[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 120 (Thursday, June 22, 1995)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 32444-32446]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-15301]
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SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION
20 CFR Part 422
RIN 0960-AE18
Evidence Required for Duplicate Social Security Number Card
AGENCY: Social Security Administration (SSA).
ACTION: Interim rule.
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SUMMARY: We intend to conduct a pilot project in as many as 100 social
security offices throughout the country and in as many as 10
teleservice centers to encourage people who need a duplicate social
security number (SSN) card to contact us by phone to request the
duplicate card. We are, therefore, providing an exception to our rule
in 20 CFR 422.107(c) on the corroborative evidence of identity a person
must submit when he or she applies for a duplicate SSN card.
EFFECTIVE DATE: This regulation is effective on June 22, 1995. Since
this rule grants a limited exemption from certain requirements for
issuing duplicate SSN cards, the 30-day delay in effectuating rules, as
provided by 5 U.S.C. 553(d), does not apply. We will consider any
comments we receive by August 21, 1995 and will publish a revised final
regulation if public comments warrant it.
ADDRESSES: Comments on this rule should be submitted in writing to the
Commissioner of Social Security, P.O. Box 1585, Baltimore, MD 21235,
sent by telefax to (410) 966-2830, sent by E-mail to
regulations@ssa.gov,'' or delivered to the Division of Regulations
and Rulings, Social Security Administration, 3-B-1 Operations Building,
6401 Security Boulevard, Baltimore, MD 21235, between 8:00 a.m. and
4:30 p.m. on regular business days. Comments received may be inspected
during these same hours by making arrangements with the contact person
shown below.
Organizations and individuals desiring to submit comments on the
information collection requirements under the ``Paperwork Reduction
Act'' should submit them to the Office of Management and Budget, Office
of Information and Regulatory Affairs, New Executive Office Building,
Room 3208, Washington, D.C. 20503, Attention: Desk Officer for SSA.
The electronic file of this document is available on the Federal
Bulletin Board (FBB) at 9 a.m. on the date of publication in the
Federal Register. To download the file, modem dial (202) 512-1387. The
FBB instructions will explain how to download the file and the fee.
This file is in Wordperfect and will remain on the FBB during the
comment period.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jack Schanberger, Room 3-B-1
Operations Building, 6401 Security Boulevard, Baltimore, MD 21235,
(410) 965-8471.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 205(c)(2)(B)(ii) of the Act provides
that an applicant for an SSN must submit such evidence as may be
necessary for the Commissioner of Social Security (the Commissioner) to
establish the applicant's age, citizenship or alien status, and true
identity. Under this provision, the applicant must also provide
evidence that the Commissioner may need to determine which (if any)
social security account number has previously been assigned to the
applicant. This provision was added to the Act in 1972 (Pub. L. 92-603)
to provide instructions for assigning SSNs. In addition, Pub. L. 92-603
amended section 208 of the Act to provide penalties for anyone who
knowingly, willfully, and with intent to deceive uses an SSN that was
obtained with false information. See S. Rep. No. 92-1230 and H.R. Rep.
No. 92-1605, 92d Cong., 2d Sess. (1972).
The amendments were in response to the expanding use of the SSN and
a concern about its misuse. To implement the amendments, we increased
the security of the procedures we used for assigning an SSN. We also
published regulations at 20 CFR 422.107(c) which, among other things,
require that each applicant for an original, duplicate, or corrected
SSN card must submit documentary evidence of identity. The primary
purposes for requiring an applicant for a duplicate SSN card to furnish
this evidence are to avoid assigning more than one SSN to a person and
to ensure that the card is issued to the correct person.
[[Page 32445]]
A recent report by SSA's Inspector General (IG), entitled ``SSA
Field Office Visitor Workload,'' indicates that approximately one-third
of the many people who visit Social Security offices each day are there
to request a new or duplicate social security number card. The IG
report suggested that individuals could request duplicate cards by
telephone or by mail, thereby significantly reducing the volume of
people (approximately 8 million per year) who visit social security
offices to apply for original or duplicate SSN cards.
In a continuing attempt to furnish better service to the public, we
will conduct a pilot project which will enable certain individuals to
apply by phone for a duplicate SSN card without having to complete and
sign an application and take or mail their identity documents to a
social security office. We plan to conduct the pilot project in as many
as 100 social security field offices throughout the country and in as
many as 10 teleservice centers.
We are modifying the evidentiary requirements for identity in 20
CFR 422.107(c) for this project. This will enable us to forgo
requesting the corroborative documentary evidence of identity for some
applicants who request a duplicate SSN card. The pilot project will
apply to U.S. citizens born in the U.S. and to U.S. citizens born
outside the U.S. who have previously presented to us evidence of U.S.
citizenship. The applicant must be the number holder or a parent
applying on behalf of his or her minor child number holder.
Because of our enhanced ability to screen by electronic means an
applicant requesting a duplicate SSN card, we believe that we may be
able to eliminate or at least modify our current requirement that all
persons applying for a duplicate SSN card must submit a signed
application and corroborative documentary evidence of identity. If we
find that this evidence and the signed application are no longer needed
in some kinds of cases, we should be able to provide more efficient,
more economical, and more convenient service to the public, while at
the same time reducing the need for many people to apply in person at
social security offices for duplicate SSN cards. We will also be
helping businesses with their wage reporting obligations by ensuring
that their employees have their correct social security numbers.
With our current electronic systems capability, we believe that
under the interim rule we will be able to comply with the evidentiary
requirements of the Act. We can compare the information the number
holder gives when requesting a duplicate card with the information
already available in our electronic records. The true number holder
should know the information contained in these electronic records.
Therefore, we believe it is reasonable to treat the conforming
information provided by the person requesting a duplicate SSN card as
acceptable evidence of his or her identity within the meaning of
section 205(c)(2)(B)(ii) of the Act. If our records do not confirm the
information provided by the applicant, we will require that he or she
submit corroborative evidence of identity and a signed application
either by mail or in person to an SSA office.
If we decide to discontinue this project concerning duplicate SSN
cards, we will rescind this interim rule. If we decide to expand this
project, we will publish a notice in the Federal Register. If we decide
to implement the procedures nationally, a regulation reflecting this
decision will be promulgated. However, before deciding to expand the
test or implement nationally, we will conduct a study to determine
whether the pilot procedures provide sufficient safeguards against
fraud.
These special pilot procedures for issuance of duplicate SSN cards
will not apply to aliens who request such duplicate cards, because
pursuant to 20 CFR 422.107(e), aliens must also furnish proof of alien
status as well as identity. Under section 205(c)(2)(B)(i)(I) of the
Act, the Commissioner must take affirmative measures to assure that
SSNs are assigned to certain aliens. Aliens are assigned SSNs when they
are lawfully admitted to the U.S. as permanent residents, when they are
admitted to the U.S. for a temporary period of time with authorization
to work, or when they receive authorization to work subsequent to entry
into the United States. The Immigration and Naturalization Service
issues to aliens documentation of their lawful admission and requires
that an alien keep that documentation on his or her person at all
times. Generally, aliens are required to submit that documentation to
us as proof of alien status. Therefore, aliens will need to take their
INS documents to SSA to apply for a duplicate SSN card.
These special procedures also do not apply to requests for
corrected SSN cards because the corrected information cannot be
verified on our records. Additionally, these procedures do not apply to
(1) foreign-born U.S. citizens who have not already submitted evidence
of citizenship; (2) a person applying on behalf of another if the
applicant is not a parent applying on behalf of his or her minor child;
and (3) people whose address is an in-care-of address, a post office
box, general delivery, or a suite.
Regulatory Procedures
Justification for Interim Rule Without Proposed Rule
We are publishing this amendment to the regulations as an interim
rule instead of a proposed rule. The Social Security Administration
follows the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) notice of proposed
rulemaking and public comment procedures specified in 5 U.S.C. 553 in
the development of its regulations. The APA provides exceptions to its
notice and public comment procedures when an agency finds that there is
good cause for dispensing with such procedures on the basis that they
are impracticable, unnecessary, or contrary to the public interest. We
have determined that, under 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(B), good cause exists for
waiver of notice of proposed rulemaking and public comment procedures
in this instance because the use of such procedures to provide a very
limited exception to the evidentiary requirements that must be met when
a person requests a duplicate SSN card notice is unnecessary. This is a
minor rule of limited applicability that should be of little interest
to the general public. We do not believe that there is significant
public interest in whether persons in areas where this pilot project
will be conducted who request duplicate SSN cards must supply signed
applications and supportive documentary evidence of their identities
when they request duplicate SSN cards.
Executive Order (E.O.) 12866
We have consulted with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
and determined that this rule does not meet the criteria for a
significant regulatory action under E.O. 12866. Thus, it was not
subject to OMB review.
Regulatory Flexibility Act
We certify that this regulation will not have a significant
economic impact on a substantial number of small entities because it
affects only the issuing of duplicate SSN cards to individuals.
Therefore, a regulatory flexibility analysis as provided in Pub. L. 96-
354, the Regulatory Flexibility Act, is not required.
Paperwork Reduction Act
This regulation contains a new reporting burden in section 422.107.
As required by section 3507 of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980, we
[[Page 32446]] will submit a copy to the Office of Management and
Budget for its review.
Public reporting burden for this collection of information is
estimated to average 2 minutes per response. This includes the time it
will take to read the instructions, gather the necessary facts, and
provide the information. If you have any comments or suggestions on
this estimate, write to the Social Security Administration, ATTN:
Reports Clearance Officer, 1-A-21 Operations Building, Baltimore, MD
21235.
(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 in 20 CFR Part 422
Administrative practice and procedure; Freedom of information;
Organization and functions (Government agencies); Social Security.
Dated: June 14, 1995.
Shirley S. Chater,
Commissioner of Social Security.
For the reasons set out in the preamble, Subpart B of Part 422 of
20 CFR Chapter III is amended as follows:
PART 422--ORGANIZATION AND PROCEDURES
1. The authority citation for Subpart B is revised to read as
follows:
Authority: Secs. 205, 702, and 1143 of the Social Security Act;
42 U.S.C. 405, 902, and 1320b-13.
2. Section 422.107 is amended by adding language at the end of
paragraph (c), to read as follows:
Sec. 422.107 Evidence requirements.
(c) Evidence of identity. * * * An applicant for a duplicate social
security number card who is a U.S. citizen and who resides in an area
where the Social Security Administration is conducting a pilot project
on the issuance of duplicate cards will not be required to submit a
signed application or corroborative documentary evidence of identity if
the Social Security Administration is able to compare information
provided by the applicant with information already in its records and,
on the basis of this comparison, decides that corroborative documentary
evidence is not needed to establish the applicant's identity. These
special procedures do not apply to foreign-born U.S. citizens who have
not already submitted evidence of citizenship to us; to a person
applying on behalf of another if the applicant is not a parent applying
on behalf of his or her minor child; and to people whose address is an
in-care-of address, a post office box, general delivery, or a suite.
* * * * *
[FR Doc. 95-15301 Filed 6-21-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4190-29-P
