§904. Administrative duties of Commissioner

(a) Personnel

(1) The Commissioner shall appoint such additional officers and employees as the Commissioner considers necessary to carry out the functions of the Administration under this chapter, and attorneys and experts may be appointed without regard to the civil service laws. Except as otherwise provided in the preceding sentence or in any other provision of law, such officers and employees shall be appointed, and their compensation shall be fixed, in accordance with title 5.

(2) The Commissioner may procure the services of experts and consultants in accordance with the provisions of section 3109 of title 5.

(3) Notwithstanding any requirements of section 3133 of title 5, the Director of the Office of Personnel Management shall authorize for the Administration a total number of Senior Executive Service positions which is substantially greater than the number of such positions authorized in the Social Security Administration in the Department of Health and Human Services as of immediately before August 15, 1994, to the extent that the greater number of such authorized positions is specified in the comprehensive work force plan as established and revised by the Commissioner under subsection (b)(2). The total number of such positions authorized for the Administration shall not at any time be less than the number of such authorized positions as of immediately before such date.

(b) Budgetary matters

(1)(A) The Commissioner shall prepare an annual budget for the Administration, which shall be submitted by the President to the Congress without revision, together with the President's annual budget for the Administration.

(B) The Commissioner shall include in the annual budget prepared pursuant to subparagraph (A) an itemization of the amount of funds required by the Social Security Administration for the fiscal year covered by the budget to support efforts to combat fraud committed by applicants and beneficiaries.

(2)(A) Appropriations requests for staffing and personnel of the Administration shall be based upon a comprehensive work force plan, which shall be established and revised from time to time by the Commissioner.

(B) Appropriations for administrative expenses of the Administration are authorized to be provided on a biennial basis.

(3) For each fiscal year beginning with 2016 and ending with 2021, the Commissioner shall include in the annual budget prepared pursuant to subparagraph (A) a report describing the purposes for which amounts made available for purposes described in section 901(b)(2)(B) of title 2 for the fiscal year were expended by the Social Security Administration and the purposes for which the Commissioner plans for the Administration to expend such funds in the succeeding fiscal year, including-

(A) the total such amount expended;

(B) the amount expended on co-operative disability investigation units;

(C) the number of cases of fraud prevented by co-operative disability investigation units and the amount expended on such cases (as reported to the Commissioner by the Inspector General of the Social Security Administration);

(D) the number of felony cases prosecuted under section 408 of this title (as reported to the Commissioner by the Inspector General) and the amount expended by the Social Security Administration in supporting the prosecution of such cases;

(E) the amount of such felony cases successfully prosecuted (as reported to the Commissioner by the Inspector General) and the amount expended by the Social Security Administration in supporting the prosecution of such cases;

(F) the amount expended on and the number of completed-

(i) continuing disability reviews conducted by mail;

(ii) redeterminations conducted by mail;

(iii) medical continuing disability reviews conducted pursuant to section 421(i) of this title;

(iv) medical continuing disability reviews conducted pursuant to 1382c(a)(3)(H) ¹ of this title;

(v) redeterminations conducted pursuant to section 1382(c) of this title; and

(vi) work-related continuing disability reviews to determine whether earnings derived from services demonstrate an individual's ability to engage in substantial gainful activity;

(G) the number of cases of fraud identified for which benefits were terminated as a result of medical continuing disability reviews (as reported to the Commissioner by the Inspector General), work-related continuing disability reviews, and redeterminations, and the amount of resulting savings for each such type of review or redetermination; and

(H) the number of work-related continuing disability reviews in which a beneficiary improperly reported earnings derived from services for more than 3 consecutive months, and the amount of resulting savings.

(c) Employment restriction

The total number of positions in the Administration (other than positions established under section 902 of this title) which-

(1) are held by noncareer appointees (within the meaning of section 3132(a)(7) of title 5) in the Senior Executive Service, or

(2) have been determined by the President or the Office of Personnel Management to be of a confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating character and have been excepted from the competitive service thereby,

may not exceed at any time the equivalent of 20 full-time positions.

(d) Seal of office

The Commissioner shall cause a seal of office to be made for the Administration of such design as the Commissioner shall approve. Judicial notice shall be taken of such seal.

(e) Data exchanges

(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of law (including subsections (b), (o), (p), (q), (r), and (u) of section 552a of title 5-

(A) the Secretary shall disclose to the Commissioner any record or information requested in writing by the Commissioner for the purpose of administering any program administered by the Commissioner, if records or information of such type were disclosed to the Commissioner of Social Security in the Department of Health and Human Services under applicable rules, regulations, and procedures in effect before August 15, 1994; and

(B) the Commissioner shall disclose to the Secretary or to any State any record or information requested in writing by the Secretary to be so disclosed for the purpose of administering any program administered by the Secretary, if records or information of such type were so disclosed under applicable rules, regulations, and procedures in effect before August 15, 1994.

(2) The Commissioner and the Secretary shall enter into an agreement under which the Commissioner provides the Secretary data concerning the quality of the services and information provided to beneficiaries of the programs under subchapters XVIII and XIX and the administrative services provided by the Social Security Administration in support of such programs. Such agreement shall stipulate the type of data to be provided and the terms and conditions under which the data are to be provided.

(3) The Commissioner and the Secretary shall periodically review the need for exchanges of information not referred to in paragraph (1) or (2) and shall enter into such agreements as may be necessary and appropriate to provide information to each other or to States in order to meet the programmatic needs of the requesting agencies.

(4)(A) Any disclosure from a system of records (as defined in section 552a(a)(5) of title 5) pursuant to this subsection shall be made as a routine use under subsection (b)(3) of section 552a of such title (unless otherwise authorized under such section 552a).

(B) Any computerized comparison of records, including matching programs, between the Commissioner and the Secretary shall be conducted in accordance with subsections (o), (p), (q), (r), and (u) of section 552a of title 5.

(5) The Commissioner and the Secretary shall each ensure that timely action is taken to establish any necessary routine uses for disclosures required under paragraph (1) or agreed to pursuant to paragraph (3).

(Aug. 14, 1935, ch. 531, title VII, §704, 49 Stat. 636 ; Aug. 28, 1950, ch. 809, title IV, §402(b), 64 Stat. 558 ; Pub. L. 94–273, §33, Apr. 21, 1976, 90 Stat. 380 ; Pub. L. 98–369, div. B, title VI, §2663(l)(1), July 18, 1984, 98 Stat. 1171 ; Pub. L. 103–296, title I, §104(a), Aug. 15, 1994, 108 Stat. 1470 ; Pub. L. 106–169, title II, §211(a), Dec. 14, 1999, 113 Stat. 1842 ; Pub. L. 114–74, title VIII, §845(a), Nov. 2, 2015, 129 Stat. 618 .)

Editorial Notes

Amendments

2015-Subsec. (b)(3). Pub. L. 114–74 added par. (3).

1999-Subsec. (b)(1). Pub. L. 106–169 designated existing provisions as subpar. (A) and added subpar. (B).

1994-Pub. L. 103–296 amended section generally. Prior to amendment, section read as follows: "The Secretary shall make a full report to Congress, within one hundred and twenty days after the beginning of each regular session, of the administration of the functions with which he is charged under this chapter. In addition to the number of copies of such report authorized by other law to be printed, there is hereby authorized to be printed not more than five thousand copies of such report for use by the Secretary for distribution to Members of Congress and to State and other public or private agencies or organizations participating in or concerned with the social security program."

1984-Pub. L. 98–369 substituted "Secretary" for "Administrator".

1976-Pub. L. 94–273 substituted "within one hundred and twenty days after the beginning" for "at the beginning".

1950-Act Aug. 28, 1950, substituted "Administrator" for "Board" in first sentence and added second sentence.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date of 1999 Amendment

Pub. L. 106–169, title II, §211(b), Dec. 14, 1999, 113 Stat. 1842 , provided that: "The amendments made by this section [amending this section] shall apply with respect to annual budgets prepared for fiscal years after fiscal year 1999."

Effective Date of 1994 Amendment

Pub. L. 103–296, title I, §104(c), Aug. 15, 1994, 108 Stat. 1472 , provided that:

"(1) Effective date.-Section 704(e)(4) of the Social Security Act [42 U.S.C. 904(e)(4)] (as amended by subsection (a)) shall take effect March 31, 1996.

"(2) Transition rule.-Notwithstanding any other provision of law (including subsections (b), (o), (p), (q), (r), and (u) of section 552a of title 5, United States Code), arrangements for disclosure of records or other information, and arrangements for computer matching of records, which were in effect immediately before the date of the enactment of this Act [Aug. 15, 1994] between the Social Security Administration in the Department of Health and Human Services and other components of such Department may continue between the Social Security Administration established under section 701 of the Social Security Act [42 U.S.C. 901] (as amended by this Act) and such Department during the period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act and ending March 31, 1996."

Amendment by section 104(a) of Pub. L. 103–296 effective Mar. 31, 1995, except as otherwise provided, see section 110(a) of Pub. L. 103–296, set out as a note under section 401 of this title.

Effective Date of 1984 Amendment

Amendment by Pub. L. 98–369 effective July 18, 1984, but not to be construed as changing or affecting any right, liability, status, or interpretation which existed (under the provisions of law involved) before that date, see section 2664(b) of Pub. L. 98–369, set out as a note under section 401 of this title.

Expedited Examination of Administrative Law Judges

Pub. L. 114–74, title VIII, §846, Nov. 2, 2015, 129 Stat. 620 , provided that:

"(a) In General.-Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Office of Personnel Management shall, upon request of the Commissioner of Social Security, expeditiously administer a sufficient number of competitive examinations, as determined by the Commissioner, for the purpose of identifying an adequate number of candidates to be appointed as Administrative Law Judges under section 3105 of title 5, United States Code. The first such examination shall take place not later than April 1, 2016 and other examinations shall take place at such time or times requested by the Commissioner, but not later than December 31, 2022. Such examinations shall proceed even if one or more individuals who took a prior examination have appealed an adverse determination and one or more of such appeals have not concluded, provided that-

"(1) the Commissioner of Social Security has made a determination that delaying the examination poses a significant risk that an adequate number of Administrative Law Judges will not be available to meet the need of the Social Security Administration to reduce or prevent a backlog of cases awaiting a hearing;

"(2) an individual whose appeal is pending is provided an option to continue their appeal or elects to take the new examination, in which case the appeal is considered vacated; and

"(3) an individual who decides to continue his or her appeal and who ultimately prevails in the appeal shall receive expeditious consideration for hire by the Office Personnel Management and the Commissioner of Social Security.

"(b) Payment of Costs.-Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Commissioner of Social Security shall pay the full cost associated with each examination conducted pursuant to subsection (a)."

Report on SES Positions Under Comprehensive Work Force Plan

Pub. L. 103–296, title I, §104(b), Aug. 15, 1994, 108 Stat. 1472 , provided that within 60 days after establishment by Commissioner of Social Security of comprehensive work force plan required under subsec. (b)(2) of this section, Director of Office of Personnel Management was to transmit to Congress a report specifying total number of Senior Executive Services positions authorized for Social Security Administration in connection with such work force plan.

¹ So in original. Probably should be preceded by "section".