I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2901 

To amend title VII of the Social Security Act to improve the Social Security 

Administration’s procedures to close or reduce access to field offices, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 22, 2019 

Ms. MOORE (for herself, Ms. GABBARD, Ms. WILD, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Mr. 

PALLONE, Mr. COHEN, Mr. RASKIN, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Ms. 

SCHAKOWSKY, and Ms. NORTON) introduced the following bill; which was 

referred to the Committee on Ways and Means 

A BILL 

To amend title VII of the Social Security Act to improve 

the Social Security Administration’s procedures to close 

or reduce access to field offices, and for other purposes. 

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 ‘‘Maintain Access to 

5 Vital Social Security Services Act of 2019’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FIELD OFFICES. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title VII of the Social Security 

3 Act (42 U.S.C. 701 et seq.) is amended by adding at the 

4 end the following: 

5 ‘‘SEC. 714. FIELD OFFICES. 

6 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Commissioner shall operate 

7 a sufficient number of field offices and employ an ade8 quate number of personnel at each field office to— 

9 ‘‘(1) provide comprehensive, convenient, and ac10 cessible services to the public; 

11 ‘‘(2) meet current and projected workloads, in12 cluding consideration of anticipated workload or 

13 population changes identified through a service area 

14 review; and 

15 ‘‘(3) minimize wait-times at each field office. 

16 ‘‘(b) PROCEDURE TO CLOSE OR REDUCE ACCESS TO

17 A FIELD OFFICE.— 

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.— 

19 ‘‘(A) REQUIREMENT TO FOLLOW PROCE20 DURE.—The Commissioner may not take any 

21 action described in subparagraph (B) with re22 spect to a field office except in accordance with 

23 this subsection. 

24 ‘‘(B) COVERED ACTIONS.—The actions de25 scribed in this subparagraph with respect to a 

26 field office are the following: 


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1 ‘‘(i) Permanently closing a field office, 

2 including by ending or electing not to 

3 renew a lease for a field office. 

4 ‘‘(ii) Ending, or electing not to renew, 

5 a lease for any field office. 

6 ‘‘(iii) Consolidating the field office 

7 with one or more other field offices. 

8 ‘‘(iv) Any other action that would im9 pose a new limitation on public access or 

10 reduce in-person services at a field office. 

11 ‘‘(2) NOTIFICATION OF ANTICIPATED ACTION.— 

12 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 

13 days before the date on which the Commis14 sioner intends any action described in para15 graph (1)(B) with respect to a field office to 

16 take effect, the Commissioner shall promulgate 

17 a public notification of such action that includes 

18 the following information: 

19 ‘‘(i) An identification of the field of20 fice. 

21 ‘‘(ii) The date on which such action is 

22 intended to take effect. 

23 ‘‘(iii) The reasons for taking such ac24 tion, including, if applicable, the reasons 

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1 tions such as relocation of the field office 

2 and the role, if any, played by the General 

3 Services Administration in contributing to 

4 such decision. 

5 ‘‘(iv) The date, time, and location of 

6 the public hearings to be held pursuant to 

7 paragraph (3). 

8 ‘‘(v) Any alternative means of receiv9 ing assistance related to social security 

10 which may be used by individuals served by 

11 the field office. 

12 ‘‘(vi) Contact information, including 

13 by phone and Internet, by which individ14 uals may inquire for more information re15 lated to such action. 

16 In promulgating a notification under this para17 graph, the Commissioner shall post such notifi18 cation at the affected field office and other 

19 nearby field offices, mail such notification to 

20 residents in the area served by such field of21 fices, publish such notification in newspapers 

22 printed in such area, or take such other actions 

23 as the Commissioner determines to be nec24 essary. 


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1 ‘‘(B) CONGRESSIONAL NOTIFICATION.—As 

2 soon as practicable and not later than 180 days 

3 before the date on which the Commissioner in4 tends any action described in paragraph (1)(B) 

5 with respect to a field office to take effect, the 

6 Commissioner shall provide written notification 

7 to each member of Congress and Senator whose 

8 constituents are served by such field office. 

9 ‘‘(C) LOCAL GOVERNMENT NOTIFICATION

10 AND INVOLVEMENT.—As soon as practicable 

11 and not later than 180 days before the date on 

12 which the Commissioner intends any action de13 scribed in paragraph (1)(B) with respect to a 

14 field office to take effect, the Commissioner 

15 shall provide written notification to any unit of 

16 local government within the service area of such 

17 field office and provide the opportunity for local 

18 governments to propose alternatives for such 

19 action. 

20 ‘‘(3) OPPORTUNITY FOR PUBLIC COMMENT.— 

21 ‘‘(A) PUBLIC HEARING.—Not earlier than 

22 30 days and not later than 120 days after a no23 tification is published under paragraph (2) with 

24 respect to any action described in paragraph 

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1 missioner shall hold not fewer than two public 

2 hearings in the geographic area served by the 

3 field office, at which the Commissioner shall— 

4 ‘‘(i) present the reasons for taking 

5 such action, including the criteria used to 

6 select the field office for such action and, 

7 if applicable, the reasons for rejecting any 

8 available alternative actions such as reloca9 tion of the field office within the area 

10 served; 

11 ‘‘(ii) describe the Social Security Ad12 ministration’s plan to mitigate disruption 

13 in service for the community served by the 

14 field office, including any special needs of 

15 the community and any anticipated impact 

16 on vulnerable populations such as the el17 derly, individuals with disabilities, and 

18 those with language or mobility challenges; 

19 and 

20 ‘‘(iii) provide an opportunity for pub21 lic comment, including an opportunity to 

22 recommend alternatives to such action. 

23 ‘‘(B) SUBMISSION OF WRITTEN COM24 MENTS.—The Commissioner shall accept writ25 ten comments from the public relating to such 


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1 action during the period described in subpara2 graph (A), which shall be posted on the website 

3 of the Social Security Administration. 

4 ‘‘(4) PUBLIC REPORT ON HEARING.—Not later 

5 than 15 days before the date on which any action 

6 described in paragraph (1)(B) with respect to a field 

7 office takes effect, the Commissioner shall promi8 nently publish on the website of the Social Security 

9 Administration a written report that describes the 

10 action the Commissioner intends to take with re11 spect to the field office after giving full consideration 

12 to, any alternatives proposed by local governments 

13 pursuant to paragraph (2)(c) and any public com14 ments received during the period described in para15 graph (3)(A). Such report shall include a response 

16 by the Commissioner to each unique written com17 ment received during such period. Not later than 3 

18 days after such report has been published, the Com19 missioner shall notify each person who submitted 

20 written comments under paragraph (3)(B). The 

21 Commissioner shall submit a copy of such report to 

22 each member of Congress identified pursuant to 

23 paragraph (2)(B), the Committees on Appropria24 tions of the House of Representatives and the Sen25 ate, the Committee on Ways and Means of the 


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1 House of Representatives, and the Committee on Fi2 nance of the Senate. 

3 ‘‘(5) APPROVAL BY INSPECTOR GENERAL OF

4 THE SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION.—No action 

5 described in paragraph (1)(B) may go into effect 

6 until the Inspector General of the Social Security 

7 Administration has reviewed any health and safety 

8 claims made by the Commissioner with respect to 

9 such action and has determined that the Commis10 sioner substantially and procedurally complied with 

11 all applicable laws, regulations, and guidelines with 

12 respect to such action.’’. 

13 (b) MORATORIUM.—The Commissioner may not take 

14 any action described in section 714(b)(1)(B) of the Social 

15 Security Act (42 U.S.C. 914(b)(1)(B)) with respect to a 

16 field office until the date that is 30 days after the date 

17 on which the Inspector General of the Social Security Ad18 ministration provides a written determination that the 

19 amendments made by subsection (a) have been fully imple20 mented by the Social Security Administration, except that 

21 in the case of such an action related to health and safety 

22 reviewed by the Inspector General, such action may take 

23 effect for a period not to exceed 30 days unless the Com24 missioner provides public notice explaining the need to ex25 tend such period. 


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1 SEC. 3. ANNUAL BUDGET. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 704(b)(1)(B) of the So3 cial Security Act (42 U.S.C. 904(b)(1)(B)) is amended by 

4 striking ‘‘subparagraph (A)’’ and all that follows through 

5 the end and inserting the following: ‘‘subparagraph (A)— 

6 ‘‘(i) an itemization of the amount of funds required 

7 by the Social Security Administration for the fiscal year 

8 covered by the budget to support efforts to combat fraud 

9 committed by applicants and beneficiaries; and 

10 ‘‘(ii) a list of any field offices with respect to which 

11 the Social Security Administration intends to take any ac12 tion described in section 714(b)(1)(B) during the fiscal 

13 year covered by the budget.’’. 

14 (b) DISPLAY ON WEBSITE.—Section 704(b)(1) of the 

15 Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 904(b)(1)) is amended by 

16 adding at the end the following: 

17 ‘‘(C) Not later than 7 days after the submission of 

18 an annual budget prepared pursuant to subparagraph (A), 

19 the Commissioner shall make available on the website of 

20 the Social Security Administration the information de21 scribed in clause (ii) of subparagraph (B).’’. 

22 SEC. 4. RECOMMENDATIONS OF SOCIAL SECURITY ADVI23 SORY BOARD. 

24 Section 703(b)(4) of title VII of the Social Security 

25 Act (42 U.S.C. 903(b)(4)) is amended by striking ‘‘public’’ 

26 and inserting ‘‘public, taking into account the impact of 


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1 closing field offices on the quality of service to individuals 

2 with disabilities or language barriers or other vulnerable 

3 populations’’. 

4 SEC. 5. REPORT TO CONGRESS. 

5 Not later than 180 days after the date of the enact6 ment of this Act, the Commissioner shall submit to the 

7 Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Rep8 resentatives and the Committee on Finance of the Senate 

9 a report that— 

10 (1) includes a list of all field offices closed dur11 ing the 5-year period ending on the date of enact12 ment of this Act, the reason for each such closure, 

13 and any impacts of each such closure on wait-times 

14 and staffing at nearby affected field offices; 

15 (2) describes the role played by the Government 

16 Services Administration (GSA) in each of the field 

17 office closings in identifying any available alternative 

18 actions such as relocation of the field office, includ19 ing a detailed description of— 

20 (A) the number of alternative locations 

21 identified by the GSA during each closure pro22 cedure; 

23 (B) whether the GSA sought input (and 

24 the means by which that input was solicited) on 

25 alternative locations from State or local public 


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1 officials or the public in the affected service 

2 area (including how many days, weeks, months, 

3 or years prior to the closing the GSA sought 

4 such input) and the most common cited reasons 

5 for not finding suitable alternative locations 

6 prior to closing a field office; and 

7 (C) any recommendations for how to im8 prove the transparency and adequacy of the 

9 process for soliciting and determining the ap10 propriateness of alternative space for relocation 

11 prior to closing a field office; and 

12 (3) describes a plan— 

13 (A) to ensure that field offices are receiv14 ing sufficient resources to maintain at least the 

15 level of constituent services provided in the pre16 vious fiscal year; and 

17 (B) to adequately address the increasing 

18 number of individuals projected to use field of19 fices during the 10-year period beginning on the 

20 date of enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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