II-4-0-1.Background

When SSA publishes a final regulation in the Federal Register, important information, helpful in understanding and interpreting the intent of the regulation, often is included in the preamble. When a regulation is of particular importance to adjudicators in the Office of Hearings Operations (OHO) or the Office of Appellate Operations (OAO) in the Office of Analytics, Review, and Oversight, the Chief Administrative Law Judge of OHO or Executive Director of OAO, sends a memorandum containing the entire text of the Federal Register notice (preamble and final regulations). Although OHO and OAO adjudicators have access to the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), the CFR does not include the preamble to the regulation. Therefore, unless adjudicators retain the Federal Register material OHO and OAO distributes when SSA publishes the regulation, the important information contained in the preamble is not readily available to them.