Attorney Fee Payments Down

The Social Security Administration has posted the numbers for payments of fees to attorneys and others for representing claimants before the agency for January and February of this year:

Fee Payments
Month/Year	Volume	Amount
Jan-07	15,331	$55,149,991.81
Feb-07	19,301	$69,731,683.72

The figure for January was lower than for any month in 2006. It was a 24% decrease from December 2006. February payments were lower than all but two months of 2006. There is little doubt that staffing shortages and the lack of overtime at Social Security will hurt everyone who deals with the agency this fiscal year, including those paying a user fee for the service they receive. The problems will only get worse as the year goes along and employees retire or otherwise leave employment and all backlogs get worse.

GAO Questionnaire On Attorneys And Non-Attorney Representatives

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has been given the task of studying attorney and non-attorney representation of Social Security claimants. As part of this study, GAO has been asking Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) in a few hearing offices to complete a questionnaire on individual attorneys and non-attorneys who appear before them. I have obtained a copy of one of these forms and am attaching it in the biggest size that Blogger will allow. You may have to find some way of enlarging the images in order to read them more easily. Perhaps someone can post a comment on how to enlarge the image, since I have no idea.

Poll Results

If you voted in one of the polls posted here recently you saw the results as of the time you voted, but you may not have seen the results after a lot of people voted, so here they are:

Why are you interested in Social Security News?

I work for SSA. (74)	59%
I am an attorney who represents Social Security claimants. (27)	22%
I am a non-attorney representative of Social Security claimants. (1)	1%
I work for DDS. (10)	8%
I am a Social Security claimant. (2)	2%
I work on Capitol Hill. (1)	1%
I work at a non-profit involved in Social Security issues. (1)	1%
Other reason (9)	7%

What Part Of SSA Do You Work For?

ODAR, including AC and RO employees (35)	32%
Field Office (15)	14%
Area Director Office (0)	0%
Regional Office (5)	5%
Teleservice Center (6)	6%
Payment Center, including OCO (10)	9%
Central Office, other than OCO (29)	27%
Other (8)	7%

The two poll results look a bit different because I used different formats. We will have more polls coming up.

Social Security Advisory Board Agenda

The Social Security Advisory Board (SSAB) has posted the following agenda for its meeting on March 13:

9:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. Martin Holmer, President of the Policy Simulation Group; Joyce Manchester, Director of Division of Economic Research of ORES; John Sabelhaus, Unit Chief for Long Term Modeling at the Congressional Budget Office; Noah Meyrson, Congressional Budget Office; Melissa Favreault, Senior Research Associate at the Urban Institute

12:30 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board (FASAB) -Tom L. Allen, Chairman FASAB; Robert Dacey, Chief Accountant GAO

An Image From 1954

Lying To SSA Not A Good Idea

From the Cedar Rapids Gazette:

Connie L. Morris, 43, of Waterloo, was sentenced Friday in federal court in Cedar Rapids to ten months in prison for lying to the Social Security Administration.

Morris, when she pled guilty to the charge on Dec. 11, admitted she lied about whether she was married and her living arrangements when she applied for Supplemental Security Income benefits. She received more than $29,000 she wasn't entitled to.

Now she must serve the prison sentence, pay back the money and serve three years of supervised release.

Fraud By Strip Club Owner

From the State Journal of West Virginia:

Timothy Ray Cline once owned three Southern Exposure bars, including locations in Princeton and Bradley.

Tuesday, Cline pleaded guilty in federal court to tax evasion and social security fraud.

Cline was accused of failing to report over $50,000 in income from 2001.

Cline also collected more than $35,000 in Social Security Disability from September 1991 to March 2003.

SSA Recognizes Same-Sex Marriage Name Change

From a Social Security Regional Council memorandum posted in Social Security's Program Operations Manual Series (POMS):

You asked us to determine whether an individual who enters into a civil union in the State of New Jersey may legally change his or her name based solely upon the civil union event or whether a court order is required to effectuate the proposed name change. Recently enacted New Jersey legislation legalizing civil unions specifically allows for the right to change surnames based upon a civil union event without a court order. Accordingly, an individual who enters a civil union in the State of New Jersey may legally change his or her name without a court order.