't care about such folks.
This is passing strange, given that while someone who becomes disabled while committing a felony for which he is convicted under Title II, will, if memory serves and nothing has changed in the past 5 years, still be eligible for SSI even tho convicted of that felony.
ReplyDeleteDid I miss something? Avoiding arrest for a felony, no SSI; convicted of felony, SSI paid.
My claimant became disabled while committing an act of ecoterrorism in his 20's and will be on SSI for life, unless he chooses to go to work within his limitations.
Anonymous at 10:00 p.m. : Are you under the belief that this regulation only applies to people whose disabilities are caused by the criminal act that is now being used to terminate the disability? Because that's not how this works.
ReplyDeleteThis new regulation applies only to people who have outstanding arrest warrants for charges which are felonies. You are right that a conviction of a felony does not disqualify anyone. Having a warrant for a felony makes you a "fleeing felon", and therefore unqualified for benefits.
Thanks; I understood it.
ReplyDeleteI guess I should have just said goofy, rather than passing strange; my point is it's a worse category being convicted of a felony, and causing your own disability, than avoiding arrest for any variety of felony. Seems goofy to me to let one category slide and ding the other.