II

105TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 1798

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 19, 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. ALTERNATIVE PENALTY PROCEDURE FOR

4 CHILD SUPPORT DATA PROCESSING RE5 QUIREMENTS.

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 455(a) of the Social Secu7 rity Act (42 U.S.C. 655(a)) is amended by adding at the

8 end the following:

9 ‘‘(4)(A) If—
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1 ‘‘(i) the Secretary determines that a State plan

2 under section 454 would (in the absence of this

3 paragraph) be disapproved for the failure of the

4 State to comply with section 454(24)(A), and that

5 the State has made and is continuing to make a

6 good faith effort to so comply; and

7 ‘‘(ii) the State has submitted to the Secretary

8 a corrective compliance plan that describes how, by

9 when, and at what cost the State will achieve such

10 compliance, which has been approved by the Sec11 retary,

12 then the Secretary shall not disapprove the State plan

13 under section 454, and the Secretary shall reduce the

14 amount otherwise payable to the State under paragraph

15 (1)(A) of this subsection for the fiscal year by the penalty

16 amount.

17 ‘‘(B) In this paragraph:

18 ‘‘(i) The term ‘penalty amount’ means, with re19 spect to a failure of a State to comply with section

20 454(24)—

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

22 case of the 1st fiscal year in which such a fail23 ure by the State occurs;

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

25 case of the 2nd such fiscal year;
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1 ‘‘(III) 16 percent of the penalty base, in

2 the case of the 3rd such fiscal year; or

3 ‘‘(IV) 20 percent of the penalty base, in

4 the case of the 4th or any subsequent such fis5 cal year.

6 ‘‘(ii) The term ‘penalty base’ means, with re7 spect to a failure of a State to comply with section

8 454(24) during a fiscal year, the amount otherwise

9 payable to the State under paragraph (1)(A) of this

10 subsection for the preceding fiscal year, minus the

11 applicable share of such amount which would other12 wise be payable to any county to which the Secretary

13 granted a waiver under the Family Support Act of

14 1988 (Public Law 100–485; 102 Stat. 2343) for 90

15 percent enhanced Federal funding to develop an

16 automated data processing and information retrieval

17 system provided that such system was implemented

18 prior to October 1, 1997.

19 ‘‘(C)(i) The Secretary shall waive a penalty under

20 this paragraph for any failure of a State to comply with

21 section 454(24)(A) during fiscal year 1998 if—

22 ‘‘(I) by December 31, 1997, the State has sub23 mitted to the Secretary a request that the Secretary

24 certify the State as having met the requirements of

25 such section;
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1 ‘‘(II) the Secretary has provided the certifi2 cation as a result of a review conducted pursuant to

3 the request; and

4 ‘‘(III) the State has not failed such a review.

5 ‘‘(ii) If a State with respect to which a reduction is

6 made under this paragraph for a fiscal year achieves com7 pliance with section 454(24)(A) by the beginning of the

8 succeeding fiscal year, the Secretary shall increase the

9 amount otherwise payable to the State under paragraph

10 (1)(A) of this subsection for the succeeding fiscal year by

11 an amount equal to 75 percent of the reduction for the

12 fiscal year.

13 ‘‘(D) The preceding provisions of this paragraph (ex14 cept for subparagraph (C)(i)) shall apply, separately and

15 independently, to a failure to comply with section

16 454(24)(B) in the same manner in which the preceding

17 provisions apply to a failure to comply with section

18 454(24)(A).’’.

19 (b) INAPPLICABILITY OF PENALTY UNDER TANF

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

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

22 ‘‘(other than section 454(24))’’ before the semicolon.
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1 SEC. 2. AUTHORITY TO WAIVE SINGLE STATEWIDE AUTO2 MATED DATA PROCESSING AND INFORMA3 TION RETRIEVAL SYSTEM REQUIREMENT.

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

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

6 as follows:

7 ‘‘(3) The Secretary may waive any requirement of

8 paragraph (1) or any condition specified under section

9 454(16), and shall waive the single statewide system re10 quirement under sections 454(16) and 454A, with respect

11 to a State if—

12 ‘‘(A) the State demonstrates to the satisfaction

13 of the Secretary that the State has or can develop

14 an alternative system or systems that enable the

15 State—

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

17 achieve the paternity establishment percentages

18 (as defined in section 452(g)(2)) and other per19 formance measures that may be established by

20 the Secretary;

21 ‘‘(ii) to submit data under section

22 454(15)(B) that is complete and reliable;

23 ‘‘(iii) to substantially comply with the re24 quirements of this part; and

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

26 single statewide system requirement, to—
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1 ‘‘(I) meet all functional requirements

2 of sections 454(16) and 454A;

3 ‘‘(II) ensure that the calculation of

4 distribution of collected support is accord5 ing to the requirements of section 457;

6 ‘‘(III) ensure that there is only 1

7 point of contact in the State for all inter8 state case processing and coordinated

9 intrastate case management;

10 ‘‘(IV) ensure that standardized data

11 elements, forms, and definitions are used

12 throughout the State; and

13 ‘‘(V) complete the alternative system

14 in no more time than it would take to com15 plete a single statewide system that meets

16 such requirement;

17 ‘‘(B)(i) the waiver meets the criteria of para18 graphs (1), (2), and (3) of section 1115(c); or

19 ‘‘(ii) the State provides assurances to the Sec20 retary that steps will be taken to otherwise improve

21 the State’s child support enforcement program; and

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

23 statewide system requirement, the State has submit24 ted to the Secretary separate estimates of the total

25 cost of a single statewide system that meets such re-
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1 quirement, and of any such alternative system or

2 systems, which shall include estimates of the cost of

3 developing and completing the system and of operat4 ing the system for 5 years, and the Secretary has

5 agreed with the estimates.’’.

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

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

8 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of subpara9 graph (B);

10 (2) by striking the semicolon at the end of sub11 paragraph (C) and inserting ‘‘, and’’; and

12 (3) by inserting after subparagraph (C) the fol13 lowing:

14 ‘‘(D) equal to 66 percent of the sums expended

15 by the State during the quarter for an alternative

16 statewide system for which a waiver has been grant17 ed under section 452(d)(3), but only to the extent

18 that the total of the sums so expended by the State

19 on or after the date of the enactment of this sub20 paragraph does not exceed the least total cost esti21 mate submitted by the State pursuant to section

22 452(d)(3)(C) in the request for the waiver.’’.

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