II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1844

To amend part D of title IV of the Social Security Act to provide for

an alternative penalty procedure with respect to compliance with requirements for a State disbursement unit.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

NOVEMBER 2, 1999

Mr. ROTH (for himself, Mr. MOYNIHAN, Mr. VOINOVICH, Mrs. FEINSTEIN,

Mr. ROBERTS, Mrs. BOXER, Mr. ENZI, Mr. THOMAS, Mr. GRAMM, Mr.

KERREY, Mrs. HUTCHISON, and Mr. BAYH) introduced the following bill;

which was read twice, considered, read the third time, and passed

A BILL

To amend part D of title IV of the Social Security Act

to provide for an alternative penalty procedure with respect to compliance with requirements for a State disbursement unit.

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 Mis5 cellaneous Amendments of 1999’’.
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1 SEC. 2. ALTERNATIVE PENALTY PROCEDURE RELATING TO

2 COMPLIANCE WITH REQUIREMENTS RELAT3 ING TO STATE DISBURSEMENT UNIT.

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 ‘‘(5)(A)(i) If—

8 ‘‘(I) the Secretary determines that a State plan

9 under section 454 would (in the absence of this

10 paragraph) be disapproved for the failure of the

11 State to comply with subparagraphs (A) and (B)(i)

12 of section 454(27), and that the State has made and

13 is continuing to make a good faith effort to so com14 ply; and

15 ‘‘(II) the State has submitted to the Secretary,

16 not later than April 1, 2000, a corrective compliance

17 plan that describes how, by when, and at what cost

18 the State will achieve such compliance, which has

19 been approved by the Secretary,

20 then the Secretary shall not disapprove the State plan

21 under section 454, and the Secretary shall reduce the

22 amount otherwise payable to the State under paragraph

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

24 amount.

25 ‘‘(ii) All failures of a State during a fiscal year to

26 comply with any of the requirements of section 454B shall
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1 be considered a single failure of the State to comply with

2 section 454(27)(A) during the fiscal year for purposes of

3 this paragraph.

4 ‘‘(B) In this paragraph:

5 ‘‘(i) The term ‘penalty amount’ means, with re6 spect to a failure of a State to comply with subpara7 graphs (A) and (B)(i) of section 454(27)—

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

9 case of the 1st fiscal year in which such a fail10 ure by the State occurs (regardless of whether

11 a penalty is imposed in that fiscal year under

12 this paragraph with respect to the failure), ex13 cept as provided in subparagraph (C)(ii);

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

15 case of the 2nd such fiscal year;

16 ‘‘(III) 16 percent of the penalty base, in

17 the case of the 3rd such fiscal year;

18 ‘‘(IV) 25 percent of the penalty base, in

19 the case of the 4th such fiscal year; or

20 ‘‘(V) 30 percent of the penalty base, in the

21 case of the 5th or any subsequent such fiscal

22 year.

23 ‘‘(ii) The term ‘penalty base’ means, with re24 spect to a failure of a State to comply with subpara25 graphs (A) and (B)(i) of section 454(27) during a
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1 fiscal year, the amount other wise payable to the

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

3 the preceding fiscal year.

4 ‘‘(C)(i) The Secretary shall waive all penalties im5 posed against a State under this paragraph for any failure

6 of the State to comply with subparagraphs (A) and (B)(i)

7 of section 454(27) if the Secretary determines that, before

8 April 1, 2000, the State has achieved such compliance.

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

10 required to be made under this paragraph with respect

11 to a failure to comply with subparagraphs (A) and (B)(i)

12 of section 454(27) achieves compliance with such section

13 on or after April 1, 2000, and on or before September

14 30, 2000, then the penalty amount applicable to the State

15 shall be 1 percent of the penalty base with respect to the

16 failure involved.

17 ‘‘(D) The Secretary may not impose a penalty under

18 this paragraph against a State for a fiscal year for which

19 the amount otherwise payable to the State under para20 graph (1)(A) of this subsection is reduced under para21 graph (4) for failure to comply with section 454(24)(A).’’.

22 (b) INAPPLICABILITY OF PENALTY UNDER TANF

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

24 U.S.C. 609(a)(8)(A)(i)(III)) is amended by striking ‘‘sec-
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1 tion 454(24)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraph (24) or (27)(A)

2 of section 454’’.

3 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by

4 this section shall take effect on October 1, 1999.

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