"Streamlined" Hearing Files -- Bates Stamping Only

I am hearing that the "streamlined" hearing files that Commissioner Astrue was referring to in his appearance before the Senate Finance Committee will have "Bates stamping" only. ""Bates stamping" refers to sequentially numbering each page of a section of a Social Security hearing file -- but without removing duplicate records or attempting to place the records in any sort of logical order. However, it is not clear to me that this is completely mandatory.

In the past, when Administrative Law Judges heard cases on unpulled files, the files were "pulled" if the claim was to be denied. Apparently, there will never be any true pulling of exhibits with these "streamlined" files. The Appeals Council and District Courts should beware. They will not like the looks of these files.

This would help explain the plan for a computer program to "pull" exhibits in scanned files. A program which does no more than stamp a number on each page is no great feat. It appears that Social Security is abandoning "pulling" exhibits, perhaps permanently.

House Appropriations Set To Take Up Social Security As Republicans Look For Veto

The Disability Policy Collaboration's Capital Insider reports that the House Appropriations Committee will markup the Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill on June 7. This is the appropriations bill that includes Social Security. The markup is being done without any hearing about Social Security's budget. I do not know what the lack of a hearing means, but it surprises me. Has this ever happened before?

The Capital Insider also reports that Republicans in the House of Representatives are circulating a letter in hopes of obtaining enough signatures of Republicans who will vote to sustain a veto by President Bush of any spending bill that exceeds the spending levels in the President's budget. This could bring about extended fights over many appropriations bills.

Results Of Last Week's Unscientific Poll

Barnhart versus Astrue
How effective is Michael Astrue as Commissioner of Social Security compared to his predecessor, Jo Anne Barnhart?

Astrue definitely more effective (10)	10%
Astrue a bit more effective than Barnhart (10)	10%
About the same (12)	11%
Barnhart was a bit more effective (1)	1%
Barnhart was definitely more effective (16)	15%
Depends upon what you mean by effective (29)	28%
Don't know (27)	26%

Total Votes: 105

Social Security Blogs

Considering that there may be 60 million blogs and considering that the Social Security Administration employs around 55,000 people and considering that one American in five receives Social Security benefits, it is amazing just how few Social Security blogs there are. If we exclude inactive blogs and exclude blogs that only post occasionally on Social Security issues and exclude blogs that post only for or against privatization of Social Security, I count only five Social Security blogs in addition to this one.

Take a look at my list of Social Security blogs. If you know of one that should be added to the list, let me know. But also consider starting your own Social Security blog. If you read this blog regularly, you might just have something you would like to say on the subject of Social Security. I post my real name on this blog, but blogs can be anonymous.

1. Disability Blog
2. Federal Disability Claims
3. My Disability Blog
4. Social Security Disability Blog
5. Ultimate Social Security Disability Guide

An Image From 1960

Another CLE

Here is a CLE (Continuing Legal Education) session that I did not include in my list of two days ago.

• July 24, 2007, Ohio State Bar Association, Columbus, OH

Binder and Binder Sued

From the NY Daily News:

A Connecticut secretary who suffers from the "winter blues" is suing her ex-employers for $33 million, claiming they wouldn't give her a well-lit desk with a window view.

Caryl Dontfraid says she has seasonal affective disorder, which causes depression during the fall and winter and can be alleviated by exposure to bright light.

"She wanted to work closer to a window with good light," her attorney, Robert Campos-Marquetti told the Daily News. "This is a request that could have been easily accommodated."

Dontfraid was cited as an "exemplary employee" for Binder & Binder, a Park Avenue law firm specializing in disability claims.

Binder and Binder represents more Social Security disability claimants than any other law firm.

Upcoming Meetings and CLE

• June 8, 2007, Minnesota CLE on Social Security Practice, Rochester, MN
• June 12, 2007, Social Security Advisory Board, Washington, DC
  
• July 12, 2007, PBI CLE, Pittsburg, PA
• June 13, 2007, Ticket To Work and Work Incentives Advisory Panel Meeting, teleconference
• July 16-17, 2007, American Association for Justice (formerly ATLA) CLE, Chicago, IL
  
• July 23, 2007, Legal Aid Society, Nashville, TN
  
• September 10-15, 2007, International Social Security Association General Assembly, Moscow, Russia
• August 9-10, 2007, Retirement Research Consortium Annual Conference (funded by SSA), Washington, DC
  
• September 15-20, 2007, NADE National Conference, Sioux Falls, SD
• October 17-20, 2007, NOSSCR CLE, St. Louis, MO
• November 30, 2007, Legal Services of New York Legal Support Unit CLE, New York, NY
• April 8-11, 2008 NADE Regional Conference, Austin, TX
• June 4-7, 2008 NOSSCR CLE, Miami, FL
• October 15-18, 2008 NOSSCR CLE, Century City, CA

If you know of one that I have missed, please e-mail me at charles[at]charleshallfirm.com.

NADE Newsletter -- eDIB and Budget

The National Association of Disability Examiners (NADE), an association of employees of state disability determination agencies, has issued its Spring 2007 newsletter.

The newsletter contains some interesting information about Social Security's paperless eDIB system. eDIB now contains 105 million documents taking up 22 terabytes of storage -- and it is just getting started. Because of the huge amounts of data, the agency is in the process of building a second data center in North Carolina.

The newsletter contained this little budget tidbit:

NCDDD [National Council of Disability Determination Directors, a separate group from NADE] also met this week with the house subcommittee and senate finance committee. There is a bi-partison (sic) committee working on an agreement to consider taking CDR [Continuing Disability Reviews] and redeterminations off line from the appropriations that are capped. This proposal also gives SSA [Social Security Administration] additional funding for CDR & redetermination workloads. The committee planned to contact SSA to be sure that this is favorable to SSA and the commissioner.

Social Security Subcommittee Schedules Hearing

From the House Social Security Subcommittee:

Social Security Subcommittee Hearing Advisory No. 3 -- Congressman Michael R. McNulty (D-NY), Chairman, Subcommittee on Social Security of the Committee on Ways and Means, today announced that the Subcommittee will hold a hearing on current and proposed employment eligibility verification systems and the role of the Social Security Administration in authenticating employment eligibility. The hearing will take place on Thursday, June 7, in room B-318 Rayburn House Office Building, beginning at 10 a.m.