This Month In History

June, 1913 The American Association for Labor Legislation sponsored the First National Conference on Social Insurance in Chicago, Illinois.

June 8, 1934 Federal legislation to promote economic security was recommended in the President's Message to Congress which stated: "Among our objectives I place the security of men, women and children of the nation first."

June 29, 1934 The President created the Committee on Economic Security to study the problems relating to economic security and to make recommendations for a program of legislation. (This was Executive Order No. 6757.)

June 15, 1937 The Social Security Board adopted its first regulation, Regulation No. 1, which governed disclosure of the records being created in the Social Security program. The Reg. was published in the Federal Register the following day and it governed SSA's philosophy of confidentiality for the next 40 years.

June 10, 1939 The Social Security Act Amendments of 1939 passed by the House of Representatives with minor changes. The vote was 364 to 2.

June 1, 1942 The central office of the Bureau of Old-Age and Survivors Insurance moved from Washington, D.C., to Baltimore, Maryland; decentralization of claims adjudication review and benefit payment operations was inaugurated with the opening of the first area office in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A Bureau Personnel Office was established as part of the war-time decentralization of the Bureau to Baltimore.

June 11, 1946 Congress passed the Administrative Procedures Act on to provide for judicial review of the actions of administrative agencies. (This legislation is the basis for the system of hearings by Administrative Law Judges which are used to adjudicate Social Security appeals.)

June 30, 1961 The Social Security Amendments of 1961 were signed by President Kennedy. The Act was amended: to permit male workers to elect early retirement age 62; to increase minimum benefits payable; to liberalize the benefit payments to aged widow, widower, or surviving dependent parent; and to liberalize the retirement test and eligibility requirements.

June 1977 The Department of Health, Education, and Welfare's reorganization became effective, with about 1,500 employees being transferred between the Health Care Financing Administration and the Social Security Administration.

June 9, 1980 President Carter signed the Social Security Amendments of 1980. Chief changes: a more stringent maximum family benefit calculation; greater work incentives for disabled Social Security and SSI beneficiaries; and increased authority given the Secretary of HHS to establish, through regulations, performance standards and administrative procedures to be met by the States, including the authority to overturn State disability determination decisions.

June 26, 1986 Dorcas R. Hardy became Commissioner of the Social Security Administration.

June 6, 1994 Vice President Al Gore visited SSA headquarters (the only visit ever by a sitting Vice President).

June 9, 1994 The members of the 1994 Social Security Advisory Council are named by Secretary of HHS Donna Shalala.

June 11, 1997 The first payments are issued under SSA's new "cycled payments" procedures; the first payments went to 4,400 new beneficiaries whose birthdates are between the first and the tenth of the month. Previously, all Social Security payments were issued on the third of the month.

June 30, 1999 Kenneth S. Apfel, Commissioner of Social Security, today announced that the earnings limit for beneficiaries with disabilities will increase by $200 a month, beginning on July 1.The increase in the earnings limit to $700 - known as substantial gainful activity (SGA) -- is a part of the Clinton Administration's initiatives to encourage Social Security beneficiaries with disabilities to return to the workforce and reflects growth in average wages since 1990, when the level was set at $500.

June 11, 2001 The President's Commission to Strengthen Social Security held its first meeting at the Willard Hotel, 14th St. and Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC.

June 25, 2002 The Social Security Administration announced new initiatives to strengthen the integrity of the Social Security Number (SSN), including: No longer issuing an SSN and card to non-citizens for the sole purpose of applying for a driver’s license. (March 2002); Piloting an online system for employers to verify the names and SSNs of newly hired employees. (April 2002); Verifying with the state bureaus of vital statistics all birth records submitted by U.S. born citizens age one or older applying for an SSN. (June 2002); Verifying with the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) all immigration documents for non-citizens requesting an SSN. (July 2002)

June 29, 2004 Jo Anne Barnhart, Commissioner of Social Security, signed a "totalization" agreement today with Dr. Santiago Levy Algazi, Director General, Mexican Social Security Institute, that will remove from U.S. citizens working for U.S. companies in Mexico the burden of paying social security taxes to both countries. The agreement also will remove the double taxation requirement for Mexican citizens working for Mexican companies in the United States.

June 29, 2005 Jo Anne Barnhart, Commissioner of Social Security, today unveiled Social Security’s new Internet application which people now can use to apply for financial help with Medicare prescription drug costs. Two Florida seniors at the Senior Friendship Center in Sarasota were the first people in the nation to use this new online service.

June 22, 2009 Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security announced that the agency plans to open a new teleservice center (TSC) in Jackson, Tennessee, which will be the first new call center opened by Social Security in more than a decade.  The Jackson TSC will employ about 175 people once it is fully operational.

June 25, 2011 SSA changed its procedures for issuing new SSNs. The shift to a random procedure means that the area number will no longer be assigned any geographical significance. Unused area numbers will also become usable. This shift will allow the issuance of more SSNs before the stock of potential numbers is depleted.