I
103D CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 3892
To improve the child support system.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY 24, 1994
Mr. ANDREWS of Texas introduced the following bill; which was referred joint-
ly to the Committees on Ways and Means, the Judiciary, Education and
Labor, and Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs
A BILL
To improve the child support system.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Child Support En-
hancement Act of 1994’’.
TITLE I—NATIONAL REGISTRY
OF CHILD SUPPORT ORDERS
SEC. 101. NATIONAL CHILD SUPPORT ORDER REGISTRY.
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Health and
Human Services shall establish a national registry of
all child support orders the information in which
shall be accessible in the form of a computerized
database.
(2) CHILD
SUPPORT
ORDER
DEFINED.—As
used in this section, the term ‘‘child support order’’
means an order, issued or modified by a State court
or an administrative process established under State
law, that requires an individual to make payments
for support and maintenance of a child or of a child
and the parent with whom the child is living.
(b) TRANSMISSION OF COPIES OF CHILD SUPPORT
ORDERS TO THE NATIONAL REGISTRY.—Section 466(a)
of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 666(a)) is amended
by inserting after paragraph (11) the following:
‘‘(12) Procedures to ensure that a copy of each
child support order issued or modified in the State
is transmitted to the national registry of child sup-
port orders established under section 2(a) of the
Child Support Enhancement Act of 1994.’’.
(c) PROVISION OF CHILD SUPPORT INFORMATION TO
EMPLOYERS.—Upon receipt from an employer of a
W–4 form completed by an employee, the national registry
shall—
(1) compare the child support information re-
ported on the W–4 form with the information in the
national registry on the child support obligations of
the employee; and
(2) report to the employer such information as
the national registry may have as to—
(A) whether the employee is required to
make payments pursuant to a child support
order; and
(B) if so, the aggregate amount required
to be so paid (and to whom) by the employee
on a monthly basis.
TITLE 
II—ENFORCEMENT 
OF
CHILD 
SUPPORT 
ORDERS
THROUGH EMPLOYER WITH-
HOLDING
SEC. 201. REPORTING OF CHILD SUPPORT INFORMATION.
(a) W–4 REPORTING REQUIREMENT.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Treas-
ury, in consultation with the Secretary of Labor,
shall require all employees to file a new W–4 form
with their employers within 5 calendar days after
the later of the effective date of this subsection or
the date the employee is hired, and require all em-
ployers to provide a copy of every employee’s W–4
form to the national child support order registry es-
tablished under section 101(a) of this Act.
(2) EXPANDED USE OF FORM.—The Secretary
of the Treasury shall modify the W–4 form to be
completed by an employee to enable the employee to
indicate on the form—
(A) whether the employee owes child sup-
port, and if so—
(i) to whom the support is payable
and the amount of the support payable;
and
(ii) whether the support is to be paid
through wage withholding; and
(B) whether health care insurance is avail-
able to the new employee, and, if so, whether
the employee has obtained such insurance for
the dependent children of the employee.
(b) EMPLOYER WITHHOLDING OBLIGATION.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle C of the Internal
Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to employment
taxes) is amended by inserting after chapter 24 the
following new chapter:
‘‘CHAPTER 24A—COLLECTION OF CHILD
SUPPORT OBLIGATIONS AT SOURCE
ON WAGES
‘‘Sec. 3411. Child support obligations collected at source.
‘‘SEC. 3411. CHILD SUPPORT OBLIGATIONS COLLECTED AT
SOURCE.
‘‘(a) REQUIREMENT OF WITHHOLDING.—Every em-
ployer making payment of wages shall deduct and with-
hold upon such wages a specified child support obligation
amount.
‘‘(b) SPECIFIED
CHILD
SUPPORT
OBLIGATION
AMOUNT.—For purposes of this chapter, the specified
child support obligation amount with respect to any em-
ployee shall be determined based on—
‘‘(1) information provided by the employee, or
‘‘(2) if the national registry of child support or-
ders established under section 101 of the Child Sup-
port Enhancement Act of 1994 notifies the employer
that such information is inaccurate, information pro-
vided by the registry.
‘‘(c) LIABILITY FOR PAYMENT.—The employer shall
be liable for the payment of the specified child support
obligation amount to the person entitled to such amount,
as determined based on the information referred to in sub-
section (b).
‘‘(d) SPECIAL RULES.—For purposes of this chapter
(and so much of subtitle F as relates to this chapter), any
specified child support obligation amount shall be treated
as if it were a tax withheld under chapter 24 and rules
similar to the rules of such chapter shall apply.’’
(2) CLERICAL
AMENDMENT.—The table of
chapters of subtitle C of the Internal Revenue Code
of 1986 is amended by inserting after the item relat-
ing to chapter 24 the following new item:
‘‘CHAPTER 24A. Child support obligations collected at source.’’
(c) WITHHELD CHILD SUPPORT OBLIGATIONS RE-
PORTED ON W–2 FORMS.—Subsection (a) of section 6051
of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to receipts
for employees) is amended by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end
of paragraph (8), by striking the period at the end of para-
graph (9) and inserting ‘‘, and’’, and by inserting after
paragraph (9) the following new paragraph:
‘‘(10) the total amount of specified child sup-
port obligations withheld under section 3411.’’
TITLE 
III—ENFORCEMENT 
OF
CRIMINAL 
PENALTIES 
FOR
FLIGHT TO AVOID PAYMENT
OF CHILD SUPPORT
SEC. 301. ADDITIONAL AUTHORIZATION FOR ENFORCE-
MENT.
There are authorized to be appropriated to the Attor-
ney General for each of fiscal years 1994, 1995, 1996,
1997, and 1998 the amount of $50,000,000 for the en-
forcement of section 228 of title 18, United States Code.
TITLE IV—CREDIT BUREAU
REPORTING
SEC. 401. REPORTS TO CREDIT BUREAUS ON PERSONS DE-
LINQUENT IN CHILD SUPPORT PAYMENTS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 466(a)(7) of the Social
Security Act (42 U.S.C. 666(a)(7)) is amended to read
as follows:
‘‘(7) Procedures requiring the State to provide
to each consumer reporting agency (as defined in
section 603(f) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act in-
formation regarding the amount of overdue support
owed by any absent parent who resides in the
State.’’.
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by
subsection (a) shall take effect on October 1, 1994.
TITLE V—NATIONAL
JURISDICTION
SEC. 501. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.
(a) The Congress finds that—
(1) there are a large and growing number of
child support cases annually involving disputes be-
tween parents or alleged parents who reside in dif-
ferent States, the District of Columbia, the Com-
monwealth of Puerto Rico, the territories and pos-
sessions of the United States, and Indian country;
(2) the laws by which the courts of these juris-
dictions determining their jurisdiction to adjudicate
parentage and establish child support orders are not
uniform;
(3) these nonuniform laws, along with the limits
imposed by a Federal system on the authority of
each jurisdiction to take certain actions outside its
own boundaries, contribute to the pressing problem
of parties moving to avoid jurisdiction, to inequities
based solely on choice of domicile, to a disregard of
court orders resulting in massive arrearages nation-
wide, to excessive relitigation of cases, to the estab-
lishment of conflicting orders by the courts of var-
ious jurisdictions, and to interstate travel and com-
munication that is so expensive and time consuming
as to disrupt parties’ occupations and commercial
activities;
(4) among the results of these conditions are
the failure of the courts of such jurisdictions to give
full faith and credit to the judicial proceedings of
the other jurisdictions, the deprivation of rights of
liberty and property without due process of law, bur-
dens of commerce among such jurisdictions, and
harm to the welfare of children and their parents
and other custodians;
(5) the child’s best interests should play a deci-
sive role in the determination of jurisdiction in ac-
tions arising from domestic relations;
(6) it is in the child’s best interest to expand
the forums available in which a contestant can val-
idly assert personal jurisdiction over a nonresident
contestant in an action to adjudicate parentage or
make a child support order;
(7) a State has an interest in the financial sta-
bility of its children citizens;
(8) it is reasonably foreseeable for a parent or
presumed parent to be required to support his or her
child wherever that child is domiciled;
(9) if a parent fails to fulfill his or her support
obligations to a child, it is the State where the child
is domiciled that may incur public expenditures on
behalf of that child; and
(10) the domicile of a child to whom a support
obligation is owed or presumed to be owed is a suffi-
cient connection between a parent or presumed par-
ent and the child’s State to make it fair to require
the parent to defend the action in the child’s State
of domicile.
(b) For these reasons it is necessary to establish na-
tional standards under which the courts of such jurisdic-
tions will determine their jurisdiction to adjudicate parent-
age and to establish a child support order and the effect
to be given by each jurisdiction to such decisions by the
courts of other jurisdictions.
(c) The purposes of this title are to—
(1) expand the forums available to adjudicate
parentage and to establish a child support order so
that such actions may be heard in the State which
has the strongest interest in the child’s financial se-
curity;
(2) promote and expand the exchange of infor-
mation and other forms of mutual assistance be-
tween States which are concerned with the same
child;
(3) facilitate the enforcement of support decrees
of sister States;
(4) discourage continuing interstate controver-
sies over child support in the interest of greater fi-
nancial stability and secure family relationships for
the child; and
(5) avoid jurisdictional competition and conflict
between State courts in matters of adjudication of
parentage and establishment of child support order
which have in the past resulted in the movement of
parties among the States and a low percentage of
interstate cases with support orders, adversely af-
fecting children’s well-being.
SEC. 502. FULL FAITH AND CREDIT GIVEN TO CHILD SUP-
PORT ORDERS.
Chapter 115 of title 28, United States Code, is
amended by inserting after section 1738A the following:
‘‘SEC. 1738B. FULL FAITH AND CREDIT GIVEN TO CHILD
SUPPORT ORDERS.
‘‘(a) The appropriate authorities of every State shall
enforce according to its terms, and shall not modify except
as provided in subsection (f) of this section, any child sup-
port order made consistently with the provisions of this
section by a court of another State.
‘‘(b) As used in this section, the term—
‘‘(1) ‘child’ means any person under the age of
18; and includes an individual 18 or more years of
age for whom a child support order can be made
under the rendering State’s law;
‘‘(2) ‘child’s State’ means the State in which
the child is currently domiciled with a parent, or a
person acting as a parent;
‘‘(3) ‘child support order’ means a judgment,
decree or order of a court requiring the payment of
money, whether in periodic amounts or lump sum,
for the support of a child and includes permanent
and temporary orders, initial orders and modifica-
tions, ongoing support and arrearages;
‘‘(4) ‘contestant’ means a person, including a
parent, who claims a right to receive child support
or is under an order to pay child support. ‘Contest-
ant’ includes States and political subdivisions to
whom support rights have been assigned;
‘‘(5) ‘court’ means a court, administrative proc-
ess or quasijudicial process of a State which is au-
thorized to adjudicate parentage, establish the
amount of support payable by a contestant, or mod-
ify the amount of support payable by a contestant;
‘‘(6) ‘domicile’ means physical residence accom-
panied by an intent to indefinitely remain there;
‘‘(7) ‘home State’ means a State in which, im-
mediately preceding the time involved, the child lived
with his parents, a parent, or a person acting as
parent, for at least 6 consecutive months, and in the
case of a child less than 6 months old, the State in
which the child lived from birth with any of such
persons. Periods of temporary absence of any of
such persons are counted as part of the 6-month or
other period;
‘‘(8) ‘modification’ and ‘modify’ refer to a child
support order which modifies, replaces, supersedes,
or otherwise is made subsequent to, a prior child
support order concerning the same child, whether
made by the same court or not;
‘‘(9) ‘person acting as a parent’ means a child,
other than a parent, who has physical custody of a
child and who has either been awarded custody by
a court or claims a right to custody; and
‘‘(10) ‘State’ means a State of the United
States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth
of Puerto Rico, a territory or possession of the Unit-
ed States, or an Indian tribe.
‘‘(c) A child support order made by a court of a State
is consistent with the provisions of this section only if such
court had personal jurisdiction of the contestants. A court
has personal jurisdiction over a nonresident contestant if
one or more of the following factors are met—
‘‘(1) the individual is personally served with a
citation, summons, or notice in the State;
‘‘(2) the individual submits to the jurisdiction
of the State by consent, by entering a general ap-
pearance, or by filing a responsive document having
the effect of waiving any contest to personal jurisdic-
tion;
‘‘(3) the individual resided with the child in the
State;
‘‘(4) the individual resided in the State and
provided prenatal expenses or support for the child;
‘‘(5) the child resides in the State as a result
of the acts or directives of the individual;
‘‘(6) the individual engaged in sexual inter-
course in the State and the child may have been con-
ceived by that act of intercourse;
‘‘(7) the individual asserted parentage in the
putative father registry maintained in the State by
the appropriate agency; or
‘‘(8) there is any other basis consistent with the
constitutions of the State and the United States for
the exercise of personal jurisdiction.
‘‘(d) A court of a State which has made a child sup-
port order consistently with the provisions of this section
has continuing, exclusive jurisdiction for so long as such
State remains the child’s State or the residence of any
contestant.
‘‘(e) Before a child support order is made, reasonable
notice and opportunity to be heard shall be given to the
contestants.
‘‘(f) A court of a State may modify a child support
order for the same child made by a court of another State,
if—
‘‘(1) it has jurisdiction to make such a child
support order; and
‘‘(2) the court of the other State no longer has
continuing, exclusive jurisdiction because such State
no longer is the child’s State or the residence of any
contestant, or each individual party has filed written
consent for the State to modify the order and as-
sume continuing exclusive jurisdiction.
‘‘(g) A court of a State shall not exercise jurisdiction
in any proceeding for a child support order commenced
during the pendency of a proceeding in a court of another
State where such court of that other State is exercising
jurisdiction consistently with the provisions of this section
to make a child support order unless—
‘‘(1) the proceeding in the State is filed before
the expiration of the time allowed in the other State
for filing a responsive pleading challenging the exer-
cise of jurisdiction by the other State;
‘‘(2) the contesting party timely challenges the
exercise of jurisdiction in the other State; and
‘‘(3) if applicable, the State is the home State
of the child.’’.
SEC. 503. REQUIRED STATE LONG ARM JURISDICTION.
Section 466(a) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.
666(a)), as amended by sections 101(b) and 201(b) of this
Act, is amended by inserting after paragraph (13) the fol-
lowing:
‘‘(14) Effective January 1, 1994, procedures
under which the State may validly assert personal
jurisdiction over a nonresident contestant for pur-
poses of adjudicating parentage and/or establishing
a child support order if one or more of the following
factors are met—
‘‘(A) the individual is personally served
with a citation, summons, or notice in the
State;
‘‘(B) the individual submits to the jurisdic-
tion of the State by consent, by entering a gen-
eral appearance, or by filing a responsive docu-
ment having the effect of waiving any contest to
personal jurisdiction;
‘‘(C) the individual resided with the child
in the State;
‘‘(D) the individual resided in the State
and provided prenatal expenses or support for
the child;
‘‘(E) the child resides in the State as a re-
sult of the acts or directives of the individual;
‘‘(F) the individual engaged in sexual
intercourse in the State and the child may have
been conceived by that act of intercourse;
‘‘(G) the individual asserted parentage in
the putative father registry maintained in the
State by the appropriate agency; or
‘‘(H) there is any other basis consistent
with the constitutions of the State and the
United States for the exercise of personal juris-
diction.’’.
SEC. 504. DUE PROCESS.
Based on the findings set forth in section 501, Con-
gress pursuant to its powers to enforce the Due Process
Clause of the Fifth Amendment, Section 5 of the Four-
teenth Amendment, the Commerce Clause, the General
Welfare Clause, and the Full Faith and Credit Clause de-
clares that due process is satisfied when a child’s State
of domicile asserts personal jurisdiction over a nonresident
contestant who is the parent or presumed parent as de-
fined by that State’s law of that child in an action to adju-
dicate parentage or establish a child support order.
SEC. 505. DURATION OF CHILD SUPPORT.
(a) Subject to subsections (b) and (c), one or both
parents may be ordered to pay child support for a child,
until the later of the following occurs:
(1) the child reaches the age of 18 and is no
longer enrolled as a student in an accredited second-
ary school or its vocational or private equivalent; or
(2) the child, enrolled at the time of reaching
the age of 18 as a student working toward fulfilling
requirements to receive a high school diploma or its
vocational or private equivalent, subsequently—
(A) graduates; or
(B) reaches the maximum age permitted
under State law for enrollment in public sec-
ondary education in that State.
(b)(1) A child support duty may be extended to cover
any of the following occurrences:
(A) A child’s disability, if the child becomes dis-
abled during the period he or she would qualify for
support under subsection (a), for the period for
which the child suffers a mental, physical, or emo-
tional impairment that is so severe as to make im-
probable the ability of the child to live financially
independently on a long-term basis, whether institu-
tionalized or not, for as long as the impairment in-
hibits financial independence; an action under this
paragraph may be brought only by a natural or
adoptive parent of the child, or by the child or his
or her guardian ad litem, entitlement to which can-
not be assigned to any person or government agency,
except to the State child support agency as defined
under section 452 of title IV–D of the Social Secu-
rity Act.
(B) A child’s enrollment in an accredited post-
secondary educational or vocational school, college,
or institute if the child has not attained the age of
22; for the purpose of this section, a child is and
continues to be an enrolled student during all regu-
larly scheduled or approved school breaks including
summer recess; the trier of fact shall decide whether
any intervals in attendance between secondary and
postsecondary education and any intervals between
enrollments in postsecondary educational or voca-
tional schools, college, or institutes require the con-
tinuation of the obligation of providing support dur-
ing those intervals.
(C) If a written, voluntary agreement, executed
by the parents of the child or oral, voluntary con-
firmed by both parents of a child, extends the duty
until the child reaches a certain age or until a speci-
fied event occurs.
(2) Child support ordered under this subsection may
follow the State’s guidelines for determining support or
may deviate without need of special justification if the
order states the reasoning behind the amount set and the
calculations therefor.
(c) The duty to provide current child support termi-
nates for a child at the time any one of the following
events occurs:
(1) The child dies.
(2) The child marries.
(3) The child’s parent who has a support duty
has his or her parental rights terminated regarding
that child; if another person has a duty to support
the child, the other person’s support duty is not ex-
tinguished.
(4) The child is emancipated by court order.
(5) The child enlists in the armed forces and
reports for active duty.
(d) A child support duty shall continue after the
death or permanent, total disability of one or both parents
who owe a support duty until conditions under subsection
(a), (b), or (c) are met, with said support having priority
payment and distribution status above that belonging to
all other non-Federal creditors.
(e) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a),
(b), (c), or (d), termination of a child support duty does
not relieve the obligor of liability for past-due support.
(f) Notwithstanding any other provision in this sec-
tion, a child in foster care is entitled to parental support
for as long as Federal and State law permit.
(g) A child born out-of-wedlock whose parentage has
been determined under law is entitled to the same dura-
tion of support as a child born to a marriage.
(h) A child or his or her guardian ad litem has a
right to bring an action under this section as does either
one of the child’s parents or the State child support agen-
cy as defined in section 452 of title IV–D of the Social
Security Act.
(i) Nothing prohibits a State from enacting duration
of support laws that provide a longer duration of support
than that which this section provides.
TITLE VI—ADMINISTRATIVE
PROCESS
SEC. 601. ADMINISTRATIVE PROCESS.
Section 466(a)(2) of the Social Security Act (42
U.S.C. 666(a)(2)) is amended to read as follows:
‘‘(2) Procedures under which expedited admin-
istrative processes are used to establish paternity in
contested paternity cases and to establish and en-
force support orders in all cases.’’.
TITLE VII—MEDICAL CHILD SUP-
PORT ORDERS ISSUED BY AD-
MINISTRATIVE 
ADJUDICA-
TORS
SEC. 701. TECHNICAL CORRECTION TO ERISA DEFINITION
OF MEDICAL CHILD SUPPORT ORDER.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 609(a)(2)(B) of the Em-
ployee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (29
U.S.C. 1169(a)(2)(B)) is amended—
(1) by striking ‘‘issued by a court of competent
jurisdiction’’;
(2) by striking the period at the end of clause
(ii) and inserting a comma; and
(3) by adding, after and below clause (ii), the
following:
‘‘if such judgment, decree, or order (I) is issued
by a court of competent jurisdiction or (II) is
issued by an administrative adjudicator and has
the force and effect of law under applicable
State law.’’.
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—The amendments made by
this section shall take effect on the date of the en-
actment of this Act.
(2) PLAN AMENDMENTS NOT REQUIRED UNTIL
JANUARY 1, 1995.—Any amendment to a plan re-
quired to be made by an amendment made by this
section shall not be required to be made before the
first plan year beginning on or after January 1,
1995, if—
(A) during the period after the date before
the date of the enactment of this Act and be-
fore such first plan year, the plan is operated
in accordance with the requirements of the
amendments made by this section, and
(B) such plan amendment applies retro-
actively to the period after the date before the
date of the enactment of this Act and before
such first plan year.
A plan shall not be treated as failing to be operated
in accordance with the provisions of the plan merely
because it operates in accordance with this para-
graph.
TITLE 
VIII—ELIMINATION 
OF
OPERATING SUBSIDIES FOR
VACANT PUBLIC HOUSING
SEC. 801. ELIMINATION OF OPERATING SUBSIDIES FOR VA-
CANT PUBLIC HOUSING.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 9(a)(3)(B) of the United
States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437g(a)(3)(B))
is amended—
(1) in clause (iv), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end;
(2) in clause (v), by striking the period at the
end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and
(3) by adding at the end the following new
clause:
‘‘(vi) no payment may be provided under this
section for any dwelling unit that has been vacant
for a period of 180 days or more unless such unit
is vacant because of comprehensive modernization,
major reconstruction, demolition, or disposition ac-
tivities that have been funded or approved.’’.
(b) ELIMINATION OF ANNUAL CONTRIBUTION RE-
SERVE.—Section 14(p) of the United States Housing Act
of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437l(p)) is amended by striking para-
graph (3).
(c) RECAPTURE
OF ANNUAL CONTRIBUTION RE-
SERVE.—The Secretary of Housing and Urban Develop-
ment shall recapture any amounts reserved from annual
contributions for public housing agencies and deposited in
accounts established on behalf of the agencies pursuant
to paragraph (3) of section 14(p) of the United States
Housing Act of 1937 (as in effect immediately before the
date of the enactment of this Act).
Æ
HR 3892 IH——2