I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1896 

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. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 8, 2013 

Mr. REICHERT (for himself, Mr. DOGGETT, Mr. LEWIS, Mr. BOUSTANY, Mr. 

CROWLEY, Mr. REED, Mr. YOUNG of Indiana, Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania, Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas, and Mr. RENACCI) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, 

and in addition to the Committees on the Budget and the Judiciary, for 

a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 

consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

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 2013’’. 

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 EN15 SURE 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: 

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

24 provided by law to ensure the compliance of the United 

25 States with any multilateral child support convention to 

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


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1 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 

2 453(k)(3) (42 U.S.C. 653(k)(3)) is amended by 

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

4 (b) ACCESS TO THE FEDERAL PARENT LOCATOR

5 SERVICE.—Section 453(c) (42 U.S.C. 653(c)) is amend6 ed— 

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

8 (3); 

9 (2) by striking the period at the end of para10 graph (4) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

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

12 ‘‘(5) an entity designated as a Central Author13 ity for child support enforcement in a foreign recip14 rocating country or a foreign treaty country for pur15 poses specified in section 459A(c)(2).’’. 

16 (c) STATE OPTION TO REQUIRE INDIVIDUALS IN

17 FOREIGN COUNTRIES TO APPLY THROUGH THEIR COUN18 TRY’S APPROPRIATE CENTRAL AUTHORITY.—Section 454 

19 (42 U.S.C. 654) is amended— 

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

21 the semicolon ‘‘(except that, if the individual apply22 ing for the services resides in a foreign reciprocating 

23 country or foreign treaty country, the State may opt 

24 to require the individual to request the services 

25 through the Central Authority for child support enVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:02 May 11, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1896.IH H1896

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1 forcement in the foreign reciprocating country or the 

2 foreign treaty country, and if the individual resides 

3 in a foreign country that is not a foreign recipro4 cating country or a foreign treaty country, a State 

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

6 (2) in paragraph (32)— 

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

8 foreign treaty country,’’ after ‘‘a foreign recip9 rocating country’’; and 

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

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

12 country, or foreign individual’’. 

13 (d) AMENDMENTS TO INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT EN14 FORCEMENT PROVISIONS.—Section 459A (42 U.S.C. 

15 659a) is amended— 

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

17 ‘‘(e) REFERENCES.—In this part: 

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

19 term ‘foreign reciprocating country’ means a foreign 

20 country (or political subdivision thereof) with respect 

21 to which the Secretary has made a declaration pur22 suant to subsection (a). 

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

24 ‘foreign treaty country’ means a foreign country for 


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1 which the 2007 Family Maintenance Convention is 

2 in force. 

3 ‘‘(3) 2007 FAMILY MAINTENANCE CONVEN4 TION.—The term ‘2007 Family Maintenance Con5 vention’ means the Hague Convention of 23 Novem6 ber 2007 on the International Recovery of Child 

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

8 (2) in subsection (c)— 

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

10 by striking ‘‘foreign countries that are the sub11 ject of a declaration under this section’’ and in12 serting ‘‘foreign reciprocating countries or for13 eign treaty countries’’; and 

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

15 foreign treaty countries’’ after ‘‘foreign recipro16 cating countries’’; and 

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

18 a declaration pursuant to subsection (a)’’ and insert19 ing ‘‘foreign reciprocating countries or foreign treaty 

20 countries’’. 

21 (e) COLLECTION OF PAST-DUE SUPPORT FROM FED22 ERAL TAX REFUNDS.—Section 464(a)(2)(A) (42 U.S.C. 

23 664(a)(2)(A)) is amended by striking ‘‘under section 

24 454(4)(A)(ii)’’ and inserting ‘‘under paragraph (4)(A)(ii) 

25 or (32) of section 454’’. 


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1 (f) STATE LAW REQUIREMENT CONCERNING THE

2 UNIFORM INTERSTATE FAMILY SUPPORT ACT (UIFSA).— 

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

4 666(f)) is amended— 

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

6 1998,’’; 

7 (B) by striking ‘‘and as in effect on Au8 gust 22, 1996,’’; and 

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

10 and inserting ‘‘adopted as of September 30, 

11 2008’’. 

12 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS TO TITLE 28, 

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

14 United States Code, is amended— 

15 (A) in subsection (d), by striking ‘‘indi16 vidual contestant’’ and inserting ‘‘individual 

17 contestant or the parties have consented in a 

18 record or open court that the tribunal of the 

19 State may continue to exercise jurisdiction to 

20 modify its order,’’; 

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

22 ‘‘individual contestant’’ and inserting ‘‘indi23 vidual contestant and the parties have not con24 sented in a record or open court that the triVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:02 May 11, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1896.IH H1896

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1 bunal of the other State may continue to exer2 cise jurisdiction to modify its order’’; and 

3 (C) in subsection (b)— 

4 (i) by striking ‘‘ ‘child’ means’’ and in5 serting ‘‘(1) The term ‘child’ means’’; 

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

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

8 ‘child’s State’ means’’; 

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

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

11 ‘child’s home State’ means’’; 

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

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

14 support’ means’’; 

15 (v) by striking ‘‘ ‘child support 

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

17 support order’ ’’; 

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

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

20 means’’; 

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

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

23 (viii) by striking ‘‘ ‘modification’ 

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

25 ‘modification’ means’’; and 


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

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

3 (3) EFFECTIVE DATE; GRACE PERIOD FOR

4 STATE LAW CHANGES.— 

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

6 made by paragraph (1) shall take effect with 

7 respect to a State no later than the effective 

8 date of laws enacted by the legislature of the 

9 State implementing such paragraph, but in no 

10 event later than the first day of the first cal11 endar quarter beginning after the close of the 

12 first regular session of the State legislature that 

13 begins after the date of the enactment of this 

14 Act. 

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

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

17 each year of the session shall be deemed to be 

18 a separate regular session of the State legisla19 ture. 

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

21 made by subparagraphs (A) and (B) of para22 graph (2) shall take effect on the date on which 

23 the Hague Convention of 23 November 2007 on 

24 the International Recovery of Child Support 


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1 and Other Forms of Family Maintenance enters 

2 into force for the United States. 

3 (ii) The amendments made by subpara4 graph (C) of paragraph (2) shall take effect on 

5 the date of the enactment of this Act. 

6 SEC. 3. DATA EXCHANGE STANDARDIZATION FOR IM7 PROVED INTEROPERABILITY. 

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

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

10 adding at the end the following: 

11 ‘‘(o) DATA EXCHANGE STANDARDS FOR IMPROVED

12 INTEROPERABILITY.— 

13 ‘‘(1) DESIGNATION.—The Secretary shall, in 

14 consultation with an interagency work group estab15 lished by the Office of Management and Budget and 

16 considering State government perspectives, by rule, 

17 designate data exchange standards to govern, under 

18 this part— 

19 ‘‘(A) necessary categories of information 

20 that State agencies operating programs under 

21 State plans approved under this part are re22 quired under applicable law to electronically ex23 change with another State agency; and 

24 ‘‘(B) Federal reporting and data exchange 

25 required under applicable law. 


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1 ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS.—The data exchange 

2 standards required by paragraph (1) shall, to the ex3 tent practicable— 

4 ‘‘(A) incorporate a widely accepted, non5 proprietary, searchable, computer-readable for6 mat, such as the eXtensible Markup Language; 

7 ‘‘(B) contain interoperable standards devel8 oped and maintained by intergovernmental 

9 partnerships, such as the National Information 

10 Exchange Model; 

11 ‘‘(C) incorporate interoperable standards 

12 developed and maintained by Federal entities 

13 with authority over contracting and financial 

14 assistance; 

15 ‘‘(D) be consistent with and implement ap16 plicable accounting principles; 

17 ‘‘(E) be implemented in a manner that is 

18 cost-effective and improves program efficiency 

19 and effectiveness; and 

20 ‘‘(F) be capable of being continually up21 graded as necessary. 

22 ‘‘(3) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in 

23 this subsection shall be construed to require a 

24 change to existing data exchange standards found to 

25 be effective and efficient.’’. 


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1 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The Secretary of Health and 

2 Human Services shall issue a proposed rule within 24 

3 months after the date of the enactment of this section. 

4 The rule shall identify federally-required data exchanges, 

5 include specification and timing of exchanges to be stand6 ardized, and address the factors used in determining 

7 whether and when to standardize data exchanges. It 

8 should also specify State implementation options and de9 scribe future milestones. 

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

11 NEW HIRES DATABASE FOR FEDERALLY 

12 SPONSORED RESEARCH ASSESSING THE EF13 FECTIVENESS OF FEDERAL POLICIES AND 

14 PROGRAMS IN ACHIEVING POSITIVE LABOR 

15 MARKET OUTCOMES. 

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

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

18 and inserting ‘‘48’’; and 

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

20 and inserting the following: 

21 ‘‘(5) RESEARCH.— 

22 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara23 graph (B) of this paragraph, the Secretary may 

24 provide access to data in each component of the 

25 Federal Parent Locator Service maintained 


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1 under this section and to information reported 

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

3 for— 

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

5 Federal agency (including through grant or 

6 contract) for purposes found by the Sec7 retary to be likely to contribute to achiev8 ing the purposes of part A or this part; or 

9 ‘‘(ii) an evaluation or statistical anal10 ysis undertaken to assess the effectiveness 

11 of a Federal program in achieving positive 

12 labor market outcomes (including through 

13 grant or contract), by— 

14 ‘‘(I) the Department of Health 

15 and Human Services; 

16 ‘‘(II) the Social Security Admin17 istration; 

18 ‘‘(III) the Department of Labor; 

19 ‘‘(IV) the Department of Edu20 cation; 

21 ‘‘(V) the Department of Housing 

22 and Urban Development; 

23 ‘‘(VI) the Department of Justice; 

24 ‘‘(VII) the Department of Vet25 erans Affairs; 


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1 ‘‘(VIII) the Bureau of the Cen2 sus; 

3 ‘‘(IX) the Department of Agri4 culture; or 

5 ‘‘(X) the National Science Foun6 dation. 

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

8 information provided under this paragraph may 

9 include a personal identifier only if, in addition 

10 to meeting the requirements of subsections (l) 

11 and (m)— 

12 ‘‘(i) the State or Federal agency con13 ducting the research described in subpara14 graph (A)(i), or the Federal department or 

15 agency undertaking the evaluation or sta16 tistical analysis described in subparagraph 

17 (A)(ii), as applicable, enters into an agree18 ment with the Secretary regarding the se19 curity and use of the data or information; 

20 ‘‘(ii) the agreement includes such re21 strictions or conditions with respect to the 

22 use, safeguarding, disclosure, or redisclo23 sure of the data or information (including 

24 by contractors or grantees) as the Sec25 retary deems appropriate; 


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

2 exclusively for the purposes defined in the 

3 agreement; and 

4 ‘‘(iv) the Secretary determines that 

5 the provision of data or information under 

6 this paragraph is the minimum amount 

7 needed to conduct the research, evaluation, 

8 or statistical analysis, as applicable, and 

9 will not interfere with the effective oper10 ation of the program under this part. 

11 ‘‘(C) PENALTIES FOR UNAUTHORIZED DIS12 CLOSURE OF DATA.—Any individual who will13 fully discloses a personal identifier (such as a 

14 name or social security number) provided under 

15 this paragraph, in any manner to an entity not 

16 entitled to receive the data or information, shall 

17 be fined under title 18, United States Code, im18 prisoned not more than 5 years, or both.’’. 

19 SEC. 5. BUDGETARY EFFECTS. 

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

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

22 shall be determined by reference to the latest statement 

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

24 Act, submitted for printing in the Congressional Record 

25 by the Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, proVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:02 May 11, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00014 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1896.IH H1896

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1 vided that such statement has been submitted prior to the 

2 vote on passage. 

Æ 


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