I
103D CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 4898
To strengthen paternity establishment.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
AUGUST 4, 1994
Mr. COOPER (for himself and Mr. GORDON) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means
A BILL
To strengthen paternity establishment.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. PROCEDURES AT TIME OF BIRTH.
(a) HOSPITAL- AND OTHER BIRTHING CENTER-
BASED PATERNITY.—Section 466(a)(5)(C) of the Social
Security Act (42 U.S.C. 666(a)(5)(C)) is amended by add-
ing at the end the following: ‘‘Such procedures shall also
apply to birthing centers other than hospitals, shall re-
quire that any State agency that provides such services
use the same materials used by, provide the personnel pro-
viding such services with the same training as, and evalu-
ate the provision of such services in the same manner as,
hospital-based paternity establishment programs, and
shall require the hospital or other birthing center, at the
time a pregnant woman is admitted to the hospital or
other birthing center to give birth, to request the father
of the child to provide his name and social security ac-
count number, which the hospital or other birthing center
shall transmit to the State agency responsible for issuing
birth certificates for inclusion in the birth certificate of
the child.’’.
(b) INCLUSION
OF PARENTS’ SOCIAL SECURITY
NUMBERS
ON CHILD’S BIRTH CERTIFICATE.—Section
466(a) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 666(a)) is amended by in-
serting after paragraph (11) the following:
‘‘(12) Procedures which require the State agen-
cy responsible for issuing birth certificates to include
on the birth certificate of a child the name and so-
cial security account number (if available) of each
parent of the child.’’.
SEC. 2. PATERNITY ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AFFIDAVITS.
(a) ESTABLISHMENT
OF NATIONAL AFFIDAVIT.—
Section 452(a)(7) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.
652(a)(7)) is amended by inserting ‘‘, and develop an affi-
davit to be used for the voluntary acknowledgement of pa-
ternity’’ before the semicolon.
(b) SIGNED AFFIDAVIT CONCLUSIVELY USED TO ES-
TABLISH PATERNITY.—Section 466(a)(5)(D) of such Act
(42 U.S.C. 666(a)(5)(D)) is amended—
(1) by inserting ‘‘(i)’’ after ‘‘(D)’’; and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(ii)(I) Such procedures shall provide that a written
voluntary acknowledgement of the paternity of a child
shall, upon the expiration of the challenge period, create
a legal finding of paternity—
‘‘(aa) without any further action; or
‘‘(bb) at the option of the State, after a court
or administrative agency with which the document
containing the acknowledgement has been filed with-
in 5 business days after the expiration of the chal-
lenge period issues an order establishing such pater-
nity.
‘‘(II) As used in subclause (I), the term ‘challenge
period’ means, with respect to an acknowledgement of pa-
ternity—
‘‘(aa) the 30-day period that begins on the date
of acknowledgement; or
‘‘(bb) if the person who executed the acknowl-
edgement undergoes genetic testing within the 30
days after the date of the acknowledgement, the 30-
day period that begins with the date the person is
notified of the results of the genetic testing.’’.
(c) SENSE OF THE CONGRESS.—The Congress en-
courages States to develop procedures in public hospitals
and clinics to facilitate the acknowledgement of paternity.
SEC. 3. AFDC BENEFITS CONDITIONED ON COOPERATION
IN PATERNITY ESTABLISHMENT.
Section 402(a) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.
602(a)) is amended—
(1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph
(44);
(2) by striking the period at the end of para-
graph (45) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and
(3) by inserting after paragraph (45) the fol-
lowing:
‘‘(46)(A) except as provided in subparagraph
(B), aid under the State plan shall not be payable
to a family applying for such aid with respect to a
dependent child whose paternity has not been estab-
lished, unless—
‘‘(i) the child was conceived as a result of
rape or incest; or
‘‘(ii) the State determines that efforts to
establish such paternity would result in physical
danger to the relative claiming such aid;
‘‘(B) if the paternity of a dependent child has
not been established, the relative claiming such aid
alleges that any of not more than 3 named individ-
uals may be the father of the child and provides the
address of each of the named individuals, or the im-
mediate relatives of each of the named individuals,
and the State has not disproved the allegation,
then—
‘‘(i) aid under the State plan shall be pay-
able to the family in the amount payable to a
family whose size is determined without regard
to the dependent child, and
‘‘(ii) the entire family shall be eligible for
medical assistance under the State plan ap-
proved under title XIX; and
‘‘(C) the relative claiming such aid shall have
the burden of proving any allegation of paternity of
a dependent child by an individual who is deceased,
in accordance with procedures established by the
State in consultation with the Secretary.’’.
SEC. 4. INCREASE IN PATERNITY ESTABLISHMENT PER-
CENTAGE.
Section 452(g)(1) of the Social Security Act (42
U.S.C. 652(g)(1)) is amended by striking all that follows
‘‘—’’ and inserting the following:
‘‘(A) 90 percent;
‘‘(B) for a State with a paternity establish-
ment rate of not less than 50 percent but less
than 90 percent for such fiscal year, the pater-
nity establishment percentage of the State for
the immediately preceding fiscal year plus 6
percentage points; or
‘‘(C) for a State with a paternity establish-
ment rate of less than 50 percent for such a fis-
cal year, the paternity establishment percentage
of the State for the immediately preceding fiscal
year plus 10 percentage points.’’.
SEC. 5. PRENATAL ESTABLISHMENT EFFORTS BY STATES.
Section 466(a)(5)(A) of the Social Security Act (42
U.S.C. 666(a)(5)(A)) is amended by redesignating clauses
(i) and (ii) as clauses (ii) and (iii), respectively, and by
inserting after ‘‘(5)(A)’’ the following:
‘‘(i) Procedures which require that, as soon as
an officer or employee of the State becomes aware,
in the performance of official duties, of a pregnant,
unmarried woman, the officer or employee must—
‘‘(I) inform the woman, orally and in writ-
ing, that she will be ineligible for aid under the
State plan under part A unless she informs the
State of the identity of the prospective father
and, after the woman gives birth, cooperates in
establishing the paternity of the child; and
‘‘(II) encourage the woman to urge the
prospective father to acknowledge paternity of
the child.’’.
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