II
103D CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 3694
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
SEPTEMBER 20 (legislative day, SEPTEMBER 12), 1994
Received
AN ACT
To amend title 5, United States Code, to permit the garnish-
ment of an annuity under the Civil Service Retirement
System or the Federal Employees’ Retirement System,
if necessary to satisfy a judgment against an annuitant
for physically, sexually, or emotionally abusing a child.
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 Abuse Account-
ability Act’’.
SEC. 2. GARNISHMENT AUTHORITY.
(a) CIVIL SERVICE RETIREMENT SYSTEM.—(1) Sec-
tion 8345(j)(1) of title 5, United States Code, is amended
to read as follows:
‘‘(j)(1) Payments under this subchapter which would
otherwise be made to an employee, Member, or annuitant
based on service of that individual shall be paid (in whole
or in part) by the Office to another person if and to the
extent expressly provided for in the terms of—
‘‘(A) any court decree of divorce, annulment, or
legal separation, or the terms of any court order or
court-approved property settlement agreement inci-
dent to any court decree of divorce, annulment, or
legal separation; or
‘‘(B) any court order or other similar process in
the nature of garnishment for the enforcement of a
judgment rendered against such employee, Member,
or annuitant, for physically, sexually, or emotionally
abusing a child.
In the event that the Office is served with more than 1
decree, order, or other legal process with respect to the
same moneys due or payable to any individual, such mon-
eys shall be available to satisfy such processes on a first-
come, first-served basis, with any such process being satis-
fied out of such moneys as remain after the satisfaction
of all such processes which have been previously served.’’.
(2) Section 8345(j)(2) of title 5, United States Code,
is amended by inserting ‘‘other legal process,’’ after
‘‘order,’’.
(3) Section 8345(j)(3) of title 5, United States Code,
is amended to read as follows:
‘‘(3) For the purpose of this subsection—
‘‘(A) the term ‘court’ means any court of any
State, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth
of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Is-
lands, or the Virgin Islands, and any Indian court;
‘‘(B) the term ‘judgment rendered for phys-
ically, sexually, or emotionally abusing a child’
means any legal claim perfected through a final en-
forceable judgment, which claim is based in whole or
in part upon the physical, sexual, or emotional abuse
of a child, whether or not that abuse is accompanied
by other actionable wrongdoing, such as sexual ex-
ploitation or gross negligence; and
‘‘(C) the term ‘child’ means an individual under
18 years of age.’’.
(b) FEDERAL EMPLOYEES’ RETIREMENT SYSTEM.—
(1) Section 8467(a) of title 5, United States Code, is
amended to read as follows:
‘‘(a) Payments under this chapter which would other-
wise be made to an employee, Member, or annuitant (in-
cluding an employee, Member, or annuitant as defined in
section 8331) based on service of that individual shall be
paid (in whole or in part) by the Office or the Executive
Director, as the case may be, to another person if and
to the extent expressly provided for in the terms of—
‘‘(1) any court decree of divorce, annulment, or
legal separation, or the terms of any court order or
court-approved property settlement agreement inci-
dent to any court decree of divorce, annulment, or
legal separation; or
‘‘(2) any court order or other similar process in
the nature of garnishment for the enforcement of a
judgment rendered against such employee, Member,
or annuitant, for physically, sexually, or emotionally
abusing a child.
In the event that the Office or the Executive Director, as
the case may be, is served with more than 1 decree, order,
or other legal process with respect to the same moneys
due or payable to any individual, such moneys shall be
available to satisfy such processes on a first-come, first-
served basis, with any such process being satisfied out of
such moneys as remain after the satisfaction of all such
processes which have been previously served.’’.
(2) Section 8467(b) of title 5, United States Code,
is amended by inserting ‘‘other legal process,’’ after
‘‘order,’’.
(3) Section 8467 of title 5, United States Code, is
amended by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(c) For the purpose of this section—
‘‘(1) the term ‘judgment rendered for phys-
ically, sexually, or emotionally abusing a child’
means any legal claim perfected through a final en-
forceable judgment, which claim is based in whole or
in part upon the physical, sexual, or emotional abuse
of a child, whether or not that abuse is accompanied
by other actionable wrongdoing, such as sexual ex-
ploitation or gross negligence; and
‘‘(2) the term ‘child’ means an individual under
18 years of age.’’.
(4) Section 8437(e)(3) of title 5, United States Code,
is amended by striking the period at the end of the first
sentence and inserting the following: ‘‘or relating to the
enforcement of a judgment for physically, sexually, or
emotionally abusing a child as provided under section
8467(a).’’.
SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE.
The amendments made by this Act shall take effect
on the date of enactment of this Act, and shall apply with
respect to any decree, order, or other legal process, or no-
tice of agreement received by the Office of Personnel Man-
agement or the Executive Director of the Federal Retire-
ment Thrift Investment Board on or after such date of
enactment.
Passed the House of Representatives September 19,
1994.
Attest:
DONNALD K. ANDERSON,
Clerk.