[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 5 (Monday, January 8, 2018)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 711-712]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-00058]


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SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION

20 CFR Parts 404 and 416

[Docket No. SSA-2017-0062]
RIN 0960-AI26


Extension of Sunset Date for Attorney Advisor Program

AGENCY: Social Security Administration.

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: We are extending for six months our rule authorizing attorney 
advisors to conduct certain prehearing proceedings and to issue fully 
favorable decisions. The current rule is scheduled to expire on 
February 5, 2018. In this final rule, we are extending the sunset date 
to August 3, 2018. We are making no other substantive changes.

DATES: This final rule is effective January 8, 2018.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Susan Swansiger, Office of Hearings 
Operations, Social Security Administration, 5107 Leesburg Pike, Falls 
Church, VA 22041, (703) 605-8500. For information on eligibility or 
filing for benefits, call our national toll-free number, 800-772-1213 
or TTY 800-325-0778, or visit our internet site, Social Security 
Online, at http://www.socialsecurity.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background of the Attorney Advisor Program

    On August 9, 2007, we issued an interim final rule permitting some 
attorney advisors to conduct certain prehearing proceedings and issue 
fully favorable decisions when the documentary record warrants doing 
so. 72 FR 44763. We instituted this practice to provide more timely 
service to the increasing number of applicants for Social Security 
disability benefits and Supplemental Security Income payments based on 
disability. We considered the public comments we received on the 
interim final rule, and on March 3, 2008, we issued a final rule 
without change. 73 FR 11349. Under this rule, some attorney advisors 
may develop claims and, in appropriate cases, issue fully favorable 
decisions before a hearing.
    We originally intended the attorney advisor program to be a 
temporary modification to our procedures. Therefore, we included in 
sections 404.942(g) and 416.1442(g) of the interim final rule a 
provision that the program would end on August 10, 2009, unless we 
decided to either terminate the rule earlier or extend it beyond that 
date by publication of a final rule in the Federal Register. Since that 
time, we have periodically extended the sunset date (see 74 FR 33327 
extending to August 10, 2011; 76 FR 18383 extending to August 9, 2013; 
78 FR 45459 extending to August 7, 2015; and 80 FR 31990 extending to 
August 4, 2017). As we noted above, the current sunset date for the 
program is February 5, 2018. 82 FR 34400.

Explanation of Extension

    We published the final rule to adopt without change the interim 
final rule that we published on August 9, 2007. We stated our intent to 
monitor the program closely and to modify it if it did not meet our 
expectations. 73 FR 11349.
    We explained in the 2008 final rule that the number of requests for 
hearings had increased significantly in recent years. From 2008 to the 
present, the number of pending hearing requests has continued to remain 
at a high level, and we anticipate that we will receive several hundred 
thousand hearing requests in fiscal year 2018.\1\ We are extending the 
program at this time while we continue to consider our options with 
respect to the program.
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    \1\ Our budget estimates indicate that we expect to receive 
approximately 645,000 hearing requests in fiscal year 2018 
(available at: https://www.ssa.gov/budget/FY18Files/2018BO.pdf).
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    To preserve the maximum degree of flexibility we need to manage our 
hearings-level workloads effectively, we have decided to extend the 
attorney advisor rule for six months until August 3, 2018. As before, 
we reserve the authority to end the program earlier, to

[[Page 712]]

extend it by publishing a final rule in the Federal Register, or to 
discontinue it altogether.

Regulatory Procedures

Justification for Issuing Final Rule Without Notice and Comment

    We follow the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) rulemaking 
procedures specified in 5 U.S.C. 553 when developing regulations. 
Section 702(a)(5) of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. 902(a)(5). The 
APA provides exceptions to its notice and public comment procedures 
when an agency finds there is good cause for dispensing with such 
procedures because they are impracticable, unnecessary, or contrary to 
the public interest. We have determined that good cause exists for 
dispensing with the notice and public comment procedures for this rule. 
5 U.S.C. 553(b)(B). Good cause exists because this final rule only 
extends the expiration date of an existing rule. It makes no 
substantive changes to the rule. The current regulations expressly 
provide that we may extend or terminate this rule. Therefore, we have 
determined that opportunity for prior comment is unnecessary, and we 
are issuing this rule as a final rule.
    In addition, because we are not making any substantive changes to 
the existing rule, we find that there is good cause for dispensing with 
the 30-day delay in the effective date of a substantive rule provided 
by 5 U.S.C. 553(d)(3). To ensure that we have uninterrupted authority 
to use attorney advisors to address the number of pending cases at the 
hearing level, we find that it is in the public interest to make this 
final rule effective on the date of publication.

Executive Order 12866 as Supplemented by Executive Order 13563

    We consulted with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and 
although we do not believe that this will be a significant regulatory 
action under Executive Order (E.O.) 12866, as supplemented by E.O. 
13563, OMB has reviewed this final rule.

Regulatory Flexibility Act

    We certify that this final rule will not have a significant 
economic impact on a substantial number of small entities because it 
affects individuals only. Therefore, the Regulatory Flexibility Act, as 
amended, does not require us to prepare a regulatory flexibility 
analysis.

Paperwork Reduction Act

    This final rule does not create any new or affect any existing 
collections and, therefore, does not require OMB approval under the 
Paperwork Reduction Act.

(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Program Nos. 96.001, Social 
Security--Disability Insurance; 96.002, Social Security--Retirement 
Insurance; 96.004, Social Security--Survivors Insurance; 96.006, 
Supplemental Security Income.)

List of Subjects

20 CFR Part 404

    Administrative practice and procedure, Blind, Disability benefits, 
Old-age, Survivors and Disability Insurance, Reporting and 
recordkeeping requirements, Social security.

20 CFR Part 416

    Administrative practice and procedure, Reporting and recordkeeping 
requirements, Supplemental Security Income (SSI).

    Dated: December 28, 2017.
Nancy A. Berryhill,
Acting Commissioner of Social Security.

    For the reasons stated in the preamble, we are amending subpart J 
of part 404 and subpart N of part 416 of Chapter III of title 20 of the 
Code of Federal Regulations as set forth below:

PART 404--FEDERAL OLD-AGE, SURVIVORS AND DISABILITY INSURANCE 
(1950- )

Subpart J--[Amended]

0
1. The authority citation for subpart J of part 404 continues to read 
as follows:

    Authority:  Secs. 201(j), 204(f), 205(a)-(b), (d)-(h), and (j), 
221, 223(i), 225, and 702(a)(5) of the Social Security Act (42 
U.S.C. 401(j), 404(f), 405(a)-(b), (d)-(h), and (j), 421, 423(i), 
425, and 902(a)(5)); sec. 5, Pub. L. 97-455, 96 Stat. 2500 (42 
U.S.C. 405 note); secs. 5, 6(c)-(e), and 15, Pub. L. 98-460, 98 
Stat. 1802 (42 U.S.C. 421 note); sec. 202, Pub. L. 108-203, 118 
Stat. 509 (42 U.S.C. 902 note).


0
2. In Sec.  404.942, revise paragraph (g) to read as follows:


Sec.  404.942  Prehearing proceedings and decisions by attorney 
advisors.

* * * * *
    (g) Sunset provision. The provisions of this section will no longer 
be effective on August 3, 2018, unless we terminate them earlier or 
extend them beyond that date by notice of a final rule in the Federal 
Register.

PART 416--SUPPLEMENTAL SECURITY INCOME FOR THE AGED, BLIND, AND 
DISABLED

Subpart N--[Amended]

0
3. The authority citation for subpart N continues 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); sec. 202, Pub. 
L. 108-203, 118 Stat. 509 (42 U.S.C. 902 note).


0
 4. In Sec.  416.1442, revise paragraph (g) to read as follows:


Sec.  416.1442  Prehearing proceedings and decisions by attorney 
advisors.

* * * * *
    (g) Sunset provision. The provisions of this section will no longer 
be effective on August 3, 2018, unless we terminate them earlier or 
extend them beyond that date by notice of a final rule in the Federal 
Register.

[FR Doc. 2018-00058 Filed 1-5-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4191-02-P