I
103D CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 5180
To reform the child support enforcement system in order to maximize collec-
tions of child support payments on behalf of poor children in the United
States.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
OCTOBER 5, 1994
Mr. ANDREWS of New Jersey introduced the following bill; which was referred
jointly to the Committees on Ways and Means, the Judiciary, and Bank-
ing, Finance and Urban Affairs
A BILL
To reform the child support enforcement system in order
to maximize collections of child support payments on
behalf of poor children in the United States.
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 Enforce-
ment Reform Act of 1994’’.
SEC. 2. TABLE OF CONTENTS.
The table of contents of this Act is as follows:
Sec. 1. Short title.
Sec. 2. Table of contents.
TITLE I—EXPANDING COLLECTOR ACCESS TO INFORMATION
Sec. 101. Expansion of functions of Federal parent locator service.
Sec. 102. Expansion of databases accessed by parent locator systems.
Sec. 103. Expansion of access to national network for location of parents.
Sec. 104. Private access to locate and enforcement services.
Sec. 105. National reporting of new hires and child support information.
Sec. 106. Access to law enforcement records systems.
Sec. 107. Broadcasting of warrants on State networks.
Sec. 108. Access to financial records.
TITLE II—NATIONAL RECOGNITION OF CHILD SUPPORT ORDERS
Sec. 201. Interstate recognition of child support and parentage orders.
Sec. 202. 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. 203. Presumed address of obligor and obligee.
Sec. 204. Notice to custodial parents.
Sec. 205. Uniform State rules in parentage and child support cases.
Sec. 206. Fair Credit Reporting Act amendment.
Sec. 207. Guideline principles.
Sec. 208. UIFSA endorsement.
Sec. 209. Uniform terms in orders.
TITLE III—COST SHARING AND COLLECTIONS DISBURSEMENTS
Sec. 301. New system for determining cost sharing and disbursement of col-
lected child support.
Sec. 302. Provision of child support enforcement services to families whose in-
come exceeds 200 percent of the poverty line.
TITLE IV—ACCOUNTING AND REVIEWS
Sec. 401. Accounting.
Sec. 402. Reviews.
TITLE V—EFFECTIVE DATE
Sec. 501. Effective date.
TITLE I—EXPANDING COLLEC-
TOR ACCESS TO INFORMA-
TION
SEC. 101. EXPANSION OF FUNCTIONS OF FEDERAL PARENT
LOCATOR SERVICE.
Section 453 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.
653) is amended—
(1) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘enforcing
support obligations against such parent’’ and insert-
ing ‘‘establishing parentage, establishing, modifying,
and enforcing child support obligations, and enforc-
ing child visitation rights and responsibilities, and
which shall use safeguards to prevent the disclosure
of information in cases that would jeopardize the
safety of the custodial parent or any child of the
custodial parent’’;
(2) in subsection (b), by inserting after the 2nd
sentence the following: ‘‘Information with respect to
an absent parent shall not be disclosed to any person
if the disclosure would jeopardize the safety of the
custodial parent or any child of the custodial parent.
Information with respect to an absent parent shall
not be disclosed to any person (other than the custo-
dial parent) unless the custodial parent has been no-
tified in advance of the disclosure.’’; and
(3) in subsection (d), by inserting ‘‘and such
reasonable fees’’ after ‘‘such documents’’.
SEC. 102. EXPANSION OF DATABASES ACCESSED BY PAR-
ENT LOCATOR SYSTEMS.
(a) ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FOR FEDERAL PAR-
ENT LOCATOR SERVICE.—Section 453 of the Social Secu-
rity Act (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 ‘‘the resi-
dent parent’’ and inserting ‘‘either parent’’; 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 the quarterly estimated Federal income tax returns
filed by individuals with the Internal Revenue Service.’’.
(b) FEDERAL
INCOME
TAX
RETURN
INFORMA-
TION.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Subparagraph (A) of section
6103(l)(8) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986
(relating to disclosure of certain return information
by Social Security Administration to State and local
child support enforcement agencies) is amended by
inserting ‘‘the Federal Parent Locator Service or of’’
before ‘‘a State or local’’.
(2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—
(A) 
Subparagraph 
(B) 
of 
section
6103(l)(8) of such Code is amended by insert-
ing ‘‘in the case of disclosure to a State or local
child support enforcement agency,’’ after ‘‘pre-
ceding sentence,’’.
(B) The heading for paragraph (8) of sec-
tion 6103(l) of such Code is amended by strik-
ing ‘‘STATE AND LOCAL’’.
(c) STATE INFORMATION.—Section 466(a) of the So-
cial Security Act (42 U.S.C. 666(a)) is amended by insert-
ing after paragraph (11) the following:
‘‘(12) 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 database 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;
‘‘(C) any credit reporting agency located in
the State; and
‘‘(D) any trade or labor union located in
the State.
‘‘(13) Procedures under which the State child
support enforcement agency shall—
‘‘(A) maintain a child support order reg-
istry which shall include each child support
order (or an abstract thereof) issued or modi-
fied in the State on or after the effective date
of this paragraph; and
‘‘(B) transmit electronically to the Office
of Child Support Enforcement an abstract of
each such order, containing such information
and in such form as the Secretary may pre-
scribe pursuant to section 452(a)(11).’’.
(d) FEDERAL REGISTRY OF ABSTRACTS OF CHILD
SUPPORT ORDERS.—Section 452(a) of the Social Security
Act (42 U.S.C. 652(a)), as amended by section 209(a) of
this Act, is amended—
(1) in paragraph (10), by striking ‘‘and’’ after
the semicolon;
(2) in paragraph (11), by striking the period at
the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(12) maintain a registry of all child support
order abstracts received from States pursuant to
section 466(a)(13)(B).’’.
(e) STUDY.—The Secretary of Health and Human
Services shall conduct a study of the databases in the Fed-
eral Government (other than the databases accessed
through the amendments made by this section) which may
assist the Federal Parent Locator Service in locating indi-
viduals owing child support obligations. The report of such
study shall be submitted to the Congress not later than
January 31, 1995.
SEC. 103. EXPANSION OF ACCESS TO NATIONAL NETWORK
FOR LOCATION OF PARENTS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 453 of the Social Security
Act (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, for whom a child support obliga-
tion is being established, or for whom an order
for visitation is being enforced, by—
‘‘(i) accessing the records of other
State agencies and sources of locate infor-
mation directly from one computer system
to another; 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’ databases 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 of the infor-
mation on the network by location of a computer
terminal in each court; and
‘‘(4) access the registry of child support orders
required to be maintained by States pursuant to sec-
tion 466(a)(13).’’.
(b) EXPANDED STATE INTERACTION WITH NA-
TIONAL
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. 104. PRIVATE ACCESS TO LOCATE AND ENFORCEMENT
SERVICES.
Section 466(a) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.
666(a)), as amended by section 102(c) of this Act, is
amended by inserting after paragraph (13) the following:
‘‘(14)(A) Procedures under which private attor-
neys and pro se obligees must (in accordance with
regulations prescribed by the Secretary in consulta-
tion with the Attorney General of the United States)
be given access to State locate resources and
through enforcement techniques of the State child
support enforcement agency, for the purpose of es-
tablishing, modifying, and enforcing child support,
visitation, and parentage orders in accordance with
safeguards established by the Secretary in regula-
tions—
‘‘(i) to provide the custodial parent ad-
vance notice of any release of information with
respect to a noncustodial parent; and
‘‘(ii) to prevent release of information with
respect to a noncustodial parent if the release
may jeopardize the safety of the noncustodial
parent, the custodial parent, or any child of ei-
ther parent.
‘‘(B) The procedures described in subparagraph
(A) must, if the State provides for reasonable fees
for the access referred to in subparagraph (A), re-
quire the State to establish such fees in accordance
with guidelines developed and published by the State
that set schedules for such fees.’’.
SEC. 105. NATIONAL REPORTING OF NEW HIRES AND CHILD
SUPPORT INFORMATION.
(a) FEDERAL IMPLEMENTATION OF SYSTEM.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Treas-
ury, in consultation with the Secretary of Labor,
shall establish a system of reporting of new employ-
ees by requiring employers to provide a copy of every
new employee’s W–4 form to the employment secu-
rity agency of the State in which the employment is
located.
(2) EXPANDED USE OF FORM.—The Secretary
of the Treasury shall modify the W–4 form to be
completed by a new employee 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 new employee has obtained such insurance
for the dependent children of the new employee.
(3) EMPLOYER WITHHOLDING OBLIGATION.—
(A) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle C of the Inter-
nal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to employ-
ment taxes) is amended by inserting after chap-
ter 24 the following new chapter:
‘‘CHAPTER 24A—COLLECTION OF CHILD
SUPPORT OBLIGATIONS AT SOURCE
ON WAGES
‘‘Sec. 3411. Child support obligations collected at source.
‘‘SEC. 3411. CHILD SUPPORT OBLIGATIONS COLLECTED AT
SOURCE.
‘‘(a) REQUIREMENT OF WITHHOLDING.—Every em-
ployer making payment of wages shall deduct and with-
hold upon such wages a specified child support obligation
amount.
‘‘(b) SPECIFIED
CHILD
SUPPORT
OBLIGATION
AMOUNT.—For purposes of this chapter, the specified
child support obligation amount with respect to any em-
ployee shall be determined based on—
‘‘(1) information provided by the employee, or
(if an agency of the State in which the employer is
located notifies the employer that such information
is inaccurate) information provided by the agency;
and
‘‘(2) information contained in any wage with-
holding order received by the employer from any
State.
‘‘(c) LIABILITY FOR PAYMENT.—The employer shall
be liable for the payment of the specified child support
obligation amount to the payee identified by the employee.
‘‘(d) SPECIAL RULES.—For purposes of this chapter
(and so much of subtitle F as relates to this chapter), any
specified child support obligation amount shall be treated
as if it were a tax withheld under chapter 24 and rules
similar to the rules of such chapter shall apply.’’
(B) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of
chapters of subtitle C of the Internal Revenue
Code of 1986 is amended by inserting after the
item relating to chapter 24 the following new
item:
‘‘CHAPTER 24A. Child support obligations collected at source.’’
(4) WITHHELD CHILD SUPPORT OBLIGATIONS
REPORTED ON W–2 FORMS.—Subsection (a) of sec-
tion 6051 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (re-
lating to receipts for employees) is amended by
striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph (8), by strik-
ing the period at the end of paragraph (9) and in-
serting ‘‘, and’’, and by inserting after paragraph
(9) the following new paragraph:
‘‘(10) the total amount of specified child sup-
port obligations withheld under section 3411.’’
(b) STATE IMPLEMENTATION OF SYSTEM.—Section
466(a) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 666(a)), as
amended by sections 102(c) and 104 of this Act, is amend-
ed by inserting after paragraph (14) the following:
‘‘(15) Procedures under which the State shall—
‘‘(A) use the Parent Locator Service estab-
lished under section 453 to access information
in the national registry of child support orders
maintained pursuant to section 452(a)(12) with
respect to new employee, compare such infor-
mation with the information reported on W–4
forms of new employees, and identify child sup-
port obligations not reported on such forms;
‘‘(B) if child support information from the
W–4 form of a new employee agrees with infor-
mation with respect to the new employee in the
national registry of child support orders main-
tained pursuant to section 452(a)(12), notify
the individual owed the support (or the individ-
ual’s designee) of such information;
‘‘(C) notify an employer of any new em-
ployee who has not reported on the W–4 form
a child support obligation of the new employee;
‘‘(D) impose monetary penalties on—
‘‘(i) any individual who owes child
support and fails to report the obligation
to provide the support on a Federal income
tax W–4 form at time of employment;
‘‘(ii) any employer who fails to for-
ward a W–4 form for a new employee to
the State employment security agency
within 10 calendar days of the date of the
first payroll from which the new employee
is paid; and
‘‘(iii) any employer who fails to with-
hold from the pay of any new employee
who reports a child support obligation on
a W–4 form an amount equal to the sup-
port owed, or fails to pay to the individual
owed the obligation the amount so with-
held, within 10 calendar days of the date
of the payroll, using electronic funds trans-
fer, if possible, unless otherwise notified by
a State agency;
‘‘(E) provide the services described in this
paragraph to any individual owed child support
who applies for assistance under the State plan;
and
‘‘(F) on request of another State, broad-
cast over the Parent Locator Service to such
other State child support information from
W–4 forms that have been sent to the State
employment security agency.’’.
SEC. 106. ACCESS TO LAW ENFORCEMENT RECORDS SYS-
TEMS.
(a) ACCESS
BY CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT
AGENCIES.—The head of the National Criminal Informa-
tion Center, the head of the National Law Enforcement
Telecommunications Network, and the head of any other
national or regional system for tracking individuals shall
each—
(1) allow Federal, State, and local child support
enforcement agencies access to the information of
the system for purposes of establishing paternity or
a child support obligation of an individual tracked
by the system, using appropriate safeguards to pre-
vent improper release of such information; and
(2) if an access code is required to gain such
access, provide the access code to each child support
enforcement agency that applies for the code.
(b) LOSS OF FEDERAL FUNDING.—A non-Federal
system for tracking individuals that fails to comply with
paragraphs (1) and (2) of subsection (a) shall not be eligi-
ble to receive Federal funding for the system.
SEC. 107. BROADCASTING OF WARRANTS ON STATE NET-
WORKS.
Section 466(a) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.
666(a)), as amended by sections 102(c), 104, and 105(b)
of this Act, is amended by inserting after paragraph (15)
the following:
‘‘(16) Procedures under which the State—
‘‘(A) shall broadcast on any State or local
crime information system each failure-to-appear
warrant, capias, and bench warrant issued by a
State court in any proceeding related to child
support; and
‘‘(B) shall, in a criminal case, remit to any
individual to whom the defendant owes child
support any security posted by or on behalf of
the defendant and forfeited, to the extent of
any arrearage in the payment of the support.’’.
SEC. 108. ACCESS TO FINANCIAL RECORDS.
Section 466(a) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.
666(a)), as amended by sections 102(c), 104, 105(b), and
107 of this Act, is amended by inserting after paragraph
(16) the following:
‘‘(17) Procedures under which the State may
obtain access to financial records maintained with
respect to any person by any financial institution
doing business in the State, for the purpose of estab-
lishing or enforcing a child support obligation of the
person.’’.
TITLE II—NATIONAL RECOGNI-
TION OF CHILD SUPPORT OR-
DERS
SEC. 201. INTERSTATE RECOGNITION OF CHILD SUPPORT
AND PARENTAGE ORDERS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 115 of title 28, United
States Code, is amended by inserting after section 1738A
the following:
‘‘§ 1738B. Full faith and credit to child support and
parentage orders
‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section:
‘‘(1) The term ‘child’ means any individual who
has not attained the age of 18 years, and any indi-
vidual who has attained the age of 18 years for
whom a child support order has been issued pursu-
ant to the laws of a State.
‘‘(2) The term ‘child support’ includes periodic
and lump-sum payments for current and past due
economic support, payments of premiums for health
insurance for children, payments for or provision of
child care, and payments for educational expenses.
‘‘(3) The term ‘child support order’ means a
judgment, decree or order of a court requiring the
payment of money, whether in periodic amounts or
lump sum, for the support of a child and includes
permanent and temporary orders, initial orders and
modifications, ongoing support and arrearages.
‘‘(4) The term ‘child’s State’ means, with re-
spect to a child, the State in which the child resides
with a parent or an individual acting as a parent.
‘‘(5) The term ‘contestant’ means an individual,
including a parent, who claims a right to receive
child support or is under an order to pay child sup-
port, and includes States and political subdivisions
to which support rights have been assigned.
‘‘(6) The term ‘court’ means a court, adminis-
trative process, or quasijudicial process of a State
that is authorized to—
‘‘(A) adjudicate parentage;
‘‘(B) establish the amount of support pay-
able by a contestant; or
‘‘(C) modify the amount of support pay-
able by a contestant.
‘‘(7) The term ‘home State’ means, with respect
to a child, the State in which, immediately preceding
the time involved, the child lived with his or her par-
ents, a parent, or an individual acting as parent, for
at least 6 consecutive months (including any periods
of temporary absence), and if the child has not at-
tained the age of 6 months, the State in which the
child lived from birth with any of such individuals.
‘‘(8) The term ‘individual acting as a parent’
means an individual, other than a parent, who has
physical custody of a child and who has either been
awarded custody by a court or claims a right to cus-
tody.
‘‘(9) The terms ‘modification’ and ‘modify’ refer
to a change in a child support order or an order ad-
judicating parentage that modifies, replaces, super-
sedes, or otherwise is made subsequent to such prior
order, whether or not made by the same court that
issued such prior order.
‘‘(10) The term ‘State’ means a State of the
United States, the District of Columbia, the Com-
monwealth of Puerto Rico, a territory or possession
of the United States, and Indian country as defined
in section 1151 of title 18, United States Code.
‘‘(b) FULL FAITH AND CREDIT.—The courts of each
State shall recognize and enforce according to its terms
a child support order or an order adjudicating parentage
against an individual over whom personal jurisdiction has
been exercised consistent with this section, and shall not
modify such an order except as provided in subsection (f).
‘‘(c) BASES OF JURISDICTION.—A court of a State
may exercise personal jurisdiction over a nonresident con-
testant if there is any basis consistent with the constitu-
tion of the State and the Constitution of the United States
for the exercise.
‘‘(d) CONTINUING
EXCLUSIVE
JURISDICTION.—A
court of a State which has issued a child support order
or an order adjudicating parentage consistent with this
section shall have continuing, exclusive jurisdiction of the
order for so long as the State remains the child’s State
or the residence of any contestant, unless another State,
acting in accordance with subsection (f), has modified the
order.
‘‘(e) NOTICE AND HEARING.—Before a court of a
State makes a child support order or adjudicates parent-
age, reasonable notice and opportunity to be heard shall
be given to the contestants.
‘‘(f) MODIFICATION.—A court of a State may modify
a child support order or an order adjudicating parentage
issued by a court of another State if—
‘‘(1) each contestant has filed written consent
for the court of the State to modify the order and
assume continuing, exclusive jurisdiction of the
order; and
‘‘(2) the court of the State otherwise has juris-
diction to issue such an order.
‘‘(g) ENFORCEMENT OF PRIOR ORDERS.—A court of
a State which no longer has continuing, exclusive jurisdic-
tion of a child support order or an order adjudicating par-
entage may enforce the order with respect to unsatisfied
obligations which accrued before the date the order is
modified in accordance with subsection (f).
‘‘(h) WITHHOLDING EXERCISE OF JURISDICTION.—
A court of a State shall not exercise jurisdiction in any
proceeding for a child support order or an adjudication
of parentage commenced during the pendency of a pro-
ceeding in a court of another State when the court of the
other State is exercising jurisdiction consistent with this
section unless—
‘‘(1) the proceeding was filed in the State be-
fore the expiration of time allowed in the other State
‘‘(A) a party may, in a single cause of ac-
tion, seek judicial determination of the parent-
age of a child and judicial establishment of a
child support order with respect to the child;
‘‘(B) the venue for determination of par-
entage of a child shall be in the county of resi-
dence of the child;
‘‘(C) a court or agency that issues a par-
entage or child support order shall have con-
tinuing and exclusive jurisdiction over the order
until the court or agency transfers such juris-
diction to the appropriate court or agency in
the county of residence of the child, or the par-
ties consent to be bound by another court or
agency in the State that has subject matter ju-
risdiction;
‘‘(D) proceedings to enforce or modify of a
child support order may be transferred to the
city, county, or district in which the child re-
sides without any requirement that the order be
filed or the defendant be served again;
‘‘(E) a court or agency that hears a par-
entage or child support cases shall have state-
wide jurisdiction over the parties to the case,
and the parentage and child support orders is-