II

103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2528

To improve and strengthen the child support collection system.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

OCTOBER 6 (legislative day, SEPTEMBER 12), 1994

Mrs. FEINSTEIN (for herself, Mr. SASSER, and Mr. PELL) introduced the

following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance

A BILL

To improve and strengthen the child support collection

system.

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; REFERENCE; TABLE OF CON4 TENTS.

5 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the

6 ‘‘Child Support Responsibility Act of 1994’’.

7 (b) REFERENCE TO SOCIAL SECURITY ACT.—Except

8 as otherwise specifically provided, wherever in this Act an

9 amendment is expressed in terms of an amendment to or

10 repeal of a section or other provision, the reference shall
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1 be considered to be made to that section or other provision

2 of the Social Security Act.

3 (c) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of

4 this Act is as follows:

Sec. 1. Short title; reference; table of contents.

TITLE I—LOCATE AND CASE TRACKING

Sec. 101. Federal child support order registry.

Sec. 102. Expansion of Federal parent locator systems.

Sec. 103. National reporting of employees and child support information.

Sec. 104. State role.

Sec. 105. Reconciliation of child support obligation and payments on income

tax return.

TITLE II—ESTABLISHMENT

Sec. 201. Service of process on Federal employees and members of the armed

services in connection with proceedings relating to child support and parentage obligations.

Sec. 202. Presumed address of obligor and obligee.

Sec. 203. Fair Credit Reporting Act amendment.

Sec. 204. National child support guideline commission.

Sec. 205. Duration of support.

Sec. 206. Evidence.

Sec. 207. Telephonic appearance in interstate cases.

Sec. 208. Uniform terms in orders.

Sec. 209. Social security numbers on marriage licenses, divorce decrees, parentage decrees, and birth certificates.

Sec. 210. Administrative subpoena power.

Sec. 211. Support orders outreach and demonstrations.

Sec. 212. Health care support.

Sec. 213. Rules governing modification of child support orders.

TITLE III—PARENTAGE

Sec. 301. Paternity establishment procedures.

TITLE IV—ENFORCEMENT

Sec. 401. Direct wage withholding.

Sec. 402. Priorities in application of withheld wages.

Sec. 403. Additional benefits subject to garnishment.

Sec. 404. Consumer Credit Protection Act amendments.

Sec. 405. Prohibition against use of election of remedies doctrine to prevent collection of child support.

Sec. 406. Hold on occupational, professional, and business licenses.

Sec. 407. Driver’s licenses and vehicle registrations denied to persons failing to

appear in child support cases.

Sec. 408. Liens on certificates of vehicle title.

Sec. 409. Attachment of bank accounts.
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Sec. 410. Seizure of lottery winnings, settlements, payouts, awards, and bequests, and sale of forfeited property, to pay child support arrearages.

Sec. 411. Fraudulent transfer pursuit.

Sec. 412. Full IRS collection.

Sec. 413. Tax refund offset program expanded to cover non-AFDC post-minor

children.

Sec. 414. Attachment of public and private retirement funds.

Sec. 415. Reporting of child support arrearages to credit bureaus.

Sec. 416. Elimination of statutes of limitations in child support cases.

Sec. 417. Interest.

Sec. 418. Bankruptcy.

Sec. 419. Federal government cooperation in enforcement of support obligations

of members and former members of the Armed Forces.

Sec. 420. States required to enact the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act.

Sec. 421. Denial of passports to noncustodial parents subject to State arrest

warrants in cases of nonpayment of child support.

Sec. 422. Denial of Federal benefits, loans, guarantees, and employment to certain persons with large child support arrearages.

Sec. 423. States required to order courts to allow assignment of life insurance

benefits to satisfy child support arrearages.

Sec. 424. Interests in jointly held property subject to assignment to satisfy

child support arrearages.

Sec. 425. International child support enforcement.

Sec. 426. Nonliability for depository institutions providing financial records to

State child support enforcement agencies in child support

cases.

Sec. 427. Cost-of-living adjustment of child support awards.

Sec. 428. Annual exchange of financial information by parties to child support

order.

Sec. 429. Criminal penalties for failure to pay child support.

TITLE V—COLLECTION AND DISTRIBUTION

Sec. 501. Priorities in distribution of collected child support.

Sec. 502. State claims against noncustodial parent limited to assistance provided to the child.

Sec. 503. Fees for non-AFDC clients.

Sec. 504. Collection and disbursement points for child support.

TITLE VI—FEDERAL ROLE

Sec. 601. Placement and role of the Office of Child Support Enforcement.

Sec. 602. Training.

Sec. 603. Staffing.

Sec. 604. Child support definition.

Sec. 605. Technical correction to ERISA definition of medical child support

order.

Sec. 606. Audits.

Sec. 607. Establishment of child support assurance demonstration projects.

Sec. 608. Children’s Trust Fund.

Sec. 609. Study of reasons for nonpayment of child support; report.

Sec. 610. Study of effectiveness of administrative processes; report.

Sec. 611. Compendium of State child support statutes.

Sec. 612. Establishment of permanent child support advisory committee.
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TITLE VII—STATE ROLE

Sec. 701. Advocation of children’s economic security.

Sec. 702. Duties of State child support agencies.

Sec. 704. Administrative process for change of payee in IV–D cases.

Sec. 705. Financial incentives.

Sec. 706. Avoidance of conflicts of interest.

1 TITLE I—LOCATE AND CASE

2 TRACKING

3 SEC. 101. FEDERAL CHILD SUPPORT ORDER REGISTRY.

4 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than October 1,

5 1995, the Secretary shall establish a Federal registry of

6 child support orders issued or modified by any State court

7 or administrative process established under State law.

8 (b) COMPARISON OF INFORMATION ON W–4 FORMS

9 WITH INFORMATION IN CHILD SUPPORT ORDERS.—With10 in 10 days after the registry established under subsection

11 (a) receives a W–4 form of an employee, the registry

12 shall—

13 (1) compare the information on the form with

14 the information in the registry on the child support

15 obligations of the employee; and

16 (2) transmit to the registry established under

17 section 466(a)(12) of the State in which the em18 ployee is employed a notice as to whether the

19 amount specified on the W–4 form as the monthly

20 child support obligation of the employee is accurate

21 or not.
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1 (c) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary shall prescribe

2 such regulations as may be necessary to carry out this

3 section, especially in cases involving an employee who has

4 2 or more employers or child support obligations.

5 (d) STATE ACCESS TO THE REGISTRY.—The Sec6 retary shall, upon request of any State, provide the State

7 with access to the information contained in the registry

8 established under subsection (a).

9 (e) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section:

10 (1) CHILD SUPPORT ORDER.—The term ‘‘child

11 support order’’ means an order requiring payments

12 for support and maintenance of a child or of a child

13 and the parent with whom the child is living (includ14 ing an order requiring health insurance to be pro15 vided to such a child or parent).

16 (2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means

17 the Secretary of Health and Human Services.

18 (3) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ includes the

19 several States, the District of Columbia, the Com20 monwealth of Puerto Rico, the Commonwealth of the

21 Northern Mariana Islands, the United States Virgin

22 Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Trust

23 Territory of the Pacific Islands.
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1 SEC. 102. EXPANSION OF FEDERAL PARENT LOCATOR SYS2 TEMS.

3 (a) EXPANSION OF FUNCTIONS.—Section 453(a) (42

4 U.S.C. 653(a)) is amended by striking ‘‘enforcing support

5 obligations against such parent’’ and inserting ‘‘establish6 ing parentage, establishing, modifying, and enforcing child

7 support obligations’’.

8 (b) ACCESS TO ADDITIONAL DATA BASES.—Section

9 453 (42 U.S.C. 653) is amended—

10 (1) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘the most re11 cent address and place of employment’’ and insert12 ing ‘‘the most recent residential address, employer

13 name and address, and amounts and nature of in14 come and assets’’;

15 (2) in subsection (c)(3), by striking ‘‘resident’’

16 and inserting ‘‘custodial’’; and

17 (3) in subsection (e), by adding at the end the

18 following:

19 ‘‘(4) The Secretary of the Treasury shall enter into

20 an agreement with the Secretary to provide prompt access

21 by the Secretary (in accordance with this subsection and

22 section 6103(l)(6) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986)

23 to all Federal income tax returns filed by individuals with

24 the Internal Revenue Service.’’.
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1 (c) EXPANSION OF ACCESS TO THE NATIONAL PAR2 ENT LOCATOR NETWORK.—Section 453 (42 U.S.C. 653)

3 is amended by adding at the end the following:

4 ‘‘(g) The Secretary shall expand the Parent Locator

5 Service to establish a national network based on the com6 prehensive statewide child support enforcement systems

7 developed by the States, to—

8 ‘‘(1) allow each State to—

9 ‘‘(A) locate any absent parent who owes

10 child support or for whom a child support obli11 gation is being established, by—

12 ‘‘(i) to the extent practicable,

13 accessing the records of other State agen14 cies and sources of locate information di15 rectly from one computer system to an16 other; and

17 ‘‘(ii) accessing Federal sources of lo18 cate information in the same fashion;

19 ‘‘(B) access the files of other States to de20 termine whether there are other child support

21 orders and obtain the details of those orders;

22 ‘‘(C) provide for both on-line and batch

23 processing of locate requests, with on-line ac24 cess restricted to cases in which the information

25 is needed immediately (for such reasons as
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1 court appearances) and batch processing used

2 to ‘troll’ data bases to locate individuals or up3 date information periodically; and

4 ‘‘(D) direct locate requests to individual

5 States or Federal agencies, broadcast requests

6 to selected States, or broadcast cases to all

7 States when there is no indication of the source

8 of needed information;

9 ‘‘(2) provide for a maximum of 48-hour turn10 around time for information to be broadcast and re11 turned to a requesting State;

12 ‘‘(3) provide ready access to courts and admin13 istrative agencies of the information on the network

14 by location of a computer terminal in each court;

15 and

16 ‘‘(4) access the registries of child support or17 ders maintained by States pursuant to section

18 466(a)(12).’’.

19 SEC. 103. NATIONAL REPORTING OF EMPLOYEES AND

20 CHILD SUPPORT INFORMATION.

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than Janauary 1, 1995,

22 the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the

23 Secretary of Labor, shall establish a system of reporting

24 of employees by requiring employers to provide a copy of

25 every employee’s W–4 form to the Federal child support
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1 order registry established pursuant to section 101(a) of

2 the Child Support Responsibility Act of 1994 and to the

3 child support order registry established pursuant to sec4 tion 466(a)(12) of the Social Security Act by the State

5 in which the employment is located—

6 (1) in the case of employees hired on or after

7 the effective date of this section, on the date the em8 ployee is hired; or

9 (2) in the case of employees hired before such

10 effective date, within 10 days after such effective

11 date.

12 (b) INCLUSION OF CHILD SUPPORT INFORMATION

13 ON W–4 FORMS.—The Secretary of the Treasury shall

14 modify the W–4 form to enable the employee to indicate

15 on the form—

16 (A) whether the employee owes child sup17 port, and if so—

18 (i) to whom the support is payable

19 and the amount of the support payable;

20 and

21 (ii) whether the support is to be paid

22 through wage withholding; and

23 (B) whether health care insurance is avail24 able to the new employee, and, if so, whether
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1 the employee has obtained such insurance for

2 the dependent children of the employee.

3 SEC. 104. STATE ROLE.

4 (a) STATE CHILD SUPPORT ORDER REGISTRIES.—

5 Section 466(a) (42 U.S.C. 666(a)) is amended by insert6 ing after paragraph (11) the following:

7 ‘‘(12) Procedures under which the—

8 ‘‘(A) State child support enforcement

9 agency shall—

10 ‘‘(i) establish and maintain a child

11 support order registry which shall in12 clude—

13 ‘‘(I) a copy of each child support

14 order issued or modified in the State

15 on or after the effective date of this

16 paragraph;

17 ‘‘(II) a copy of each child support

18 order issued or modified in the State

19 before the effective date of this para20 graph that is being enforced under the

21 State plan; and

22 ‘‘(III) a copy of each child sup23 port order issued or modified in the

24 State before the enactment of this

25 paragraph that a party to the order
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1 has requested be included in the Fed2 eral child support order registry es3 tablished pursuant to section 101(a)

4 of the Child Support Responsibility

5 Act of 1994;

6 ‘‘(ii)(I) immediately upon receipt of a

7 child support order referred to in subclause

8 (I) or (II) of clause (i), transmit an ab9 stract of the order to the Federal registry;

10 and

11 ‘‘(II) beginning 2 years after such

12 date of enactment, transmit to the Federal

13 registry an abstract of each child support

14 order referred to in clause (i)(III); and

15 ‘‘(iii) distribute in accordance with

16 section 457(b) all amounts received from

17 employers that have been deducted and

18 withheld from the wages of employees for

19 the payment of child support obligations,

20 and all amounts received from the Internal

21 Revenue Service pursuant to section

22 7524(f) of the Internal Revenue Code of

23 1986, within 3 days after receipt;

24 ‘‘(B) allow any individual owed support

25 pursuant to a child support order issued or
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1 modified in the State who alleges that an em2 ployer has failed to comply with subsection

3 (b)(11)(B)(ii) with respect to the order, or that

4 a State official has failed to comply with sub5 paragraph (A)(iii) of this paragraph with re6 spect to amounts withheld from wages pursuant

7 to the order and paid to the State, to bring an

8 action against the employer or the official (in

9 the official’s personal capacity), as the case may

10 be, in any State court and recover damages, in11 cluding interest; and

12 ‘‘(C) the State agency referred to in sec13 tion 402(a)(3) shall notify the State child sup14 port enforcement agency of the commencement

15 or termination of aid under the State plan ap16 proved under part A to any individual or fam17 ily, within 10 days after such commencement or

18 termination.’’.

19 (b) DIRECT WAGE WITHHOLDING.—Section 466(b)

20 (42 U.S.C. 666(b)) is amended by adding at the end the

21 following:

22 ‘‘(11)(A)(i) Upon the issuance or modification

23 by a State court or administrative agency of an

24 order imposing a child support obligation on an indi25 vidual, the State shall transmit to any employer of
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1 the individual a wage withholding order developed

2 under section 452(a)(12) directing the employer to

3 withhold amounts from the wages of the individual

4 pursuant to the order, or such greater amount as

5 the State child support order registry established

6 pursuant to subsection (a)(12)(A) of this section

7 may determine is the total amount of the child sup8 port obligations of the individual.

9 ‘‘(ii) Clause (i) shall not apply to an order upon

10 agreement of the parties to the order and the court

11 or administrative agency that issued or modified the

12 order.

13 ‘‘(iii) An agreement referred to in clause (ii)

14 may be unilaterally rescinded only by the individual

15 to whom child support is payable under the order.

16 ‘‘(B) Any individual or entity engaged in com17 merce, as a condition of doing business in the State,

18 shall, on receipt of a wage withholding order devel19 oped under section 452(a)(12) that is regular on its

20 face and has been issued by a court of any State—

21 ‘‘(i) comply with the order by forwarding

22 to the State registry established pursuant to

23 subsection (a)(12)(A) of this section, within 5

24 days after the end of each payroll period ending

25 after receipt of the order, the greater of—
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1 ‘‘(I) the amount required to be with2 held pursuant to the order; or

3 ‘‘(II) the amount that the State reg4 istry has notified the employer is the

5 amount required to be withheld from the

6 wages of the employee for payment of child

7 support obligations of the employee; and

8 ‘‘(ii) keep records of the amounts so with9 held.

10 ‘‘(C) Such an order may be served on the in11 come source directly or by first-class mail.

12 ‘‘(D) An individual or entity who complies with

13 subparagraph (B)(i) with respect to such an order

14 may not be held liable for wrongful withholding of

15 income from the employee subject to the order.

16 ‘‘(E) The State shall impose a civil fine of

17 $1,000 on any individual or entity who receives such

18 an order for each failure to comply with subpara19 graph (B)(i) with respect to the order.

20 ‘‘(F) The State shall have in effect procedures

21 for carrying out this paragraph in cases involving an

22 employee who has 2 or more employers or child sup23 port obligations.

24 ‘‘(12) If the State transmits to an individual or

25 entity engaged in commerce only outside the State
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1 a wage withholding order issued by the State with

2 respect to an employee of the individual or entity,

3 and the individual or entity contests or refuses to

4 comply with the order, the State shall send an infor5 mational copy of the order to the registry established

6 under subsection (a)(12)(A) of any other State in

7 which the individual or entity is engaged in com8 merce.

9 ‘‘(13) If an employee requests a hearing to con10 test wage withholding based on claim of a mistake

11 of fact, the hearing may be held in the State from

12 which the income is paid or in which the employee

13 is employed, and, within 45 days after the income

14 source receives the withholding order, the entity con15 ducting the hearing must adjudicate the claim. The

16 State in which the hearing is held shall provide ap17 propriate services in cases enforced under the State

18 plan to ensure that the interests of the individual to

19 whom the withheld income is to be paid are ade20 quately represented.’’.

21 (c) PRIORITIES IN APPLICATION OF WITHHELD

22 WAGES.—Section 466(b) (42 U.S.C. 666(b)), as amended

23 by subsection (b) of this section, is amended by inserting

24 after paragraph (13) the following:
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1 ‘‘(14) Procedures under which the amounts

2 withheld pursuant to a child support or wage with3 holding order are to be applied in the following

4 order:

5 ‘‘(A) To payments of support due during

6 the month of withholding.

7 ‘‘(B) To payments of premiums for health

8 care insurance coverage for dependent children.

9 ‘‘(C) To payments of support due before

10 the month of withholding, and of unreimbursed

11 health-care expenses.’’.

12 (d) ACCESS TO VARIOUS DATA BASES.—Section

13 466(a) (42 U.S.C. 666(a)), as amended by subsection (a)

14 of this section, is amended by inserting after paragraph

15 (12) the following:

16 ‘‘(13) Procedures under which the State child

17 support enforcement agency shall have automated

18 on-line or batch access (or, if necessary,

19 nonautomated access) to information regarding resi20 dential addresses, employers and employer address21 es, income and assets, and medical insurance bene22 fits with respect to absent parents that is available

23 through any data base maintained by—

24 ‘‘(A) any agency of the State or any politi25 cal subdivision thereof, that contains informa-
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1 tion on residential addresses, or on employers

2 and employer addresses, as the State deems ap3 propriate;

4 ‘‘(B) any publicly regulated utility com5 pany located in the State; and

6 ‘‘(C) any credit reporting agency located in

7 the State.’’.

8 (e) EXPANDED INTERACTION WITH THE NATIONAL

9 PARENT LOCATOR NETWORK.—Section 454(16) (42

10 U.S.C. 654(16)) is amended—

11 (1) by striking ‘‘and (E)’’ and inserting ‘‘(E)’’;

12 and

13 (2) by striking ‘‘enforcement;’’ and inserting

14 ‘‘enforcement, and (F) to provide access to the na15 tional network developed pursuant to section

16 453(g);’’.

17 SEC. 105. RECONCILIATION OF CHILD SUPPORT OBLIGA18 TION AND PAYMENTS ON INCOME TAX RE19 TURN.

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 77 of the Internal Reve21 nue Code of 1986 (relating to miscellaneous provisions)

22 is amended by adding at the end thereof the following new

23 section:
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1 ‘‘SEC. 7524. RECONCILIATION OF CHILD SUPPORT OBLIGA2 TION AND PAYMENTS ON INCOME TAX RE3 TURN.

4 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Each applicable child support

5 obligation of any individual for months ending with or

6 within any taxable year shall be paid—

7 ‘‘(1) not later than the last date (determined

8 without regard to extensions) prescribed for filing

9 the individual’s return of tax imposed by chapter 1

10 for such taxable year, and

11 ‘‘(2)(A) if such return is filed not later than

12 such date, with such return, or

13 ‘‘(B) in any case not described in subparagraph

14 (A), in such manner as the Secretary may by regula15 tions prescribe.

16 ‘‘(b) OFFSET FOR WITHHELD CHILD SUPPORT,

17 ETC.—There shall be allowed as a credit against the

18 amount required to be paid under subsection (a) by an

19 individual the sum of—

20 ‘‘(1) the amount (if any) deducted and withheld

21 pursuant to State law from the wages received by

22 such individual during the taxable year,

23 ‘‘(2) the amount (if any) paid by such individ24 ual under section 6654 by reason of subsection

25 (f)(3) thereof for such taxable year, and
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1 ‘‘(3) the amount paid by such individual di2 rectly to the person to whom the obligation is owed

3 (or, if such person has assigned to a State the right

4 to collect the obligation, the State).

5 ‘‘(c) CREDIT OR REFUND FOR PAYMENTS IN EXCESS

6 OF ACTUAL OBLIGATION.—There shall be allowed as a

7 credit against the tax imposed by subtitle A for the taxable

8 year an amount equal to the excess (if any) of—

9 ‘‘(1) the aggregate of the amounts described in

10 paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) of subsection (a) for

11 such taxable year, over

12 ‘‘(2) the aggregate of the child support obliga13 tions of the taxpayer for such taxable year.

14 The credit allowed by this subsection shall be treated for

15 purposes of this title as allowed by subpart C of part IV

16 of subchapter A of chapter 1.

17 ‘‘(d) FAILURE TO PAY AMOUNT OWING.—If an indi18 vidual fails to pay the full amount required to be paid

19 under subsection (a) on or before due date for such pay20 ment, the Secretary shall assess and collect the unpaid

21 amount in the same manner, with the same powers, and

22 subject to the same limitations applicable to a tax imposed

23 by subtitle C the collection of which would be jeopardized

24 by delay.
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1 ‘‘(e) APPLICABLE CHILD SUPPORT OBLIGATION.—

2 For purposes of this section, the term ‘applicable child

3 support obligation’ means a legal obligation to provide

4 child support (as defined in section 462(b) of the Social

5 Security Act).

6 ‘‘(f) AMOUNTS COLLECTED BY SECRETARY PAID TO

7 STATE REGISTRIES.—Amounts collected under this sec8 tion and section 6654 by reason of an applicable child sup9 port obligation shall be paid by the Secretary to the appro10 priate State registry established pursuant to section

11 466(a)(12)(A)(i) of the Social Security Act.’’.

12 (b) WITHHELD CHILD SUPPORT TO BE SHOWN ON

13 W–2.—Subsection (a) of section 6051 of such Code is

14 amended by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph (8),

15 by striking the period at the end of paragraph (9) and

16 inserting ‘‘, and’’, and by inserting after paragraph (9)

17 the following new paragraph:

18 ‘‘(10) the total amount of child support obliga19 tions withheld pursuant to State law.’’.

20 (c) APPLICATION OF ESTIMATED TAX PENALTY.—

21 (1) Subsection (f) of section 6654 of such Code

22 (relating to failure by individual to pay estimated in23 come tax) is amended by striking ‘‘minus’’ at the

24 end of paragraph (2) and inserting ‘‘plus’’, by redes25 ignating paragraph (3) as paragraph (4), and by in-
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1 serting after paragraph (2) the following new para2 graph:

3 ‘‘(3) the aggregate applicable child support obli4 gation (as defined in section 7524(a)) of the tax5 payer for months ending with or within the taxable

6 year, minus’’.

7 (2) Paragraph (1) of section 6654(d) of such

8 Code is amended by adding at the end the following

9 new subparagraph:

10 ‘‘(D) DETERMINATION OF REQUIRED AN11 NUAL PAYMENT FOR TAXPAYERS REQUIRED TO

12 PAY CHILD SUPPORT.—In the case of a tax13 payer who is required under section 7524 to

14 pay an applicable child support obligation (as

15 defined in section 7524) for any month ending

16 with or within the taxable year, the required

17 annual payment shall be the sum of—

18 ‘‘(i) the amount determined under

19 subparagraph (B) without regard to sub20 section (f)(3), plus

21 ‘‘(ii) the aggregate amount of such

22 obligation for all months ending with or

23 within the taxable year.’’.

24 (3) CREDIT FOR WITHHELD AMOUNTS, ETC.—

25 Subsection (g) of section 6654 of such Code is
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1 amended by adding at the end the following new

2 paragraph:

3 ‘‘(3) CHILD SUPPORT.—For purposes of apply4 ing this section, the sum of—

5 ‘‘(A) amounts deducted and withheld

6 under State law for applicable child support ob7 ligations, and

8 ‘‘(B) amounts paid by the individual di9 rectly to the person to whom the obligation is

10 owed (or, if such person has assigned to a State

11 the right to collect the obligation, the State),

12 shall be deemed to be a payment of the amount de13 scribed in subsection (f)(3) on the date such

14 amounts were actually withheld or paid, as the case

15 may be.’’.

16 (d) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections

17 for chapter 77 of such Code is amended by adding at the

18 end thereof the following new item:

‘‘Sec. 7524. Reconciliation of child support obligation and payments on income tax return.’’.

19 (e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by

20 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after

21 December 31, 1995.
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1 TITLE II—ESTABLISHMENT

2 SEC. 201. SERVICE OF PROCESS ON FEDERAL EMPLOYEES

3 AND MEMBERS OF THE ARMED SERVICES IN

4 CONNECTION WITH PROCEEDINGS RELATING

5 TO CHILD SUPPORT AND PARENTAGE OBLI6 GATIONS.

7 Part D of title IV (42 U.S.C. 651–670) is amended

8 by inserting after section 460 the following:

9 ‘‘SEC. 460A. SERVICE OF PROCESS ON FEDERAL EMPLOY10 EES AND MEMBERS OF THE ARMED SERV11 ICES IN CONNECTION WITH PROCEEDINGS

12 RELATING TO CHILD SUPPORT AND PARENT13 AGE OBLIGATIONS.

14 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The head of each Government

15 agency shall, in accordance with applicable regulations

16 under subsection (b), designate an agent for receipt of

17 service of process, for any Federal employee or member

18 of the Armed Forces serving in or under such agency, in

19 connection with an action, brought in a court of competent

20 jurisdiction within any State, territory, or possession of

21 the United States, for obtaining a child support order or

22 for establishing parentage.

23 ‘‘(b) REGULATIONS.—Regulations governing the im24 plementation of this section with respect to the executive,

25 legislative, or judicial branch of the Government shall be
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1 promulgated by the authority or authorities responsible

2 for promulgating regulations under section 461 with re3 spect to the branch of Government involved.

4 ‘‘(c) INTERPRETIVE RULE.—This section shall not be

5 construed to prevent any otherwise eligible individual from

6 requesting or being granted a stay or continuance in any

7 judicial proceeding, including under the Soldiers’ and Sail8 ors’ Civil Relief Act of 1940.

9 ‘‘(d) GOVERNMENT AGENCY DEFINED.—For pur10 poses of this section, the term ‘Government agency’ means

11 each agency of the Federal Government, including—

12 ‘‘(1) an Executive agency (as defined by section

13 105 of title 5, United States Code);

14 ‘‘(2) the Department of Defense, to the extent

15 that any Federal employee serving in or under that

16 agency or any member of the armed services is in17 volved;

18 ‘‘(3) the United States Postal Service and the

19 Postal Rate Commission;

20 ‘‘(4) the government of the District of Colum21 bia;

22 ‘‘(5) an agency within the legislative or judicial

23 branch of the Government; and

24 ‘‘(6) an advisory committee to which the Fed25 eral Advisory Committee Act applies.’’.
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1 SEC. 202. PRESUMED ADDRESS OF OBLIGOR AND OBLIGEE.

2 Section 466(a) (42 U.S.C. 666(a)), as amended by

3 section 104 of this Act, is amended by inserting after

4 paragraph (13) the following:

5 ‘‘(14) Procedures under which the State shall—

6 ‘‘(A) require the court or administrative

7 agency with authority to issue the final order in

8 a child support or parentage case to require

9 each party subject to the order to file with the

10 court or administrative agency, on or before the

11 date the order is issued—

12 ‘‘(i) the party’s residential address or

13 addresses;

14 ‘‘(ii) the party’s mailing address or

15 addresses;

16 ‘‘(iii) the party’s home telephone num17 ber or numbers;

18 ‘‘(iv) the party’s driver’s license num19 ber;

20 ‘‘(v) the party’s social security ac21 count number;

22 ‘‘(vi) the name of each employer of

23 the party;

24 ‘‘(vii) the addresses of each place of

25 employment of the party; and
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1 ‘‘(viii) the party’s work telephone

2 number or numbers;

3 ‘‘(B) require the court or administrative

4 agency in any action related to child support to

5 presume, for the purpose of providing sufficient

6 notice (other than the initial notice in an action

7 to establish parentage or a child support order),

8 that the noncustodial parent resides at the last

9 residential address given by the noncustodial

10 parent to the court or agency; and

11 ‘‘(C) ensure that information concerning

12 the location of a custodial parent or a child of

13 the custodial parent is not released to a

14 noncustodial parent if a court order has been

15 issued against the noncustodial parent for the

16 physical protection of the custodial parent or

17 the child.’’.

18 SEC. 203. FAIR CREDIT REPORTING ACT AMENDMENT.

19 Section 604 of the Consumer Credit Protection Act

20 (15 U.S.C. 1681b) is amended by adding at the end the

21 following:

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

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

24 establish or modify a child support award.’’.
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1 SEC. 204. NATIONAL CHILD SUPPORT GUIDELINE COMMIS2 SION.

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

4 commission to be known as the National Child Support

5 Guidelines Commission (in this section referred to as the

6 ‘‘Commission’’).

7 (b) GENERAL DUTIES.—The Commission shall con8 vene a conference to study the desirability of a national

9 child support guideline, and if such guideline is advisable,

10 the Commission shall develop for congressional consider11 ation a national child support guideline that is based on

12 the conference’s study of various guideline models, the de13 ficiencies of such models and any needed improvements.

14 (c) MEMBERSHIP.—

15 (1) NUMBER; APPOINTMENT.—

16 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall

17 be composed of 9 individuals appointed jointly

18 by the Secretary of Health and Human Services

19 and the Congress, not later than January 15,

20 1995.

21 (B) QUALIFICATIONS OF MEMBERS.—

22 Members of the Commission shall be appointed

23 from among those who are able to provide ex24 pertise and experience in the evaluation and de25 velopment of child support guidelines. At least
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1 2 of the members shall represent parent child

2 support advocacy groups.

3 (2) TERMS OF OFFICE.—Each member shall be

4 appointed for a term of 1 year. A vacancy in the

5 Commission shall be filled in the manner in which

6 the original appointment was made.

7 (d) COMMISSION POWERS, COMPENSATION, ACCESS

8 TO INFORMATION, AND SUPERVISION.—The first sentence

9 of subparagraph (C), the first and third sentences of sub10 paragraph (D), subparagraph (F) (except with respect to

11 the conduct of medical studies), clauses (ii) and (iii) of

12 subparagraph (G), and subparagraph (H) of section

13 1886(e)(6) of the Social Security Act shall apply to the

14 Commission in the same manner in which such provisions

15 apply to the Prospective Payment Assessment Commis16 sion.

17 (e) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the ap18 pointment of members, the Commission shall report to the

19 President and the Congress on the results of the study

20 described in subsection (b) and the final assessment by

21 the Commission of issues relating to a national child sup22 port guideline.

23 (f) TERMINATION.—The Commission shall terminate

24 upon the submission of the report described in subsection

25 (e).
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1 SEC. 205. DURATION OF SUPPORT.

2 Section 466(a) (42 U.S.C. 666(a)), as amended by

3 sections 104 and 202 of this Act, is amended by inserting

4 after paragraph (14) the following:

5 ‘‘(15) Procedures under which the State—

6 ‘‘(A) imposes on 1 or both parents of a

7 child an obligation to continue to provide sup8 port for the child until not earlier than the later

9 of the date the child attains 18 years of age or

10 the date the child is graduated from or is no

11 longer enrolled in secondary school or its equiv12 alent, unless the child is married or is otherwise

13 emancipated by a court of competent jurisdic14 tion or by operation of State law;

15 ‘‘(B) provides that courts with jurisdiction

16 over child support cases may, in accordance

17 with criteria established by the State, order—

18 ‘‘(i) child support, payable to an adult

19 child, at least up to the age of 22 years for

20 a child enrolled in an accredited post21 secondary or vocational school or college

22 who is a student in good standing; and

23 ‘‘(ii) either or both parents to pay for

24 postsecondary school support based on

25 each parent’s financial ability to pay; and
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1 ‘‘(C) provides for child support to continue

2 beyond the child’s minority if the child is dis3 abled, unable to be self-supportive, and the dis4 ability arose during the child’s minority.’’.

5 SEC. 206. EVIDENCE.

6 Section 466(a) (42 U.S.C. 666(a)), as amended by

7 sections 104 and 205 of this Act, is amended by inserting

8 after paragraph (15) the following:

9 ‘‘(16) Procedures under which—

10 ‘‘(A) a certified copy of an out-of-State

11 order, decree, or judgment related to child sup12 port or parentage shall be admitted once of13 fered in the courts of the State if the order, de14 cree, or judgment is regular on its face; and

15 ‘‘(B) electronically transmitted information

16 and documents faxed to a court or administra17 tive agency that contain information related to

18 the amount of a child support obligation and

19 the terms of the order imposing the obligation

20 may be offered as evidence of the amount and

21 the terms, and electronically transmitted

22 records of payment of a child support agency

23 that are regular on their face shall be admissi24 ble as evidence in a child support or parentage
31

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1 proceeding to prove the truth of the matter as2 serted in the records.’’.

3 SEC. 207. TELEPHONIC APPEARANCE IN INTERSTATE

4 CASES.

5 Section 466(a) (42 U.S.C. 666(a)), as amended by

6 sections 104, 205, and 206 of this Act, is amended by

7 inserting after paragraph (16) the following:

8 ‘‘(17) Procedures under which the parties to an

9 interstate parentage or child support administrative

10 or judicial proceeding may appear and participate by

11 telephonic means in lieu of appearing personally.’’.

12 SEC. 208. UNIFORM TERMS IN ORDERS.

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 452(a) (42 U.S.C.

14 652(a)) is amended—

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

16 (9);

17 (2) by striking the period at the end of the 2nd

18 sentence of paragraph (10) and inserting ‘‘; and’’;

19 and

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

21 ‘‘(11) not later than 12 months after the date

22 of the enactment of this paragraph, develop, in con23 junction with State executive and judicial organiza24 tions, a uniform abstract of a child support order,

25 for use by all State courts to record, with respect to
32

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1 each child support order in the child support order

2 registry established under section 466(a)(12)—

3 ‘‘(A) the date support payments are to

4 begin under the order;

5 ‘‘(B) the circumstances upon which sup6 port payments are to end under the order;

7 ‘‘(C) the amount of child support payable

8 pursuant to the order expressed as a sum cer9 tain to be paid on a monthly basis, arrearages

10 expressed as a sum certain as of a certain date,

11 and any payback schedule for the arrearages;

12 ‘‘(D) whether the order awards support in

13 a lump sum (nonallocated) or per child;

14 ‘‘(E) if the award is in a lump sum, the

15 event causing a change in the support award

16 and the amount of any change;

17 ‘‘(F) other expenses covered by the order;

18 ‘‘(G) the names of the parents subject to

19 the order;

20 ‘‘(H) the social security account numbers

21 of the parents;

22 ‘‘(I) the name, date of birth, and social se23 curity account number (if any) of each child

24 covered by the order;
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1 ‘‘(J) the identification (FIPS code, name,

2 and address) of the court that issued the order;

3 ‘‘(K) any information on health care sup4 port required by the order; and

5 ‘‘(L) the party to contact if additional in6 formation is obtained.’’.

7 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by

8 subsection (a) shall take effect on the date of the enact9 ment of this Act.

10 SEC. 209. SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS ON MARRIAGE LI11 CENSES, DIVORCE DECREES, PARENTAGE DE12 CREES, AND BIRTH CERTIFICATES.

13 Section 466(a) (42 U.S.C. 666(a)), as amended by

14 sections 104, 205, 206, and 207 of this Act, is amended

15 by inserting after paragraph (17) the following:

16 ‘‘(18) Procedures under which the social secu17 rity account number (if any) of—

18 ‘‘(A) each individual applying for a mar19 riage license is to be listed by the individual’s

20 name on the license;

21 ‘‘(B) each party granted a divorce decree is

22 to be listed by the party’s name on the decree,

23 if any party to the decree is pregnant or a par24 ent;
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1 ‘‘(C) each individual determined to be a

2 parent of a child in an action to establish par3 entage is to be listed by the individual’s name

4 on the decree containing the determination; and

5 ‘‘(D) each parent of a child is to be listed

6 by the parent’s name on the child’s birth certifi7 cate, except that, if the State agency deter8 mines (in accordance with standards prescribed

9 by the Secretary which shall take into consider10 ation the best interests of the child) that there

11 is good cause for not so listing the social secu12 rity account number of a parent.’’.

13 SEC. 210. ADMINISTRATIVE SUBPOENA POWER.

14 Section 466(a) (42 U.S.C. 666(a)), as amended by

15 sections 104, 205, 206, 207, and 209 of this Act, is

16 amended by inserting after paragraph (18) the following:

17 ‘‘(19) Procedures under which the State child

18 support enforcement agency may issue a subpoena

19 which—

20 ‘‘(A) requires the individual served to

21 produce and deliver documents to, or to appear

22 at, a court or administrative agency on a cer23 tain date; and

24 ‘‘(B) penalizes an individual for failing to

25 comply with the subpoena.’’.
35

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1 SEC. 211. SUPPORT ORDERS OUTREACH AND DEMONSTRA2 TIONS.

3 (a) STATES REQUIRED TO CONDUCT SURVEYS OF

4 UNDERSERVED POPULATIONS.—

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Part D of title IV (42

6 U.S.C. 651–669) is amended by adding at the end

7 the following:

8 ‘‘SEC. 470. STATE SURVEYS OF UNDERSERVED POPU9 LATIONS.

10 ‘‘Each State, as a condition for having a State plan

11 approved under this part, must conduct surveys to identify

12 populations underserved by child support services, and de13 velop outreach programs to serve such populations in

14 places such as child care centers, parenting classes, pre15 natal classes, and unemployment offices.’’.

16 (2) FEDERAL FINANCIAL PARTICIPATION.—Sec17 tion 455(a)(1) (42 U.S.C. 655(a)(1)) is amended—

18 (A) in subparagraph (B), by striking

19 ‘‘and’’ at the end;

20 (B) in subparagraph (C) by adding ‘‘and’’

21 at the end; and

22 (C) by inserting after subparagraph (C)

23 the following:

24 ‘‘(D) equal to 90 percent of so much of the

25 sums expended during such quarter as are attrib-
36

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1 utable to operating programs described in section

2 470,’’.

3 (b) MATERIALS TO ASSIST PERSONS WITH LOW LIT4 ERACY LEVELS.—The Secretary of Health and Human

5 Services shall fund demonstration projects and technical

6 assistance grants to States to develop applications and in7 formational materials directed to individuals with low lit8 eracy levels or difficulties reading English.

9 (c) REVIEW OF WRITTEN MATERIALS.—The Sec10 retary of Health and Human Services shall review all writ11 ten materials provided to persons served by the Office of

12 Child Support Enforcement to ensure that any require13 ment contained in the materials is presented clearly and

14 in a manner that is easily understandable by such persons.

15 (d) DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS TO IMPROVE CO16 ORDINATION BETWEEN CERTAIN STATE PUBLIC ASSIST17 ANCE AGENCIES.—The Secretary of Health and Human

18 Services shall make grants to States to conduct dem19 onstration projects to test various methods for improving

20 the coordination of services and case processing between

21 the State agency referred to in section 402(a)(3) of the

22 Social Security Act and the State agency referred to in

23 section 454(3) of such Act.
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1 (e) REFERRAL OF CUSTODIAL PARENTS TO COMMU2 NITY RESOURCES TO COMBAT DOMESTIC VIOLENCE.—

3 Section 454 (42 U.S.C. 654) is amended—

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

5 (23);

6 (2) by striking the period at the end of para7 graph (24) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and

8 (3) by inserting after paragraph (24) the fol9 lowing:

10 ‘‘(25) provide that the agency administering the

11 plan must refer to appropriate community resources

12 custodial parents against whom or whose children vi13 olence has been threatened as a result of cooperation

14 with a State agency in establishing or enforcing a

15 child support order, in accordance with procedures

16 developed by the State to reduce the risk of violence,

17 such as exempting the custodial parent from any re18 quirement of face-to-face meetings with persons

19 other than from the agency.’’.

20 SEC. 212. HEALTH CARE SUPPORT.

21 (a) INCLUSION IN CHILD SUPPORT ORDERS.—

22 (1) STATE GUIDELINES.—Section 467 (42

23 U.S.C. 667) is amended by adding at the end the

24 following:
38

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1 ‘‘(d)(1) Not later than the beginning of the 9th cal2 endar month that begins after the date the Secretary pre3 scribes final regulations in accordance with paragraph (2),

4 each State, as a condition for having its State plan ap5 proved under this part, must establish guidelines for the

6 coverage of the health care costs of children pursuant to

7 child support orders issued or modified in the State, which

8 guidelines shall create a streamlined process that meets

9 the minimum standards established by the Secretary in

10 such regulations.

11 ‘‘(2)(A) The Secretary shall promulgate regulations

12 which set forth minimum standards that any set of guide13 lines established pursuant to paragraph (1) must meet in

14 providing for the coverage of the health care costs of chil15 dren pursuant to child support orders issued or modified

16 in the State, including—

17 ‘‘(i) the contents of such an order with respect

18 to the coverage of such costs;

19 ‘‘(ii) the distribution of responsibility for such

20 costs;

21 ‘‘(iii) to the extent that such costs are to be

22 covered through health insurance—

23 ‘‘(I) the provision of such insurance;

24 ‘‘(II) the payment of insurance claims; and
39

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1 ‘‘(III) the rights of the noncustodial parent

2 and the custodial parent to insurance informa3 tion;

4 ‘‘(iv) the circumstances under which a provider

5 of health insurance may or may not deny coverage

6 to a child who is the subject of such an order;

7 ‘‘(v) penalties to be imposed on providers of

8 health insurance who fail to comply with the guide9 lines; and

10 ‘‘(vi) how changes in the circumstances of the

11 noncustodial parent and the custodial parent are to

12 be taken into account with respect to the coverage

13 of such costs.

14 ‘‘(B) In developing such standards, the Secretary

15 shall ensure that, in establishing guidelines pursuant to

16 paragraph (1), the State considers the following matters

17 in the following order of importance:

18 ‘‘(i) The best interests of the child.

19 ‘‘(ii) The financial and other circumstances of

20 the parents of the child.

21 ‘‘(iii) Cost-effectiveness.

22 ‘‘(3) The preceding subsections of this section shall

23 apply in like manner to the guidelines established pursu24 ant to this subsection.’’.

25 (2) REGULATIONS.—
40

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1 (A) PROPOSED REGULATIONS.—Within 9

2 months after the date of the enactment of this

3 Act, the Secretary of Health and Human Serv4 ices shall issue proposed regulations to imple5 ment the amendments made by this subsection.

6 (B) FINAL REGULATIONS.—Within 14

7 months after the date of the enactment of this

8 Act, the Secretary of Health and Human Serv9 ices shall issue final regulations to implement

10 the amendments made by this subsection.

11 (b) INCLUSION IN INCENTIVE PAYMENTS PROGRAM

12 OF DEPENDENT HEALTH INSURANCE PROVIDED DUE TO

13 SUCCESSFUL ENFORCEMENT.—

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 458(b) (42 U.S.C.

15 658(b)) is amended by adding at the end the follow16 ing:

17 ‘‘(5)(A) For purposes of this section, the successful

18 enforcement by the State of a provision of a support order

19 requiring an absent parent to obtain health insurance for

20 1 or more children shall be considered the collection of

21 support from the absent parent, without regard to the

22 means by which such support is provided.

23 ‘‘(B) The amount of support collected in any case in

24 which the State successfully enforces a provision of a sup25 port order requiring an absent parent to obtain health in-
41

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1 surance for 1 or more children shall be the savings to the

2 State from the provision of such health insurance to such

3 children, as determined in accordance with a health insur4 ance savings methodology adopted by the State in accord5 ance with regulations prescribed by the Secretary.’’.

6 (2) REGULATIONS.—Within 6 months after the

7 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of

8 Health and Human Services shall prescribe such

9 regulations as may be necessary to implement the

10 amendment made by paragraph (1).

11 (3) STUDY; REPORT.—

12 (A) STUDY.—The Secretary of Health and

13 Human Services shall conduct a study to deter14 mine the incentives that should be provided to

15 encourage States to enforce obligations of

16 noncustodial parents to pay (and obtain medical

17 insurance coverage with respect to) the reason18 able and necessary health and dental expenses

19 of the children to whom the noncustodial par20 ents owe such obligations.

21 (B) REPORT.—Not later than 12 months

22 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the

23 Secretary of Health and Human Services shall

24 submit to the Committee on Ways and Means

25 of the House of Representatives and the Com-
42

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1 mittee on Finance of the Senate the results of

2 the study required by subparagraph (A).

3 SEC. 213. RULES GOVERNING MODIFICATION OF CHILD

4 SUPPORT ORDERS.

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

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

7 the following:

8 ‘‘§ 1738B. Rules governing modification of child sup9 port orders

10 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—A court of a State may not mod11 ify a child support order issued or modified with respect

12 to a child by a court of another State, unless—

13 ‘‘(1) the child does not reside in the other

14 State;

15 ‘‘(2) an individual who is a party to the order

16 (other than the party seeking modification of the

17 order) does not reside in the other State; or

18 ‘‘(3) all parties to the order have consented in

19 writing to the modification.

20 ‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section:

21 ‘‘(1) CHILD.—The term ‘child’ means an indi22 vidual for whom a child support order has been is23 sued pursuant to the laws of a State.

24 ‘‘(2) CHILD SUPPORT ORDER.—The term ‘child

25 support order’ means a judgment, decree, or order
43

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1 that requires child support (as defined in section

2 462(b) of the Social Security Act) to be provided

3 with respect to a child.

4 ‘‘(3) COURT.—The term ‘court’ means a court

5 or administrative agency of a State which is author6 ized by State law to establish or modify a child sup7 port order.

8 ‘‘(4) STATE.—The term ‘State’ means a State

9 of the United States, the District of Columbia, the

10 Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the territories and

11 possessions of the United States, and Indian country

12 as defined in section 1151 of title 18.’’.

13 TITLE III—PARENTAGE

14 SEC. 301. PATERNITY ESTABLISHMENT.

15 (a) STATE PLAN REQUIREMENTS.—Section 454 (42

16 U.S.C. 654), as amended by section 211(e) of this Act,

17 is amended—

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

19 (25);

20 (2) by striking the period at the end of para21 graph (26) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and

22 (3) by inserting after paragraph (26) the fol23 lowing:

24 ‘‘(27) in order to encourage voluntary paternity

25 acknowledgement, provide for—
44

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1 ‘‘(A) the development and distribution of

2 material at schools, hospitals, agencies admin3 istering the programs under part A of this title

4 and title XIX, prenatal health-care providers,

5 WIC programs, health departments, clinics, and

6 other appropriate locations that describe the

7 benefits and responsibilities of paternity estab8 lishment and the process by which paternity

9 services may be obtained,

10 ‘‘(B) outreach programs at hospitals and

11 birthing facilities and programs for prenatal

12 care, child birth, and parenting, and

13 ‘‘(C) the use of consent procedures.’’.

14 (b) REQUIRED PROCEDURES.—Section 466(a)(5)(C)

15 (42 U.S.C. 666(a)(5)(C)) is amended—

16 (1) by redesignating the 1st sentence as clause

17 (i)(I);

18 (2) by inserting after such clause the following:

19 ‘‘(II) Such procedures must provide that any

20 such explanation to a mother include the following

21 information:

22 ‘‘(aa) Signing a paternity acknowledgment

23 affidavit is voluntary.

24 ‘‘(bb) Once paternity of a child is estab25 lished, the father of the child has the right to
45

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1 seek custody of the child or visitation rights

2 with respect to the child.

3 ‘‘(cc) Once paternity of a child is estab4 lished, the mother of the child has the right to

5 seek from the father of the child financial and

6 medical support for the child.

7 ‘‘(dd) The effect that the courts of the

8 State will give to a signed paternity acknowl9 edgment affidavit.

10 ‘‘(III) Such procedures must provide that any

11 such explanation to a possible father include the fol12 lowing information:

13 ‘‘(aa) Signing a paternity acknowledgment

14 affidavit is voluntary.

15 ‘‘(bb) Genetic testing is available and will

16 be provided upon request.

17 ‘‘(cc) The policy of the State with respect

18 to payment for the cost of genetic testing.

19 ‘‘(dd) Once paternity of a child is estab20 lished, the father of the child has the right to

21 seek custody of the child or visitation rights

22 with respect to the child.

23 ‘‘(ee) Once paternity of a child is estab24 lished, the mother of the child has the right to
46

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1 seek from the father of the child financial and

2 medical support for the child.

3 ‘‘(ff) The effect that the courts of the

4 State will give to a signed paternity acknowl5 edgment affidavit.

6 ‘‘(IV) Such procedures must provide that the

7 information required to be provided under subclause

8 (II) or (III) must be provided—

9 ‘‘(aa) orally and in writing;

10 ‘‘(bb) where appropriate, in the language

11 of the individual to whom the information is re12 quired to be provided; and

13 ‘‘(cc) if the individual is blind or hearing14 impaired, in a manner accessible to the individ15 ual.’’;

16 (3) by indenting the 2nd sentence 2 ems and

17 redesignating such sentence as clause (ii); and

18 (4) by inserting after such clause (ii) the follow19 ing:

20 ‘‘(iii) Such procedures must require the State

21 agency responsible for maintaining birth records to

22 offer voluntary paternity establishment services.

23 ‘‘(iv) Such procedures must require the State to

24 use only the affidavit developed under section

25 452(a)(7) for the voluntary acknowledgment of pa-
47

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1 ternity, and to give full faith and credit to such an

2 affidavit signed in any other State.

3 ‘‘(v) The Secretary shall prescribe regulations

4 governing voluntary paternity establishment services

5 offered by entities other than hospitals, which shall

6 include a requirement that any State agency that

7 provides such services must use the same materials

8 used by, provide the personnel providing such serv9 ices with the same training provided by, and evalu10 ate the provision of such services in the same man11 ner as hospital-based voluntary paternity establish12 ment programs.’’.

13 (c) NATIONAL PATERNITY ACKNOWLEDGMENT AFFI14 DAVIT.—Section 452(a)(7) (42 U.S.C. 652(a)(7)) is

15 amended by inserting ‘‘, and develop an affidavit to be

16 used for the voluntary acknowledgment of paternity’’ be17 fore the semicolon.

18 (d) SIGNED PATERNITY ACKNOWLEDGMENT AFFIDA19 VIT CONCLUSIVELY PRESUMED TO ESTABLISH PATER20 NITY.—Section 466(a)(5)(D) (42 U.S.C. 666(a)(5)(D)) is

21 amended—

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

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

24 ‘‘(ii)(I) Such procedures shall provide that the

25 written voluntary acknowledgment of the paternity
48

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1 of a child shall, upon the expiration of the challenge

2 period, create a legal finding of paternity that has

3 the effect of a final judgment at law which can be

4 revised, or which can be set aside based on criteria

5 established by the State for setting aside judgments,

6 other than by reason of the minority of the person

7 who executed the acknowledgment—

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

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

10 court or administrative agency with which the

11 document containing the acknowledgment has

12 been filed within 5 business days after the expi13 ration of the challenge period issues an order

14 establishing such paternity.

15 ‘‘(II) As used in subclause (I), the term ‘chal16 lenge period’ means, with respect to an acknowledg17 ment of paternity—

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

19 date of the acknowledgment; or

20 ‘‘(bb) if the person who executed the ac21 knowledgment undergoes genetic testing within

22 30 days after the date of the acknowledgment,

23 the 30-day period that begins with the date the

24 person is notified of the results of the genetic

25 testing.’’.
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1 TITLE IV—ENFORCEMENT

2 SEC. 401. DIRECT WAGE WITHHOLDING.

3 (a) STATE LAW.—Section 466(b) (42 U.S.C. 666(b)),

4 as amended by section 104 of this Act, is amended by add5 ing at the end the following:

6 ‘‘(15)(A) Upon the issuance or modification by

7 a State court or administrative agency of an order

8 imposing a child support obligation on an individual,

9 the State shall transmit to any employer of the indi10 vidual a wage withholding order developed under

11 section 452(a)(12) directing the employer to with12 hold amounts from the wages of the individual pur13 suant to the order.

14 ‘‘(B) Any individual or entity engaged in com15 merce, as a condition of doing business in the State,

16 shall, on receipt of a wage withholding order devel17 oped under section 452(a)(12) that is regular on its

18 face and has been issued by a court of any State—

19 ‘‘(i) within 3 days after receipt of the

20 order, comply with the order;

21 ‘‘(ii) forward the amount withheld pursu22 ant to the order to the State or custodial parent

23 specified in the order; and

24 ‘‘(iii) keep records of the amounts so with25 held.
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1 ‘‘(C) Such an order may be served on the in2 come source directly or by first-class mail.

3 ‘‘(D) An individual or entity who complies with

4 such an order may not be held liable for wrongful

5 withholding of income from the employee subject to

6 the order.

7 ‘‘(E) The State shall impose a civil fine of

8 $1,000 on any individual or entity who receives such

9 an order, and fails to comply with the order within

10 10 days after receipt. The preceding sentence shall

11 not be construed to affect the authority of any court

12 to stay the effectiveness of the fine.

13 ‘‘(16) If the State transmits to an individual or

14 entity engaged in commerce in another State a wage

15 withholding order issued by the State with respect to

16 an employee of the individual or entity, and the indi17 vidual or entity contests or refuses to comply with

18 the order, the State shall send an informational copy

19 of the order to the registry established under sub20 section (a)(12) of such other State or of the State

21 from which the income of the employee is paid.

22 ‘‘(17) If an employee requests a hearing to con23 test wage withholding based on claim of a mistake

24 of fact, the hearing may be held in the State from

25 which the income is paid or in which the employee
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1 is employed, and, within 45 days after the income

2 source receives the withholding order, the entity con3 ducting the hearing must adjudicate the claim. The

4 State in which the hearing is held shall provide ap5 propriate services in cases enforced under the State

6 plan to ensure that the interests of the individual to

7 whom the withheld income is to be paid are ade8 quately represented.’’.

9 (b) UNIFORM WITHHOLDING ORDER.—Section

10 452(a) (42 U.S.C. 652(a)), as amended by section 208(a)

11 of this Act, is amended—

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

13 (10);

14 (2) by striking the period at the end of para15 graph (11) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and

16 (3) by inserting after paragraph (11) the fol17 lowing:

18 ‘‘(12) develop a uniform order to be used in all

19 cases in which income is to be withheld for the pay20 ment of child support, which shall contain the name

21 of the individual whose income is to be withheld, the

22 number of children covered by the order, and the in23 dividual or State to whom the withheld income is to

24 be paid, and be generic to allow for the service of

25 the order on all sources of income.’’.
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1 SEC. 402. PRIORITIES IN APPLICATION OF WITHHELD

2 WAGES.

3 Section 466(b) (42 U.S.C. 666(a)), as amended by

4 section 401(a) of this Act, is amended by inserting after

5 paragraph (13) the following:

6 ‘‘(14) Procedures under which the amounts

7 withheld pursuant to a child support or wage with8 holding order are to be applied in the following

9 order:

10 ‘‘(A) To payments of support due during

11 the month of withholding.

12 ‘‘(B) To payments of premiums for health

13 care insurance coverage for dependent children.

14 ‘‘(C) To payments of support due before

15 the month of withholding, and of unreimbursed

16 health-care expenses.’’.

17 SEC. 403. ADDITIONAL BENEFITS SUBJECT TO GARNISH18 MENT.

19 (a) FEDERAL DEATH BENEFITS, BLACK LUNG BEN20 EFITS, AND VETERANS BENEFITS.—Section 462(f)(2) (42

21 U.S.C. 662(f)(2)) is amended by striking ‘‘(not including’’

22 and all that follows through ‘‘compensation)’’.

23 (b) WORKERS’ COMPENSATION.—Section 462(f) (42

24 U.S.C. 662(f)) is amended—

25 (1) by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of paragraph

26 (1);
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1 (2) by striking the period at the end of para2 graph (2) and inserting ‘‘, or’’; and

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

4 ‘‘(3) workers’ compensation benefits.’’.

5 SEC. 404. CONSUMER CREDIT PROTECTION ACT AMEND6 MENTS.

7 (a) PREEMPTION OF STATE LAWS.—Section 307 of

8 the Consumer Credit Protection Act (15 U.S.C. 1677) is

9 amended—

10 (1) by striking ‘‘This’’ and inserting ‘‘(a) IN

11 GENERAL.—Subject to subsection (b), this’’;

12 (2) by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of paragraph

13 (1);

14 (3) by striking the period at the end of para15 graph (2) and inserting ‘‘, or’’; and

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

17 ‘‘(3) providing a cause of action, either by the

18 State or a private individual, to enforce a Federal or

19 State law related to garnishment for the purpose of

20 securing child support.

21 ‘‘(b) EXCEPTION.—Subsection (a)(1) shall not apply

22 to the laws of any State that prohibit or restrict garnish23 ments for the purpose of securing support for any per24 son.’’.
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1 (b) OTHER FORMS OF INCOME.—Title III of such

2 Act (15 U.S.C. 1671 et seq.) is amended by adding at

3 the end the following:

4 ‘‘SEC. 308. OTHER FORMS OF INCOME.

5 ‘‘This title does not apply to forms of income that

6 are not earnings within the definition contained in section

7 302(a).’’.

8 (c) PRIORITY OF DEBTS.—Title III of such Act (15

9 U.S.C. 1671 et seq.) is further amended by adding after

10 section 308, as added by subsection (b) of this section,

11 the following:

12 ‘‘SEC. 309. PRIORITY OF DEBTS.

13 ‘‘If an individual’s disposable earnings are not suffi14 cient to pay—

15 ‘‘(1) a garnishment intended to satisfy a debt

16 owed to the Federal Government; and

17 ‘‘(2) a garnishment intended to satisfy a debt

18 related to the support of any child,

19 the debt owed to the Federal Government shall be satisfied

20 through garnishment only after the debt related to child

21 support has first been satisfied.’’.

22 (d) ADDITIONAL INDEBTEDNESS IN ANTI-DIS23 CHARGE SECTION.—Section 304 of such Act (16 U.S.C.

24 1674) is amended—
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1 (1) by redesignating subsection (b) as sub2 section (c);

3 (2) in subsection (c) (as so redesignated) by

4 striking ‘‘subsection (a) of’’; and

5 (3) by inserting after subsection (a) the follow6 ing:

7 ‘‘(b) No employer may discharge any employee by

8 reason of the fact that the earnings of the employee have

9 been subjected to garnishment for more than one indebt10 edness, if not more than one indebtedness arises from a

11 debt other than an order for the support of a child.’’.

12 (e) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections

13 at the beginning of the title III of the Truth in Lending

14 Act (15 U.S.C. 1671 et seq.) is amended by adding at

15 the end the following:

‘‘308. Other forms of income.

‘‘309. Priority of debts.’’.

16 SEC. 405. PROHIBITION AGAINST USE OF ELECTION OF

17 REMEDIES DOCTRINE TO PREVENT COLLEC18 TION OF CHILD SUPPORT.

19 Section 466(a) (42 U.S.C. 666(a)), as amended by

20 sections 104, 205, 206, 207, 209, 210, and 212 of this

21 Act, is amended by inserting after paragraph (20) the fol22 lowing:

23 ‘‘(21) Procedures which prohibit any State

24 court from applying the doctrine of election of rem-
56

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1 edies to prevent a custodial parent from collecting or

2 seeking to collect child support from a noncustodial

3 parent.’’.

4 SEC. 406. HOLD ON OCCUPATIONAL, PROFESSIONAL, AND

5 BUSINESS LICENSES.

6 (a) STATE HOLD BASED ON WARRANT OR SUPPORT

7 DELINQUENCY.—Section 466(a) (42 U.S.C. 666(a)), as

8 amended by sections 104, 205, 206, 207, 209, 210, 212,

9 and 405 of this Act, is amended by inserting after para10 graph (21) the following:

11 ‘‘(22) Procedures under which the State occu12 pational licensing and regulating departments and

13 agencies may not issue or renew any occupational,

14 professional, or business license of—

15 ‘‘(A) a noncustodial parent who is the sub16 ject of an outstanding failure to appear war17 rant, capias, or bench warrant related to a child

18 support proceeding that appears on the State’s

19 crime information system, until removed from

20 the system; and

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

22 payment of child support, until the obligee or a

23 State prosecutor responsible for child support

24 enforcement consents to, or a court that is re25 sponsible for the order’s enforcement orders,
57

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1 the release of the hold on the license, or an ex2 pedited inquiry and review is completed while

3 the individual is granted a 60-day temporary li4 cense.’’.

5 (b) FEDERAL HOLD BASED ON SUPPORT DELIN6 QUENCY.—A Federal agency may not issue or renew any

7 occupational, professional, or business license of an indi8 vidual who is delinquent in the payment of child support,

9 until the obligee, the obligee’s attorney or a State prosecu10 tor responsible for child support enforcement consents to,

11 or a court that is responsible for the order’s enforcement

12 orders, the release of the hold on the license, or an expe13 dited inquiry and review is completed while the individual

14 is granted a 60-day temporary license.

15 SEC. 407. DRIVER’S LICENSES AND VEHICLE REGISTRA16 TIONS DENIED TO PERSONS FAILING TO AP17 PEAR IN CHILD SUPPORT CASES.

18 Section 466(a) (42 U.S.C. 666(a)), as amended by

19 sections 104, 205, 206, 207, 209, 210, 212, 405, and

20 406(a) of this Act, is amended by inserting after para21 graph (22) the following:

22 ‘‘(23) Procedures under which the State motor

23 vehicle department—

24 ‘‘(A) may not issue or renew the driver’s li25 cense or any vehicle registration (other than
58

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1 temporary) of any noncustodial parent who is

2 the subject of an outstanding failure to appear

3 warrant, capias, or bench warrant related to a

4 child support proceeding that appears on the

5 State’s crime information system, until removed

6 from the system;

7 ‘‘(B) upon receiving notice that an individ8 ual to whom a State driver’s license or vehicle

9 registration has been issued is the subject of a

10 warrant related to a child support proceeding,

11 shall issue a show cause order to the individual

12 requesting the individual to demonstrate why

13 the individual’s driver’s license or vehicle reg14 istration should not be suspended until the war15 rant is removed by the State responsible for is16 suing the warrant; and

17 ‘‘(C) in any case in which a show cause

18 order has been issued as described in subpara19 graph (B), may grant a temporary license or

20 vehicle registration to the individual pending

21 the show cause hearing or the removal of the

22 warrant, whichever occurs first.’’.

23 SEC. 408. LIENS ON CERTIFICATES OF VEHICLE TITLE.

24 Section 466(a) (42 U.S.C. 666(a)), as amended by

25 sections 104, 205, 206, 207, 209, 210, 212, 405, 406(a),
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1 and 407 of this Act, is amended by inserting after para2 graph (23) the following:

3 ‘‘(24) Procedures under which the State shall

4 systematically place liens on vehicle titles for child

5 support arrearages determined under a court order

6 or an order of an administrative process established

7 under State law, using a method for updating the

8 value of the lien on a regular basis or allowing for

9 an expedited inquiry to and response from a govern10 mental payee for proof of the amount of arrears,

11 with an expedited method for the titleholder or the

12 individual owing the arrearage to contest the arrear13 age or to request a release upon fulfilling the sup14 port obligation, and under which such a lien has

15 precedence over all other encumbrances on a vehicle

16 title other than a purchase money security interest,

17 and that the individual owed the arrearage may exe18 cute on, seize, and sell the property in accordance

19 with State law.’’.

20 SEC. 409. ATTACHMENT OF BANK ACCOUNTS.

21 Section 466(a) (42 U.S.C. 666(a)), as amended by

22 sections 104, 205, 206, 207, 209, 210, 212, 405, 406(a),

23 407, and 408 of this Act, is amended by inserting after

24 paragraph (24) the following:

25 ‘‘(25) Procedures under which—
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1 ‘‘(A) amounts on deposit in a bank account

2 may be seized to satisfy child support arrear3 ages determined under a court order or an

4 order of an administrative process established

5 under State law, solely through an administra6 tive process, pending notice to and an expedited

7 opportunity to be heard from the account hold8 er or holders; and

9 ‘‘(B) if the account holder or holders fail

10 to successfully challenge the seizure (as deter11 mined under State law), the bank may be re12 quired to pay from the account to the entity

13 with the right to collect the arrearage the lesser

14 of—

15 ‘‘(i) the amount of the arrearage; or

16 ‘‘(ii) the amount on deposit in the ac17 count.’’.

18 SEC. 410. SEIZURE OF LOTTERY WINNINGS, SETTLEMENTS,

19 PAYOUTS, AWARDS, AND BEQUESTS, AND

20 SALE OF FORFEITED PROPERTY, TO PAY

21 CHILD SUPPORT ARREARAGES.

22 Section 466(a) (42 U.S.C. 666(a)), as amended by

23 sections 104, 205, 206, 207, 209, 210, 212, 405, 406(a),

24 407, 408, and 409 of this Act, is amended by inserting

25 after paragraph (25) the following:
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1 ‘‘(26) Procedures, in addition to other income

2 withholding procedures, under which a lien is im3 posed against property with the following effect:

4 ‘‘(A) The distributor of the winnings from

5 a State lottery or State-sanctioned or tribal6 sanctioned gambling house or casino shall—

7 ‘‘(i) suspend payment of the winnings

8 from the person otherwise entitled to the

9 payment until an inquiry is made to and a

10 response is received from the State child

11 support enforcement agency as to whether

12 the person owes a child support arrearage;

13 and

14 ‘‘(ii) if there is such an arrearage,

15 withhold from the payment the lesser of

16 the amount of the payment or the amount

17 of the arrearage, and pay the amount with18 held to the agency for distribution.

19 ‘‘(B) The person required to make a pay20 ment under a policy of insurance or a settle21 ment of a claim made with respect to the policy

22 shall—

23 ‘‘(i) suspend the payment until an in24 quiry is made to and a response received

25 from the agency as to whether the person
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1 otherwise entitled to the payment owes a

2 child support arrearage; and

3 ‘‘(ii) if there is such an arrearage,

4 withhold from the payment the lesser of

5 the amount of the payment or the amount

6 of the arrearage, and pay the amount with7 held to the agency for distribution.

8 ‘‘(C) The payor of any amount pursuant to

9 an award, judgment, or settlement in any ac10 tion brought in Federal or State court shall—

11 ‘‘(i) suspend the payment of the

12 amount until an inquiry is made to and a

13 response is received from the agency as to

14 whether the person otherwise entitled to

15 the payment owes a child support arrear16 age; and

17 ‘‘(ii) if there is such an arrearage,

18 withhold from the payment the lesser of

19 the amount of the payment or the amount

20 of the arrearage, and pay the amount with21 held to the agency for distribution.

22 ‘‘(D) If the State seizes property forfeited

23 to the State by an individual by reason of a

24 criminal conviction, the State shall—
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1 ‘‘(i) hold the property until an inquiry

2 is made to and a response is received from

3 the agency as to whether the individual

4 owes a child support arrearage; and

5 ‘‘(ii) if there is such an arrearage, sell

6 the property and, after satisfying the

7 claims of all other private or public claim8 ants to the property and deducting from

9 the proceeds of the sale the attendant costs

10 (such as for towing, storage, and the sale),

11 pay the lesser of the remaining proceeds or

12 the amount of the arrearage directly to the

13 agency for distribution.

14 ‘‘(E) Any person required to make a pay15 ment in respect of a decedent shall—

16 ‘‘(i) suspend the payment until an in17 quiry is made to and a response received

18 from the agency as to whether the person

19 otherwise entitled to the payment owes a

20 child support arrearage; and

21 ‘‘(ii) if there is such an arrearage,

22 withhold from the payment the lesser of

23 the amount of the payment or the amount

24 of the arrearage, and pay the amount with25 held to the agency for distribution.’’.
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1 SEC. 411. FRAUDULENT TRANSFER PURSUIT.

2 Section 466(a) (42 U.S.C. 666(a)), as amended by

3 sections 104, 205, 206, 207, 209, 210, 212, 405, 406(a),

4 407, 408, 409, and 410 of this Act, is amended by insert5 ing after paragraph (26) the following:

6 ‘‘(27) 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. 412. FULL IRS COLLECTION.

13 The Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with

14 the Secretary of Health and Human Services, shall by reg15 ulation simplify the full collection process under section

16 6305 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and reduce

17 the amount of child support arrearage needed before an

18 individual may apply for collection under such section.

19 SEC. 413. TAX REFUND OFFSET PROGRAM EXPANDED TO

20 COVER NON-AFDC POST-MINOR CHILDREN.

21 Section 464(c) (42 U.S.C. 664(c)) is amended—

22 (1) by striking ‘‘(1) Except as provided in para23 graph (2), as’’ and inserting ‘‘As’’;

24 (2) by inserting ‘‘(whether or not a minor)’’

25 after ‘‘a child’’ each place such term appears; and

26 (3) by striking paragraphs (2) and (3).
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1 SEC. 414. ATTACHMENT OF PUBLIC AND PRIVATE RETIRE2 MENT FUNDS.

3 Section 466(a) (42 U.S.C. 666(a)), as amended by

4 sections 104, 205, 206, 207, 209, 210, 212, 405, 406(a),

5 407, 408, 409, 410, and 411 of this Act, is amended by

6 inserting after paragraph (27) the following:

7 ‘‘(28) Procedures under which an individual

8 owed a child support arrearage (determined under a

9 court order or an order of an administrative process

10 established under State law) may, notwithstanding

11 section 401(a)(13) of the Internal Revenue Code of

12 1986, attach any interest in any public or private re13 tirement plan of the individual who owes the sup14 port, without the requirement of a separate court

15 order, and with notice and an expedited hearing pro16 vided if requested by the individual who owes the

17 support.’’.

18 SEC. 415. REPORTING OF CHILD SUPPORT ARREARAGES TO

19 CREDIT BUREAUS.

20 Section 466(a)(7)(A) (42 U.S.C. 666(a)(7)(A)) is

21 amended by striking ‘‘$1,000’’ and inserting ‘‘the amount

22 of the monthly support obligation’’.

23 SEC. 416. ELIMINATION OF STATUTES OF LIMITATIONS IN

24 CHILD SUPPORT CASES.

25 Section 466(a) (42 U.S.C. 666(a)), as amended by

26 sections 104, 205, 206, 207, 209, 210, 212, 405, 406(a),
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1 407, 408, 409, 410, 411, and 414 of this Act, is amended

2 by inserting after paragraph (28) the following:

3 ‘‘(29) Procedures which ensure that there is no

4 limit to the period in which any court order, or order

5 of an administrative process established under State

6 law, for support or maintenance of a child, may be

7 enforced.’’.

8 SEC. 417. INTEREST.

9 Section 466(a) (42 U.S.C. 666(a)), as amended by

10 sections 104, 205, 206, 207, 209, 210, 212, 405, 406(a),

11 407, 408, 409, 410, 411, 414, and 416 of this Act, is

12 amended by inserting after paragraph (29) the following:

13 ‘‘(30) Procedures under which the State child

14 support enforcement agency must assess and collect

15 interest on all child support judgments, at the rate

16 determined for interest on money judgments, in ad17 dition to any late payment fee imposed by the State

18 under section 454(21).’’.

19 SEC. 418. BANKRUPTCY.

20 (a) DEFINITION.—Section 101 of title 11, United

21 States Code, is amended by inserting after paragraph (12)

22 the following:

23 ‘‘(12A) ‘debt for child support’ means a debt of

24 a kind specified in section 523(a)(5) of this title for

25 maintenance or support of a child of the debtor;’’.
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1 (b) EXCEPTION FROM AUTOMATIC STAY.—Section

2 362(b) of title 11, United States Code, is amended—

3 (1) by inserting ‘‘(A)’’ after ‘‘(2);

4 (2) by inserting ‘‘or’’ after the semicolon; and

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

6 ‘‘(B) under subsection (a) of the commence7 ment or continuation of a civil action or administra8 tive proceeding against the debtor—

9 ‘‘(i) to establish parentage;

10 ‘‘(ii) to establish, review, adjust, or modify

11 a judgment or order creating a debt for child

12 support; or

13 ‘‘(iii) to enforce such judgment or order to

14 collect a debt for child support;’’.

15 (c) TREATMENT OF DEBT FOR CHILD SUPPORT IN

16 PROCEEDINGS UNDER CHAPTERS 11, 12, AND 13.—

17 (1) CHAPTER 11.—Section 1123(a) of title 11,

18 United States Code, is amended—

19 (A) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of para20 graph (6);

21 (B) by striking the period at the end of

22 paragraph (7) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and

23 (C) by adding at the end the following:

24 ‘‘(8) provide for the full payment when due of

25 debts for child support unless the parent with cus-
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1 tody, or the guardian, of the child agrees other2 wise.’’.

3 (2) CHAPTER 12.—Section 1222(a) of title 11,

4 United States Code, is amended—

5 (A) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of para6 graph (2);

7 (B) by striking the period at the end of

8 paragraph (3) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and

9 (C) by adding at the end the following:

10 ‘‘(4) provide for the full payment when due of

11 debts for child support unless the parent with cus12 tody, or the guardian, of the child agrees other13 wise.’’.

14 (3) CHAPTER 13.—Section 1322(a) of title 11,

15 United States Code, is amended—

16 (A) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of para17 graph (2);

18 (B) by striking the period at the end of

19 paragraph (3) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and

20 (C) by adding at the end the following:

21 ‘‘(4) provide for the full payment when due of

22 debts for child support unless the parent with cus23 tody, or the guardian, of the child agrees other24 wise.’’.
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1 (d) ASSERTION OF CLAIM FOR CHILD SUPPORT.—

2 Subchapter I of chapter 5 of title 11, United States Code,

3 is amended by adding at the end the following:

4 ‘‘§ 511. Assertion of claim for child support

5 ‘‘(a) FEE.—No fee shall be charged for filing of claim

6 for a debt for child support.

7 ‘‘(b) REQUIREMENTS FOR APPEARANCE.—A claim

8 for a debt for child support may be made in any court

9 by an individual appearing—

10 ‘‘(1) personally; or

11 ‘‘(2) through an attorney admitted to practice

12 in any district court of the United States, without

13 the attorney’s being required to meet any admission

14 requirements other than those applicable in the judi15 cial district of the United States in which the attor16 ney is admitted to practice.’’.

17 (e) CLARIFICATION OF THE NONDISCHARGEABILITY

18 OF STATE PUBLIC DEBTS AND ASSIGNED CHILD SUP19 PORT BASED ON THE PROVISION OF EXPENDITURES

20 UNDER PARTS A AND E OF TITLE IV OF THE SOCIAL

21 SECURITY ACT.—Section 523 of title 11, United States

22 Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:

23 ‘‘(f) For the purposes of subsection (a)(5), a debt to

24 a child of the debtor for maintenance for or support of

25 the child includes State public debts and assigned child
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1 support based on the provision of expenditures under

2 parts A and E of title IV of the Social Security Act.’’.

3 (f) PRIORITY OF CLAIMS.—(1) Section 507 of title

4 11, United States Code, is amended—

5 (A) in subsection (a)—

6 (i) in paragraph (8) by striking ‘‘(8)

7 Eighth’’ and inserting ‘‘(9) Ninth’’,

8 (ii) in paragraph (7) by striking ‘‘(7) Sev9 enth’’ and inserting ‘‘(8) Eighth’’, and

10 (iii) by inserting after paragraph (6) the

11 following:

12 ‘‘(7) Seventh, allowed unsecured claims due to

13 a spouse, former spouse, or child of the debtor for

14 maintenance for or support of a child, in connection

15 with a separation agreement, divorce decree, or

16 other order of a court of record, a determination

17 made in accordance with State or territorial law by

18 a governmental unit, or a property settlement agree19 ment, but not to the extent that—

20 ‘‘(A) such debt is assigned to another en21 tity, voluntarily, by operation of law, or other22 wise (other than debts assigned pursuant to

23 section 402(a)(26) of the Social Security Act,

24 or any such debt which has been assigned to
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1 the Federal Government or to a State or any

2 political subdivision of such State); or

3 ‘‘(B) such debt includes a liability des4 ignated as maintenance or support unless such

5 liability is actually in the nature of maintenance

6 or support;’’, and

7 (B) in subsection (d) by striking ‘‘or (6)’’ and

8 inserting ‘‘(6), or (7)’’.

9 (2) Title 11 of the United States Code is amended—

10 (A) in sections 502(i), 503(b)(1)(B)(i),

11 523(a)(1)(A), and 1123(a)(1) by striking

12 ‘‘507(a)(7)’’ and inserting ‘‘507(a)(8)’’,

13 (B) in section 724(b)(2) by striking ‘‘or

14 507(a)(6)’’ and inserting ‘‘507(a)(6), or 507(a)(7)’’,

15 (C) in section 726(b) by striking ‘‘or (7)’’ and

16 inserting ‘‘, (7), or (8)’’, and

17 (D) in section 1129(a)(9)—

18 (i) in subparagraph (B) by striking ‘‘or

19 507(a)(6)’’ and inserting ‘‘, 507(a)(6), or

20 507(a)(7)’’, and

21 (ii) in subparagraph (C) by striking

22 ‘‘507(a)(7)’’ and inserting ‘‘507(a)(8)’’.

23 (g) PROTECTION OF LIENS.—Section 522(f)(1) of

24 title 11, United States Code, is amended to read as fol25 lows:
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1 ‘‘(1) a judicial lien (other than a judicial lien

2 that secures a debt to a spouse, former spouse, or

3 child of the debtor for maintenance for or support

4 of a child, in connection with a separation agree5 ment, divorce decree or other order of a court of

6 record, determination made in accordance with State

7 or territorial law by a governmental unit, or prop8 erty settlement agreement, to the extent that the

9 debt—

10 ‘‘(A) is not assigned to another entity, vol11 untarily, by operation of law, or otherwise; and

12 ‘‘(B) includes a liability designated as

13 maintenance or support, unless such liability is

14 actually in the nature of maintenance or sup15 port).’’.

16 (h) EXCEPTION TO DISCHARGE.—Section 523 of title

17 11, United States Code, is amended—

18 (1) in subsection (a)—

19 (A) in paragraph (11) by striking ‘‘or’’ at

20 the end,

21 (B) in paragraph (12) by inserting ‘‘or’’

22 after the semicolon at the end, and

23 (C) by adding at the end the following:

24 ‘‘(13) assumed or incurred by the debtor in the

25 course of a divorce or separation or in connection
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1 with a separation agreement, divorce decree or other

2 order of a court of record, a determination made in

3 accordance with State or territorial law by a govern4 mental unit, or property settlement agreement, un5 less—

6 ‘‘(A) excepting such debt from discharge

7 under this paragraph would impose an undue

8 hardship for the debtor; and

9 ‘‘(B) discharging such debt would result in

10 a benefit to the debtor that outweighs the det11 rimental consequences to a child of the debt12 or.’’, and

13 (2) in subsection (c)(1) by striking ‘‘or (6)’’

14 each place it appears and inserting ‘‘, or (13)’’.

15 (i) PROTECTION AGAINST TRUSTEE AVOIDANCE.—

16 Section 547(c) of title 11, United States Code, is amend17 ed—

18 (1) by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of para19 graph (6);

20 (2) by redesignating paragraph (7) as

21 paragraph (8); and

22 (3) by inserting after paragraph (6) the

23 following new paragraph:

24 ‘‘(7) to the extent that the transfer was a bona

25 fide payment of a debt to a spouse, former spouse,
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1 or child of the debtor for maintenance for or support

2 of such child, in connection with a separation agree3 ment, divorce decree or other order of a court of

4 record, determination made in accordance with State

5 or territorial law by a governmental unit, or prop6 erty settlement agreement, but not to the extent that

7 such debt—

8 ‘‘(A) is assigned to another entity, volun9 tarily, by operation of law, or otherwise; or

10 ‘‘(B) includes a liability designated as

11 maintenance or support, unless such liability is

12 actually in the nature of maintenance or sup13 port; or’’.

14 SEC. 419. FEDERAL GOVERNMENT COOPERATION IN EN15 FORCEMENT OF SUPPORT OBLIGATIONS OF

16 MEMBERS AND FORMER MEMBERS OF THE

17 ARMED FORCES.

18 (a) AVAILABILITY OF CURRENT LOCATOR INFORMA19 TION.—

20 (1) MAINTENANCE OF ADDRESS INFORMA21 TION.—Each worldwide personnel locator service of

22 the Armed Forces and each personnel locator service

23 of the Armed Forces maintained for a military in24 stallation shall include the residential address of

25 each member of the Armed Forces listed in such
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1 service. Within 30 days after a change of duty sta2 tion or residential address of a member listed in a

3 locator service, the Secretary concerned shall update

4 the locator service to indicate the new residential ad5 dress of the member.

6 (2) AVAILABILITY OF INFORMATION.—The Sec7 retary of Defense shall prescribe regulations to make

8 information regarding the residential address of a

9 member of the Armed Forces available, on request,

10 to any authorized person for the purposes of part D

11 of title IV of the Social Security Act.

12 (3) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this sub13 section:

14 (A) The term ‘‘authorized person’’ has the

15 meaning given that term in section 453(c) of

16 the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 653(c)).

17 (B) The term ‘‘Secretary concerned’’ has

18 the meaning given that term in section

19 101(a)(9) of title 10, United States Code.

20 (b) FACILITATING THE GRANTING OF LEAVE FOR

21 ATTENDANCE AT HEARINGS.—

22 (1) REGULATIONS REQUIRED.—The Secretary

23 concerned shall prescribe regulations to facilitate the

24 granting of a leave of absence to a member of the

25 Armed Forces under the jurisdiction of that Sec-
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1 retary when necessary for the member to attend a

2 hearing of a court that is conducted in connection

3 with a civil action—

4 (A) to determine whether the member is a

5 natural parent of a child; or

6 (B) to determine an obligation of the mem7 ber to provide child support.

8 (2) WAIVER AUTHORITY.—The regulations pre9 scribed under paragraph (1) may authorize a waiver

10 of the applicability of the regulations to a member

11 of the Armed Forces when—

12 (A) the member is serving in an area of

13 combat operations; or

14 (B) such a waiver is otherwise necessary in

15 the national security interest of the United

16 States.

17 (3) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this sub18 section:

19 (A) The term ‘‘court’’ has the meaning

20 given that term in section 1408(a) of title 10,

21 United States Code.

22 (B) The term ‘‘child support’’ has the

23 meaning given such term in section 462 of the

24 Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 662).
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1 (C) The term ‘‘Secretary concerned’’ has

2 the meaning given that term in section

3 101(a)(9) of title 10, United States Code.

4 (c) PAYMENT OF MILITARY RETIRED PAY IN COM5 PLIANCE WITH COURT ORDERS.—

6 (1) DATE OF CERTIFICATION OF COURT

7 ORDER.—Section 1408 of title 10, United States

8 Code, is amended—

9 (A) by redesignating subsection (i) as sub10 section (j); and

11 (B) by inserting after subsection (h) the

12 following new subsection:

13 ‘‘(i) CERTIFICATION DATE.—It is not necessary that

14 the date of a certification of the authenticity or complete15 ness of a copy of a court order for child support received

16 by the Secretary concerned for the purposes of this section

17 be recent in relation to the date of receipt.’’.

18 (2) PAYMENTS CONSISTENT WITH ASSIGN19 MENTS OF RIGHTS TO STATES.—

20 (A) AUTHORITY.—Subsection (d)(1) of

21 such section is amended by inserting after the

22 first sentence the following: ‘‘In the case of a

23 spouse or former spouse who, pursuant to sec24 tion 402(a)(26) of the Social Security Act (42

25 U.S.C. 602(26)), assigns to a State the rights
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1 of the spouse or former spouse to receive sup2 port, the Secretary concerned may make the

3 child support payments referred to in the pre4 ceding sentence to that State in amounts con5 sistent with the assignment of rights.’’.

6 (B) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Subsection

7 (c)(2) of such section is amended—

8 (i) by inserting after the first sentence

9 the following: ‘‘The second sentence of sub10 section (d)(1) shall not be construed to

11 create any such right, title, or interest.’’;

12 (ii) by inserting ‘‘(A)’’ after ‘‘(2)’’;

13 and

14 (iii) by designating the last sentence

15 as subparagraph (B) and conforming the

16 margins accordingly.

17 (3) ARREARAGES OWED BY MEMBERS OF THE

18 UNIFORMED SERVICES.—Part D of title IV (42

19 U.S.C. 651–669) is amended by inserting after sec20 tion 465 the following:

21 ‘‘SEC. 465A. PAYMENT OF CHILD SUPPORT ARREARAGES

22 OWED BY MEMBERS OF THE UNIFORMED

23 SERVICES.

24 ‘‘Any authority, requirement, or procedure provided

25 in this part or section 1408 of title 10, United States
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1 Code, that applies to the payment of child support owed

2 by a member of the uniformed services (as defined in sec3 tion 101 of title 37, United States Code) shall apply to

4 the payment of child support arrearages as well as to

5 amounts of child support that are currently due.’’.

6 SEC. 420. STATES REQUIRED TO ENACT THE UNIFORM

7 INTERSTATE FAMILY SUPPORT ACT.

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 466 (42 U.S.C. 666) is

9 amended by adding at the end the following:

10 ‘‘(f) In order to satisfy section 454(20)(A), each

11 State must have in effect laws which adopt the officially

12 approved version of the Uniform Interstate Family Sup13 port Act adopted by the National Conference of Commis14 sioners on Uniform State Laws in August 1992.’’.

15 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by

16 subsection (a) shall apply to payments under part D of

17 title IV of the Social Security Act for calendar quarters

18 ending 2 or more years after the date of the enactment

19 of this Act.

20 SEC. 421. DENIAL OF PASSPORTS TO NONCUSTODIAL PAR21 ENTS SUBJECT TO STATE ARREST WARRANTS

22 IN CASES OF NONPAYMENT OF CHILD SUP23 PORT.

24 The Secretary of State is authorized to refuse a pass25 port or revoke, restrict, or limit a passport in any case
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1 in which the Secretary of State determines or is informed

2 by competent authority that the applicant or passport

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

4 outstanding State warrant of arrest for nonpayment of

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

6 than $10,000.

7 SEC. 422. DENIAL OF FEDERAL BENEFITS, LOANS, GUARAN8 TEES, AND EMPLOYMENT TO CERTAIN PER9 SONS WITH LARGE CHILD SUPPORT ARREAR10 AGES.

11 (a) BENEFITS, LOANS, AND GUARANTEES.—Not12 withstanding any other provision of law, each agency or

13 instrumentality of the Federal Government may not,

14 under any program that the agency or instrumentality su15 pervises or administers, provide a benefit to, make a loan

16 to, or provide any guarantee for the benefit of, any per17 son—

18 (1) whose child support arrearages, determined

19 under a court order or an order of an administrative

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

21 and

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

23 agreement to repay the arrearages.

24 (b) EMPLOYMENT.—
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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other

2 provision of law, an individual shall be considered in3 eligible to accept employment in a position in the

4 Federal Government if—

5 (A) such individual has child support ar6 rearages, determined under a court order or an

7 order of an administrative process established

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

9 (B) such individual is not in compliance

10 with a plan or agreement to repay the arrear11 ages.

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 of the So4 cial Security Act.

5 SEC. 423. STATES REQUIRED TO ORDER COURTS TO ALLOW

6 ASSIGNMENT OF LIFE INSURANCE BENEFITS

7 TO SATISFY CHILD SUPPORT ARREARAGES.

8 Section 466(a) (42 U.S.C. 666(a)), as amended by

9 sections 104, 205, 206, 207, 209, 210, 212, 405, 406(a),

10 407, 408, 409, 410, 411, 414, 416, and 417 of this Act,

11 is amended by inserting after paragraph (30) the follow12 ing:

13 ‘‘(31) Procedures allowing State courts to—

14 ‘‘(A) order the issuer of a life insurance

15 policy to change the beneficiary provisions of

16 the policy to effect an assignment of the bene17 fits payable to a beneficiary under the policy, in

18 whole or in part, to a child to satisfy a child

19 support arrearage, determined under a court

20 order or an order of an administrative process

21 established under State law, owed by the bene22 ficiary with respect to the child; and

23 ‘‘(B) prohibit the sale, assignment, or

24 pledge as collateral of the policy, in whole or in

25 part, by the beneficiary of the policy.’’.
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1 SEC. 424. INTERESTS IN JOINTLY HELD PROPERTY SUB2 JECT TO ASSIGNMENT TO SATISFY CHILD

3 SUPPORT ARREARAGES.

4 Section 466(a) (42 U.S.C. 666(a)), as amended by

5 sections 104, 205, 206, 207, 209, 210, 212, 405, 406(a),

6 407, 408, 409, 410, 411, 414, 416, 417, and 423 of this

7 Act, is amended by inserting after paragraph (31) the fol8 lowing:

9 ‘‘(32) Procedures allowing State courts to order

10 the assignment of an interest in jointly held property

11 to an individual owed a child support arrearage (de12 termined under a court order or an order of an ad13 ministrative process established under State law) by

14 a holder of an interest in the property, to the extent

15 of the arrearage.’’.

16 SEC. 425. INTERNATIONAL CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCE17 MENT.

18 (a) SENSE OF THE CONGRESS THAT THE UNITED

19 STATES SHOULD RATIFY THE UNITED NATIONS CON20 VENTION OF 1956.—It is the sense of the Congress that

21 the United States should ratify the United Nations Con22 vention of 1956.

23 (b) TREATMENT OF INTERNATIONAL CHILD SUP24 PORT CASES AS INTERSTATE CASES.—Section 454 (42

25 U.S.C. 654), as amended by sections 211(e) and 301(a)

26 of this Act, is amended—
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1 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph

2 (25);

3 (2) by striking the period at the end of para4 graph (26) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and

5 (3) by inserting after paragraph (26) the fol6 lowing:

7 ‘‘(27) provide that the State must treat inter8 national child support cases in the same manner as

9 the State treats interstate child support cases.’’.

10 SEC. 426. NONLIABILITY FOR DEPOSITORY INSTITUTIONS

11 PROVIDING FINANCIAL RECORDS TO STATE

12 CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES

13 IN CHILD SUPPORT CASES.

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi15 sion of Federal or State law, a depository institution shall

16 not be liable under any Federal or State law to any person

17 for disclosing any financial record of an individual to a

18 State child support enforcement agency attempting to es19 tablish, modify, or enforce a child support obligation of

20 such individual.

21 (b) PROHIBITION OF DISCLOSURE OF FINANCIAL

22 RECORD OBTAINED BY STATE CHILD SUPPORT EN23 FORCEMENT AGENCY.—A State child support enforcement

24 agency which obtains a financial record of an individual

25 from a financial institution pursuant to subsection (a)
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1 may disclose such financial record only for the purpose

2 of, and to the extent necessary in, establishing, modifying,

3 or enforcing a child support obligation of such individual.

4 (c) CIVIL DAMAGES FOR UNAUTHORIZED DISCLO5 SURE.—

6 (1) DISCLOSURE BY STATE OFFICER OR EM7 PLOYEE.—If any officer or employee of a State

8 knowingly, or by reason of negligence, discloses a fi9 nancial record of an individual in violation of sub10 section (b), such individual may bring a civil action

11 for damages against the officer or employee in the

12 personal capacity of the officer or employee, in a dis13 trict court of the United States.

14 (2) NO LIABILITY FOR GOOD FAITH BUT ERRO15 NEOUS INTERPRETATION.—No liability shall arise

16 under this subsection with respect to any disclosure

17 which results from a good faith, but erroneous, in18 terpretation of subsection (b).

19 (3) DAMAGES.—In any action brought under

20 paragraph (1), upon a finding of liability on the part

21 of the defendant, the defendant shall be liable to the

22 plaintiff in an amount equal to the sum of—

23 (A) the greater of—

24 (i) $1,000 for each act of unauthor25 ized disclosure of a financial record with
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1 respect to which such defendant is found

2 liable; or

3 (ii) the sum of—

4 (I) the actual damages sustained

5 by the plaintiff as a result of such un6 authorized disclosure; plus

7 (II) in the case of a willful disclo8 sure or a disclosure which is the re9 sult of gross negligence, punitive dam10 ages; plus

11 (B) the costs of the action.

12 (d) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section:

13 (1) The term ‘‘depository institution’’ means—

14 (A) a depository institution, as defined by

15 section 3(c) of the Federal Deposit Insurance

16 Act;

17 (B) an institution-affiliated party, as de18 fined by section 3(u) of such Act; and

19 (C) any Federal credit union or State cred20 it union, as defined by section 101 of the Fed21 eral Credit Union Act, including an institution22 affiliated party of such a credit union, as de23 fined by section 206(r) of such Act.
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1 (2) The term ‘‘financial record’’ has the mean2 ing given such term by section 1101 of the Right to

3 Financial Privacy Act of 1978.

4 (3) The term ‘‘State child support enforcement

5 agency’’ means a State agency which administers a

6 State program for establishing and enforcing child

7 support obligations.

8 SEC. 427. COST-OF-LIVING ADJUSTMENT OF CHILD SUP9 PORT AWARDS.

10 Part D of title IV (42 U.S.C. 651–669) is amended

11 by inserting after section 467 the following:

12 ‘‘SEC. 467A. COST-OF-LIVING ADJUSTMENT OF CHILD SUP13 PORT AWARDS.

14 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Each State, as a condition for

15 having its State plan approved under this part, shall have

16 in effect such laws and procedures as are necessary to en17 sure that each child support order issued or modified in

18 the State after the effective date of this section shall pro19 vide that amount of any child support award specified in

20 the order shall, on each anniversary of the 1st day of the

21 calendar month in which the order is so issued or modi22 fied, increase by the percentage (if any) by which—

23 ‘‘(1) the average of the Consumer Price Index

24 (as defined in section 1(f)(5) of the Internal Reve-
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1 nue Code of 1986) for the 12-month period that

2 ends with the anniversary; exceeds

3 ‘‘(2) the average of the Consumer Price Index

4 (as so defined) for the 12-month period that ends on

5 such 1st day.

6 ‘‘(b) RULE OF INTERPRETATION.—Subsection (a)

7 shall not be construed to eliminate other grounds for

8 modifying a child support award.’’.

9 SEC. 428. ANNUAL EXCHANGE OF FINANCIAL INFORMATION

10 BY PARTIES TO CHILD SUPPORT ORDER.

11 Section 466(a) (42 U.S.C. 666(a)), as amended by

12 sections 104, 205, 206, 207, 209, 210, 212, 405, 406(a),

13 407, 408, 409, 410, 411, 414, 416, 417, 423, and 424

14 of this Act, is amended by inserting after paragraph (32)

15 the following:

16 ‘‘(33) Procedures to ensure that each party to

17 a child support order issued or modified in the State

18 discloses to the other party to the order a complete

19 statement of the financial condition of the party.’’.

20 SEC. 429. CRIMINAL PENALTIES FOR FAILURE TO PAY

21 CHILD SUPPORT.

22 Section 466(a) (42 U.S.C. 666(a)), as amended by

23 sections 104, 205, 206, 207, 209, 210, 212, 405, 406(a),

24 407, 408, 409, 410, 411, 414, 416, 417, 423, and 424
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1 of this Act, is amended by inserting after paragraph (33)

2 the following:

3 ‘‘(34) Procedures under which—

4 ‘‘(A) criminal penalties may be imposed for

5 the failure to pay child support; and

6 ‘‘(B) use immunity may be granted to

7 compel testimony in civil child support proceed8 ings in which the defendant claims a Fifth

9 Amendment privilege against self-incrimination,

10 and if granted, bars Federal or other State

11 criminal prosecution for failure to pay child

12 support based on the testimony given in the

13 civil proceeding with respect to which use im14 munity was granted.’’.

15 TITLE V—COLLECTION AND

16 DISTRIBUTION

17 SEC. 501. PRIORITIES IN DISTRIBUTION OF COLLECTED

18 CHILD SUPPORT.

19 (a) STATE DISTRIBUTION PLAN.—Section 457 (42

20 U.S.C. 657) is amended by adding at the end the follow21 ing:

22 ‘‘(e) Beginning on September 1, 1995, the amounts

23 that a State collects as child support (including interest)

24 pursuant to a plan approved under this part, other than
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1 amounts so collected through a tax refund offset, shall

2 (subject to subsection (d)) be paid—

3 ‘‘(1) first to the individual owed the support or

4 (if the individual assigned to the State the payment

5 of the support) to the State, to the extent necessary

6 to satisfy the current month’s support obligation;

7 ‘‘(2) then to the individual owed the support, to

8 the extent necessary to satisfy any arrearage;

9 ‘‘(3) then, at the option of the State, to the

10 State, to the extent necessary to reimburse the State

11 for assistance provided with respect to the child

12 under this title (without interest); and

13 ‘‘(4) then to other States, to the extent nec14 essary to reimburse such other States for assistance

15 provided with respect to the child under this title

16 (without interest), in the order in which such assist17 ance was provided.’’.

18 (b) STUDY AND PILOT PROJECTS.—

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Comptroller General of

20 the United States shall conduct studies and pilot

21 projects of systems under which States would be re22 quired to pay the child support collected pursuant to

23 a State plan approved under part D of title IV of

24 the Social Security Act to the individuals to whom

25 the support is owed before making any payment to
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1 reimburse any State for assistance provided with re2 spect to the child under part A of such title.

3 (2) REPORT TO THE CONGRESS.—Within 3

4 years after the date of the enactment of this Act, the

5 Comptroller General shall submit to the Committee

6 on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives

7 and the Committee on Finance of the Senate a re8 port on each study and pilot project conducted pur9 suant to paragraph (1), including a cost-benefit

10 analysis and an analysis of the costs that would be

11 avoided under the program of aid to families with

12 dependent children under part A of title IV of the

13 Social Security Act, the program of medical assist14 ance under title XIX of such Act, and the food

15 stamp program under the Food Stamp Act of 1977,

16 if the various systems studied were implemented.

17 (c) REVISION OF FEDERAL INCOME TAX REFUND

18 OFFSET.—Section 6402 of the Internal Revenue Code of

19 1986 (relating to authority to make credits or refunds)

20 is amended—

21 (1) in subsection (c), by striking ‘‘after any

22 other reductions allowed by law (but before’’ and in23 serting ‘‘before any other reductions allowed by law

24 (and before’’; and
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1 (2) in subsection (d), by striking ‘‘with respect

2 to past-due support collected pursuant to an assign3 ment under section 402(a)(26) of the Social Security

4 Act’’.

5 (d) $50 DISREGARDED FOR ALL MEANS-TESTED

6 PROGRAMS.—Section 457(b)(1) (42 U.S.C. 657(b)(1)) is

7 amended by inserting ‘‘under this part or under any other

8 Federal program which determines eligibility for or the

9 amount of assistance based on the income or assets of the

10 applicant for or recipient of the assistance’’ after ‘‘during

11 such month’’.

12 (e) FILL-THE-GAP POLICIES ALLOWED.—Section

13 402(a)(28) (42 U.S.C. 602(a)(28)) is amended by striking

14 the open parenthesis and all that follows through the close

15 parenthesis.

16 SEC. 502. STATE CLAIMS AGAINST NONCUSTODIAL PARENT

17 LIMITED TO ASSISTANCE PROVIDED TO THE

18 CHILD.

19 Section 466(a) (42 U.S.C. 666(a)), as amended by

20 sections 104, 205, 206, 207, 209, 210, 212, 405, 406(a),

21 407, 408, 409, 410, 411, 414, 416, 417, 423, 424, 428,

22 and 429 of this Act, is amended by inserting after para23 graph (34) the following:

24 ‘‘(35)(A) Procedures under which any claims

25 the State may have against a noncustodial parent
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1 for a child’s portion of the assistance provided under

2 a State plan approved under part A shall not exceed

3 the amount specified as child support under a court

4 or administrative order.

5 ‘‘(B) As used in subparagraph (A), the term

6 ‘child’s portion’ means the assistance that would

7 have been provided with respect to the child if the

8 needs of the caretaker relative of the child had not

9 been taken into account in making the determination

10 with respect to the child’s family under section

11 402(a)(7).’’.

12 SEC. 503. FEES FOR NON-AFDC CLIENTS.

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 454(6) (42 U.S.C.

14 654(6)) is amended—

15 (1) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘or recov16 ered’’ and all that follows through ‘‘program)’’;

17 (2) in subparagraph (C), by inserting ‘‘on the

18 parent who owes the child or spousal support obliga19 tion involved’’ after ‘‘imposed’’;

20 (3) in subparagraph (D), by striking ‘‘individ21 ual who’’ and inserting ‘‘the noncustodial parent if

22 the child whose parentage is to be determined

23 through the tests’’; and

24 (4) in subparagraph (E), by striking all that

25 follows ‘‘may be collected’’ and inserting ‘‘from the
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1 parent who owes the child or spousal support obliga2 tion involved, but only after all current and past-due

3 support and interest charges have been collected’’.

4 (b) PUBLICATION OF FEE SCHEDULES.—Section

5 454(10) (42 U.S.C. 654(10)) is amended by inserting ‘‘,

6 and shall publish guidelines and schedules of fees which

7 may be imposed under paragraph (6), and which shall be

8 reasonable’’ before the semicolon.

9 SEC. 504. COLLECTION AND DISBURSEMENT POINTS FOR

10 CHILD SUPPORT.

11 Section 454 (42 U.S.C. 654), as amended by sections

12 211(e), 301(a), and 425 of this Act, is amended—

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

14 (26);

15 (2) by striking the period at the end of para16 graph (27) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and

17 (3) by inserting after paragraph (27) the fol18 lowing:

19 ‘‘(28) provide for only 1 location, or several

20 local or regional locations for the collection of, ac21 counting for, and disbursement of child support in

22 cases enforced under the State plan under this

23 part.’’.
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1 TITLE VI—FEDERAL ROLE

2 SEC. 601. PLACEMENT AND ROLE OF THE OFFICE OF CHILD

3 SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT.

4 Section 452(a) (42 U.S.C. 652(a)), as amended by

5 sections 208(a) and 401(b) of this Act, is amended—

6 (1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by

7 striking ‘‘, under the direction’’ and all that follows

8 through ‘‘and who’’ and inserting ‘‘which shall be

9 known as the Office of Child Support Enforcement,

10 shall be under the direction of an Assistant Sec11 retary appointed by the President with the advice

12 and consent of the Senate, and shall have its own

13 legal counsel. The Assistant Secretary shall report

14 directly to the Secretary and’’;

15 (2) in paragraph (10)—

16 (A) in subparagraph (A), by inserting

17 ‘‘using a methodology that reflects cost-avoid18 ance as well as cost-recovery’’ after ‘‘the States

19 and the Federal Government’’;

20 (B) by redesignating subparagraphs (H)

21 and (I) as subparagraphs (I) and (J), respec22 tively; and

23 (C) by inserting after subparagraph (G)

24 the following:
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1 ‘‘(H) the budgetary allocation of the $50

2 pass through equally between part A and this

3 part;’’;

4 (3) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph

5 (11);

6 (4) by striking the period at the end of para7 graph (12) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and

8 (5) by inserting after paragraph (12) the fol9 lowing:

10 ‘‘(13) initiate and actively pursue with other

11 Federal agencies, such as the Department of De12 fense, coordinated efforts on Federal legislation.’’.

13 SEC. 602. TRAINING.

14 (a) FEDERAL TRAINING ASSISTANCE.—Section

15 452(a)(7) (42 U.S.C. 652(a)(7)) is amended by inserting

16 ‘‘and training’’ after ‘‘technical assistance’’.

17 (b) STATE TRAINING PROGRAM.—Section 454 (42

18 U.S.C. 654), as amended by sections 211(e), 301(a), 425,

19 and 504 of this Act, is amended—

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

21 (27);

22 (2) by striking the period at the end of para23 graph (28) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and

24 (3) by inserting after paragraph (28) the fol25 lowing:
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1 ‘‘(29) provide that the State will develop and

2 implement a training program under which training

3 is to be provided not less frequently than annually

4 to all personnel performing functions under the

5 State plan.’’.

6 (c) REPORT.—Section 452(a)(10) (42 U.S.C.

7 652(a)(10)), as amended by section 601(2) of this Act,

8 is amended by redesignating subparagraphs (I) and (J)

9 as subparagraphs (J) and (K), respectively, and by insert10 ing after subparagraph (H) the following:

11 ‘‘(I) the training activities at the Federal

12 and State levels, the training audit, and the

13 amounts expended on training;’’.

14 SEC. 603. STAFFING.

15 (a) METHODOLOGY.—Not later than 1 year after the

16 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Health

17 and Human Services shall develop the methodology to be

18 used to determine the staffing requirements of each State

19 program operated under part D of title IV of the Social

20 Security Act, including each agency and court involved in

21 the program.

22 (b) IMPLEMENTATION.—Not later than 2 years after

23 the date of the enactment of this Act, each State with

24 a plan approved under part D of title IV of the Social

25 Security Act shall—
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1 (1) use the methodology developed pursuant to

2 subsection (a) to determine the staffing require3 ments of the State program operated under the

4 plan, including each agency and court involved in

5 the program; and

6 (2) staff the program, and each agency and

7 court involved in the program, in accordance with

8 the staffing requirements determined pursuant to

9 paragraph (1).

10 (c) IMPLEMENTATION.—The Secretary of Health and

11 Human Services shall reduce by 2 percent the amount oth12 erwise payable to a State pursuant to section 455(a)(1)(A)

13 of the Social Security Act for any calendar quarter ending

14 2 or more years after the date of the enactment of this

15 Act, if the Secretary determines that, during the quarter,

16 the State is not in substantial compliance with subsection

17 (b)(2).

18 SEC. 604. CHILD SUPPORT DEFINITION.

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 452 (42 U.S.C. 652) is

20 amended by adding at the end the following:

21 ‘‘(j) For purposes of this part, the term ‘child sup22 port’ shall have the meaning given such term in section

23 462(b).’’.

24 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 462(b)

25 (42 U.S.C. 662(b)) is amended—
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1 (1) by inserting ‘‘and lump sum’’ after ‘‘peri2 odic’’, and

3 (2) by inserting ‘‘child care,’’ after ‘‘clothing,’’.

4 SEC. 605. TECHNICAL CORRECTION TO ERISA DEFINITION

5 OF MEDICAL CHILD SUPPORT ORDER.

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 609(a)(2)(B) of the Em7 ployee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (29

8 U.S.C. 1169(a)(2)(B)) is amended—

9 (1) by striking ‘‘issued by a court of competent

10 jurisdiction’’;

11 (2) by striking the period at the end of clause

12 (ii) and inserting a comma; and

13 (3) by adding, after and below clause (ii), the

14 following:

15 ‘‘if such judgment, decree, or order (I) is issued

16 by a court of competent jurisdiction or (II) is

17 issued by an administrative adjudicator and has

18 the force and effect of law under applicable

19 State law.’’.

20 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—The amendments made by

22 this section shall take effect on the date of the en23 actment of this Act.

24 (2) PLAN AMENDMENTS NOT REQUIRED UNTIL

25 JANUARY 1, 1995.—Any amendment to a plan re-
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1 quired to be made by an amendment made by this

2 section shall not be required to be made before the

3 first plan year beginning on or after January 1,

4 1995, if—

5 (A) during the period after the date before

6 the date of the enactment of this Act and be7 fore such first plan year, the plan is operated

8 in accordance with the requirements of the

9 amendments made by this section, and

10 (B) such plan amendment applies retro11 actively to the period after the date before the

12 date of the enactment of this Act and before

13 such first plan year.

14 A plan shall not be treated as failing to be operated

15 in accordance with the provisions of the plan merely

16 because it operates in accordance with this para17 graph.

18 SEC. 606. AUDITS.

19 (a) STUDY.—

20 (1) CONTRACT AUTHORITY.—The Secretary of

21 Health and Human Services shall enter into a con22 tract for a study of the audit process of the Office

23 of Child Support Enforcement to develop criteria

24 and methodology for auditing the activities of State
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1 child support enforcement agencies pursuant to part

2 D of title IV of the Social Security Act.

3 (2) DESIGN OF STUDY.—The study shall be de4 signed to—

5 (A) identify ways to improve the auditing

6 process, including by—

7 (i) reducing the resources required to

8 perform the audit;

9 (ii) simplifying procedures for States

10 to follow in obtaining samples;

11 (iii) studying the feasibility of sam12 pling cases for needed action rather than

13 requiring sampling plans for each audit

14 criterion; and

15 (iv) a more timely audit period of re16 view; and

17 (B) develop a penalty process which—

18 (i) focuses on improving the delivery

19 of child support services and not harming

20 families;

21 (ii) uses a penalty not tied to any re22 duction of funds payable to States under

23 part A of title IV of the Social Security

24 Act; and
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1 (iii) should include the escrowing of

2 funds withheld as penalties for use by

3 States to improve their child support pro4 grams in a manner approved by the Sec5 retary of Health and Human Services.

6 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 90 days after comple7 tion of the study required by subsection (a), the Secretary

8 of Health and Human Services shall submit to the Com9 mittee on Ways and Means of the House of Representa10 tives and the Committee on Finance of the Senate a report

11 on the results of the study.

12 (c) LIMITATION ON CASES INCLUDED IN AUDITS.—

13 Section 452(a)(4) (42 U.S.C. 652(a)(4)) is amended—

14 (1) by inserting ‘‘(A)’’ after ‘‘(4)’’;

15 (2) by adding ‘‘and’’ at the end; and

16 (3) by adding after and below the end the fol17 lowing:

18 ‘‘(B) notwithstanding subparagraph (A), each

19 audit under subparagraph (A) shall be limited to

20 cases open on the date the audit begins and cases

21 closed within 180 days before such date, unless the

22 Secretary has determined, in accordance with regula23 tions, that there is a need for a longitudinal review

24 of case handling that includes cases that have been

25 closed for more than 180 days;’’.
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1 SEC. 607. ESTABLISHMENT OF CHILD SUPPORT ASSUR2 ANCE DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS.

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

4 provide a guaranteed minimum level of child support for

5 every eligible child not receiving such support, the Sec6 retary of Health and Human Services (hereafter in this

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

8 to 4 qualified States to conduct demonstration projects for

9 the purpose of establishing or improving a system of as10 sured minimum child support payments in accordance

11 with this section.

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

13 grants under this section shall be submitted by the

14 Governor of a State and shall—

15 (1) contain a description of the proposed child

16 support assurance project to be established, imple17 mented, or improved using amounts provided under

18 this section, including the level of the assured bene19 fit to be provided, the specific activities to be under20 taken, and the agencies that will be involved;

21 (2) specify that the project will be carried out

22 throughout the State;

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

24 eligible for assured minimum child support payments

25 under the project, and the amounts to which they
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1 will be entitled on average as individuals and in the

2 aggregate;

3 (4) describe the child support guidelines and re4 view procedures which are in use in the State and

5 any expected modifications;

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

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

8 and not more than 5 consecutive fiscal years begin9 ning with fiscal year 1996;

10 (6) contain assurances that the State—

11 (A) is currently at or above the national

12 median paternity establishment rate (as defined

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

14 (B) will improve the performance of the

15 agency designated by the State to carry out the

16 requirements under part D of title IV of the

17 Social Security Act by at least 4 percent each

18 year in which the State operates a child support

19 assurance project under this section in—

20 (i) the number of cases in which pa21 ternity is established when required;

22 (ii) the number of cases in which child

23 support orders are obtained; and
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1 (iii) the number of cases with child

2 support orders in which collections are

3 made; and

4 (C) to the maximum extent possible under

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

6 job training assistance to assist individuals who

7 have been determined to be unable to meet such

8 individuals’ child support obligations;

9 (7) describe the extent to which multiple agen10 cies, including those responsible for administering

11 the Aid to Families With Dependent Children Pro12 gram under part A of title IV of the Social Security

13 Act and child support collection, enforcement, and

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

15 in the design and operation of the child support as16 surance project; and

17 (8) contain such other information as the Sec18 retary may require by regulation.

19 (c) USE OF FUNDS.—A State shall use amounts pro20 vided under a grant awarded under this section to carry

21 out a child support assurance project designed to provide

22 a minimum monthly child support benefit for each eligible

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

24 support is not paid in a month by the noncustodial parent.
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1 (d) REQUIREMENTS.—(1) A child support assurance

2 project funded under this section shall provide that—

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

4 a living noncustodial parent for whom a child sup5 port order has been sought (as defined in paragraph

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

7 cause’’ criteria for not seeking or enforcing a sup8 port order is eligible for the assured child support

9 benefit;

10 (B) the assured child support benefit shall be

11 paid promptly to the custodial parent at least once

12 a month and shall be—

13 (i) an amount determined by the State

14 which is—

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

16 the first child, $1,000 per year for the sec17 ond child, and $500 per year for the third

18 and each subsequent child, and

19 (II) not more than $3,000 per year

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

21 the second and each subsequent child;

22 (ii) offset and reduced to the extent that

23 the custodial parent receives child support in a

24 month from the noncustodial parent;

25 (iii) indexed and adjusted for inflation; and
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1 (iv) in the case of a family of children with

2 multiple noncustodial parents, calculated in the

3 same manner as if all such children were full

4 siblings, but any child support payment from a

5 particular noncustodial parent shall only be ap6 plied against the assured child support benefit

7 for the child or children of that particular

8 noncustodial parent;

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

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

11 of the amount received as a child support payment

12 shall be disregarded from income until the total

13 amount of child support and Aid to Families With

14 Dependent Children benefit received under part A of

15 title IV of the Social Security Act equals the Federal

16 poverty level for a family of comparable size;

17 (D) in the event that the family as a whole be18 comes ineligible for Aid to Families With Dependent

19 Children under part A of the Social Security Act due

20 to consideration of assured child support benefits,

21 the continuing eligibility of the caretaker for Aid to

22 Families With Dependent Children under such title

23 shall be calculated without consideration of the as24 sured child support benefit; and
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1 (E) in order to participate in the child support

2 assurance project, the child’s caretaker shall apply

3 for services of the State’s child support enforcement

4 program under part D of title IV of the Social Secu5 rity Act.

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

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

8 educational status as to be eligible for child support as

9 provided for by the law of the State in which such individ10 ual resides.

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

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

13 has applied for services from the State agency designated

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

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

16 support order through representation by private or public

17 counsel or pro se.

18 (e) CONSIDERATION AND PRIORITY OF APPLICA19 TIONS.—(1) The Secretary shall consider all applications

20 received from States desiring to conduct demonstration

21 projects under this section and shall approve not more

22 than 4 applications which appear likely to contribute sig23 nificantly to the achievement of the purpose of this sec24 tion. In selecting States to conduct demonstration projects

25 under this section, the Secretary shall—
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1 (A) ensure that the applications selected rep2 resent a diversity of minimum benefits distributed

3 throughout the range specified in subsection

4 (d)(1)(B)(i);

5 (B) consider the geographic dispersion and vari6 ation in population of the applicants;

7 (C) give priority to States the applications of

8 which demonstrate—

9 (i) significant recent improvements in—

10 (I) establishing paternity and child

11 support awards,

12 (II) enforcement of child support

13 awards, and

14 (III) collection of child support pay15 ments;

16 (ii) a record of effective automation; and

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

18 support systems with other service delivery sys19 tems;

20 (D) ensure that the proposed projects will be of

21 a size sufficient to obtain a meaningful measure of

22 the effects of child support assurance;

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

24 operate a child support assurance project on a state25 wide basis, and, second, to States that are commit-
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1 ted to phasing in an expansion of such project to the

2 entire State, if interim evaluations suggest such ex3 pansion is warranted; and

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

5 use a variety of approaches for child support guide6 lines.

7 (2) Of the States selected to participate in the dem8 onstration projects conducted under this section, the Sec9 retary shall require, if feasible—

10 (A) that at least 2 provide intensive integrated

11 social services for low-income participants in the

12 child support assurance project, for the purpose of

13 assisting such participants in improving their em14 ployment, housing, health, and educational status;

15 and

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

17 Interstate Family Support Act.

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

19 Secretary shall develop criteria, select the States to par20 ticipate in the demonstration, and plan for the evaluation

21 required under subsection (h). The demonstration projects

22 conducted under this section shall commence on October

23 1, 1995, and shall be conducted for not less than 3 and

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

25 Secretary may terminate a project before the end of such
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1 period if the Secretary determines that the State conduct2 ing the project is not in substantial compliance with the

3 terms of the application approved by the Secretary under

4 this section, and the Secretary may authorize the continu5 ation of a project if the Secretary determines that the

6 project has been successful.

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

8 develop a methodology to identify any State cost savings

9 realized in connection with the implementation of a child

10 support assurance project conducted under this Act. Any

11 such savings realized as a result of the implementation

12 of a child support assurance project shall be utilized for

13 child support enforcement improvements or expansions

14 and improvements in the Aid to Families With Dependent

15 Children Program conducted under part A of title IV of

16 the Social Security Act within the participating State.

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

18 The Secretary shall conduct an evaluation of the effective19 ness of the demonstration projects funded under this sec20 tion. The evaluation shall include an assessment of the ef21 fect of an assured benefit on—

22 (A) income from nongovernment sources and

23 the number of hours worked;

24 (B) the use and amount of government sup25 ports;
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1 (C) the ability to accumulate resources;

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

3 educational attainment and school behavior; and

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

5 and support orders and of collecting support.

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

7 demonstration projects, the Secretary shall submit an in8 terim and final report based on the evaluation to the Com9 mittee on Finance and the Committee on Labor and

10 Human Resources of the Senate, and the Committee on

11 Ways and Means and the Committee on Education and

12 Labor of the House of Representatives concerning the ef13 fectiveness of the child support assurance projects funded

14 under this section.

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

16 each State that conducts a demonstration project under

17 this section to annually report such information on the

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

19 that all such information shall be reported according to

20 a uniform format prescribed by the Secretary.

21 (j) RESTRICTIONS ON MATCHING AND USE OF

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

23 under this section shall be required—

24 (A) except as provided in paragraph (2), to pro25 vide not less than 20 percent of the total amounts
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1 expended in each calendar year of the project to pay

2 the costs associated with the project funded under

3 this section;

4 (B) to maintain its level of expenditures for

5 child support collection, enforcement, and payment

6 at the same level, or at a higher level, than such ex7 penditures were prior to such State’s participation in

8 a demonstration project provided by this section;

9 and

10 (C) to maintain the Aid to Families With De11 pendent Children benefits provided under part A of

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

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

14 the date of the enactment of this Act.

15 (2) A State participating in a demonstration project

16 under this section may provide no less than 10 percent

17 of the total amounts expended to pay the costs associated

18 with the project funded under this section in years after

19 the first year such project is conducted in a State if the

20 State meets the improvements specified in subsection

21 (b)(6)(B).

22 (k) COORDINATION WITH CERTAIN MEANS-TESTED

23 PROGRAMS.—For purposes of—

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

25 (2) title V of the Housing Act of 1949;
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1 (3) section 101 of the Housing and Urban De2 velopment Act of 1965;

3 (4) sections 221(d)(3), 235, and 236 of the Na4 tional Housing Act;

5 (5) the Food Stamp Act of 1977;

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

7 (7) child care assistance provided through part

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

9 Care and Development Block Grant, or title XX of

10 the Social Security Act,

11 any payment made to an individual within the demonstra12 tion project area for child support up to the amount which

13 an assured child support benefit would provide shall not

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

15 in determining resources for the month of its receipt and

16 the following month.

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

18 assured child support benefit received by an individual

19 under this Act shall be considered child support for pur20 poses of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.

21 (m) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There

22 are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be

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

24 1998, 1999, and 2000 to carry out the purposes of this

25 section.
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1 SEC. 608. CHILDREN’S TRUST FUND.

2 (a) DESIGNATION OF CONTRIBUTIONS.—

3 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter A of chapter 61

4 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to

5 returns and records) is amended by adding at the

6 end thereof the following new part:

7 ‘‘PART IX—CONTRIBUTIONS TO CHILDREN’S

8 TRUST FUND

‘‘Sec. 6097. Amounts for Children’s Trust Fund.

9 ‘‘SEC. 6097. AMOUNTS FOR CHILDREN’S TRUST FUND.

10 ‘‘Each taxpayer may include with such taxpayer’s re11 turn of tax imposed by chapter 1 for any taxable year a

12 contribution by the taxpayer to the Children’s Trust

13 Fund.’’.

14 (2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of

15 parts for subchapter A of chapter 61 of the Internal

16 Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the

17 end thereof the following new item:

‘‘Part IX—Contributions for Children’s Trust Fund.’’.

18 (3) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made

19 by this subsection shall apply to taxable years begin20 ning after December 31, 1995.

21 (b) ESTABLISHMENT OF CHILDREN’S TRUST

22 FUND.—

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter A of chapter 98

24 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to
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1 the trust fund code) is amended by adding at the

2 end thereof the following new section:

3 ‘‘SEC. 9512. CHILDREN’S TRUST FUND.

4 ‘‘(a) CREATION OF TRUST FUND.—There is estab5 lished in the Treasury of the United States a trust fund

6 to be known as the ‘Children’s Trust Fund’, consisting

7 of such amounts as may be appropriated or credited to

8 the Trust Fund as provided in this section or section

9 9602(b).

10 ‘‘(b) TRANSFER TO CHILDREN’S TRUST FUND OF

11 AMOUNTS DESIGNATED.—There is hereby appropriated to

12 the Children’s Trust Fund amounts equivalent to the

13 amounts contributed to such Trust Fund under section

14 6097.

15 ‘‘(c) EXPENDITURES FROM TRUST FUND.—

16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Amounts in the Children’s

17 Trust Fund shall be available as provided by appro18 priation Acts for making expenditures for programs

19 regarding child support and the specific mandates

20 described in part D of title IV of the Social Security

21 Act, especially such mandates established by the

22 amendments made by the Child Support Responsibil23 ity Act of 1994.

24 ‘‘(2) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.—Amounts in

25 the Children’s Trust Fund shall be available to pay
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1 the administrative expenses of the Department of

2 the Treasury directly allocable to—

3 ‘‘(A) modifying the individual income tax

4 return forms to carry out section 6097,

5 ‘‘(B) carrying out this chapter with respect

6 to such Trust Fund, and

7 ‘‘(C) processing amounts received under

8 section 6097 and transferring such amounts to

9 such Trust Fund.’’.

10 (2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sec11 tions for subchapter A of chapter 98 of the Internal

12 Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the

13 end thereof the following new item:

‘‘Sec. 9512. Children’s Trust Fund.’’.

14 SEC. 609. STUDY OF REASONS FOR NONPAYMENT OF CHILD

15 SUPPORT; REPORT.

16 (a) STUDY.—The Comptroller General of the United

17 States shall—

18 (1) conduct a study of the causes of delin19 quency in the payment of child support, including

20 the nonpayment of child support by noncustodial

21 parents and failure of custodial parents to cooperate

22 in the collection of child support; and

23 (2) if a sufficient number of studies of this

24 matter are available, review the studies.
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1 (b) REPORT TO THE CONGRESS.—Within 1 year after

2 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller

3 General shall submit to the Committee on Ways and

4 Means of the House of Representatives and the Committee

5 on Finance of the Senate, and to the Office of Child Sup6 port Enforcement, a report that contains the results of

7 the study required by subsection (a), and a consolidated

8 summary of the studies described in subsection (a)(2).

9 SEC. 610. STUDY OF EFFECTIVENESS OF ADMINISTRATIVE

10 PROCESSES; REPORT.

11 (a) STUDY.—The Comptroller General of the United

12 States shall conduct a study of the effectiveness of the

13 processing of child support and parentage cases in States

14 that use administrative processes as compared with States

15 that use judicial or quasi-judicial processes.

16 (b) REPORT TO THE CONGRESS.—Within 1 year after

17 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller

18 General shall submit to the Committee on Ways and

19 Means of the House of Representatives and the Committee

20 on Finance of the Senate a report that contains the results

21 of the study required by subsection (a).

22 SEC. 611. COMPENDIUM OF STATE CHILD SUPPORT STAT23 UTES.

24 The Office of Child Support Enforcement shall

25 produce and update the compendium entitled ‘‘A Guide
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1 To State Child Support And Paternity Laws’’, published

2 by the National Conference of State Legislatures.

3 SEC. 612. ESTABLISHMENT OF PERMANENT CHILD SUP4 PORT ADVISORY COMMITTEE.

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Office of Child Support En6 forcement shall establish an advisory committee on child

7 support matters composed of Federal and State legisla8 tors, State child support officials, and representatives of

9 custodial and noncustodial parents.

10 (b) FUNCTIONS.—The advisory committee estab11 lished pursuant to subsection (a) shall—

12 (1) provide oversight of the implementation of

13 Federal laws and regulations affecting child support,

14 and the operation of Federal, State, and local child

15 support programs; and

16 (2) provide a forum through which child sup17 port problems experienced by parents, State agen18 cies, the courts, and the private bar may be identi19 fied, and from which recommendations on how to

20 solve such problems may be reported to the Sec21 retary of Health and Human Services and to the

22 Congress.

23 (c) PERMANENCY.—Section 14 of the Federal Advi24 sory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.) shall not apply to
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1 the advisory committee established pursuant to subsection

2 (a) of this section.

3 TITLE VII—STATE ROLE

4 SEC. 701. ADVOCATION OF CHILDREN’S ECONOMIC SECU5 RITY.

6 Section 454 (42 U.S.C. 654), as amended by sections

7 211(e), 301(a), 425, 504, and 602 of this Act, is amend8 ed—

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

10 (28);

11 (2) by striking the period at the end of para12 graph (29) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and

13 (3) by inserting after paragraph (29) the fol14 lowing:

15 ‘‘(30) provide that the agency administering the

16 plan shall advocate to promote the greatest economic

17 security possible for children, consistent with the

18 ability of any individual who owes child support with

19 respect to the child to provide the support.’’.

20 SEC. 702. DUTIES OF STATE CHILD SUPPORT AGENCIES.

21 Section 454 (42 U.S.C. 654), as amended by sections

22 211(e), 301(a), 425, 504, 602, and 701 of this Act, is

23 amended—

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

25 (29);
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1 (2) by striking the period at the end of para2 graph (30) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and

3 (3) by inserting after paragraph (30) the fol4 lowing:

5 ‘‘(31) provide that the agency administering the

6 plan shall provide to each custodial parent—

7 ‘‘(A) a written description of the services

8 available under the plan, and a statement de9 scribing the priorities applied in distributing

10 collected child support and the rules governing

11 confidentiality of information in child support

12 matters;

13 ‘‘(B) a statement that at least 30 days be14 fore the agency consents to the dismissal of a

15 child support case with prejudice or a reduction

16 of arrearages, the agency must provide notice to

17 the custodial parent at the last known address

18 of the custodial parent;

19 ‘‘(C) written quarterly reports on the sta20 tus of any case involving the custodial parent;

21 ‘‘(D) a statement that the State is re22 quired to provide services under the plan to any

23 custodial parent who is eligible for aid under

24 the State plan approved under part A; and
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1 ‘‘(E) a statement that any custodial parent

2 who applies for services under the plan is eligi3 ble for such services, and that any application

4 fee for such services is deferred pending deter5 mination of the eligibility of the custodial par6 ent for aid under the State plan approved under

7 part A.’’.

8 SEC. 704. ADMINISTRATIVE PROCESS FOR CHANGE OF

9 PAYEE IN IV–D CASES.

10 Section 466(a) (42 U.S.C. 666(a)), as amended by

11 sections 104, 205, 206, 207, 209, 210, 212, 405, 406(a),

12 407, 408, 409, 410, 411, 414, 416, 417, 423, 424, 428,

13 429, and 502 of this Act, is amended by inserting after

14 paragraph (35) the following:

15 ‘‘(36) Procedures under which only administra16 tive procedures are required to change the payee

17 under a child support order in a case under this

18 part, if a statement by an official of the State child

19 support enforcement agency is included in the court

20 or administrative file documenting the change.’’.

21 SEC. 705. FINANCIAL INCENTIVES.

22 (a) ONLY CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT FUNDS

23 SUBJECT TO REDUCTION FOR SUBSTANTIAL NONCOMPLI24 ANCE.—
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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (h) of section

2 403 (42 U.S.C. 603(h)) is hereby transferred to sec3 tion 455 of the Social Security Act, redesignated as

4 subsection (f) of such section 455, and amended—

5 (A) in paragraph (1)—

6 (i) by striking ‘‘Act’’ and inserting

7 ‘‘part’’;

8 (ii) by striking ‘‘part D’’ and inserting

9 ‘‘this part’’; and

10 (iii) by striking ‘‘such part’’ and in11 serting ‘‘this part’’; and

12 (B) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘this

13 part’’ and inserting ‘‘part A’’.

14 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—

15 (A) Section 452(a)(4) (42 U.S.C.

16 652(a)(4)) is amended by striking ‘‘403(h)’’

17 each place such term appears and inserting

18 ‘‘455(f)’’.

19 (B) Subsections (d)(3)(A), (g)(1), and

20 (g)(3)(A) of section 452 (42 U.S.C. 652) are

21 each amended by striking ‘‘403(h)’’ and insert22 ing ‘‘455(f)’’.

23 (b) PAYMENTS TO STATES INCREASED.—

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 455(a) (42 U.S.C.

25 655(a)) is amended—
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1 (A) in paragraph (1)—

2 (i) by striking ‘‘(a)(1)’’ and inserting

3 ‘‘(a)’’; and

4 (ii) in subparagraph (A), by striking

5 ‘‘the percent specified in paragraph (2)’’

6 and inserting ‘‘90 percent’’; and

7 (iii) in each of subparagraphs (B) and

8 (C), by striking ‘‘(rather than the percent9 age specified in subparagraph (A))’’;

10 (B) by striking paragraph (2); and

11 (C) by redesignating subparagraphs (A),

12 (B), and (C) of paragraph (1) as paragraphs

13 (1), (2), and (3), respectively.

14 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Paragraphs

15 (1)(B), (2)(A), and (2)(B) of section 452(d) (42

16 U.S.C. 652(d)) are each amended by striking

17 ‘‘455(a)(1)(B)’’ and inserting ‘‘455(a)(2)’’.

18 (c) REPEAL OF INCENTIVE PAYMENTS TO STATES.—

19 Section 458 (42 U.S.C. 658) is hereby repealed.

20 SEC. 706. AVOIDANCE OF CONFLICTS OF INTEREST.

21 Section 454 (42 U.S.C. 654), as amended by sections

22 211(e), 301(a), 425, 504, 602, 701, and 702 of this Act,

23 is amended—

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

25 (30);
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1 (2) by striking the period at the end of para2 graph (31) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and

3 (3) by inserting after paragraph (31) the fol4 lowing:

5 ‘‘(32) provide that the State may not seek to

6 modify a child support order on behalf of a party to

7 the order if the State has provided services under

8 the State plan to another party to the order.’’.

Æ

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