II

103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 1962

To provide for demonstration projects in 6 States to establish or improve

a system of assured minimum child support payments.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MARCH 22 (legislative day, FEBRUARY 22), 1994

Mr. DODD (for himself and Mr. ROCKEFELLER) introduced the following bill;

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance

A BILL

To provide for demonstration projects in 6 States to establish

or improve a system of assured minimum child support

payments.

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 Assur5 ance Act of 1994’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

7 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds that—

8 (1) the number of single-parent households has

9 increased significantly;
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1 (2) there is a high correlation between child2 hood poverty and growing up in a single-parent

3 household;

4 (3) family dissolution often brings the economic

5 consequence of a lower standard of living for the

6 custodian and children;

7 (4) children are nearly twice as likely to be in

8 poverty after a family dissolution as before a family

9 dissolution;

10 (5) one-fourth of the single mothers who are

11 owed child support receive none and another one12 fourth of such mothers receive only partial child sup13 port payments;

14 (6) single mothers above and below the poverty

15 line are equally likely to receive none of the child

16 support they are owed; and

17 (7) the failure of children to receive an ade18 quate level of child support limits the ability of such

19 children to thrive and to develop their potential and

20 leads to long-term societal costs in terms of health

21 care, welfare, and loss in labor force productivity.

22 (b) PURPOSE.—It is the purpose of this Act to enable

23 participating States to establish child support assurance

24 systems in order to improve the economic circumstances

25 of children who do not receive a minimum level of child
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1 support from the noncustodial parents of such children

2 and to strengthen the establishment and enforcement of

3 child support awards. The child support assurance ap4 proach is structured on a demonstration basis in order to

5 implement and evaluate different options with respect to

6 the provision of intensive support services and mechanisms

7 for administering the program on a national basis.

8 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF CHILD SUPPORT ASSURANCE

9 DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS.

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—In order to encourage States to

11 provide a guaranteed minimum level of child support for

12 every eligible child not receiving such support, the Sec13 retary of Health and Human Services (hereafter in this

14 section referred to as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall make grants

15 to not more than 6 States to conduct demonstration

16 projects for the purpose of establishing or improving a sys17 tem of assured minimum child support payments in

18 accordance with this section.

19 (b) CONTENTS OF APPLICATION.—An application for

20 grants under this section shall be submitted by the

21 Governor of a State and shall—

22 (1) contain a description of the proposed child

23 support assurance project to be established, imple24 mented, or improved using amounts provided under

25 this section, including the level of the assured bene-
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1 fit to be provided, the specific activities to be under2 taken, and the agencies that will be involved;

3 (2) specify whether the project will be carried

4 out throughout the State or in limited areas of the

5 State;

6 (3) estimate the number of children who will be

7 eligible for assured minimum child support payments

8 under the project, and the amounts to which they

9 will be entitled on average as individuals and in the

10 aggregate;

11 (4) describe the child support guidelines and re12 view procedures which are in use in the State and

13 any expected modifications;

14 (5) contain a commitment by the State to carry

15 out the project during a period of not less than 3

16 and not more than 5 consecutive fiscal years begin17 ning with fiscal year 1996;

18 (6) contain assurances that the State—

19 (A) is currently at or above the national

20 median paternity establishment rate (as defined

21 in section 452(g)(2) of the Social Security Act),

22 (B) will improve the performance of the

23 agency designated by the State to carry out the

24 requirements under part D of title IV of the

25 Social Security Act by at least 4 percent each
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1 year in which the State operates a child support

2 assurance project under this section in—

3 (i) the number of cases in which pa4 ternity is established when required;

5 (ii) the number of cases in which child

6 support orders are obtained; and

7 (iii) the number of cases with child

8 support orders in which collections are

9 made; and

10 (C) to the maximum extent possible under

11 current law, will use Federal, State, and local

12 job training assistance to assist individuals who

13 have been determined to be unable to meet such

14 individuals’ child support obligations;

15 (7) describe the extent to which multiple agen16 cies, including those responsible for administering

17 the Aid to Families With Dependent Children Pro18 gram under part A of title IV of the Social Security

19 Act and child support collection, enforcement, and

20 payment under part D of such title, will be involved

21 in the design and operation of the child support as22 surance project; and

23 (8) contain such other information as the Sec24 retary may require by regulation.
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1 (c) USE OF FUNDS.—A State shall use amounts pro2 vided under a grant awarded under this section to carry

3 out a child support assurance project designed to provide

4 a minimum monthly child support benefit for each eligible

5 child in the State to the extent that such minimum child

6 support is not paid in a month by the noncustodial parent.

7 (d) REQUIREMENTS.—(1) A child support assurance

8 project funded under this section shall provide that—

9 (A) any child (as defined in paragraph (2)) with

10 a living noncustodial parent for whom a child sup11 port order has been sought (as defined in paragraph

12 (3)) or obtained and any child who meets ‘‘good

13 cause’’ criteria for not seeking or enforcing a sup14 port order is eligible for the assured child support

15 benefit;

16 (B) the assured child support benefit shall be

17 paid promptly to the custodial parent at least once

18 a month and shall be—

19 (i) an amount determined by the State

20 which is—

21 (I) not less than $1,500 per year for

22 the first child, $1,000 per year for the sec23 ond child, and $500 per year for the third

24 and each subsequent child, and
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1 (II) not more than $3,000 per year

2 for the first child and $1,000 per year for

3 the second and each subsequent child;

4 (ii) offset and reduced to the extent that

5 the custodial parent receives child support in a

6 month from the noncustodial parent;

7 (iii) indexed and adjusted for inflation; and

8 (iv) in the case of a family of children with

9 multiple noncustodial parents, calculated in the

10 same manner as if all such children were full

11 siblings, but any child support payment from a

12 particular noncustodial parent shall only be ap13 plied against the assured child support benefit

14 for the child or children of that particular

15 noncustodial parent;

16 (C) for purposes of determining the need of a

17 child or relative and the level of assistance, one-half

18 of the amount received as a child support payment

19 shall be disregarded from income until the total

20 amount of child support and Aid to Families With

21 Dependent Children benefit received under part A of

22 title IV of the Social Security Act equals the Federal

23 poverty level for a family of comparable size;

24 (D) in the event that the family as a whole be25 comes ineligible for Aid to Families With Dependent
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1 Children under part A of the Social Security Act due

2 to consideration of assured child support benefits,

3 the continuing eligibility of the caretaker for Aid to

4 Families With Dependent Children under such title

5 shall be calculated without consideration of the as6 sured child support benefit; and

7 (E) in order to participate in the child support

8 assurance project, the child’s caretaker shall apply

9 for services of the State’s child support enforcement

10 program under part D of title IV of the Social

11 Security Act.

12 (2) For purposes of this section, the term ‘‘child’’

13 means an individual who is of such an age, disability, or

14 educational status as to be eligible for child support as

15 provided for by the law of the State in which such individ16 ual resides.

17 (3) For purposes of this section, a child support order

18 shall be deemed to have been ‘‘sought’’ where an individual

19 has applied for services from the State agency designated

20 by the State to carry out the requirements of part D of

21 title IV of the Social Security Act or has sought a child

22 support order through representation by private or public

23 counsel or pro se.

24 (e) CONSIDERATION AND PRIORITY OF APPLICA25 TIONS.—(1) The Secretary shall consider all applications
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1 received from States desiring to conduct demonstration

2 projects under this section and shall approve not more

3 than 6 applications which appear likely to contribute sig4 nificantly to the achievement of the purpose of this sec5 tion. In selecting States to conduct demonstration projects

6 under this section, the Secretary shall—

7 (A) ensure that the applications selected rep8 resent a diversity of minimum benefits distributed

9 throughout the range specified in subsection

10 (d)(1)(B)(i);

11 (B) consider the geographic dispersion and vari12 ation in population of the applicants;

13 (C) give priority to States the applications of

14 which demonstrate—

15 (i) significant recent improvements in—

16 (I) establishing paternity and child

17 support awards,

18 (II) enforcement of child support

19 awards, and

20 (III) collection of child support pay21 ments;

22 (ii) a record of effective automation; and

23 (iii) that efforts will be made to link child

24 support systems with other service delivery sys25 tems;
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1 (D) ensure that the proposed projects will be of

2 a size sufficient to obtain a meaningful measure of

3 the effects of child support assurance;

4 (E) give priority, first, to States intending to

5 operate a child support assurance project on a state6 wide basis, and, second, to States that are commit7 ted to phasing in an expansion of such project to the

8 entire State, if interim evaluations suggest such ex9 pansion is warranted; and

10 (F) ensure that, if feasible, the States selected

11 use a variety of approaches for child support guide12 lines.

13 (2) Of the States selected to participate in the dem14 onstration projects conducted under this section, the Sec15 retary shall require, if feasible—

16 (A) that at least 2 provide intensive integrated

17 social services for low-income participants in the

18 child support assurance project, for the purpose of

19 assisting such participants in improving their em20 ployment, housing, health, and educational status;

21 and

22 (B) that at least 2 have adopted the Uniform

23 Interstate Family Support Act.

24 (f) DURATION.—(1) During fiscal year 1995, the

25 Secretary shall develop criteria, select the States to par-
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1 ticipate in the demonstration, and plan for the evaluation

2 required under subsection (h). The demonstration projects

3 conducted under this section shall commence on October

4 1, 1995, and shall be conducted for not less than 3 and

5 not more than 5 consecutive fiscal years, except that the

6 Secretary may terminate a project before the end of such

7 period if the Secretary determines that the State conduct8 ing the project is not in substantial compliance with the

9 terms of the application approved by the Secretary under

10 this section.

11 (g) COST SAVINGS RECOVERY.—The Secretary shall

12 develop a methodology to identify any State cost savings

13 realized in connection with the implementation of a child

14 support assurance project conducted under this Act. Any

15 such savings realized as a result of the implementation

16 of a child support assurance project shall be utilized for

17 child support enforcement improvements or expansions

18 and improvements in the Aid to Families With Dependent

19 Children Program conducted under part A of title IV of

20 the Social Security Act within the participating State.

21 (h) EVALUATION AND REPORT TO CONGRESS.—(1)

22 The Secretary shall conduct an evaluation of the effective23 ness of the demonstration projects funded under this sec24 tion. The evaluation shall include an assessment of the ef25 fect of an assured benefit on—
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1 (A) income from nongovernment sources and

2 the number of hours worked;

3 (B) the use and amount of government sup4 ports;

5 (C) the ability to accumulate resources;

6 (D) the well-being of the children, including

7 educational attainment and school behavior; and

8 (E) the State’s rates of establishing paternity

9 and support orders and of collecting support.

10 (2) Three and 5 years after commencement of the

11 demonstration projects, the Secretary shall submit an in12 terim and final report based on the evaluation to the Com13 mittee on Finance and the Committee on Labor and

14 Human Resources of the Senate, and the Committee on

15 Ways and Means and the Committee on Education and

16 Labor of the House of Representatives concerning the ef17 fectiveness of the child support assurance projects funded

18 under this section.

19 (i) STATE REPORTS.—The Secretary shall require

20 each State that conducts a demonstration project under

21 this section to annually report such information on the

22 project’s operation as the Secretary may require, except

23 that all such information shall be reported according to

24 a uniform format prescribed by the Secretary.
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1 (j) RESTRICTIONS ON MATCHING AND USE OF

2 FUNDS.—(1) A State conducting a demonstration project

3 under this section shall be required—

4 (A) except as provided in paragraph (2), to pro5 vide not less than 20 percent of the total amounts

6 expended in each calendar year of the project to pay

7 the costs associated with the project funded under

8 this section;

9 (B) to maintain its level of expenditures for

10 child support collection, enforcement, and payment

11 at the same level, or at a higher level, than such ex12 penditures were prior to such State’s participation in

13 a demonstration project provided by this section;

14 and

15 (C) to maintain the Aid to Families With De16 pendent Children benefits provided under part A of

17 title IV of the Social Security Act at the same level,

18 or at a higher level, as the level of such benefits on

19 the date of the enactment of this Act.

20 (2) A State participating in a demonstration project

21 under this section may provide no less than 10 percent

22 of the total amounts expended to pay the costs associated

23 with the project funded under this section in years after

24 the first year such project is conducted in a State if the
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1 State meets the improvements specified in subsection

2 (b)(6)(B).

3 (k) COORDINATION WITH CERTAIN MEANS-TESTED

4 PROGRAMS.—For purposes of—

5 (1) the United States Housing Act of 1937;

6 (2) title V of the Housing Act of 1949;

7 (3) section 101 of the Housing and Urban De8 velopment Act of 1965;

9 (4) sections 221(d)(3), 235, and 236 of the Na10 tional Housing Act;

11 (5) the Food Stamp Act of 1977;

12 (6) title XIX of the Social Security Act; and

13 (7) child care assistance provided through part

14 A of title IV of the Social Security Act, the Child

15 Care and Development Block Grant, or title XX of

16 the Social Security Act,

17 any payment made to an individual within the demonstra18 tion project area for child support up to the amount which

19 an assured child support benefit would provide shall not

20 be treated as income and shall not be taken into account

21 in determining resources for the month of its receipt and

22 the following month.

23 (l) TREATMENT OF CHILD SUPPORT BENEFIT.—Any

24 assured child support benefit received by an individual
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1 under this Act shall be considered child support for pur2 poses of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.

3 (m) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There

4 are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be

5 necessary in each of the fiscal years 1995, 1996, 1997,

6 1998, 1999, and 2000 to carry out the purposes of this

7 Act.