II 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1763 

To increase the effectiveness of child support enforcement and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 21, 2013 

Mr. ROCKEFELLER introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To increase the effectiveness of child support enforcement 

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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Child Support Enforce5 ment Effectiveness Act of 2013’’. 

6 SEC. 2. COMMISSION ON CHILD SUPPORT. 

7 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is hereby established a 

8 Commission to be known as the Commission on Child Sup9 port (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Commission’’). 

10 (b) MEMBERSHIP.— 


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1 (1) APPOINTMENT.—The Commission shall be 

2 composed of 15 members, to be appointed not later 

3 than 30 days after the date of enactment of this 

4 Act, as follows: 

5 (A) The majority and minority leaders of 

6 the Senate, in consultation with the chairman 

7 and ranking member of the Committee on Fi8 nance of the Senate, shall jointly appoint 4 

9 members. 

10 (B) The Speaker and the minority leader 

11 of the House, in consultation with the chairman 

12 and ranking member of the Committee on Ways 

13 and Means of the House of Representatives, 

14 shall jointly appoint 4 members. 

15 (C) The Secretary of Health and Human 

16 Services shall appoint 7 members. 

17 (2) QUALIFICATIONS.—The membership of the 

18 Commission shall consist of individuals who are 

19 knowledgeable on issues regarding child support and 

20 related activities and shall include, among others, in21 dividuals representing the interests of parents, in22 cluding noncustodial parents. 

23 (3) PERIOD OF APPOINTMENT; QUORUM.—The 

24 provisions under paragraphs (2) and (3) of section 

25 126 of the Family Support Act of 1988 (42 U.S.C. 


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1 666 note) providing for appointment of members 

2 and quorum for transaction of business shall apply 

3 to the Commission to the same extent and in the 

4 same manner as those provisions applied to the 

5 Commission on Interstate Child Support. 

6 (4) MEETINGS.— 

7 (A) INITIAL MEETING.—Following appoint8 ment of all of the members of the Commission, 

9 the first meeting of the Commission shall be 

10 held on the first date for which all members are 

11 available (as is determined by the Secretary of 

12 Health and Human Services). 

13 (B) CHAIRMAN.—During the first meeting 

14 of the Commission, the Commission shall elect 

15 a chairman from among its members. 

16 (C) OTHER MEETINGS.—Following the 

17 first meeting of the Commission, any subse18 quent meetings shall be at the call of the chair19 man or by a majority vote of the membership. 

20 (D) OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.—All meetings 

21 of the Commission shall be open to the public 

22 and any interested persons shall be permitted to 

23 appear at open meetings and present oral or 

24 written statements on the subject matter of the 

25 meeting, subject to such requirements and limiVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:16 Nov 27, 2013 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1763.IS S1763

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1 tations as are determined appropriate by the 

2 chairman. All meetings of the Commission shall 

3 be preceded by timely public notice in the Fed4 eral Register of the time, place, and subject of 

5 the meeting. 

6 (5) COMPENSATION.—Members of the Commis7 sion are not entitled to receive compensation for 

8 service on the Commission. Members may be reim9 bursed for travel expenses, including per diem in lieu 

10 of subsistence, as authorized by section 5703 of title 

11 5, United States Code. 

12 (c) DUTIES.— 

13 (1) REVIEW OF CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT

14 PROGRAMS.—The Commission shall conduct an eval15 uation of the effectiveness of existing child support 

16 enforcement programs and collection practices em17 ployed by State agencies administering programs 

18 under part D of title IV of the Social Security Act 

19 (42 U.S.C. 651 et seq.), including a review of any 

20 unintended consequences or performance issues asso21 ciated with such programs and practices. 

22 (2) NATIONAL CONFERENCES.—During fiscal 

23 years 2014 and 2015, the Commission shall hold 1 

24 or more national conferences on child support reVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:16 Nov 27, 2013 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1763.IS S1763

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1 form for purposes of preparing the report described 

2 in paragraph (3). 

3 (3) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than Oc4 tober 1, 2015, the Commission shall prepare and 

5 submit a report to Congress that contains rec6 ommendations for such legislative and administrative 

7 actions as the Commission determines appropriate 

8 for improvement in child support enforcement, in9 cluding the following: 

10 (A) Methods to enhance the effectiveness 

11 of child support enforcement programs and col12 lection practices, as determined pursuant to the 

13 Commission’s review of such programs and 

14 practices under paragraph (1). 

15 (B) Implementation of distribution policies 

16 that ensure children are the beneficiaries of 

17 child support paid by noncustodial parents. 

18 (C) Fostering engagement by noncustodial 

19 parents in their children’s lives by consideration 

20 of parental time and visitation with children in 

21 determining child support, and the role for al22 ternative dispute resolution in making such de23 termination. 

24 (D) Development of best practices for pur25 poses of connecting custodial parents to services 


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1 and support programs, including services for 

2 parents who are victims of domestic violence. 

3 (E) Development of best practices for pur4 poses of employment support, job training, and 

5 job placement for custodial and noncustodial 

6 parents. 

7 (F) Establishment of services, supports, 

8 and child support payment tracking for non9 custodial parents, including options for preven10 tion and intervention on uncollectible arrearages 

11 such as retroactive obligations and Medicaid 

12 birthing costs. 

13 (G) Development of options for States to 

14 collect child support payments from individuals 

15 who owe arrearages in excess of $2,500. 

16 (d) POWERS.—The provisions under section 126(e) of 

17 the Family Support Act of 1988 providing for use of 

18 mails, donations, procurement and contracting authority, 

19 and establishment of rules shall apply to the Commission 

20 to the same extent and in the same manner as those provi21 sions applied to the Commission on Interstate Child Sup22 port. 

23 (e) TERMINATION.—The Commission shall terminate 

24 60 days after submission of the report described in sub25 section (c)(3). 


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1 (f) FUNDING.— 

2 (1) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—For 

3 purposes of carrying out this section, there is au4 thorized to be appropriated $2,000,000 for the pe5 riod of fiscal years 2014 through 2015. 

6 (2) UNOBLIGATED AMOUNTS.—Any amounts 

7 made available under this section that are unobli8 gated on the date of the termination of the Commis9 sion under subsection (e) shall be returned to the 

10 Treasury of the United States. 

11 SEC. 3. REINSTATEMENT OF FEDERAL MATCHING OF 

12 STATE SPENDING OF CHILD SUPPORT INCEN13 TIVE PAYMENTS. 

14 Effective as if enacted on October 1, 2013, section 

15 455(a)(1) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 655(a)(1)) 

16 is amended by striking ‘‘from amounts paid to the State 

17 under section 458 or’’. 

Æ 


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