II

105TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 1791

To provide for an alternative penalty procedure for States that fail to meet

Federal child support data processing requirements.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MARCH 18, 1998

Mrs. FEINSTEIN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and

referred to the Committee on Finance

A BILL

To provide for an alternative penalty procedure for States

that fail to meet Federal child support data processing

requirements.

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Child Support Per5 formance Act of 1998’’.
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1 SEC. 2. ALTERNATIVE PENALTY PROCEDURE APPLICABLE

2 TO FEDERAL CHILD SUPPORT DATA PROC3 ESSING REQUIREMENTS.

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 455(a) of the Social Secu5 rity Act (42 U.S.C. 655(a)) is amended by adding at the

6 end the following:

7 ‘‘(4)(A) If—

8 ‘‘(i) the Secretary determines that a State

9 plan under section 454 would (in the absence of

10 this paragraph) be disapproved for the failure

11 of the State to comply with section 454(24)(A),

12 and that the State has made and is continuing

13 to make a good faith effort to so comply; and

14 ‘‘(ii) the State has submitted to the Sec15 retary a corrective compliance plan that de16 scribes how the State will achieve such compli17 ance, which has been approved by the Sec18 retary,

19 then the Secretary shall not disapprove the State

20 plan under section 454, and the Secretary shall re21 duce the amount otherwise payable to the State

22 under paragraph (1)(A) of this subsection for the

23 fiscal year by the penalty amount.

24 ‘‘(B) In this paragraph:
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1 ‘‘(i) The term ‘penalty amount’ means,

2 with respect to a failure of a State to comply

3 with section 454(24)—

4 ‘‘(I) 4 percent of the penalty base, in

5 the case of the 1st fiscal year in which

6 such a failure by the State occurs;

7 ‘‘(II) 8 percent of the penalty base, in

8 the case of the 2nd such fiscal year;

9 ‘‘(III) 12 percent of the penalty base,

10 in the case of the 3rd such fiscal year;

11 ‘‘(IV) 16 percent of the penalty base,

12 in the case of the 4th such fiscal year; or

13 ‘‘(V) 20 percent of the penalty base,

14 in the case of the 5th or any subsequent

15 such fiscal year.

16 ‘‘(ii) The term ‘penalty base’ means, with

17 respect to a failure of a State to comply with

18 section 454(24) during a fiscal year, the

19 amount otherwise payable to the State under

20 paragraph (1)(A) of this subsection for the pre21 ceding fiscal year, minus the applicable share of

22 such amount which would otherwise be payable

23 to any county to which the Secretary granted a

24 waiver under the Family Support Act of 1988

25 (Public Law 100-485; 102 Stat. 2343) for 90
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1 percent enhanced Federal funding to develop an

2 automated data processing and information re3 trieval system provided that such system was

4 implemented prior to October 1, 1997.

5 ‘‘(C)(i) The Secretary shall waive a penalty

6 under this paragraph for any failure of a State to

7 comply with section 454(24)(A) during fiscal year

8 1998 if, by December 31, 1997, the State has sub9 mitted to the Secretary a request that the Secretary

10 certify the State as having met the requirements of

11 such section and, by June 1, 1998, the Secretary

12 has provided the certification as a result of a review

13 conducted pursuant to the request.

14 ‘‘(ii) If a State with respect to which a reduc15 tion is made under this paragraph for a fiscal year

16 achieves compliance with the milestones in the cor17 rective compliance plan for that year by the begin18 ning of the succeeding fiscal year, the Secretary

19 shall increase the amount otherwise payable to the

20 State under paragraph (1)(A) of this subsection for

21 the succeeding fiscal year by an amount equal to 75

22 percent of the reduction for the fiscal year.

23 ‘‘(iii) The Secretary shall reduce the amount of

24 any reduction that, in the absence of this clause,

25 would be required to be made under this paragraph
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1 by reason of the failure of a State to achieve compli2 ance with section 454(24)(B) during the fiscal year,

3 by an amount equal to 20 percent of the amount

4 of the otherwise required reduction, for each State

5 performance measure described in section

6 458A(b)(4) with respect to which the applicable per7 centage under section 458A(b)(6) for the fiscal year

8 is 100 percent, if the Secretary has made the deter9 mination described in section 458A(b)(5)(B) with re10 spect to the State for the fiscal year.

11 ‘‘(D)(i) Subject to clause (ii), the preceding pro12 visions of this paragraph (except for subparagraph

13 (C)(i)) shall apply, separately and independently, to

14 a failure to comply with section 454(24)(B) in the

15 same manner in which the preceding provisions

16 apply to a failure to comply with section 454(24)(A).

17 ‘‘(ii) The requirement under clause (i) to im18 pose a separate and independent penalty amount for

19 a fiscal year for a failure to comply with section

20 454(24)(B) shall not apply in the case of any State

21 that the Secretary determines has achieved, by such

22 date as the Secretary may specify, compliance with

23 the milestones of the corrective compliance plan sub24 mitted by the State that the Secretary determines
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1 are necessary for the State to progress toward cer2 tification under section 454(24)(B).’’.

3 (b) INAPPLICABILITY OF PENALTY UNDER TANF

4 PROGRAM.—Section 409(a)(8)(A)(i)(III) of such Act (42

5 U.S.C. 609(a)(8)(A)(i)(III)) is amended by inserting

6 ‘‘(other than section 454(24))’’ before the semicolon.

7 SEC. 3. AUTHORITY TO WAIVE SINGLE STATEWIDE AUTO8 MATED DATA PROCESSING AND INFORMA9 TION RETRIEVAL SYSTEM REQUIREMENT.

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 452(d)(3) of the Social

11 Security Act (42 U.S.C. 652(d)(3)) is amended to read

12 as follows:

13 ‘‘(3) The Secretary may waive any requirement

14 of paragraph (1) or any condition specified under

15 section 454(16), and shall waive the single statewide

16 system requirement under sections 454(16) and

17 454A, with respect to a State if—

18 ‘‘(A) the State demonstrates to the satis19 faction of the Secretary that the State has or

20 can develop an alternative system or systems

21 that enable the State—

22 ‘‘(i) for purposes of section 409(a)(8),

23 to achieve the paternity establishment per24 centages (as defined in section 452(g)(2))
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1 and other performance measures that may

2 be established by the Secretary;

3 ‘‘(ii) to submit data under section

4 454(15)(B) that is complete and reliable;

5 ‘‘(iii) to substantially comply with the

6 requirements of this part; and

7 ‘‘(iv) in the case of a request to waive

8 the single statewide system requirement,

9 to—

10 ‘‘(I) meet all functional require11 ments of sections 454(16) and 454A;

12 ‘‘(II) ensure that the calculation

13 of distribution of collected support is

14 according to the requirements of sec15 tion 457;

16 ‘‘(III) ensure that there is only 1

17 point of contact in the State for all

18 interstate case processing and coordi19 nated intrastate case management;

20 ‘‘(IV) ensure that standardized

21 data elements, forms, and definitions

22 are used throughout the State; and

23 ‘‘(V) complete the alternative sys24 tem in no more time than it would
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1 take to complete a single statewide

2 system that meets such requirement;

3 ‘‘(B)(i) the waiver meets the criteria of

4 paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) of section 1115(c);

5 or

6 ‘‘(ii) the State provides assurances to the

7 Secretary that steps will be taken to otherwise

8 improve the State’s child support enforcement

9 program; and

10 ‘‘(C) in the case of a request to waive the

11 single statewide system requirement, the State

12 has submitted to the Secretary separate esti13 mates of the total cost of a single statewide sys14 tem that meets such requirement, and of any

15 such alternative system or systems, which shall

16 include estimates of the cost of developing and

17 completing the system and of operating the sys18 tem for 5 years, and the Secretary has agreed

19 with the estimates.’’.

20 (b) PAYMENTS TO STATES.—Section 455(a)(1) of

21 such Act (42 U.S.C. 655(a)(1)) is amended—

22 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of subpara23 graph (B);

24 (2) by striking the semicolon at the end of sub25 paragraph (C) and inserting ‘‘, and’’; and
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1 (3) by inserting after subparagraph (C) the fol2 lowing:

3 ‘‘(D) equal to 66 percent of the sums ex4 pended by the State during the quarter for an

5 alternative statewide system for which a waiver

6 has been granted under section 452(d)(3), but

7 only to the extent that the total of the sums so

8 expended by the State on or after the date of

9 the enactment of this subparagraph does not

10 exceed the least total cost estimate submitted

11 by the State pursuant to section 452(d)(3)(C)

12 in the request for the waiver.’’.

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