II 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4532 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 9 (legislative day, FEBRUARY 8), 2010 

Received 

AN ACT 

To provide for permanent extension of the attorney fee withholding procedures under title II of the Social Security 

Act to title XVI of such Act, and to provide for permanent extension of such procedures under titles II and 

XVI of such Act to qualified non-attorney representatives. 


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1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Social Security Dis5 ability Applicants’ Access to Professional Representation 

6 Act of 2010’’. 

7 SEC. 2. PERMANENT EXTENSION OF ATTORNEY FEE WITH8 HOLDING PROCEDURES TO TITLE XVI. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 302 of the Social Security 

10 Protection Act of 2004 (Public Law 108–203; 118 Stat. 

11 519) is amended— 

12 (1) in the section heading, by striking ‘‘TEM13 PORARY’’; and 

14 (2) in subsection (c), by striking ‘‘EFFECTIVE

15 DATE.—’’ and all that follows through ‘‘The amend16 ments’’ and inserting ‘‘EFFECTIVE DATE.—The 

17 amendments’’, and by striking paragraph (2). 

18 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The item relating to 

19 section 302 in the table of contents in section 1(b) of such 

20 Act is amended by striking ‘‘Temporary extension’’ and 

21 inserting ‘‘Extension’’. 


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1 SEC. 3. PERMANENT EXTENSION OF FEE WITHHOLDING 

2 PROCEDURES TO QUALIFIED NON-ATTORNEY 

3 REPRESENTATIVES. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 206 of the Social Security 

5 Act (42 U.S.C. 406) is amended by adding at the end the 

6 following new subsection: 

7 ‘‘(e)(1) The Commissioner shall provide for the exten8 sion of the fee withholding procedures and assessment pro9 cedures that apply under the preceding provisions of this 

10 section to agents and other persons, other than attorneys, 

11 who represent claimants under this title before the Com12 missioner. 

13 ‘‘(2) Fee-withholding procedures may be extended 

14 under paragraph (1) to any nonattorney representative 

15 only if such representative meets at least the following pre16 requisites: 

17 ‘‘(A) The representative has been awarded a 

18 bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution of 

19 higher education, or has been determined by the 

20 Commissioner to have equivalent qualifications de21 rived from training and work experience. 

22 ‘‘(B) The representative has passed an exam23 ination, written and administered by the Commis24 sioner, which tests knowledge of the relevant provi25 sions of this Act and the most recent developments 


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1 in agency and court decisions affecting this title and 

2 title XVI. 

3 ‘‘(C) The representative has secured profes4 sional liability insurance, or equivalent insurance, 

5 which the Commissioner has determined to be ade6 quate to protect claimants in the event of mal7 practice by the representative. 

8 ‘‘(D) The representative has undergone a crimi9 nal background check to ensure the representative’s 

10 fitness to practice before the Commissioner. 

11 ‘‘(E) The representative demonstrates ongoing 

12 completion of qualified courses of continuing edu13 cation, including education regarding ethics and pro14 fessional conduct, which are designed to enhance 

15 professional knowledge in matters related to entitle16 ment to, or eligibility for, benefits based on disability 

17 under this title and title XVI. Such continuing edu18 cation, and the instructors providing such education, 

19 shall meet such standards as the Commissioner may 

20 prescribe. 

21 ‘‘(3)(A) The Commissioner may assess representa22 tives reasonable fees to cover the cost to the Social Secu23 rity Administration of administering the prerequisites de24 scribed in paragraph (2). 


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1 ‘‘(B) Fees collected under subparagraph (A) shall be 

2 credited to the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance 

3 Trust Fund and the Federal Disability Insurance Trust 

4 Fund, or deposited as miscellaneous receipts in the general 

5 fund of the Treasury, based on such allocations as the 

6 Commissioner determines appropriate. 

7 ‘‘(C) The fees authorized under this paragraph shall 

8 be collected and available for obligation only to the extent 

9 and in the amount provided in advance in appropriations 

10 Acts. Amounts so appropriated are authorized to remain 

11 available until expended for administering the pre12 requisites described in paragraph (2).’’. 

13 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

14 (1) Section 1631(d)(2)(A) of such Act (42 

15 U.S.C. 1383(d)(2)(A)) is amended— 

16 (A) in clause (iv), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 

17 end; 

18 (B) in clause (v), by striking the period at 

19 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

20 (C) by adding at the end the following new 

21 clause: 

22 ‘‘(vi) by substituting, in subsection 

23 (e)(1)— 


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1 ‘‘(I) ‘subparagraphs (B) and (C) of 

2 section 1631(d)(2)’ for ‘the preceding pro3 visions of this section’; and 

4 ‘‘(II) ‘title XVI’ for ‘this title’.’’. 

5 (2) Section 303(e)(2) of the Social Security 

6 Protection Act of 2004 (Public Law 108–203; 118 

7 Stat. 523) is amended by striking ‘‘AND FINAL RE8 PORT’’ in the heading and by striking the last sen9 tence. 

10 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The Commissioner of Social 

11 Security shall provide for full implementation of the provi12 sions of section 206(e) of the Social Security Act (as 

13 added by subsection (a)) and the amendments made by 

14 subsection (b) not later than March 1, 2010. 

Passed the House of Representatives February 4, 

2010. 

Attest: LORRAINE C. MILLER, 

Clerk. 


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