MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

1999 Regular Session

To: Rules

By: Senator(s) Jordan (24th), Walls

A RESOLUTION MEMORIALIZING THE SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION AND THE MISSISSIPPI CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION TO CREATE A PERMANENT HEARING OFFICE TO HANDLE HEARINGS AND APPEALS FOR THE NORTHWEST PART OF MISSISSIPPI.

WHEREAS, the Social Security Administration Office of Hearings and Appeals in Jackson, Mississippi, services five areas, including Jackson, Greenville, Greenwood, Meridian and Natchez; and

WHEREAS, the Jackson Hearing Office receives over 400 cases per month and 40 percent of these cases are located in the Greenwood and Greenville area, which often requires judges to travel overnight to hear these cases at the expense of the government; and

WHEREAS, the Jackson office is greatly understaffed, forcing the administration to pay judges, who heard 1,500 cases in the 1998 fiscal year, from other states to help with the case load; and

WHEREAS, the creation of an office for hearings and appeals in the Greenwood or Greenville area would help expedite the hearings for the people in these areas; and

WHEREAS, the Social Security Administration Office of Hearings and Appeals is urgently in need of a permanent hearing office, possibly in the Greenwood Federal Building, which has recently remodeled the hearing rooms and has the space to house judges and their staff, to assist with the enormous case load:

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE MISSISSIPPI STATE SENATE, That we do hereby memorialize the Social Security Administration and the Mississippi Congressional Delegation to create a permanent hearing office to handle hearings and appeals for the northwest part of Mississippi.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be furnished to the Director of the Social Security Administration, the Mississippi Congressional Delegation and to the members of the Capitol Press Corps.