Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 205 / Monday, October 23, 2000 / Proposed Rules 63221

In addition, the Board’s meeting was

widely publicized throughout the

walnut industry and all interested

persons were invited to attend and

participate in Board deliberations on all

issues. Like all Board meetings, the

September 8, 2000, meeting was a

public meeting and all entities, both

large and small, were able to express

views on this issue. Finally, all

interested persons are invited to submit

information on the regulatory and

information impact of this action on

small businesses.

This rule would impose no additional

reporting or recordkeeping requirements

on either small or large California

walnut handlers. As with all Federal

marketing order programs, reports and

forms are periodically reviewed to

reduce information requirements and

duplication by industry and public

sectors agencies. Finally, the

Department has not identified any

relevant Federal rules that duplicate,

overlap, or conflict with this rule.

A small business guide on complying

with fruit, vegetable, and specialty crop

marketing agreements and orders may

be viewed at: http://www.ams.usda.gov/

fv/moab.html. Any questions about the

compliance guide should be sent to Jay

Guerber at the previously mentioned

address in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

CONTACT section.

A 30-day comment period is provided

to allow interested persons to respond

to this proposed rule. Thirty days is

deemed appropriate because: (1) The

2000–01 marketing year began on

August 1, 2000, and the order requires

that the rate of assessment for each

marketing year apply to all

merchantable walnuts handled during

the year; (2) the Board needs to have

sufficient funds to pay its expenses

which are incurred on a continuous

basis; and (3) handlers are aware of this

action which was unanimously

recommended at a public meeting and

is similar to other assessment rate

actions issued in past years.

List of Subjects in 7 CFR Part 984

Marketing agreements, Nuts,

Reporting and recordkeeping

requirements, Walnuts.

For the reasons set forth in the

preamble, 7 CFR part 984 is proposed to

be amended as followed:

PART 984—WALNUTS GROWN IN

CALIFORNIA

1. The authority citation for 7 CFR

part 984 continues to read as follows:

Authority: 7 U.S.C. 601–674.

1. Section 984.347 is revised to read

as follows:

§ 984.347 Assessment rate.

On and after August 1, 2000, an

assessment rate of $0.0134 per

kernelweight pound is established for

California merchantable walnuts.

Dated: October 17, 2000.

Robert C. Keeney,

Deputy Administrator, Fruit and Vegetable

Programs.

[FR Doc. 00–27107 Filed 10–20–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3410–02–P

NUCLEAR REGULATORY

COMMISSION

10 CFR Part 140

[Docket No. PRM–140–1]

RIN 3150–AB01

Criteria for an Extraordinary Nuclear

Occurrence; Withdrawal of Proposed

Rule and Denial of Petition for

Rulemaking Submitted by the Public

Citizen Litigation Group and Critical

Mass Energy Project; Correction

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory

Commission.

ACTION: Withdrawal of a proposed rule

and denial of petition for rulemaking;

correction.

SUMMARY: This document corrects a

notice of withdrawal of a proposed rule

and denial of a petition for rulemaking,

relating to criteria for an extraordinary

nuclear occurrence, appearing in the

Federal Register on October 17, 2000

(65 FR 61283). This action is necessary

to correct a reference to the NRC’s

rulemaking website appearing in the

ADDRESSES paragraph.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

David L. Meyer, Chief Rules and

Directives Branch Division of

Administrative Services, Office of

Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory

Commission, Washington, DC 20555–

0001, telephone 301–415–7162 (e-mail:

dlm@nrc.gov).

Accordingly, in FR Doc. 00–26642,

published at 65 FR 61283 on October

17, 2000, make the following correction:

1. On page 61283, column one, the

last sentence in the ADDRESSES

paragraph, the rulemaking website is

corrected to read as follows: http://

ruleforum.llnl.gov.

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 19th day

of October, 2000.

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

David L. Meyer,

Chief, Rules and Directives Branch, Division

of Administrative Services, Office of

Administration.

[FR Doc. 00–27254 Filed 10–19–00; 2:39 pm]

BILLING CODE 7590–01–P

SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION

20 CFR Parts 416 and 422

RIN 0960–AF31

Supplemental Security Income;

Disclosure of Information to Consumer

Reporting Agencies and Overpayment

Recovery Through Administrative

Offset Against Federal Payments

AGENCY: Social Security Administration.

ACTION: Proposed rules.

SUMMARY: We propose to modify the

regulations dealing with the recovery of

supplemental security income (SSI)

overpayments made under title XVI of

the Social Security Act (the Act). The

modifications reflect statutory authority

for the Social Security Administration

(SSA) to selectively refer information

about SSI overpayments to consumer

reporting agencies and to recover SSI

overpayments through administrative

offset by the Department of the Treasury

against other Federal payments to which

the overpaid individual may be entitled.

These collection practices would be

limited to overpayments made to a

person after he or she attained age 18

that are determined to be otherwise

unrecoverable under section 1631(b) of

the Act after the individual ceases to be

a beneficiary under title XVI of the Act.

DATES: To be sure your comments are

considered, we must receive them no

later than December 22, 2000.

ADDRESSES: Comments should be

submitted in writing to the

Commissioner of Social Security, P.O.

Box 1585, Baltimore, Maryland 21235–

1585, sent by telefax to (410) 966–2830,

sent by e-mail to ‘‘regulations@ssa.gov,’’

or delivered to the Office of Process and

Innovation Management, Social Security

Administration, 2109 West Low Rise

Building, 6401 Security Boulevard,

Baltimore, MD 21235–6401, between 8

a.m. and 4:30 p.m. on regular business

days. Comments may be inspected

during these same hours by making

arrangements with the contact person

shown below.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Robert J. Augustine, Social Insurance

Specialist, Office of Process and

Innovation Management, Social Security

Administration, 2109 West Low Rise

63222 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 205 / Monday, October 23, 2000 / Proposed Rules

Building, 6401 Security Boulevard,

Baltimore, MD 21235–6401, (410) 966–

5121 or TTY (410) 966–5609 for

information about these proposed rules.

For information on eligibility or

claiming benefits, call our national tollfree number, 1–800–772–1213 or TTY

1–800–325–0778 or visit our Internet

site, SSA Online, at http://www.ssa.gov/

.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section

1631(b) of the Act prescribes the

methods SSA may use to recover SSI

overpayments. Until enactment of Pub.

L. 106–169 on December 14, 1999, SSA

was not authorized to use certain tools

found in 31 U.S.C. Chapter 37 to recover

title XVI program overpayments.

Section 203 of Pub. L. 106–169

amended section 1631(b) of the Act to

permit SSA to use for SSI overpayments

several of the debt collection practices

that have been available for use

regarding social security benefit

overpayments under title II of the Act.

Among other things, these practices

include reporting delinquent debts to

consumer reporting agencies and

recovering debts by administrative offset

against other Federal payments to which

the overpaid person is entitled. Under

section 1631(b) of the Act, these

additional practices may be used only if

the SSI overpayment was made to a

person after he or she attained age 18

and the overpayment has been

determined to be otherwise

unrecoverable under section 1631(b) of

the Act after the overpaid person is no

longer entitled to benefits under title

XVI of the Act.

Before we would refer information to

consumer reporting agencies or refer an

SSI overpayment to the Department of

the Treasury for administrative offset,

we would:

• Send the overpaid person written

notice (or, in the case of an individual

for whom we do not have a current

address, take reasonable action to locate

and send written notice) describing,

among other things, the amount and

nature of the overpayment, the action

that we propose to take, and the

overpaid person’s rights to request us to

review the debt and to inspect or copy

our records about the overpayment; and

• Give the overpaid person at least 60

calendar days to present evidence that

all or part of the overpayment is not

past-due or not legally enforceable, or

enter into a written agreement to pay the

overpayment.

In these proposed rules, we set forth

our proposed policies on referral of

information on title XVI overpayment

debts to consumer reporting agencies

and referral of such debts to the

Department of the Treasury for

administrative offset. In the future, as

we make the necessary systems changes

and develop policies and procedures to

enable us to use additional debt

collection tools for recovery of SSI

overpayments, we will make further

modifications to our overpayment

recovery rules.

Explanation of Changes to Regulations

We propose to add a new § 416.590 to

our regulations to explain that we will

use the additional tools authorized by

section 1631(b) of the Act when the title

XVI program overpayments occurred

after the individual attained age 18, and

the overpayment has been determined

to be otherwise unrecoverable under

section 1631(b) of the Act after the

individual is no longer entitled to

benefits under title XVI of the Act.

Proposed § 416.590 also contains the

criteria under which we determine that

an overpayment is otherwise

unrecoverable under section 1631(b) of

the Act. An overpayment will be

determined to be unrecoverable when

all of the following conditions are met:

• We completed our billing sequence

(i.e., we have sent the overpaid person

an initial notice of the overpayment, a

reminder notice, and a past-due notice)

or suspended or terminated collection

activity in accordance with the Federal

Claims Collection Standards in 4 CFR

104.2 and 104.3;

• There is no installment payment

agreement, or the overpaid person has

failed to pay in accordance with such an

agreement for two consecutive months;

• We cannot collect the overpayment

by adjusting benefits payable to

individuals other than the overpaid

person.

For purposes of proposed § 416.590, if

the overpaid person is a member of an

eligible couple that is legally separated

and/or living apart, we will deem

unrecoverable from the other spouse

that part of the overpayment which the

other spouse did not receive.

Adjustment of benefits will be waived

for the overpaid person’s spouse when

that spouse is without fault (as defined

in § 416.552) and waiver is requested

under these circumstances. See

§ 416.554.

We propose to add to § 416.1403(a)

(the list of administrative actions that

are not initial determinations) new

paragraphs (18) and (19) to include our

determinations whether we will refer

information about an overpayment to

consumer reporting agencies and

whether we will refer the overpayment

to the Department of the Treasury for

offset against other Federal payments

due the overpaid person. Administrative

actions that are not initial

determinations may be reviewed by us,

but they are not subject to the

administrative review process provided

by subpart N of our regulations at 20

CFR Part 416, and they are not subject

to judicial review.

We also propose to expand our

existing regulations in subpart D of part

422 to cover SSI overpayments.

Specifically, we would revise § 422.301

to add language to specify that the debt

collection tools in subpart D may be

used to recover title XVI program

overpayments the Commissioner has

determined, through proposed

§ 416.590, to be unrecoverable under

section 1631(b) of the Act. In § 422.305,

we would revise both the section title

and paragraph (a). The effect of the

changes we propose to make to

§§ 422.301 and 422.305 would allow us

to apply to overpayments under both

title II and title XVI of the Act the rules

in subpart D of the referral of

information to consumer reporting

agencies and the use of administrative

offset.

Clarity of This Regulation

Executive Order (E.O.) 12866 and the

President’s memorandum of June 1,

1998, require each agency to write all

rules in plain language. In addition to

your substantive comments on these

proposed rules, we invite your

comments on how to make these

proposed rules easier to understand.

For example:

• Have we organized the material to

suit your needs?

• Are the requirements in the rules

clearly stated?

• Do the rules contain technical

language or jargon that is unclear?

• Would a different format (grouping

and order of sections, use of headings,

paragraphing) make the rules easier to

understand?

• Would more (but shorter) sections

be better?

• Could we improve clarity by adding

tables, lists, or diagrams?

• What else could we do to make the

rules easier to understand?

Electronic Version

The electronic file of this document is

available on the date of publication in

the Federal Register on the Internet site

for the Government Printing Office:

http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/

aces/aces140.html. It is also available

on the Internet site for SSA (i.e., SSA

Online): http://www.ssa.gov/.

Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 205 / Monday, October 23, 2000 / Proposed Rules 63223

Regulatory Procedures

Executive Order 12866

We have consulted with the Office of

Management and Budget (OMB) and

determined that these proposed rules do

not meet the criteria for a significant

regulatory action under Executive Order

12866. Thus, they are not subject to

OMB review.

Regulatory Flexibility Act

We certify that these proposed

regulations will not have a significant

impact on a substantial number of small

entities. Therefore, a regulatory

flexibility analysis, as provided in the

Regulatory Flexibility Act, as amended,

is not required.

Paperwork Reduction Act

These proposed regulations will

impose no new reporting on

recordkeeping requirements requiring

OMB clearance.

(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance

Programs No. 96.006, Supplemental Security

Income)

List of Subjects

20 CFR Part 416

Administrative practice and

procedure, Aged, Blind, Disability

benefits, Public assistance programs,

Reporting and recordkeeping

requirements, Supplemental Security

Income (SSI).

20 CFR Part 422

Administrative practice and

procedure, Organization and functions

(Government agencies), Social Security.

Dated: October 5, 2000.

Kenneth S. Apfel,

Commissioner of Social Security.

For the reasons set out in the

preamble, we propose to amend

subparts E and N of Part 416 and

subpart D of Part 422 of Chapter III of

Title 20 of the Code of Federal

Regulations as follows:

PART 416—SUPPLEMENTAL

SECURITY INCOME FOR THE AGED,

BLIND, AND DISABLED

1. The authority citation for subpart E

of Part 416 continues to read as follows:

Authority: Secs. 702(a)(5), 1601, 1602,

1611(c) and (e), and 1631(a)–(d) and (g) of the

Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 902(a)(5),

1381, 1381a, 1382(c) and (e), and 1383(a)–(d)

and (g)); 31 U.S.C. 3720A.

2. Section 416.590 is added to read as

follows:

§ 416.590 Are there additional methods for

recovery of title XVI benefit overpayments?

(a) General. In addition to the

methods specified in §§ 416.560,

416.570 and § 416.580, we may recover

an overpayment under title XVI of the

Act from you under the rules in subpart

D of part 422 of this chapter, provided:

(1) The overpayment occurred after

you attained age 18;

(2) You are no longer entitled to

benefits under title XVI of the Act; and

(3) Pursuant to paragraph (b) of this

section, we have determined that the

overpayment is otherwise unrecoverable

under section 1631(b) of the Act.

(b) When we consider an overpayment

to be otherwise unrecoverable. We

consider an overpayment under title

XVI of the Act to be otherwise

unrecoverable under section 1631(b) of

the Act if all of the following conditions

are met:

(1) We have completed our billing

system sequence (i.e., we have sent you

an initial notice of the overpayment, a

reminder notice, and a past-due notice)

or we have suspended or terminated

collection activity under the Federal

Claims Collection Standards in 4 CFR

104.2 or 104.3.

(2) We have not entered into an

installment payment arrangement with

you or, if we have entered into such an

arrangement, you have failed to make

any payment for two consecutive

months.

(3) You have not requested waiver

pursuant to § 416.550 or § 416.582 or,

after a review conducted pursuant to

those sections, we have determined that

we will not waive collection of the

overpayment.

(4) You have requested

reconsideration of the initial

overpayment determination pursuant to

§§ 416.1407 and 416.1409 or, after a

review conducted pursuant to

§ 416.1413, we have affirmed all or part

of the initial overpayment

determination.

(5) We cannot recover your

overpayment pursuant to § 416.570 by

adjustment of benefits payable to any

individual other than you. For purposes

of this paragraph, if you are a member

of an eligible couple that is legally

separated and/or living apart, we will

deem unrecoverable from the other

person that part of your overpayment

which he or she did not receive.

3. The authority citation for subpart N

of Part 416 is revised to read as follows:

Authority: Secs. 702(a)(5), 1631, and 1633

of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.

902(a)(5), 1383, and 1383b).

4. In § 416.1403, paragraph (a) is

amended by removing the word ‘‘and’’

at the end of paragraph (a)(16),

removing the first period in paragraph

(a)(17), replacing ‘‘See’’ with ‘‘see’’ in

the parenthetical in paragraph (a)(17),

replacing the second period at the end

of paragraph (a)(17) with a semicolon,

and adding new paragraphs (a)(18) and

(a)(19) to read as follows:

§ 41.1403 Administrative actions that are

not initial determinations.

(a) * * *

(18) Determining whether we will

refer information about your

overpayment to a consumer reporting

agency (see § 416.590 and § 422.305 of

this chapter); and

(19) Determining whether we will

refer your overpayment to the

Department of the Treasury for

collection by offset against Federal

payment due you (see § 416.590 and

§ 422.310 of this chapter).

* * * * *

PART 422—ORGANIZATION AND

PROCEDURES

5. The authority citation for subpart D

of Part 422 is revised to read as follows:

Authority: Secs. 204(f), 205(a), 702(a)(5),

and 1631(b) of the Social Security Act (42

U.S.C. 404(f), 405(a), 902(a)(5), and 1383(b));

31 U.S.C. 3711(e); 31 U.S.C. 3716.

§ 422.301 [Amended]

6. Section 422.301(b) is amended by

removing the words ‘‘title II’’ and by

replacing ‘‘§ 404.527’’ with ‘‘§§ 404.527

and 416.590.’’

§ 422.305 [Amended]

7. Section 422.305 is amended by

removing the reference to ‘‘title II’’ in

the heading and in paragraph (a).

[FR Doc. 00–27164 Filed 10–20–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4191–02–P

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Office of Surface Mining Reclamation

and Enforcement

30 CFR Part 931

[SPATS No. NM–041–FOR]

New Mexico Regulatory Program

AGENCY: Office of Surface Mining

Reclamation and Enforcement, Interior.

ACTION: Proposed rule; public comment

period and opportunity for public

hearing on proposed amendment.

SUMMARY: Office of Surface Mining

Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM) is

announcing receipt of a proposed

amendment to the New Mexico