AC Reviews Per ALJ And Their Outcomes

     Social Security has posted data on the number of Appeals Council reviews per Administrative Law Judge in 2018 and the outcomes of those reviews.

Andrew Saul Buying Stock

     Social Security's Commissioner, Andrew Saul, is a wealthy man. Since being in office he's bought stock in Rolls Royce and Wayfair. For someone of his wealth, the purchases weren't large. The overall list of Saul's holdings is extensive.

It’s Easy To Get Your Social Security Problems Resolved — Just Get A TV Station Involved

     Social Security stopped a man’s benefits benefits because they say he’s in prison but a TV station found him at home saying he’s never been in prison. He couldn’t get the agency to restore his benefits. Twenty-four hours after the TV station starts asking Social Security about the case, the benefits are resumed. Funny how that happens.

Support For GAO Report On Organizational Rep Payees

     From the Ripon Advance:

U.S. Rep. Tom Reed (R-NY) welcomed federal recommendations and urged their adoption to strengthen the U.S. Social Security Administration’s (SSA) monitoring of and reliance on organizations like non-profits or nursing homes that help beneficiaries manage their benefits.

“SSA should adopt these recommendations promptly,” said Rep. Reed and U.S. Rep. John Larson (D-CT), ranking member and chairman, respectively, of the U.S. House Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee, in a joint Oct. 4 statement.

The new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, Social Security Benefits: SSA Needs to Improve Oversight of Organizations that Manage Money for Vulnerable Beneficiaries, makes nine recommendations for SSA, including that the agency assess requiring background checks for organizational payees; and establish timeframes for, and conduct revisions of the accounting form required annually for most organizational payees, according to the lawmakers’ statement. ...

How Much Effect Will This Have At Social Security?

     The President issued an executive order on Wednesday on "guidance documents" that  has slipped below the radar but which will certainly have effects at federal agencies including Social Security. Here's the relevant language:

... [I]t is the policy of the executive branch, to the extent consistent with applicable law, to require that agencies treat guidance documents as non-binding both in law and in practice, except as incorporated into a contract, take public input into account when appropriate in formulating guidance documents, and make guidance documents readily available to the public.  Agencies may impose legally binding requirements on the public only through regulations and on parties on a case-by-case basis through adjudications, and only after appropriate process, except as authorized by law or as incorporated into a contract. ...

 “Guidance document” means an agency statement of general applicability, intended to have future effect on the behavior of regulated parties, that sets forth a policy on a statutory, regulatory, or technical issue, or an interpretation of a statute or regulation, but does not include the following:

(i)    rules promulgated pursuant to notice and comment under section 553 of title 5, United States Code, or similar statutory provisions;

(ii)   rules exempt from rulemaking requirements under section 553(a) of title 5, United States Code;

(iii)  rules of agency organization, procedure, or practice;

(iv)   decisions of agency adjudications under section 554 of title 5, United States Code, or similar statutory provisions;

(v)    internal guidance directed to the issuing agency or other agencies that is not intended to have substantial future effect on the behavior of regulated parties; or

(vi)   internal executive branch legal advice or legal opinions addressed to executive branch officials. ...

Within 120 days of the date on which OMB issues an implementing memorandum under section 6 of this order, each agency shall review its guidance documents and, consistent with applicable law, rescind those guidance documents that it determines should no longer be in effect. ...

     One can argue that the vast majority of Social Security's policy issuances describe how the agency is supposed to behave, not how the public is supposed to behave. Still, I can think of areas where the agency has sought to bind the public without adopting rules through the notice and comment procedure, such as:

• Material included in the notice of final rulemaking on regulation of attorney conduct that was not in the regulations themselves;
• Material in the agency's POMS manual on trusts;
• Materials in the HALLEX manual and Emergency Messages on the ways the Conn cases will proceed;
• Materials in HALLEX and POMS on attorney fees.

2020 Social Security And SSI Rates And Limits

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These Stories Are Becoming Too Common

     From a press release:

A former Social Security Administration (SSA) employee pleaded guilty today to a federal criminal charge for stealing more than $176,000 in Social Security benefits designated for elderly and disabled beneficiaries.

Rowena Isabel Lokeni, 36, of Garden Grove, pleaded guilty today to one count of wire fraud. Lokeni was hired as an SSA service representative in 2008 and worked in the administration’s field office in Fountain Valley. She resigned from SSA shortly after her September 6 arrest on a federal grand jury indictment in this matter.

From her work cubicle, between April 2017 and August 2019, Lokeni accessed the SSA computer databases and queried the records of 10 Social Security beneficiaries, according to her plea agreement. Once she accessed the victims’ records, Lokeni fraudulently changed each victim’s direct deposit bank account and routing numbers to instead reflect her personal bank account’s routing and account numbers, the plea agreement states. ...

United States District Judge John F. Walter has scheduled a January 6, 2020 sentencing hearing, at which time Lokeni will face a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison. ...

1.6% COLA

     It's official. Social Security's Cost Of Living Adjustment (COLA) will be 1.6%. It was 2.8% last year.