(d) CHILD SUPPORT ASSURANCE DEMONSTRATION
PROJECTS.—
(1) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this subsection
is to test the feasibility and utility of ensuring that
custodial parents owed child support have a consist-
ent source of income for the support of their chil-
dren, by authorizing States to conduct projects dem-
onstrating various methods for doing so.
(2) CONSIDERATION OF APPLICATIONS.—
(A) 
IN
GENERAL.—The 
Secretary 
of
Health and Human Services (in this section re-
ferred to as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall consider ap-
plications to conduct demonstration projects
under this subsection received only from eligible
States.
(B) ELIGIBLE STATE DEFINED.—For pur-
poses of subparagraph (A), a State is an eligi-
ble State if—
(i) the child support collection ratio
for the State for the most recent fiscal
year for which such information is avail-
able exceeds the child support collection
ratio for the United States for the fiscal
year; or
(ii) AFDC support collection ratio for
the State for the most recent fiscal year
for which such information is available ex-
ceeds the AFDC support collection ratio
for the United States for the fiscal year.
(C) 
CHILD
SUPPORT
COLLECTION
RATIO.—As used in subparagraph (B), the term
‘‘child support collection ratio’’ means, with re-
spect to a fiscal year—
(i) for a State—
(I) the total amount expended by
the State during the fiscal year for
the operation of the plan approved
under section 454 of the Social Secu-
rity Act; divided by
(II) the total amount of support
collected by the State during the fiscal
year in all cases under part D of title
IV of such Act; and
(ii) for the United States—
(I) the total amount expended by
the States during the fiscal year for
the operation of the plans approved
under such section; divided by
(II) the total amount of support
collected by the States during the fis-
cal year in all cases under such part.
(D) 
AFDC 
SUPPORT
COLLECTION
RATIO.—As used in subparagraph (B), the term
‘‘AFDC support collection ratio’’ means, with
respect to a fiscal year—
(i) for a State—
(I) the total amount expended by
the State during the fiscal year for
the operation of the plan approved
under section 454 of the Social Secu-
rity Act; divided by
(II) the total amount of support
collected by the State under the plan
during the fiscal year in cases in
which the support obligation involved
is assigned to the State pursuant to
section 
402(a)(26) 
or 
section
471(a)(17) of such Act; and
(ii) for the United States—
(I) the total amount expended by
the States during the fiscal year for
the operation of the plans approved
under such section 454; divided by
(II) the total amount of support
collected by the States under the
plans during the fiscal year in cases in
which the support obligation involved
is assigned to a State pursuant to sec-
tion 402(a)(26) or section 471(a)(17)
of such Act.
(3) APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS.—Each appli-
cation of a State to conduct a demonstration project
under this subsection must describe a demonstration
project that meets the following requirements:
(A) PROJECT
BENEFICIARIES.—A child
support assurance benefit is payable under the
project to the caretaker of a child if—
(i) the child is an eligible child; and
(ii) the caretaker has applied for serv-
ices under the State plan approved under
part D of title IV of the Social Security
Act.
(B) ELIGIBLE CHILDREN.—A child is an
eligible child if—
(i) the child resides in the State;
(ii) the child has a living noncustodial
parent;
100
(iii) a good faith effort has been made
to seek or enforce an order for such parent
to provide support for the child, or there is
good cause for not seeking or enforcing
such an order; and
(iv) any rights to support owed the
child have been assigned to the State, to
the extent of the child support assurance
benefits received with respect to the child
under the project.
(C) AMOUNT OF CHILD SUPPORT ASSUR-
ANCE BENEFIT.—The amount of the child sup-
port assurance benefit payable under the
project to the caretaker of 1 or more eligible
children is the amount by which—
(i) the child support assurance thresh-
old; exceeds
(ii) the dollar value of the child sup-
port (if any) received during the month by
the caretaker from the noncustodial parent
for the support of any eligible child.
(D) CHILD SUPPORT ASSURANCE THRESH-
OLD.—The child support assurance threshold is
1⁄12 of—