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103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4898

To strengthen paternity establishment.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

AUGUST 4, 1994

Mr. COOPER (for himself and Mr. GORDON) introduced the following bill;

which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means

A BILL

To strengthen paternity establishment.

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

3 SECTION 1. PROCEDURES AT TIME OF BIRTH.

4 (a) HOSPITAL- AND OTHER BIRTHING CENTER5 BASED PATERNITY.—Section 466(a)(5)(C) of the Social

6 Security Act (42 U.S.C. 666(a)(5)(C)) is amended by add7 ing at the end the following: ‘‘Such procedures shall also

8 apply to birthing centers other than hospitals, shall re9 quire that any State agency that provides such services

10 use the same materials used by, provide the personnel pro11 viding such services with the same training as, and evalu12 ate the provision of such services in the same manner as,
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1 hospital-based paternity establishment programs, and

2 shall require the hospital or other birthing center, at the

3 time a pregnant woman is admitted to the hospital or

4 other birthing center to give birth, to request the father

5 of the child to provide his name and social security ac6 count number, which the hospital or other birthing center

7 shall transmit to the State agency responsible for issuing

8 birth certificates for inclusion in the birth certificate of

9 the child.’’.

10 (b) INCLUSION OF PARENTS’ SOCIAL SECURITY

11 NUMBERS ON CHILD’S BIRTH CERTIFICATE.—Section

12 466(a) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 666(a)) is amended by in13 serting after paragraph (11) the following:

14 ‘‘(12) Procedures which require the State agen15 cy responsible for issuing birth certificates to include

16 on the birth certificate of a child the name and so17 cial security account number (if available) of each

18 parent of the child.’’.

19 SEC. 2. PATERNITY ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AFFIDAVITS.

20 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF NATIONAL AFFIDAVIT.—

21 Section 452(a)(7) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.

22 652(a)(7)) is amended by inserting ‘‘, and develop an affi23 davit to be used for the voluntary acknowledgement of pa24 ternity’’ before the semicolon.
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1 (b) SIGNED AFFIDAVIT CONCLUSIVELY USED TO ES2 TABLISH PATERNITY.—Section 466(a)(5)(D) of such Act

3 (42 U.S.C. 666(a)(5)(D)) is amended—

4 (1) by inserting ‘‘(i)’’ after ‘‘(D)’’; and

5 (2) by adding at the end the following:

6 ‘‘(ii)(I) Such procedures shall provide that a written

7 voluntary acknowledgement of the paternity of a child

8 shall, upon the expiration of the challenge period, create

9 a legal finding of paternity—

10 ‘‘(aa) without any further action; or

11 ‘‘(bb) at the option of the State, after a court

12 or administrative agency with which the document

13 containing the acknowledgement has been filed with14 in 5 business days after the expiration of the chal15 lenge period issues an order establishing such pater16 nity.

17 ‘‘(II) As used in subclause (I), the term ‘challenge

18 period’ means, with respect to an acknowledgement of pa19 ternity—

20 ‘‘(aa) the 30-day period that begins on the date

21 of acknowledgement; or

22 ‘‘(bb) if the person who executed the acknowl23 edgement undergoes genetic testing within the 30

24 days after the date of the acknowledgement, the 30-
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1 day period that begins with the date the person is

2 notified of the results of the genetic testing.’’.

3 (c) SENSE OF THE CONGRESS.—The Congress en4 courages States to develop procedures in public hospitals

5 and clinics to facilitate the acknowledgement of paternity.

6 SEC. 3. AFDC BENEFITS CONDITIONED ON COOPERATION

7 IN PATERNITY ESTABLISHMENT.

8 Section 402(a) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.

9 602(a)) is amended—

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

11 (44);

12 (2) by striking the period at the end of para13 graph (45) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and

14 (3) by inserting after paragraph (45) the fol15 lowing:

16 ‘‘(46)(A) except as provided in subparagraph

17 (B), aid under the State plan shall not be payable

18 to a family applying for such aid with respect to a

19 dependent child whose paternity has not been estab20 lished, unless—

21 ‘‘(i) the child was conceived as a result of

22 rape or incest; or

23 ‘‘(ii) the State determines that efforts to

24 establish such paternity would result in physical

25 danger to the relative claiming such aid;
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1 ‘‘(B) if the paternity of a dependent child has

2 not been established, the relative claiming such aid

3 alleges that any of not more than 3 named individ4 uals may be the father of the child and provides the

5 address of each of the named individuals, or the im6 mediate relatives of each of the named individuals,

7 and the State has not disproved the allegation,

8 then—

9 ‘‘(i) aid under the State plan shall be pay10 able to the family in the amount payable to a

11 family whose size is determined without regard

12 to the dependent child, and

13 ‘‘(ii) the entire family shall be eligible for

14 medical assistance under the State plan ap15 proved under title XIX; and

16 ‘‘(C) the relative claiming such aid shall have

17 the burden of proving any allegation of paternity of

18 a dependent child by an individual who is deceased,

19 in accordance with procedures established by the

20 State in consultation with the Secretary.’’.

21 SEC. 4. INCREASE IN PATERNITY ESTABLISHMENT PER22 CENTAGE.

23 Section 452(g)(1) of the Social Security Act (42

24 U.S.C. 652(g)(1)) is amended by striking all that follows

25 ‘‘—’’ and inserting the following:
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1 ‘‘(A) 90 percent;

2 ‘‘(B) for a State with a paternity establish3 ment rate of not less than 50 percent but less

4 than 90 percent for such fiscal year, the pater5 nity establishment percentage of the State for

6 the immediately preceding fiscal year plus 6

7 percentage points; or

8 ‘‘(C) for a State with a paternity establish9 ment rate of less than 50 percent for such a fis10 cal year, the paternity establishment percentage

11 of the State for the immediately preceding fiscal

12 year plus 10 percentage points.’’.

13 SEC. 5. PRENATAL ESTABLISHMENT EFFORTS BY STATES.

14 Section 466(a)(5)(A) of the Social Security Act (42

15 U.S.C. 666(a)(5)(A)) is amended by redesignating clauses

16 (i) and (ii) as clauses (ii) and (iii), respectively, and by

17 inserting after ‘‘(5)(A)’’ the following:

18 ‘‘(i) Procedures which require that, as soon as

19 an officer or employee of the State becomes aware,

20 in the performance of official duties, of a pregnant,

21 unmarried woman, the officer or employee must—

22 ‘‘(I) inform the woman, orally and in writ23 ing, that she will be ineligible for aid under the

24 State plan under part A unless she informs the

25 State of the identity of the prospective father
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1 and, after the woman gives birth, cooperates in

2 establishing the paternity of the child; and

3 ‘‘(II) encourage the woman to urge the

4 prospective father to acknowledge paternity of

5 the child.’’.

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