SetNet

First I'd like to talk a bit about the Ticket to Work Program.   We're, at this point working 
on regulations that will come out in the form of what we call a notice of proposed rule 
making.  These are proposed regulations.  They'll have a 60-day comment period so that 
the public, you and others can tell us what you think about these proposed rules.  We will 
then consider those comments and then produce final regulations so that we can 
implement the Ticket features and the new legislation by January.  We are also in the 
middle of setting up a contract with an entity we call...it's called a program manager in 
this legislation.  That's a business or an organization that will assist us in keeping track of 
people's tickets, helping us to make sure we pay providers in this new system and also 
providing an outlet and access for people for providers for the business community to 
find out how to access the new features in the new ticket legislation. 

We're also in the process of setting up a new set of contracts with what are called 
Employment Networks in the Ticket.  Employment Networks will be providers of various 
kinds who will work with our Social Security beneficiaries and assist them to get to work.  

There are a number of other infrastructures that we'll be setting up inside of Social 
Security as well as connecting to some of our partners outside.  

I mentioned to you before that there are some work incentive enhancements in the new 
legislation.  Two of them that we consider very important.  One of them that I want to 
mention today...one of them is called The Expedited Benefit Reinstatement.  That's sort 
of a mouthful.  I think of it as EZ back on.  

Another protection that people can take advantage of in this new legislation that will 
assist them to not worry about continuing disability reviews when they are attempting to 
use their ticket and go to work.  We'll talk a bit more in detail about both of those as the 
broadcast goes further.  

I mentioned to you some new service structures that are in this legislation.  These are 
fairly important for people with disabilities who are trying to access the new features both 
that are at Social Security now as well as the new ones that will be coming up.  

The first I wan to talk about is something that we're pretty excited about.  It's a new 
position that we've created called an Employment Support Representative.  We've got a 
pilot set up right now whereby 32 of these brand new positions...people are sitting in 
these brand new positions, just getting started in their new duties.  We've got them 
located at about 50 different sites around the country, working with individuals already.  
Our pilot is really to test what the work load is for these new individuals, what's the right 
mix of work that they aught to be doing both outside, outreach and training activities as 
well as internal case processing and training activities.  As we've developed this pilot we 
will attempt to make some decisions about those work load issues and then start rolling 
out more of these new positions to other offices around the country.  So watch for that 
now.  Some of you may be living in sites where these new employment support reps are 
working and others of you can hope for that in the future.

SetNet02
Now Congress in the Ticket to Work and Work Incentive Improvement Act also set up a 
structure for us to provide assistance to beneficiaries outside of Social Security.  This will 
be in the form of what’s called Benefits Planning Assistance and Outreach Grants.  We've 
already actually set up a competition for those new grantees and we're in the process of 
evaluating the bidders for that and we expect to make announcements very soon as to the 
first grants...set of grants under that exciting new program.  We'll be talking a bit more 
later in this broadcast about how that new system will operate.  

A couple of other infrastructure pieces that I want to mention.  One of them is new 
authority in this legislation to provide grants funding to the Protection and Advocacy 
agencies in the States.   These agencies will receive the formula grants from us to work 
with our beneficiaries who are experiencing difficulties or need assistance as they return 
to work as they work with on of our employment networks or with an employer.  We will 
be announcing the opportunity for those agencies to receive that funding soon and will be 
providing that funding before this year is out.  

One other structure that I'd like to mention to you that's new for us and new for people 
with disabilities is a new panel called the Ticket to Work and Work Incentives 
Improvement advisory panel.  This is a body of 12 individuals who have been named by 
the president and by both houses of congress.  Their role is to work with Social Security 
to provide advise and consultation.  Also to provide that same advise and consultation to 
the congress and to other government agencies.  Their lifespan really is the 
implementation of this new legislation and we expect them to be very actively involved 
in that over the next several years.  


SetNet03

The last feature I'd like to mention of the legislation is the new Work Incentive 
Demonstrative Authority.  I mentioned to you that this is really a return of our 
demonstration authority for the disability insurance program, also known as DI.  
Congress is setting this up so that we can test some features and proposals that might 
create a new policy for the program in future years.  And with the new authority they also 
set up a requirement for us to make one particular demonstration test that will be carrying 
out.  And that's something for you to watch for in the future.  We will be testing the effect 
of what's called a one-dollar for two-dollar offset for DI beneficiaries to see whether or 
not that kind of a different approach to work for people who receive disability insurance 
benefits might encourage more of them to take a chance at work.  Rather than facing the 
al-or-nothing aspect that is currently the case for the SSDI program.  So as we develop 
the models for those new demonstrations we'll be getting that out into the public and 
you'll have a chance to see that as we get to that point.  

I'd like to mention lastly, how it is that we're trying to coordinate the implementation of 
the Ticket to Work and Work Incentive Improvement Act.  This implementation is being 
lead by my office.  It's a brand new office At Social Security called the Office of 
Employment Support Programs.  We at Social Security are the focal point for work 
incentive policy, policy around employment and rehabilitation programs.  We also carry 
out a number of demonstrations and research activities and we're in charge of outreach 
and training both internally as well as externally about this important new world.  It's a 
good focal point for us at Social Security to have and we've been very actively engaged 
in getting ready for this implementation of the new Ticket to Work legislation.  We've 
been trying to work through this implementation in a very public, open way.  I know that 
we've been out holding a number of forums about the Ticket to Work legislation.  We've 
been going just about anywhere anybody will invite us to talk about it and to listen to 
members of the public, to consumers, to stake holders of all kinds so that we could 
develop these regulations that we're working on and some of the other new structures that 
we've been working in the best possible way.  I don't want that process to be a closed one 
or having an ending point, so I would consider that the door for us is still open.  I 
encourage you to write to us, call us, let us know what you think, both as we're getting 
these new pieces of information and new regulations out to you, but also on an ongoing 
basis.  The best way for you to do that, to keep in touch with what I'm finding is a very 
fast moving environment is for you to connect up to our website.  We're kind of proud of 
that.  It's brand new.  It's a fully accessible website.  It will allow you to move in and out 
of the different features very quickly.  It also has an ability for you to link to us.   We find 
that as we do move very fast through this implementation that that's a place where we 
keep things up to date on a daily, on a weekly basis and we would encourage you to 
watch that, to stay with it as you try to keep track of what's going on with all these new 
changes.  So, to sum up, we're very excited about this new legislation.  I believe that 
many other people with disabilities, people in all of the different service structures that 
are our partners are very excited about this.  And we're looking forward to making this 
the best piece of work that we can.