I 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7276 

To prohibit the Social Security Administration from reinstating the reconsideration level of appeal for disability determinations in the 10 prototype 

States, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 12, 2018 

Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means 

A BILL 

To prohibit the Social Security Administration from reinstating the reconsideration level of appeal for disability 

determinations in the 10 prototype States, 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. PROHIBITING SSA FROM REINSTATING THE RE4 CONSIDERATION LEVEL OF APPEAL FOR DIS5 ABILITY DETERMINATIONS IN THE 10 PROTO6 TYPE STATES. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Commissioner of Social Secu8 rity shall not reinstate reconsideration of an initial disVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:45 Dec 14, 2018 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7276.IH H7276

kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
2 

•HR 7276 IH

1 ability determination by the Disability Determination 

2 Services of Alabama, Alaska, Colorado, Louisiana, Michi3 gan, Missouri, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, 

4 or California (Los Angeles North and Los Angeles West 

5 Branches). 

6 (b) IMPROVING THE RECONSIDERATION LEVEL OF

7 REVIEW FOR DISABILITY DETERMINATIONS.— 

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

9 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

10 Commissioner of Social Security shall submit to the 

11 applicable committees a detailed plan to— 

12 (A) improve the reconsideration level of re13 view for disability determinations; and 

14 (B) decrease case processing time for ini15 tial disability determinations and appeals. 

16 (2) INPUT FROM STAKEHOLDERS AND OTHER

17 EXPERTS.—For purposes of developing the plan de18 scribed in paragraph (1), the Commissioner of Social 

19 Security shall include information and input from— 

20 (A) the Chairman of the Administrative 

21 Conference of the United States; 

22 (B) disability advocates and stakeholders 

23 through a National Disability Forum, as well as 

24 other outreach methods; 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
3 

•HR 7276 IH

1 (C) data collected from the 1997 Disability 

2 Redesign Prototype model, including the elimi3 nation of the reconsideration step of the admin4 istrative review process for disability determina5 tions in the 10 prototype States; and 

6 (D) scholarly experts as well as peer-re7 viewed disability or administrative review stud8 ies published by academic or non-profit research 

9 institutions. 

10 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

11 (1) APPLICABLE COMMITTEE.—The term ‘‘ap12 plicable committees’’ means the Committee on Ways 

13 and Means of the House of Representatives, the 

14 Committee on Appropriations of the House of Rep15 resentatives, the Committee on Appropriations of the 

16 Senate, and the Committee on Finance of the Sen17 ate. 

18 (2) INITIAL DISABILITY DETERMINATION.—The 

19 term ‘‘initial disability determination’’ means a de20 termination made by a State Disability Determina21 tion Services office in regards to whether an indi22 vidual is disabled for purposes of any benefits under 

23 title II or XVI of the Social Security Act based on 

24 such individual’s status as disabled. 

Æ 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS