I
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1471
To provide more child support money to families leaving welfare, to simplify
the rules governing the assignment and distribution of child support
collected by States on behalf of children, to improve the collection of
child support, to promote marriage, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APRIL 4, 2001
Mrs. JOHNSON of Connecticut (for herself and Mr. CARDIN) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means,
and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration
of such provisions as fall within the jursidiction of the committee con-
cerned
A BILL
To provide more child support money to families leaving
welfare, to simplify the rules governing the assignment
and distribution of child support collected by States on
behalf of children, to improve the collection of child sup-
port, to promote marriage, and for other purposes.
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 Dis-
tribution Act of 2001’’.
SEC. 2. TABLE OF CONTENTS.
The table of contents for this Act is as follows:
Sec. 1. Short title.
Sec. 2. Table of contents.
TITLE I—DISTRIBUTION OF CHILD SUPPORT
Sec. 101. Distribution of child support collected by States on behalf of children
receiving certain welfare benefits.
TITLE II—REVIEW AND ADJUSTMENT OF CHILD SUPPORT
ORDERS
Sec. 201. Mandatory review and modification of child support orders for TANF
recipients.
TITLE III—DEMONSTRATION OF EXPANDED INFORMATION AND
ENFORCEMENT
Sec. 301. Guidelines for involvement of public non-IV–D child support enforce-
ment agencies in child support enforcement.
Sec. 302. Demonstrations involving establishment and enforcement of child sup-
port obligations by public non-IV–D child support enforcement
agencies.
Sec. 303. GAO report to Congress on private child support enforcement agen-
cies.
Sec. 304. Effective date.
TITLE IV—EXPANDED ENFORCEMENT
Sec. 401. Decrease in amount of child support arrearage triggering passport
denial.
Sec. 402. Use of tax refund intercept program to collect past-due child support
on behalf of children who are not minors.
Sec. 403. Garnishment of compensation paid to veterans for service-connected
disabilities in order to enforce child support obligations.
TITLE V—FATHERHOOD PROGRAMS
Subtitle A—Fatherhood Grant Program
Sec. 501. Fatherhood grants.
Subtitle B—Fatherhood Projects of National Significance
Sec. 511. Fatherhood projects of national significance.
TITLE VI—MISCELLANEOUS
Sec. 601. Report on undistributed child support payments.
Sec. 602. Use of new hire information to assist in administration of unemploy-
ment compensation programs.
Sec. 603. Immigration provisions.
Sec. 604. Correction of errors in conforming amendments in the Welfare-To-
Work and Child Support Amendments of 1999.
Sec. 605. Increase in payment rate to States for expenditures for short term
training of staff of certain child welfare agencies.
TITLE VII—EFFECTIVE DATE
Sec. 701. Effective date.
TITLE I—DISTRIBUTION OF
CHILD SUPPORT
SEC. 101. DISTRIBUTION OF CHILD SUPPORT COLLECTED
BY STATES ON BEHALF OF CHILDREN RE-
CEIVING CERTAIN WELFARE BENEFITS.
(a) MODIFICATION OF RULE REQUIRING ASSIGN-
MENT OF SUPPORT RIGHTS AS A CONDITION OF RECEIV-
ING TANF.—Section 408(a)(3) of the Social Security Act
(42 U.S.C. 608(a)(3)) is amended to read as follows:
‘‘(3) NO ASSISTANCE FOR FAMILIES NOT AS-
SIGNING
CERTAIN
SUPPORT
RIGHTS
TO
THE
STATE.—A State to which a grant is made under
section 403 shall require, as a condition of providing
assistance to a family under the State program
funded under this part, that a member of the family
assign to the State any rights the family member
may have (on behalf of the family member or of any
other person for whom the family member has ap-
plied for or is receiving such assistance) to support
from any other person, not exceeding the total
amount of assistance so provided to the family,
which accrues during the period that the family re-
ceives assistance under the program.’’.
(b) INCREASING CHILD SUPPORT PAYMENTS
TO
FAMILIES AND SIMPLIFYING CHILD SUPPORT DISTRIBU-
TION RULES.—
(1) DISTRIBUTION RULES.—
(A) IN GENERAL.—Section 457(a) of such
Act (42 U.S.C. 657(a)) is amended to read as
follows:
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subsections (d) and
(e), the amounts collected on behalf of a family as support
by a State pursuant to a plan approved under this part
shall be distributed as follows:
‘‘(1) FAMILIES RECEIVING ASSISTANCE.—In the
case of a family receiving assistance from the State,
the State shall—
‘‘(A) pay to the Federal Government the
Federal share of the amount collected, subject
to paragraph (3)(A);
‘‘(B) retain, or pay to the family, the State
share of the amount collected, subject to para-
graph (3)(B); and
‘‘(C) pay to the family any remaining
amount.
‘‘(2) FAMILIES THAT FORMERLY RECEIVED AS-
SISTANCE.—In the case of a family that formerly re-
ceived assistance from the State:
‘‘(A) CURRENT SUPPORT.—To the extent
that the amount collected does not exceed the
current support amount, the State shall pay the
amount to the family.
‘‘(B) ARREARAGES.—To the extent that
the amount collected exceeds the current sup-
port amount, the State—
‘‘(i) shall first pay to the family the
excess amount, to the extent necessary to
satisfy support arrearages not assigned
pursuant to section 408(a)(3);
‘‘(ii) if the amount collected exceeds
the amount required to be paid to the fam-
ily under clause (i), shall—
‘‘(I) pay to the Federal Govern-
ment, the Federal share of the excess
amount described in this clause, sub-
ject to paragraph (3)(A); and
‘‘(II) retain, or pay to the family,
the State share of the excess amount
described in this clause, subject to
paragraph (3)(B); and
‘‘(iii) shall pay to the family any re-
maining amount.
‘‘(3) LIMITATIONS.—