IIB 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4282 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 6, 2012 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance 

AN ACT 

To amend part D of title IV of the Social Security Act 

to ensure that the United States can comply fully with 

the obligations of the Hague Convention of 23 November 

2007 on the International Recovery of Child Support 

and Other Forms of Family Maintenance, and for other 

purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; REFERENCES. 

2 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

3 ‘‘International Child Support Recovery Improvement Act 

4 of 2012’’. 

5 (b) REFERENCES.—Except as otherwise expressly 

6 provided in this Act, wherever in this Act an amendment 

7 is expressed in terms of an amendment to a section or 

8 other provision, the amendment shall be considered to be 

9 made to a section or other provision of the Social Security 

10 Act. 

11 SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO ENSURE ACCESS TO CHILD SUP12 PORT SERVICES FOR INTERNATIONAL CHILD 

13 SUPPORT CASES. 

14 (a) AUTHORITY OF THE SECRETARY OF HHS TO

15 ENSURE COMPLIANCE WITH MULTILATERAL CHILD SUP16 PORT CONVENTIONS.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 452 (42 U.S.C. 652) 

18 is amended— 

19 (A) by redesignating the second subsection 

20 (l) (as added by section 7306 of the Deficit Re21 duction Act of 2005) as subsection (m); and 

22 (B) by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(n) The Secretary shall use the authorities otherwise 

2 provided by law to ensure the compliance of the United 

3 States with any multilateral child support convention to 

4 which the United States is a party.’’. 

5 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 

6 453(k)(3) (42 U.S.C. 653(k)(3)) is amended by 

7 striking ‘‘452(l)’’ and inserting ‘‘452(m)’’. 

8 (b) ACCESS TO THE FEDERAL PARENT LOCATOR

9 SERVICE.—Section 453(c) (42 U.S.C. 653(c)) is amend10 ed— 

11 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph 

12 (3); 

13 (2) by striking the period at the end of para14 graph (4) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

15 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

16 ‘‘(5) an entity designated as a Central Author17 ity for child support enforcement in a foreign recip18 rocating country or a foreign treaty country for pur19 poses specified in section 459A(c)(2).’’. 

20 (c) STATE OPTION TO REQUIRE INDIVIDUALS IN

21 FOREIGN COUNTRIES TO APPLY THROUGH THEIR COUN22 TRY’S APPROPRIATE CENTRAL AUTHORITY.—Section 454 

23 (42 U.S.C. 654) is amended— 

24 (1) in paragraph (4)(A)(ii), by inserting before 

25 the semicolon ‘‘(except that, if the individual applyVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:45 Jun 07, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4282.RFS H4282

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1 ing for the services resides in a foreign reciprocating 

2 country or foreign treaty country, the State may opt 

3 to require the individual to request the services 

4 through the Central Authority for child support en5 forcement in the foreign reciprocating country or the 

6 foreign treaty country, and if the individual resides 

7 in a foreign country that is not a foreign recipro8 cating country or a foreign treaty country, a State 

9 may accept or reject the application)’’; and 

10 (2) in paragraph (32)— 

11 (A) in subparagraph (A), by inserting ‘‘, a 

12 foreign treaty country,’’ after ‘‘a foreign recip13 rocating country’’; and 

14 (B) in subparagraph (C), by striking ‘‘or 

15 foreign obligee’’ and inserting ‘‘, foreign treaty 

16 country, or foreign individual’’. 

17 (d) AMENDMENTS TO INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT EN18 FORCEMENT PROVISIONS.—Section 459A (42 U.S.C. 

19 659a) is amended— 

20 (1) by adding at the end the following: 

21 ‘‘(e) REFERENCES.—In this part: 

22 ‘‘(1) FOREIGN RECIPROCATING COUNTRY.—The 

23 term ‘foreign reciprocating country’ means a foreign 

24 country (or political subdivision thereof) with respect 


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1 to which the Secretary has made a declaration pur2 suant to subsection (a). 

3 ‘‘(2) FOREIGN TREATY COUNTRY.—The term 

4 ‘foreign treaty country’ means a foreign country for 

5 which the 2007 Family Maintenance Convention is 

6 in force. 

7 ‘‘(3) 2007 FAMILY MAINTENANCE CONVEN8 TION.—The term ‘2007 Family Maintenance Con9 vention’ means the Hague Convention of 23 Novem10 ber 2007 on the International Recovery of Child 

11 Support and Other Forms of Family Maintenance.’’; 

12 (2) in subsection (c)— 

13 (A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), 

14 by striking ‘‘foreign countries that are the sub15 ject of a declaration under this section’’ and in16 serting ‘‘foreign reciprocating countries or for17 eign treaty countries’’; and 

18 (B) in paragraph (2), by inserting ‘‘and 

19 foreign treaty countries’’ after ‘‘foreign recipro20 cating countries’’; and 

21 (3) in subsection (d), by striking ‘‘the subject of 

22 a declaration pursuant to subsection (a)’’ and insert23 ing ‘‘foreign reciprocating countries or foreign treaty 

24 countries’’. 


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1 (e) COLLECTION OF PAST-DUE SUPPORT FROM FED2 ERAL TAX REFUNDS.—Section 464(a)(2)(A) (42 U.S.C. 

3 664(a)(2)(A)) is amended by striking ‘‘under section 

4 454(4)(A)(ii)’’ and inserting ‘‘under paragraph (4)(A)(ii) 

5 or (32) of section 454’’. 

6 (f) STATE LAW REQUIREMENT CONCERNING THE

7 UNIFORM INTERSTATE FAMILY SUPPORT ACT

8 (UIFSA).— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 466(f) (42 U.S.C. 

10 666(f)) is amended— 

11 (A) by striking ‘‘on and after January 1, 

12 1998,’’; 

13 (B) by striking ‘‘and as in effect on Au14 gust 22, 1996,’’; and 

15 (C) by striking ‘‘adopted as of such date’’ 

16 and inserting ‘‘adopted as of September 30, 

17 2008’’. 

18 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS TO TITLE 28, 

19 UNITED STATES CODE.—Section 1738B of title 28, 

20 United States Code, is amended— 

21 (A) in subsection (d), by striking ‘‘indi22 vidual contestant’’ and inserting ‘‘individual 

23 contestant or the parties have consented in a 

24 record or open court that the tribunal of the 


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1 State may continue to exercise jurisdiction to 

2 modify its order,’’; 

3 (B) in subsection (e)(2)(A), by striking 

4 ‘‘individual contestant’’ and inserting ‘‘indi5 vidual contestant and the parties have not con6 sented in a record or open court that the tri7 bunal of the other State may continue to exer8 cise jurisdiction to modify its order’’; and 

9 (C) in subsection (b)— 

10 (i) by striking ‘‘ ‘child’ means’’ and in11 serting ‘‘(1) The term ‘child’ means’’; 

12 (ii) by striking ‘‘ ‘child’s State’ 

13 means’’ and inserting ‘‘(2) The term 

14 ‘child’s State’ means’’; 

15 (iii) by striking ‘‘ ‘child’s home State’ 

16 means’’ and inserting ‘‘(3) The term 

17 ‘child’s home State’ means’’; 

18 (iv) by striking ‘‘ ‘child support’ 

19 means’’ and inserting ‘‘(4) The term ‘child 

20 support’ means’’; 

21 (v) by striking ‘‘ ‘child support 

22 order’ ’’ and inserting ‘‘(5) The term ‘child 

23 support order’ ’’; 


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1 (vi) by striking ‘‘ ‘contestant’ means’’ 

2 and inserting ‘‘(6) The term ‘contestant’ 

3 means’’; 

4 (vii) by striking ‘‘ ‘court’ means’’ and 

5 inserting ‘‘(7) The term ‘court’ means’’; 

6 (viii) by striking ‘‘ ‘modification’ 

7 means’’ and inserting ‘‘(8) The term 

8 ‘modification’ means’’; and 

9 (ix) by striking ‘‘ ‘State’ means’’ and 

10 inserting ‘‘(9) The term ‘State’ means’’. 

11 (3) EFFECTIVE DATE; GRACE PERIOD FOR

12 STATE LAW CHANGES.— 

13 (A) PARAGRAPH (1).—(i) The amendments 

14 made by paragraph (1) shall take effect with 

15 respect to a State on the earlier of— 

16 (I) October 1, 2013; or 

17 (II) the effective date of laws enacted 

18 by the legislature of the State imple19 menting such paragraph, but in no event 

20 later than the first day of the first cal21 endar quarter beginning after the close of 

22 the first regular session of the State legis23 lature that begins after the date of the en24 actment of this Act. 


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1 (ii) For purposes of clause (i), in the case 

2 of a State that has a 2-year legislative session, 

3 each year of the session shall be deemed to be 

4 a separate regular session of the State legisla5 ture. 

6 (B) PARAGRAPH (2).—(i) The amendments 

7 made by subparagraphs (A) and (B) of para8 graph (2) shall take effect on the date on which 

9 the Hague Convention of 23 November 2007 on 

10 the International Recovery of Child Support 

11 and Other Forms of Family Maintenance enters 

12 into force for the United States. 

13 (ii) The amendments made by subpara14 graph (C) of paragraph (2) shall take effect on 

15 the date of the enactment of this Act. 

16 SEC. 3. DATA EXCHANGE STANDARDIZATION FOR IM17 PROVED INTEROPERABILITY. 

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 452 (42 U.S.C. 652), as 

19 amended by section 2(a)(1) of this Act, is amended by 

20 adding at the end the following: 

21 ‘‘(o) DATA EXCHANGE STANDARDIZATION FOR IM22 PROVED INTEROPERABILITY.— 

23 ‘‘(1) DATA EXCHANGE STANDARDS.— 

24 ‘‘(A) DESIGNATION.—The Secretary, in 

25 consultation with an interagency work group 


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1 which shall be established by the Office of Man2 agement and Budget, and considering State 

3 and tribal perspectives, shall, by rule, designate 

4 a data exchange standard for any category of 

5 information required to be reported under this 

6 part. 

7 ‘‘(B) DATA EXCHANGE STANDARDS MUST

8 BE NONPROPRIETARY AND INTEROPERABLE.— 

9 The data exchange standard designated under 

10 subparagraph (A) shall, to the extent prac11 ticable, be nonproprietary and interoperable. 

12 ‘‘(C) OTHER REQUIREMENTS.—In desig13 nating data exchange standards under this sec14 tion, the Secretary shall, to the extent prac15 ticable, incorporate— 

16 ‘‘(i) interoperable standards developed 

17 and maintained by an international vol18 untary consensus standards body, as de19 fined by the Office of Management and 

20 Budget, such as the International Organi21 zation for Standardization; 

22 ‘‘(ii) interoperable standards devel23 oped and maintained by intergovernmental 

24 partnerships, such as the National Infor25 mation Exchange Model; and 


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1 ‘‘(iii) interoperable standards devel2 oped and maintained by Federal entities 

3 with authority over contracting and finan4 cial assistance, such as the Federal Acqui5 sition Regulatory Council. 

6 ‘‘(2) DATA EXCHANGE STANDARDS FOR RE7 PORTING.— 

8 ‘‘(A) DESIGNATION.—The Secretary, in 

9 consultation with an interagency work group es10 tablished by the Office of Management and 

11 Budget, and considering State and tribal per12 spectives, shall, by rule, designate data ex13 change standards to govern the data reporting 

14 required under this part. 

15 ‘‘(B) REQUIREMENTS.—The data exchange 

16 standards required by subparagraph (A) shall, 

17 to the extent practicable— 

18 ‘‘(i) incorporate a widely-accepted, 

19 nonproprietary, searchable, computer-read20 able format; 

21 ‘‘(ii) be consistent with and implement 

22 applicable accounting principles; and 

23 ‘‘(iii) be capable of being continually 

24 upgraded as necessary. 


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1 ‘‘(C) INCORPORATION OF NONPROPRI2 ETARY STANDARDS.—In designating reporting 

3 standards under this paragraph, the Secretary 

4 shall, to the extent practicable, incorporate ex5 isting nonproprietary standards, such as the 

6 eXtensible Markup Language.’’. 

7 (b) EFFECTIVE DATES.— 

8 (1) DATA EXCHANGE STANDARDS.—The Sec9 retary of Health and Human Services shall issue a 

10 proposed rule under section 452(o)(1) of the Social 

11 Security Act within 12 months after the date of the 

12 enactment of this section, and shall issue a final rule 

13 under such section 452(o)(1), after public comment, 

14 within 24 months after such date of enactment. 

15 (2) DATA REPORTING STANDARDS.—The re16 porting standards required under section 452(o)(2) 

17 of such Act shall become effective with respect to re18 ports required in the first reporting period, after the 

19 effective date of the final rule referred to in para20 graph (1) of this subsection, for which the authority 

21 for data collection and reporting is established or re22 newed under the Paperwork Reduction Act. 


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1 SEC. 4. EFFICIENT USE OF THE NATIONAL DIRECTORY OF 

2 NEW HIRES DATABASE FOR FEDERALLY 

3 SPONSORED RESEARCH ASSESSING THE EF4 FECTIVENESS OF FEDERAL POLICIES AND 

5 PROGRAMS IN ACHIEVING POSITIVE LABOR 

6 MARKET OUTCOMES. 

7 Section 453 (42 U.S.C. 653) is amended— 

8 (1) in subsection (i)(2)(A), by striking ‘‘24’’ 

9 and inserting ‘‘48’’; and 

10 (2) in subsection (j), by striking paragraph (5) 

11 and inserting the following: 

12 ‘‘(5) RESEARCH.— 

13 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara14 graph (B) of this paragraph, the Secretary may 

15 provide access to data in each component of the 

16 Federal Parent Locator Service maintained 

17 under this section and to information reported 

18 by employers pursuant to section 453A(b), 

19 for— 

20 ‘‘(i) research undertaken by a State or 

21 Federal agency (including through grant or 

22 contract) for purposes found by the Sec23 retary to be likely to contribute to achiev24 ing the purposes of part A or this part; or 

25 ‘‘(ii) an evaluation or statistical anal26 ysis undertaken to assess the effectiveness 


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1 of a Federal program in achieving positive 

2 labor market outcomes (including through 

3 grant or contract), by— 

4 ‘‘(I) the Department of Health 

5 and Human Services; 

6 ‘‘(II) the Social Security Admin7 istration; 

8 ‘‘(III) the Department of Labor; 

9 ‘‘(IV) the Department of Edu10 cation; 

11 ‘‘(V) the Department of Housing 

12 and Urban Development; 

13 ‘‘(VI) the Department of Justice; 

14 ‘‘(VII) the Department of Vet15 erans Affairs; 

16 ‘‘(VIII) the Bureau of the Cen17 sus; 

18 ‘‘(IX) the Department of Agri19 culture; or 

20 ‘‘(X) the National Science Foun21 dation. 

22 ‘‘(B) PERSONAL IDENTIFIERS.—Data or 

23 information provided under this paragraph may 

24 include a personal identifier only if, in addition 


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1 to meeting the requirements of subsections (l) 

2 and (m)— 

3 ‘‘(i) the State or Federal agency con4 ducting the research described in subpara5 graph (A)(i), or the Federal department or 

6 agency undertaking the evaluation or sta7 tistical analysis described in subparagraph 

8 (A)(ii), as applicable, enters into an agree9 ment with the Secretary regarding the se10 curity and use of the data or information; 

11 ‘‘(ii) the agreement includes such re12 strictions or conditions with respect to the 

13 use, safeguarding, disclosure, or redisclo14 sure of the data or information (including 

15 by contractors or grantees) as the Sec16 retary deems appropriate; 

17 ‘‘(iii) the data or information is used 

18 exclusively for the purposes defined in the 

19 agreement; and 

20 ‘‘(iv) the Secretary determines that 

21 the provision of data or information under 

22 this paragraph is the minimum amount 

23 needed to conduct the research, evaluation, 

24 or statistical analysis, as applicable, and 


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1 will not interfere with the effective oper2 ation of the program under this part. 

3 ‘‘(C) PENALTIES FOR UNAUTHORIZED DIS4 CLOSURE OF DATA.—Any individual who will5 fully discloses a personal identifier (such as a 

6 name or social security number) provided under 

7 this paragraph, in any manner to an entity not 

8 entitled to receive the data or information, shall 

9 be fined under title 18, United States Code, im10 prisoned not more than 5 years, or both.’’. 

11 SEC. 5. BUDGETARY EFFECTS. 

12 The budgetary effects of this Act, for the purpose of 

13 complying with the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, 

14 shall be determined by reference to the latest statement 

15 titled ‘‘Budgetary Effects of PAYGO Legislation’’ for this 

16 Act, submitted for printing in the Congressional Record 

17 by the Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, pro18 vided that such statement has been submitted prior to the 

19 vote on passage. 

Passed the House of Representatives June 5, 2012. 

Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, 

Clerk. 


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