ACTION
FROM THE COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 14, 2003
FC-4A

CONTACT: (202) 225-3625

Thomas Announces Committee Action on H.R. 743, The “Social Security Protection Act of 2003”

Congressman Bill Thomas (R-CA), Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, today announced that on Thursday, March 13, 2003, the Committee ordered favorably reported, H.R. 743, the "Social Security Protection Act of 2003," as amended, by a recorded vote of 35 to 2.

DESCRIPTION OF H.R. 743 AS APPROVED:

This legislation would protect the nearly 8 million Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) beneficiaries who cannot manage their own financial affairs and have a "representative payee" to handle their monthly benefits. The legislation would protect these vulnerable recipients from misuse of benefits by their representative payees by:

· Authorizing the re-issuance of certain misused benefits.

· Requiring bonding and licensing for community-based nonprofit agency representative payees and increasing periodic reviews of representative payees serving a number of beneficiaries.

· Disqualifying from serving as representative payees persons convicted of offenses and imprisoned more than a year, and persons fleeing prosecution, custody, or confinement for a felony.

· Requiring those representative payees who misused funds to forfeit their fees.

· Allowing for the recovery of misused benefits from the representative payee through the overpayment recovery process.

· Requiring representative payees who are delinquent in filing annual accounting reports to receive the individual’s benefits in person at a local office.

· Expanding civil monetary penalty authority to include misuse of benefits by representative payees.

The legislation would also further protect Social Security programs and individuals by:

· Clarifying civil monetary penalty authority so that sanctions may be imposed against persons who withhold material facts in order to obtain or increase benefits.

· Requiring the Social Security Administration (SSA) to issue receipts to beneficiaries who report changes in earnings or work status to help avoid overpayments.

· Denying Social Security benefits to persons fleeing prosecution, custody, or confinement for a felony, as well as probation/parole violators.

· Requiring individuals who provide Social Security-related services for a fee to explain in their solicitations that the SSA provides the services free of charge.

· Authorizing the Commissioner to refuse to recognize certain disqualified attorneys.

· Establishing penalties for impeding any SSA employee while acting in their official capacity.

· Expanding the current law prohibition on the use of Social Security or Medicare symbols, emblems, or references.

· Prohibiting individuals who fraudulently conceal work activity from being eligible for a trial work period.

· Allowing Federal courts to order a person who breaks the law relating to Social Security or to the SSI program to make restitution to the trust funds or general fund as appropriate.

H.R. 743 would also make improvements to the attorney fee payment system to help individuals with disabilities gain access to representation by:

· Extending attorney fee withholding to SSI claims.

· Imposing a $75 cap (indexed for inflation) on the 6.3 percent assessment on approved attorney fees for Social Security and SSI claimants.

The bill would also improve work incentives for individuals with disabilities to return to work by:

· Clarifying the Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act of 1999.

· Clarifying the Work Opportunity Tax Credit so that it is also available to employers who hire a disabled beneficiary who is referred from any employment network, not just the State rehabilitation agency.

In response to recent findings and recommendations by the U.S. General Accounting Office regarding abuse of the "last day" exemption by certain workers to avoid being subject to the Government Pension Offset, the final section includes a provision which would require State and local workers to work their last five years of State/local employment in jobs subject to Social Security taxation in order to be exempt from the Government Pension Offset (the same requirement that currently applies to Federal workers who switched from the Civil Service Retirement System to the Federal Employees Retirement System).

Also included are a number of miscellaneous and technical amendments, including provisions that would: provide compensation to the Social Security Advisory Board members and add Kentucky to the list of States allowed to have a divided retirement system. The legislation would correct, clarify, and modify various technical aspects of Social Security law and the Internal Revenue Code.

ACTIONFROM THE COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS

Thomas Announces Committee Action on H.R. 743, The “Social Security Protection Act of 2003”

ACTION
FROM THE COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS