II

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1701

To provide for certain notice and procedures before the Social Security

Administration may close, consolidate, or recategorize certain offices.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

NOVEMBER 19 (legislative day, NOVEMBER 2), 1993

Mr. SARBANES (for himself and Mr. SASSER) introduced the following bill;

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance

A BILL

To provide for certain notice and procedures before the Social

Security Administration may close, consolidate, or

recategorize certain offices.

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

3 That this Act may be cited as the ‘‘Social Security Admin4 istration Services Preservation Act’’.

5 FINDINGS AND PURPOSES

6 SEC. 2. (a) The Congress finds that—

7 (1) the service philosophy of the Social Security

8 Administration recognizes that the effective adminis9 tration of programs depends upon the goodwill and

10 acceptance of the public;
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1 (2) the Statement of Objectives of the Social

2 Security Administration in the year of 1958 recog3 nized that public confidence and cooperation is par4 tially based on the locations and appearances of of5 fices;

6 (3) the mission of the Social Security Adminis7 tration touches the lives of virtually all United

8 States citizens and therefore offices of the Adminis9 tration need to be readily accessible to all citizens

10 regardless of residence;

11 (4) many United States citizens, especially

12 many among the handicapped and the elderly, need

13 personal attention to needs and should not be unnec14 essarily deprived of access to agency officers;

15 (5) discrepancies exist between the formal pro16 cedures for closing, consolidating, and recategorizing

17 Social Security Administration offices and the prac18 tice often used;

19 (6) the procedures used for such decisions are

20 inconsistent and often too informal;

21 (7) the procedures used in many closings,

22 moves, and recategorizations have not adequately

23 considered the interests of the individuals affected

24 by the decisions; and
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1 (8) all changes in the status and location of So2 cial Security Administration offices should be consid3 ered in such a way as to not undermine public con4 fidence in the Social Security program.

5 (b) The purposes of this Act are to—

6 (1) ensure that the public interest is considered

7 and protected in all decisions to close, consolidate, or

8 recategorize Social Security Administration offices;

9 and

10 (2) establish a fair procedure to be followed in

11 all such decisions.

12 CONSOLIDATION, CLOSING, OR RECATEGORIZATION OF A

13 SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION OFFICE

14 SEC. 3. Title VII of the Social Security Act is amend15 ed by adding at the end thereof the following new section:

16 ‘‘CONSOLIDATION, CLOSING OR RECATEGORIZATION OF A

17 SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION OFFICE

18 ‘‘SEC. 712. (a) For purposes of this section, the

19 term—

20 ‘‘(1) ‘adequate public notice’ means the con21 spicuous posting of a formal notice at the affected

22 office and the mailing of a written notice to at

23 least—

24 ‘‘(A) the employees of the affected office;

25 ‘‘(B) the regularly published local press

26 serving the affected community;
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1 ‘‘(C) all elected local public officials, com2 munity groups, and county, parish, and State

3 welfare offices, and any other affected or rel4 evant organization; and

5 ‘‘(D) the Members of Congress who serve

6 the area in which the affected office is located;

7 ‘‘(2) ‘move’ with respect to an office means any

8 change in the physical location of such office, unless

9 such move is within the same political subdivision

10 and is necessitated by an involuntary loss of a lease

11 or a need for additional space;

12 ‘‘(3) ‘office’ includes all field offices, district of13 fices, and hearings and appeals offices of the Social

14 Security Administration;

15 ‘‘(4) ‘political subdivision’ means a component

16 of a county or large city which has a common civic

17 identity characterized by neighborhood pride, inde18 pendence, or homogeneous ethnic, racial, religious,

19 or economic background; and

20 ‘‘(5) ‘recategorize’ means the process of scaling

21 down an office to a lesser status or level of function.

22 ‘‘(b) The Social Security Administration, after mak23 ing a determination as to the necessity for the closing,

24 consolidation, or recategorization of any office, shall pro25 vide adequate public notice of such determination at least
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1 90 days prior to the proposed date of such closing, consoli2 dation, or recategorization. Such notice shall include an

3 invitation for written comments on the proposal and shall

4 include an address for mailing such comments.

5 ‘‘(c) When making a determination to close, consoli6 date, or recategorize an office, the Social Security Admin7 istration shall consider—

8 ‘‘(1) the effect of such change on the commu9 nity served by such office including the availability

10 of public transportation to any site, the socio11 economic status of the community, the caseload of

12 the affected office, and such other factors as the So13 cial Security Administration determines are nec14 essary;

15 ‘‘(2) the need of the community for personal

16 service, relative to mail or telephone service, based

17 on demographic information such as educational and

18 literacy levels;

19 ‘‘(3) the effect of such determination on em20 ployees of the Social Security Administration at such

21 office; and

22 ‘‘(4) the economic savings to the Social Security

23 Administration resulting from the change.

24 ‘‘(d) The Commissioner of Social Security or the

25 Deputy Commissioner of Social Security shall approve all
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1 preliminary and final determinations to close offices that

2 are open full-time and provide a full range of services. The

3 authority to make other preliminary and final determina4 tions may be delegated by the Commissioner.

5 ‘‘(e) Any preliminary determination of the Social Se6 curity Administration to close, consolidate, or recategorize

7 an office shall be in writing and shall include the findings

8 of the Social Security Administration with respect to the

9 considerations required under subsection (c).

10 ‘‘(f) A public hearing shall be—

11 ‘‘(1) held upon written request;

12 ‘‘(2) held no earlier than 60 days after ade13 quate public notice of such hearing is made;

14 ‘‘(3) conducted on all proposals to consolidate,

15 close, or recategorize the affected office;

16 ‘‘(4) held at or near the location of the affected

17 office; and

18 ‘‘(5) conducted by an official designated by the

19 regional or central office.

20 ‘‘(g) Within 30 days after the hearing held under the

21 provisions of subsection (f) or after the 90-day period de22 scribed under subsection (b), whichever is later, the Social

23 Security Administration shall—

24 ‘‘(1) issue a final report that—
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1 ‘‘(A) incorporates all of the testimony pro2 vided at the public hearing and all written com3 ments received; and

4 ‘‘(B) specifies the final determination of

5 the status of the affected office;

6 ‘‘(2) send copies of the final report to the local

7 community press and the appropriate Members of

8 Congress; and

9 ‘‘(3) provide adequate public notice of the final

10 determination, including a notice that copies of the

11 full final report may be viewed or obtained, without

12 charge, at the affected office.

13 ‘‘(h) A final determination of the Social Security Ad14 ministration to close, consolidate, or recategorize an office

15 may be appealed by any person served by such office to

16 the Commissioner of Social Security. Such appeal shall be

17 filed no later than 30 days following adequate public no18 tice of the final determination under subsection (g)(3).

19 The Commissioner shall review such determination on the

20 basis of the record before the Social Security Administra21 tion in deciding such appeal. The Commissioner shall set

22 aside any determination, finding, or conclusion found to

23 be—

24 ‘‘(1) arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discre25 tion, or otherwise not in accordance with the law;
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1 ‘‘(2) without observance of procedure required

2 by law; or

3 ‘‘(3) unsupported by substantial evidence on the

4 record.

5 ‘‘(i) No action may be taken to close, move, or

6 recategorize any office during the 30 days following the

7 announcement of a decision nor during the time that any

8 level of appeal is pending.

9 ‘‘(j) The Social Security Administration shall include

10 in its annual budget submission to the Congress a list of

11 all offices, as defined under subsection (a)(3), and all con12 tact stations that—

13 ‘‘(1) were closed or discontinued during the

14 year preceding the date of such submission; and

15 ‘‘(2) are scheduled to be closed or discontinued

16 and the date that such action is planned.’’.

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