I
103D CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 4570
To improve and strengthen the child support collection system.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JUNE 13, 1994
Mrs. SCHROEDER (for herself, Ms. SNOWE, Mrs. ROUKEMA, Mrs. KENNELLY,
Ms. WOOLSEY, Mrs. MORELLA, Ms. MCKINNEY, Ms. EDDIE BERNICE
JOHNSON of Texas, Ms. BROWN of Florida, Ms. DELAURO, Ms. ESHOO,
Ms. 
MARGOLIES-MEZVINSKY, 
Mrs. 
LOWEY, 
Ms. 
NORTON, 
Mrs.
MALONEY, Mrs. MEEK, Ms. HARMAN, Mrs. JOHNSON of Connecticut, Ms.
PELOSI, Mrs. BYRNE, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Ms. SHEPHERD, Ms. MOLINARI,
Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Ms. ENGLISH of Arizona, and Ms. WATERS) introduced
the following bill; which was referred jointly to the Committees on Ways
and Means, the Judiciary, Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs, Edu-
cation and Labor, Armed Services, Foreign Affairs, and Post Office and
Civil Service
A BILL
To improve and strengthen the child support collection
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; REFERENCE; TABLE OF CON-
TENTS.
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the
‘‘Child Support Responsibility Act of 1994’’.
(b) REFERENCE TO SOCIAL SECURITY ACT.—Except
as otherwise specifically provided, wherever in this Act an
amendment is expressed in terms of an amendment to or
repeal of a section or other provision, the reference shall
be considered to be made to that section or other provision
of the Social Security Act.
(c) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of
this Act is as follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; reference; table of contents.
TITLE I—LOCATE AND CASE TRACKING
Sec. 101. Federal child support order registry.
Sec. 102. Expansion of Federal parent locator systems.
Sec. 103. National reporting of employees and child support information.
Sec. 104. State role.
Sec. 105. Reconciliation of child support obligation and payments on income
tax return.
TITLE II—ESTABLISHMENT
Sec. 201. Service of process on Federal employees and members of the armed
services in connection with proceedings relating to child sup-
port and parentage obligations.
Sec. 202. Presumed address of obligor and obligee.
Sec. 203. Fair Credit Reporting Act amendment.
Sec. 204. National child support guideline commission.
Sec. 205. Duration of support.
Sec. 206. Evidence.
Sec. 207. Telephonic appearance in interstate cases.
Sec. 208. Uniform terms in orders.
Sec. 209. Social security numbers on marriage licenses, divorce decrees, parent-
age decrees, and birth certificates.
Sec. 210. Administrative subpoena power.
Sec. 211. Support orders outreach and demonstrations.
Sec. 212. Health care support.
Sec. 213. Rules governing modification of child support orders.
TITLE III—PARENTAGE
Sec. 301. Paternity establishment procedures.
TITLE IV—ENFORCEMENT
Sec. 401. Direct wage withholding.
Sec. 402. Priorities in application of withheld wages.
Sec. 403. Additional benefits subject to garnishment.
Sec. 404. Consumer Credit Protection Act amendments.
Sec. 405. Prohibition against use of election of remedies doctrine to prevent col-
lection of child support.
Sec. 406. Hold on occupational, professional, and business licenses.
Sec. 407. Driver’s licenses and vehicle registrations denied to persons failing to
appear in child support cases.
Sec. 408. Liens on certificates of vehicle title.
Sec. 409. Attachment of bank accounts.
Sec. 410. Seizure of lottery winnings, settlements, payouts, awards, and be-
quests, and sale of forfeited property, to pay child support ar-
rearages.
Sec. 411. Fraudulent transfer pursuit.
Sec. 412. Full IRS collection.
Sec. 413. Tax refund offset program expanded to cover non-AFDC post-minor
children.
Sec. 414. Attachment of public and private retirement funds.
Sec. 415. Reporting of child support arrearages to credit bureaus.
Sec. 416. Elimination of statutes of limitations in child support cases.
Sec. 417. Interest.
Sec. 418. Bankruptcy.
Sec. 419. Federal government cooperation in enforcement of support obligations
of members and former members of the Armed Forces.
Sec. 420. States required to enact the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act.
Sec. 421. Denial of passports to noncustodial parents subject to State arrest
warrants in cases of nonpayment of child support.
Sec. 422. Denial of Federal benefits, loans, guarantees, and employment to cer-
tain persons with large child support arrearages.
Sec. 423. States required to order courts to allow assignment of life insurance
benefits to satisfy child support arrearages.
Sec. 424. Interests in jointly held property subject to assignment to satisfy
child support arrearages.
Sec. 425. International child support enforcement.
Sec. 426. Nonliability for depository institutions providing financial records to
State child support enforcement agencies in child support
cases.
Sec. 427. Cost-of-living adjustment of child support awards.
Sec. 428. Annual exchange of financial information by parties to child support
order.
Sec. 429. Criminal penalties for failure to pay child support.
TITLE V—COLLECTION AND DISTRIBUTION
Sec. 501. Priorities in distribution of collected child support.
Sec. 502. State claims against noncustodial parent limited to assistance pro-
vided to the child.
Sec. 503. Fees for non-AFDC clients.
Sec. 504. Collection and disbursement points for child support.
TITLE VI—FEDERAL ROLE
Sec. 601. Placement and role of the Office of Child Support Enforcement.
Sec. 602. Training.
Sec. 603. Staffing.
Sec. 604. Child support definition.
Sec. 605. Technical correction to ERISA definition of medical child support
order.
Sec. 606. Audits.
Sec. 607. Establishment of child support assurance demonstration projects.
Sec. 608. Children’s Trust Fund.
Sec. 609. Study of reasons for nonpayment of child support; report.
Sec. 610. Study of effectiveness of administrative processes; report.
Sec. 611. Compendium of State child support statutes.
Sec. 612. Establishment of permanent child support advisory committee.
TITLE VII—STATE ROLE
Sec. 701. Advocation of children’s economic security.
Sec. 702. Duties of State child support agencies.
Sec. 704. Administrative process for change of payee in IV–D cases.
Sec. 705. Financial incentives.
Sec. 706. Avoidance of conflicts of interest.
TITLE I—LOCATE AND CASE
TRACKING
SEC. 101. FEDERAL CHILD SUPPORT ORDER REGISTRY.
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than October 1,
1995, the Secretary shall establish a Federal registry of
child support orders issued or modified by any State court
or administrative process established under State law.
(b) COMPARISON OF INFORMATION ON W–4 FORMS
WITH INFORMATION IN CHILD SUPPORT ORDERS.—With-
in 10 days after the registry established under subsection
(a) receives a W–4 form of an employee, the registry
shall—
(1) compare the information on the form with
the information in the registry on the child support
obligations of the employee; and
(2) transmit to the registry established under
section 466(a)(12) of the State in which the em-
ployee is employed a notice as to whether the
amount specified on the W–4 form as the monthly
child support obligation of the employee is accurate
or not.
(c) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary shall prescribe
such regulations as may be necessary to carry out this
section, especially in cases involving an employee who has
2 or more employers or child support obligations.
(d) STATE ACCESS TO THE REGISTRY.—The Sec-
retary shall, upon request of any State, provide the State
with access to the information contained in the registry
established under subsection (a).
(e) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section:
(1) CHILD SUPPORT ORDER.—The term ‘‘child
support order’’ means an order requiring payments
for support and maintenance of a child or of a child
and the parent with whom the child is living (includ-
ing an order requiring health insurance to be pro-
vided to such a child or parent).
(2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means
the Secretary of Health and Human Services.
(3) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ includes the
several States, the District of Columbia, the Com-
monwealth of Puerto Rico, the Commonwealth of the
Northern Mariana Islands, the United States Virgin
Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Trust
Territory of the Pacific Islands.
SEC. 102. EXPANSION OF FEDERAL PARENT LOCATOR SYS-
TEMS.
(a) EXPANSION OF FUNCTIONS.—Section 453(a) (42
U.S.C. 653(a)) is amended by striking ‘‘enforcing support
obligations against such parent’’ and inserting ‘‘establish-
ing parentage, establishing, modifying, and enforcing child
support obligations’’.
(b) ACCESS TO ADDITIONAL DATA BASES.—Section
453 (42 U.S.C. 653) is amended—
(1) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘the most re-
cent address and place of employment’’ and insert-
ing ‘‘the most recent residential address, employer
name and address, and amounts and nature of in-
come and assets’’;
(2) in subsection (c)(3), by striking ‘‘resident’’
and inserting ‘‘custodial’’; and
(3) in subsection (e), by adding at the end the
following:
‘‘(4) The Secretary of the Treasury shall enter into
an agreement with the Secretary to provide prompt access
by the Secretary (in accordance with this subsection and
section 6103(l)(6) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986)
to all Federal income tax returns filed by individuals with
the Internal Revenue Service.’’.
(c) EXPANSION OF ACCESS TO THE NATIONAL PAR-
ENT LOCATOR NETWORK.—Section 453 (42 U.S.C. 653)
is amended by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(g) The Secretary shall expand the Parent Locator
Service to establish a national network based on the com-
prehensive statewide child support enforcement systems
developed by the States, to—
‘‘(1) allow each State to—
‘‘(A) locate any absent parent who owes
child support or for whom a child support obli-
gation is being established, by—
‘‘(i) 
to 
the 
extent 
practicable,
accessing the records of other State agen-
cies and sources of locate information di-
rectly from one computer system to an-
other; and
‘‘(ii) accessing Federal sources of lo-
cate information in the same fashion;
‘‘(B) access the files of other States to de-
termine whether there are other child support
orders and obtain the details of those orders;
‘‘(C) provide for both on-line and batch
processing of locate requests, with on-line ac-
cess restricted to cases in which the information
is needed immediately (for such reasons as
court appearances) and batch processing used
to ‘troll’ data bases to locate individuals or up-
date information periodically; and
‘‘(D) direct locate requests to individual
States or Federal agencies, broadcast requests
to selected States, or broadcast cases to all
States when there is no indication of the source
of needed information;
‘‘(2) provide for a maximum of 48-hour turn-
around time for information to be broadcast and re-
turned to a requesting State;
‘‘(3) provide ready access to courts and admin-
istrative agencies of the information on the network
by location of a computer terminal in each court;
and
‘‘(4) access the registries of child support or-
ders maintained by States pursuant to section
466(a)(12).’’.
SEC. 103. NATIONAL REPORTING OF EMPLOYEES AND
CHILD SUPPORT INFORMATION.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than Janauary 1, 1995,
the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the
Secretary of Labor, shall establish a system of reporting
of employees by requiring employers to provide a copy of
every employee’s W–4 form to the Federal child support
order registry established pursuant to section 101(a) of
the Child Support Responsibility Act of 1994 and to the
child support order registry established pursuant to sec-
tion 466(a)(12) of the Social Security Act by the State
in which the employment is located—
(1) in the case of employees hired on or after
the effective date of this section, on the date the em-
ployee is hired; or
(2) in the case of employees hired before such
effective date, within 10 days after such effective
date.
(b) INCLUSION OF CHILD SUPPORT INFORMATION
ON W–4 FORMS.—The Secretary of the Treasury shall
modify the W–4 form 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.
SEC. 104. STATE ROLE.
(a) STATE CHILD SUPPORT ORDER REGISTRIES.—
Section 466(a) (42 U.S.C. 666(a)) is amended by insert-
ing after paragraph (11) the following:
‘‘(12) Procedures under which the—
‘‘(A) State child support enforcement
agency shall—
‘‘(i) establish and maintain a child
support order registry which shall in-
clude—
‘‘(I) a copy of each child support
order issued or modified in the State
on or after the effective date of this
paragraph;
‘‘(II) a copy of each child support
order issued or modified in the State
before the effective date of this para-
graph that is being enforced under the
State plan; and
‘‘(III) a copy of each child sup-
port order issued or modified in the
State before the enactment of this
paragraph that a party to the order
has requested be included in the Fed-
eral child support order registry es-
tablished pursuant to section 101(a)
of the Child Support Responsibility
Act of 1994;
‘‘(ii)(I) immediately upon receipt of a
child support order referred to in subclause
(I) or (II) of clause (i), transmit an ab-
stract of the order to the Federal registry;
and
‘‘(II) beginning 2 years after such
date of enactment, transmit to the Federal
registry an abstract of each child support
order referred to in clause (i)(III); and
‘‘(iii) distribute in accordance with
section 457(b) all amounts received from
employers that have been deducted and
withheld from the wages of employees for
the payment of child support obligations,
and all amounts received from the Internal
Revenue 
Service 
pursuant 
to 
section
7524(f) of the Internal Revenue Code of
1986, within 3 days after receipt;
‘‘(B) allow any individual owed support
pursuant to a child support order issued or
modified in the State who alleges that an em-
ployer 
has 
failed 
to 
comply 
subsection
(b)(11)(B)(ii) with respect to the order, or that
a State official has failed to comply with sub-
paragraph (A)(iii) of this paragraph with re-
spect to amounts withheld from wages pursuant
to the order and paid to the State, to bring an
action against the employer or the official (in
the official’s personal capacity), as the case may
be, in any State court and recover damages, in-
cluding interest; and
‘‘(C) the State agency referred to in sec-
tion 402(a)(3) shall notify the State child sup-
port enforcement agency of the commencement
or termination of aid under the State plan ap-
proved under part A to any individual or fam-
ily, within 10 days after such commencement or
termination.’’.
(b) DIRECT WAGE WITHHOLDING.—Section 466(b)
(42 U.S.C. 666(b)) is amended by adding at the end the
following:
‘‘(11)(A)(i) Upon the issuance or modification
by a State court or administrative agency of an
order imposing a child support obligation on an indi-
vidual, the State shall transmit to any employer of
the individual a wage withholding order developed
under section 452(a)(12) directing the employer to
withhold amounts from the wages of the individual
pursuant to the order, or such greater amount as
the State child support order registry established
pursuant to subsection (a)(12)(A) of this section
may determine is the total amount of the child sup-
port obligations of the individual.
‘‘(ii) Clause (i) shall not apply to an order upon
agreement of the parties to the order and the court
or administrative agency that issued or modified the
order.
‘‘(iii) An agreement referred to in clause (ii)
may be unilaterally rescinded only by the individual
to whom child support is payable under the order.
‘‘(B) Any individual or entity engaged in com-
merce, as a condition of doing business in the State,
shall, on receipt of a wage withholding order devel-
oped under section 452(a)(12) that is regular on its
face and has been issued by a court of any State—
‘‘(i) comply with the order by forwarding
to the State registry established pursuant to
subsection (a)(12)(A) of this section, within 5
days after the end of each payroll period ending
after receipt of the order, the greater of—
‘‘(I) the amount required to be with-
held pursuant to the order; or
‘‘(II) the amount that the State reg-
istry has notified the employer is the
amount required to be withheld from the
wages of the employee for payment of child
support obligations of the employee; and
‘‘(ii) keep records of the amounts so with-
held.
‘‘(C) Such an order may be served on the in-
come source directly or by first-class mail.
‘‘(D) An individual or entity who complies with
subparagraph (B)(i) with respect to such an order
may not be held liable for wrongful withholding of
income from the employee subject to the order.
‘‘(E) The State shall impose a civil fine of
$1,000 on any individual or entity who receives such
an order for each failure to comply with subpara-
graph (B)(i) with respect to the order.
‘‘(F) The State shall have in effect procedures
for carrying out this paragraph in cases involving an
employee who has 2 or more employers or child sup-
port obligations.
‘‘(12) If the State transmits to an individual or
entity engaged in commerce only outside the State
a wage withholding order issued by the State with
respect to an employee of the individual or entity,
and the individual or entity contests or refuses to
comply with the order, the State shall send an infor-
mational copy of the order to the registry established
under subsection (a)(12)(A) of any other State in
which the individual or entity is engaged in com-
merce.
‘‘(13) If an employee requests a hearing to con-
test wage withholding based on claim of a mistake
of fact, the hearing may be held in the State from
which the income is paid or in which the employee
is employed, and, within 45 days after the income
source receives the withholding order, the entity con-
ducting the hearing must adjudicate the claim. The
State in which the hearing is held shall provide ap-
propriate services in cases enforced under the State
plan to ensure that the interests of the individual to
whom the withheld income is to be paid are ade-
quately represented.’’.
(c) PRIORITIES
IN APPLICATION
OF WITHHELD
WAGES.—Section 466(b) (42 U.S.C. 666(b)), as amended
by subsection (b) of this section, is amended by inserting
after paragraph (13) the following:
‘‘(14) Procedures under which the amounts
withheld pursuant to a child support or wage with-
holding order are to be applied in the following
order:
‘‘(A) To payments of support due during
the month of withholding.
‘‘(B) To payments of premiums for health
care insurance coverage for dependent children.
‘‘(C) To payments of support due before
the month of withholding, and of unreimbursed
health-care expenses.’’.
(d) ACCESS
TO VARIOUS DATA BASES.—Section
466(a) (42 U.S.C. 666(a)), as amended by subsection (a)
of this section, is amended by inserting after paragraph
(12) the following:
‘‘(13) Procedures under which the State child
support enforcement agency shall have automated
on-line 
or 
batch 
access 
(or, 
if 
necessary,
nonautomated access) to information regarding resi-
dential addresses, employers and employer address-
es, income and assets, and medical insurance bene-
fits with respect to absent parents that is available
through any data base maintained by—
‘‘(A) any agency of the State or any politi-
cal subdivision thereof, that contains informa-
tion on residential addresses, or on employers
and employer addresses, as the State deems ap-
propriate;
‘‘(B) any publicly regulated utility com-
pany located in the State; and
‘‘(C) any credit reporting agency located in
the State.’’.
(e) EXPANDED INTERACTION WITH THE NATIONAL
PARENT
LOCATOR
NETWORK.—Section 454(16) (42
U.S.C. 654(16)) is amended—
(1) by striking ‘‘and (E)’’ and inserting ‘‘(E)’’;
and
(2) by striking ‘‘enforcement;’’ and inserting
‘‘enforcement, and (F) to provide access to the na-
tional network developed pursuant to section
453(g);’’.
SEC. 105. RECONCILIATION OF CHILD SUPPORT OBLIGA-
TION AND PAYMENTS ON INCOME TAX RE-
TURN.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 77 of the Internal Reve-
nue Code of 1986 (relating to miscellaneous provisions)
is amended by adding at the end thereof the following new
section:
‘‘SEC. 7524. RECONCILIATION OF CHILD SUPPORT OBLIGA-
TION AND PAYMENTS ON INCOME TAX RE-
TURN.
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Each applicable child support
obligation of any individual for months ending with or
within any taxable year shall be paid—
‘‘(1) not later than the last date (determined
without regard to extensions) prescribed for filing
the individual’s return of tax imposed by chapter 1
for such taxable year, and
‘‘(2)(A) if such return is filed not later than
such date, with such return, or
‘‘(B) in any case not described in subparagraph
(A), in such manner as the Secretary may by regula-
tions prescribe.
‘‘(b) OFFSET
FOR WITHHELD CHILD SUPPORT,
ETC.—There shall be allowed as a credit against the
amount required to be paid under subsection (a) by an
individual the sum of—
‘‘(1) the amount (if any) deducted and withheld
pursuant to State law from the wages received by
such individual during the taxable year,
‘‘(2) the amount (if any) paid by such individ-
ual under section 6654 by reason of subsection
(f)(3) thereof for such taxable year, and
‘‘(3) the amount paid by such individual di-
rectly to the person to whom the obligation is owed
(or, if such person has assigned to a State the right
to collect the obligation, the State).
‘‘(c) CREDIT OR REFUND FOR PAYMENTS IN EXCESS
OF ACTUAL OBLIGATION.—There shall be allowed as a
credit against the tax imposed by subtitle A for the taxable
year an amount equal to the excess (if any) of—
‘‘(1) the aggregate of the amounts described in
paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) of subsection (a) for
such taxable year, over
‘‘(2) the aggregate of the child support obliga-
tions of the taxpayer for such taxable year.
The credit allowed by this subsection shall be treated for
purposes of this title as allowed by subpart C of part IV
of subchapter A of chapter 1.
‘‘(d) FAILURE TO PAY AMOUNT OWING.—If an indi-
vidual fails to pay the full amount required to be paid
under subsection (a) on or before due date for such pay-
ment, the Secretary shall assess and collect the unpaid
amount in the same manner, with the same powers, and
subject to the same limitations applicable to a tax imposed
by subtitle C the collection of which would be jeopardized
by delay.
‘‘(e) APPLICABLE CHILD SUPPORT OBLIGATION.—
For purposes of this section, the term ‘applicable child
support obligation’ means a legal obligation to provide
child support (as defined in section 462(b) of the Social
Security Act).
‘‘(f) AMOUNTS COLLECTED BY SECRETARY PAID TO
STATE REGISTRIES.—Amounts collected under this sec-
tion and section 6654 by reason of an applicable child sup-
port obligation shall be paid by the Secretary to the appro-
priate State registry established pursuant to section
466(a)(12)(A)(i) of the Social Security Act.’’.
(b) WITHHELD CHILD SUPPORT TO BE SHOWN ON
W–2.—Subsection (a) of section 6051 of such Code is
amended by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph (8),
by striking the period at the end of paragraph (9) and
inserting ‘‘, and’’, and by inserting after paragraph (9)
the following new paragraph:
‘‘(10) the total amount of child support obliga-
tions withheld pursuant to State law.’’.
(c) APPLICATION OF ESTIMATED TAX PENALTY.—
(1) Subsection (f) of section 6654 of such Code
(relating to failure by individual to pay estimated in-
come tax) is amended by striking ‘‘minus’’ at the
end of paragraph (2) and inserting ‘‘plus’’, by redes-
ignating paragraph (3) as paragraph (4), and by in-
surance for 1 or more children shall be the savings to the
State from the provision of such health insurance to such
children, as determined in accordance with a health insur-
ance savings methodology adopted by the State in accord-
ance with regulations prescribed by the Secretary.’’.
(2) REGULATIONS.—Within 6 months after the
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of
Health and Human Services shall prescribe such
regulations as may be necessary to implement the
amendment made by paragraph (1).
(3) STUDY; REPORT.—
(A) STUDY.—The Secretary of Health and
Human Services shall conduct a study to deter-
mine the incentives that should be provided to
encourage States to enforce obligations of
noncustodial parents to pay (and obtain medical
insurance coverage with respect to) the reason-
able and necessary health and dental expenses
of the children to whom the noncustodial par-
ents owe such obligations.
(B) REPORT.—Not later than 12 months
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the
Secretary of Health and Human Services shall
submit to the Committee on Ways and Means
of the House of Representatives and the Com-