I
105TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 2925
To establish felony violations for the failure to pay legal child support
obligations, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
NOVEMBER 7, 1997
Mr. HOYER (for himself and Mr. HYDE) introduced the following bill; which
was referred to the Committee on Judiciary
A BILL
To establish felony violations for the failure to pay legal
child support obligations, 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 ‘‘Deadbeat Parents
Punishment Act of 1997’’.
SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF FELONY VIOLATIONS.
Section 228 of title 18, United States Code, is
amended to read as follows:
‘‘§ 228. Failure to pay legal child support obligations
‘‘(a) OFFENSE.—Any person who—
‘‘(1) willfully fails to pay a support obligation
with respect to a child who resides in another State,
if such obligation has remained unpaid for a period
longer than 1 year, or is greater than $5,000;
‘‘(2) travels in interstate or foreign commerce
with the intent to evade a support obligation, if such
obligation has remained unpaid for a period longer
than 1 year, or is greater than $5,000; or
‘‘(3) willfully fails to pay a support obligation
with respect to a child who resides in another State,
if such obligation has remained unpaid for a period
longer than 2 years, or is greater than $10,000;
shall be punished as provided in subsection (c).
‘‘(b) PRESUMPTION.—The existence of a support ob-
ligation that was in effect for the time period charged in
the indictment or information creates a rebuttable pre-
sumption that the obligor has the ability to pay the sup-
port obligation for that time period.
‘‘(c) PUNISHMENT.—The punishment for an offense
under this section is—
‘‘(1) in the case of a first offense under sub-
section (a)(1), a fine under this title, imprisonment
for not more than 6 months, or both; and
‘‘(2) in the case of an offense under paragraph
(2) or (3) of subsection (a), or a second or subse-
quent offense under subsection (a)(1), a fine under
this title, imprisonment for not more than 2 years,
or both.
‘‘(d) MANDATORY RESTITUTION.—Upon a conviction
under this section, the court shall order restitution under
section 3663A in an amount equal to the total unpaid sup-
port obligation as it exists at the time of sentencing.
‘‘(e) VENUE.—With respect to an offense under this
section, an action may be inquired of and prosecuted in
a district court of the United States for—
‘‘(1) the district in which the child who is the
subject of the support obligation involved resided
during a period during which a person described in
subsection (a) (referred to in this subsection as an
‘obliger’) failed to meet that support obligation;
‘‘(2) the district in which the obliger resided
during a period described in paragraph (1); or
‘‘(3) any other district with jurisdiction other-
wise provided for by law.
‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section—
‘‘(1) the term ‘Indian tribe’ has the meaning
given that term in section 102 of the Federally Rec-
ognized Indian Tribe List Act of 1994 (25 U.S.C.
479a);
‘‘(2) the term ‘State’ includes any State of the
United States, the District of Columbia, and any
commonwealth, territory, or possession of the United
States; and
‘‘(3) the term ‘support obligation’ means any
amount determined under a court order or an order
of an administrative process pursuant to the law of
a State or of an Indian tribe to be due from a per-
son for the support and maintenance of a child or
of a child and the parent with whom the child is liv-
ing.’’.
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