The Social Security Administration has submitted a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) concerning requesting hearings. The full text is not released at this point. Here’s the agency’s summary:
Current regulations allow a claimant to request a hearing before an administrative law judge (ALJ) by filing a written request (20 CFR 404.933(a) and 416.1433(a)). Claimants overwhelmingly use form HA-501 to request a hearing, but can also submit a letter or other written document (HALLEX I-2-0-40). We propose to revise our regulations to make form HA-501 (Request for Hearing by Administrative Law Judge) mandatory to request a hearing before an ALJ. We also propose to consolidate form HA-501 with form HA-55, Notice of Ways to Attend a Hearing, and form HA-56, Agreement to Appearing by Online Video form (HA-56). This proposal will reduce processing time for each case, improve customer service, and streamline our process for scheduling hearings.
This is a long way from finalization. It takes months, sometimes many months, for OMB to consider the NPRM. If they approve it the agency can publish it in the Federal Register and the public can comment on it. The agency has to consider the comments and write up a final version to again submit to OMB for approval of the final rule. OMB can once again take many months to act. Only then can it be published in the Federal Register as a final rule. I’ll make a guess that the Trump Administration finishes this one as they’re leaving office.
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