II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1616 

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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 22, 2019 

Ms. BALDWIN (for herself and Mr. VAN HOLLEN) introduced the following 

bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance 

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’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FIELD OFFICES. 

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

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

9 end the following: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 714. FIELD OFFICES. 

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

3 a sufficient number of field offices and employ an ade4 quate number of personnel at each field office to— 

5 ‘‘(1) provide comprehensive, convenient, and ac6 cessible services to the public; 

7 ‘‘(2) meet current and projected workloads, in8 cluding consideration of anticipated workload or 

9 population changes identified through a service area 

10 review; and 

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

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

13 A FIELD OFFICE.— 

14 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.— 

15 ‘‘(A) REQUIREMENT TO FOLLOW PROCE16 DURE.—The Commissioner may not take any 

17 action described in subparagraph (B) with re18 spect to a field office except in accordance with 

19 this subsection. 

20 ‘‘(B) COVERED ACTIONS.—The actions de21 scribed in this subparagraph with respect to a 

22 field office are the following: 

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

24 including by ending or electing not to 

25 renew a lease for a field office. 


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

2 a lease for any field office. 

3 ‘‘(iii) Consolidating the field office 

4 with one or more other field offices. 

5 ‘‘(iv) Any other action that would im6 pose a new limitation on public access or 

7 reduce in person services at a field office. 

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

9 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 

10 days before the date on which the Commis11 sioner intends any action described in para12 graph (1)(B) with respect to a field office to 

13 take effect, the Commissioner shall promulgate 

14 a public notification of such action that includes 

15 the following information: 

16 ‘‘(i) An identification of the field of17 fice. 

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

19 intended to take effect. 

20 ‘‘(iii) The reasons for taking such ac21 tion, including, if applicable, the reasons 

22 for rejecting any available alternative ac23 tions such as relocation of the field office 

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


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1 Services Administration in contributing to 

2 such decision. 

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

4 the public hearings to be held pursuant to 

5 paragraph (3). 

6 ‘‘(v) Any alternative means of receiv7 ing assistance related to social security 

8 which may be used by individuals served by 

9 the field office. 

10 ‘‘(vi) Contact information, including 

11 by phone and internet, by which individ12 uals may inquire for more information re13 lated to such action. 

14 In promulgating a notification under this para15 graph, the Commissioner shall post such notifi16 cation at the affected field office and other 

17 nearby field offices, mail such notification to 

18 residents in the area served by such field of19 fices, publish such notification in newspapers 

20 printed in such area, or take such other actions 

21 as the Commissioner determines to be nec22 essary. 

23 ‘‘(B) CONGRESSIONAL NOTIFICATION.—As 

24 soon as practicable and not later than 180 days 

25 before the date on which the Commissioner inVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:51 May 31, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1616.IS S1616

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1 tends any action described in paragraph (1)(B) 

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

3 Commissioner shall provide written notification 

4 to each member of Congress and Senator whose 

5 constituents are served by such field office. 

6 ‘‘(C) LOCAL GOVERNMENT NOTIFICATION

7 AND INVOLVEMENT.—As soon as practicable 

8 and not later than 180 days before the date on 

9 which the Commissioner intends any action de10 scribed in paragraph (1) (B) with respect to a 

11 field office to take effect, the Commissioner 

12 shall provide written notification to any unit of 

13 local government within the service area of such 

14 field office and provide the opportunity for local 

15 governments to propose alternatives for such 

16 action. 

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

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

19 30 days and not later than 120 days after a no20 tification is published under paragraph (2) with 

21 respect to any action described in paragraph 

22 (1)(B) with respect to a field office, the Com23 missioner shall hold not fewer than two public 

24 hearings in the geographic area served by the 

25 field office, at which the Commissioner shall— 


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1 ‘‘(i) present the reasons for taking 

2 such action, including the criteria used to 

3 select the field office for such action and, 

4 if applicable, the reasons for rejecting any 

5 available alternative actions such as reloca6 tion of the field office within the area 

7 served; 

8 ‘‘(ii) describe the Social Security Ad9 ministration’s plan to mitigate disruption 

10 in service for the community served by the 

11 field office, including any special needs of 

12 the community and any anticipated impact 

13 on vulnerable populations such as the el14 derly, individuals with disabilities, and 

15 those with language or mobility challenges; 

16 and 

17 ‘‘(iii) provide an opportunity for pub18 lic comment, including an opportunity to 

19 recommend alternatives to such action. 

20 ‘‘(B) SUBMISSION OF WRITTEN COM21 MENTS.—The Commissioner shall accept writ22 ten comments from the public relating to such 

23 action during the period described in subpara24 graph (A), which shall be posted on the website 

25 of the Social Security Administration. 


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

2 than 15 days before the date on which any action 

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

4 office takes effect, the Commissioner shall promi5 nently publish on the website of the Social Security 

6 Administration a written report that describes the 

7 action the Commissioner intends to take with re8 spect to the field office after giving full consideration 

9 to, any alternatives proposed by local governments 

10 pursuant to paragraph (2)(c) and any public com11 ments received during the period described in para12 graph (3)(A). Such report shall include a response 

13 by the Commissioner to each unique written com14 ment received during such period. Not later than 3 

15 days after such report has been published, the Com16 missioner shall notify each person who submitted 

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

18 Commissioner shall submit a copy of such report to 

19 each member of Congress identified pursuant to 

20 paragraph (2)(B), the Committees on Appropria21 tions of the House of Representatives and the Sen22 ate, the Committee on Ways and Means of the 

23 House of Representatives, and the Committee on Fi24 nance of the Senate. 


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1 ‘‘(5) APPROVAL BY INSPECTOR GENERAL OF

2 THE SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION.—No action 

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

4 until the Inspector General of the Social Security 

5 Administration has determined that the Commis6 sioner substantially and procedurally complied with 

7 all applicable laws, regulations, and guidelines with 

8 respect to such action.’’. 

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

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

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

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

13 on which the Inspector General of the Social Security Ad14 ministration provides a written determination that the 

15 amendments made by subsection (a) have been fully imple16 mented by the Social Security Administration, except that 

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

18 reviewed by the Inspector General, such action may take 

19 effect for a period not to exceed 30 days unless the Com20 missioner provides public notice explaining the need to ex21 tend such period. 

22 SEC. 3. ANNUAL BUDGET. 

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 704(b)(1)(B) of the So24 cial Security Act (42 U.S.C. 904(b)(1)(B)) is amended by 


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

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

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

4 by the Social Security Administration for the fiscal year 

5 covered by the budget to support efforts to combat fraud 

6 committed by applicants and beneficiaries; and 

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

8 the Social Security Administration intends to take any ac9 tion described in section 714(b)(1)(B) during the fiscal 

10 year covered by the budget.’’. 

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

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

13 adding at the end the following: 

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

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

16 the Commissioner shall make available on the website of 

17 the Social Security Administration the information de18 scribed in clause (ii) of subparagraph (B).’’. 

19 SEC. 4. RECOMMENDATIONS OF SOCIAL SECURITY ADVI20 SORY BOARD. 

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

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

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

24 closing field offices on the quality of service to individuals 


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1 with disabilities or language barriers or other vulnerable 

2 populations’’. 

3 SEC. 5. REPORT TO CONGRESS. 

4 Not later than 180 days after the date of the enact5 ment of this Act, the Commissioner shall submit to the 

6 Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Rep7 resentatives and the Committee on Finance of the Senate 

8 a report that— 

9 (1) includes a list of all field offices closed dur10 ing the 5-year period ending on the date of enact11 ment of this Act, the reason for each such closure, 

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

13 and staffing at nearby affected field offices; 

14 (2) describes the role played by the Government 

15 Services Administration (GSA) in each of the field 

16 office closings in identifying any available alternative 

17 actions such as relocation of the field office, includ18 ing a detailed description of— 

19 (A) the number of alternative locations 

20 identified by the GSA during each closure pro21 cedure; 

22 (B) whether the GSA sought input (and 

23 the means by which that input was solicited) on 

24 alternative locations from State or local public 

25 officials or the public in the affected service 


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

2 or years prior to the closing the GSA sought 

3 such input) and the most common cited reasons 

4 for not finding suitable alternative locations 

5 prior to closing a field office; and 

6 (C) any recommendations for how to im7 prove the transparency and adequacy of the 

8 process for soliciting and determining the ap9 propriateness of alternative space for relocation 

10 prior to closing a field office; and 

11 (3) describes a plan— 

12 (A) to ensure that field offices are receiv13 ing sufficient resources to maintain at least the 

14 level of constituent services provided in the pre15 vious fiscal year; and 

16 (B) to adequately address the increasing 

17 number of individuals projected to use field of18 fices during the 10-year period beginning on the 

19 date of enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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