II

103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 1909

To improve the interstate enforcement of child support and parentage court

orders, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MARCH 8 (legislative day, FEBRUARY 22), 1994

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

to the Committee on Finance

A BILL

To improve the interstate enforcement of child support and

parentage court orders, 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 Act of 1994’’.
2

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1 TITLE I—CHILD SUPPORT

2 ENFORCEMENT

3 SEC. 101. HOLD ON OCCUPATIONAL, PROFESSIONAL, AND

4 BUSINESS LICENSES.

5 (a) STATE HOLD BASED ON WARRANT OR SUPPORT

6 DELINQUENCY.—Section 466(a) of the Social Security

7 Act (42 U.S.C. 666(a)) is amended by inserting after

8 paragraph (11) the following:

9 ‘‘(12) Procedures under which the State occu10 pational licensing and regulating departments and

11 agencies may not issue or renew any occupational,

12 professional, or business license of—

13 ‘‘(A) a noncustodial parent who is the sub14 ject of an outstanding failure to appear war15 rant, capias, or bench warrant related to a child

16 support proceeding that appears on the State’s

17 crime information system, until removed from

18 the system; and

19 ‘‘(B) an individual who is delinquent in the

20 payment of child support, until the obligee or a

21 State prosecutor responsible for child support

22 enforcement consents to, or a court that is re23 sponsible for the order’s enforcement orders,

24 the release of the hold on the license, or an ex25 pedited inquiry and review is completed while
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1 the individual is granted a 60-day temporary li2 cense.

3 The preceding sentence shall not apply to an individ4 ual who makes an adequate showing to the State

5 that the failure to issue or renew an occupational,

6 professional, or business license will result in undue

7 hardship.’’.

8 (b) FEDERAL HOLD BASED ON SUPPORT DELIN9 QUENCY.—A Federal agency may not issue or renew any

10 occupational, professional, or business license of an indi11 vidual who is delinquent in the payment of child support,

12 until the obligee, the obligee’s attorney, or a State pros13 ecutor responsible for child support enforcement consents

14 to, or a court that is responsible for the order’s enforce15 ment orders, the release of the hold on the license, or an

16 expedited inquiry and review is completed while the indi17 vidual is granted a 60-day temporary license. The preced18 ing sentence shall not apply to an individual who makes

19 an adequate showing to the State that the failure to issue

20 or renew an occupational, professional, or business license

21 will result in undue hardship.
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1 SEC. 102. DENIAL OF FEDERAL BENEFITS, LOANS, GUARAN2 TEES, AND EMPLOYMENT TO CERTAIN PER3 SONS WITH LARGE CHILD SUPPORT ARREAR4 AGES.

5 (a) BENEFITS, LOANS, AND GUARANTEES.—Not6 withstanding any other provision of law, each agency or

7 instrumentality of the Federal Government may not,

8 under any program that the agency or instrumentality su9 pervises or administers, provide a benefit to, make a loan

10 to, or provide any guarantee for the benefit of, any individ11 ual—

12 (1) whose child support arrearages, determined

13 under a court order or an order of an administrative

14 process established under State law, exceed $1,000;

15 and

16 (2) who is not in compliance with a plan or an

17 agreement to repay the arrearages.

18 The preceding sentence shall not apply to an individual

19 who makes an adequate showing to the State that the fail20 ure to provide a benefit, loan, or guarantee will result in

21 undue hardship.

22 (b) EMPLOYMENT.—

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other

24 provision of law, an individual shall be considered in25 eligible to accept employment in a position in the

26 Federal Government if—
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1 (A) such individual has child support ar2 rearages, determined under a court order or an

3 order of an administrative process established

4 under State law, exceeding $1,000; and

5 (B) such individual is not in compliance

6 with a plan or agreement to repay the arrear7 ages.

8 The preceding sentence shall not apply to an individ9 ual who makes an adequate showing to the State

10 that ineligibility to accept employment will result in

11 undue hardship.

12 (2) REGULATIONS.—Regulations to carry out

13 paragraph (1) shall—

14 (A) with respect to positions in the execu15 tive branch, be prescribed by the President (or

16 his designee);

17 (B) with respect to positions in the legisla18 tive branch, be prescribed jointly by the Presi19 dent pro tempore of the Senate and the Speak20 er of the House of Representatives (or their

21 designees); and

22 (C) with respect to positions in the judicial

23 branch, be prescribed by the Chief Justice of

24 the United States (or his designee).
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1 (3) CHILD SUPPORT DEFINED.—For purposes

2 of this subsection, the term ‘‘child support’’ has the

3 meaning given such term in section 462(b) of the

4 Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 662(b)).

5 SEC. 103. DENIAL OF PASSPORTS TO NONCUSTODIAL PAR6 ENTS SUBJECT TO STATE ARREST WARRANTS

7 IN CASES OF NONPAYMENT OF CHILD SUP8 PORT.

9 The Secretary of State is authorized to refuse a pass10 port or revoke, restrict, or limit a passport in any case

11 in which the Secretary of State determines or is informed

12 by competent authority that the applicant or passport

13 holder is a noncustodial parent who is the subject of an

14 outstanding State warrant of arrest for nonpayment of

15 child support, where the amount in controversy is not less

16 than $10,000.

17 SEC. 104. FAIR CREDIT REPORTING ACT AMENDMENT.

18 Section 604 of the Consumer Credit Protection Act

19 (15 U.S.C. 1681b) is amended by adding at the end the

20 following:

21 ‘‘(4) To a State agency administering a State plan

22 under section 454 of the Social Security Act, for use to

23 establish or modify a child support award.’’.
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1 SEC. 105. NATIONAL REPORTING OF NEW HIRES AND CHILD

2 SUPPORT INFORMATION.

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Treasury, in

4 consultation with the Secretary of Labor, shall establish

5 a system of reporting of new employees by requiring em6 ployers to provide a copy of every new employee’s W–4

7 form to the child support enforcement agency of the State

8 in which the employment is located.

9 (b) EXPANDED USE OF FORM.—The Secretary of the

10 Treasury shall modify the W–4 form completed by the new

11 employee to include—

12 (1) whether a child support obligation is owed

13 by the new employee, and if so, to whom such obli14 gation is payable and the amount of such obligation,

15 (2) whether payment of such obligation is to be

16 by income withholding, and

17 (3) whether the new employee has health care

18 insurance available.

19 TITLE II—INTERSTATE CHILD

20 SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT

21 SEC. 201. INTERSTATE RECOGNITION OF CHILD SUPPORT

22 AND PARENTAGE ORDERS.

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 115 of title 28, United

24 States Code, is amended by inserting after section 1738A

25 the following:
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1 ‘‘§ 1738B. Full faith and credit to child support and

2 parentage orders

3 ‘‘(a) As used in this section:

4 ‘‘(1) The term ‘child’ means any individual who

5 has not attained the age of 18 years, and any indi6 vidual who has attained the age of 18 years for

7 whom a child support order has been issued pursu8 ant to the laws of a State.

9 ‘‘(2) The term ‘child support’ includes periodic

10 and lump-sum payments for current and past due

11 economic support, payments of premiums for health

12 insurance for children, payments for or provision of

13 child care, and payments for educational expenses.

14 ‘‘(3) The term ‘child support order’ means a

15 judgment, decree or order of a court requiring the

16 payment of money, whether in periodic amounts or

17 lump sum, for the support of a child and includes

18 permanent and temporary orders, initial orders and

19 modifications, ongoing support and arrearages.

20 ‘‘(4) The term ‘child’s State’ means, with re21 spect to a child, the State in which the child resides

22 with a parent or an individual acting as a parent.

23 ‘‘(5) The term ‘contestant’ means an individual,

24 including a parent, who claims a right to receive

25 child support or is under an order to pay child sup-
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1 port, and includes States and political subdivisions

2 to which support rights have been assigned.

3 ‘‘(6) The term ‘court’ means a court, adminis4 trative process, or quasijudicial process of a State

5 that is authorized to—

6 ‘‘(A) adjudicate parentage;

7 ‘‘(B) establish the amount of support pay8 able by a contestant; or

9 ‘‘(C) modify the amount of support pay10 able by a contestant.

11 ‘‘(7) The term ‘home State’ means, with respect

12 to a child, the State in which, immediately preceding

13 the time involved, the child lived with his or her par14 ents, a parent, or an individual acting as parent, for

15 at least 6 consecutive months (including any periods

16 of temporary absence), and if the child has not at17 tained the age of 6 months, the State in which the

18 child lived from birth with any of such individuals.

19 ‘‘(8) The term ‘individual acting as a parent’

20 means an individual, other than a parent, who has

21 physical custody of a child and who has either been

22 awarded custody by a court or claims a right to cus23 tody.

24 ‘‘(9) The terms ‘modification’ and ‘modify’ refer

25 to a change in a child support order or an order ad-
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1 judicating parentage that modifies, replaces, super2 sedes, or otherwise is made subsequent to such prior

3 order, whether or not made by the same court that

4 issued such prior order.

5 ‘‘(10) The term ‘State’ means a State of the

6 United States, the District of Columbia, the Com7 monwealth of Puerto Rico, a territory or possession

8 of the United States, and Indian country as defined

9 in section 1151 of title 18, United States Code.

10 ‘‘(b) The courts of each State shall recognize and en11 force according to its terms a child support order or an

12 order adjudicating parentage against an individual over

13 whom personal jurisdiction has been exercised consistent

14 with this section, and shall not modify such an order ex15 cept as provided in subsection (f).

16 ‘‘(c) A court of a State may exercise personal jurisdic17 tion over a nonresident contestant if there is any basis

18 consistent with the constitution of the State and the Con19 stitution of the United States for the exercise.

20 ‘‘(d) A court of a State which has issued a child sup21 port order or an order adjudicating parentage consistent

22 with this section shall have continuing, exclusive jurisdic23 tion of the order for so long as the State remains the

24 child’s State or the residence of any contestant, unless an-
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1 other State, acting in accordance with subsection (f), has

2 modified the order.

3 ‘‘(e) Before a court of a State makes a child support

4 order or adjudicates parentage, reasonable notice and op5 portunity to be heard shall be given to the contestants.

6 ‘‘(f) A court of a State may modify a child support

7 order or an order adjudicating parentage issued by a court

8 of another State if—

9 ‘‘(1) each contestant has filed written consent

10 for the court of the State to modify the order and

11 assume continuing, exclusive jurisdiction of the

12 order; and

13 ‘‘(2) the court of the State otherwise has juris14 diction to issue such an order.

15 ‘‘(g) A court of a State which no longer has continu16 ing, exclusive jurisdiction of a child support order or an

17 order adjudicating parentage may enforce the order with

18 respect to unsatisfied obligations which accrued before the

19 date the order is modified in accordance with subsection

20 (f).

21 ‘‘(h) A court of a State shall not exercise jurisdiction

22 in any proceeding for a child support order or an adjudica23 tion of parentage commenced during the pendency of a

24 proceeding in a court of another State when the court of
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1 the other State is exercising jurisdiction consistent with

2 this section unless—

3 ‘‘(1) the proceeding was filed in the State be4 fore the expiration of time allowed in the other State

5 for filing a responsive pleading challenging the exer6 cise of jurisdiction by the other State;

7 ‘‘(2) the contesting party timely challenges the

8 exercise of jurisdiction by the other State; and

9 ‘‘(3) if applicable, the court is in the home

10 State of the child.

11 ‘‘(i)(1) Except as provided in paragraphs (2) and (3),

12 the forum State’s law shall apply in a proceeding to estab13 lish, modify, or enforce a child support order or an order

14 adjudicating parentage.

15 ‘‘(2) The courts of a State shall apply the law of the

16 State that issued a child support order or an order adju17 dicating parentage in interpreting such an order.

18 ‘‘(3) In an action to enforce a child support order

19 or an order adjudicating parentage, the statute of limita20 tions under the laws of the forum State or the issuing

21 State, whichever is longer, shall apply.’’.

22 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The chapter analysis

23 for such chapter is amended by inserting after the item

24 relating to section 1738A the following:

‘‘1738B. Full faith and credit to child support and parentage orders.’’.
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1 TITLE III—HIDING ASSETS

2 SEC. 301. FRAUDULENT TRANSFER PURSUIT.

3 Section 466(a) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.

4 666(a)), as amended by section 101, is amended by insert5 ing after paragraph (12) the following:

6 ‘‘(13) Procedures requiring that, in any case re7 lated to child support, any transfer of property by

8 an individual who owes a child support arrearage

9 shall be presumed to be made with the intent to

10 avoid payment of the arrearage, and may be rebut11 ted by evidence to the contrary.’’.

12 SEC. 302. FRAUDULENT TRANSFER PURSUIT.

13 Section 466(a) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.

14 666(a)), as amended by section 101 and section 301, is

15 amended by inserting after paragraph (12) the following

16 new paragraph:

17 ‘‘(14) Procedures that allow the State to void

18 fraudulent conveyances of property that are made in

19 an attempt to avoid child support obligations.’’.

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