I 
114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3005 
To amend title IV of the Social Security Act to ensure funding for grants 
to promote responsible fatherhood and strengthen low-income families, 
and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 9, 2015 
Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois (for himself and Mr. CARSON of Indiana) in-
troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways 
and Means, and in addition to the Committees on Energy and Commerce 
and Agriculture, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 
Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within 
the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To amend title IV of the Social Security Act to ensure 
funding for grants to promote responsible fatherhood 
and strengthen low-income families, and for other pur-
poses. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Julia Carson Responsible Fatherhood and Healthy Fami-
lies Act of 2015’’. 
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(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of 
this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
Sec. 2. Findings. 
TITLE I—PROMOTING RESPONSIBLE FATHERHOOD AND 
STRENGTHENING LOW-INCOME FAMILIES 
Sec. 101. State assessments of barriers to employment and financial support of 
children. 
Sec. 102. Grants to States to conduct demonstration projects to promote eco-
nomic opportunity for low-income parents. 
Sec. 103. Healthy marriage promotion and responsible fatherhood programs. 
Sec. 104. TANF work participation improvements. 
Sec. 105. Ban on recovery of Medicaid costs for births. 
Sec. 106. Improved collection and distribution of child support. 
Sec. 107. Collection of child support under the supplemental nutrition assist-
ance program. 
Sec. 108. Grants supporting healthy family partnerships for domestic violence 
intervention and preventions. 
Sec. 109. Procedures to address domestic violence. 
Sec. 110. TANF Employment Fund. 
Sec. 111. Sense of Congress. 
TITLE II—REVENUE PROVISION 
Sec. 201. Increase in credit percentage under earned income tax credit for eligi-
ble individuals with no qualifying children. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress makes the following findings: 
(1) Fathers play a significant and underappre-
ciated role in the development of their children, with 
research demonstrating that a supportive and in-
volved father strengthens a child’s emotional, phys-
ical, intellectual, and behavioral development. Chil-
dren with positive relationships with fathers, even if 
they do not live in the same household, have strong-
er mental health, economic success, and academic 
achievement with lower rates of youth delinquency, 
school dropout, and teen pregnancy. 
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ally to their children due to limited education and 
job skills, unstable employment opportunities, child 
support enforcement policies, incarceration, and 
strained relationships with the children’s mothers. 
Multiple approaches are needed to address these 
barriers to create opportunities for fathers to sustain 
their engagement and closeness with their children 
and families. 
(6) Federal programs should encourage respon-
sible fatherhood and healthy families by increasing 
the upward economic mobility of custodial and non-
custodial parents so that they can actively partici-
pate in financial support and child-rearing as well as 
maintain positive, healthy, and nonviolent relation-
ships with their children and co-parents, including 
improving compliance with child support obligations 
and cooperative parenting. 
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TITLE I—PROMOTING RESPON-
SIBLE 
FATHERHOOD 
AND 
STRENGTHENING 
LOW-IN-
COME FAMILIES 
SEC. 101. STATE ASSESSMENTS OF BARRIERS TO EMPLOY-
MENT AND FINANCIAL SUPPORT OF CHIL-
DREN. 
(a) STATE ASSESSMENTS AND REPORTS.—As a con-
dition of the continued approval of a State plan under part 
D of title IV of the Social Security Act, each State with 
such an approved plan, acting through the appropriate 
State agencies, shall assess the State policies with respect 
to the issues described in subsection (b) and submit a re-
port to the Secretary of Health and Human Services on 
the results of the assessment not later than October 1, 
2016. 
(b) ISSUES DESCRIBED.—The issues described in 
this subsection are the following: 
(1) The process of setting and modifying child 
support obligations, particularly with respect to low- 
income parents, including— 
(A) the role and criteria for using imputed 
income in determining child support obligations; 
(B) the process of modifying obligations; 
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(C) the consideration of income and em-
ployment status, including efforts to identify 
unreported income; 
(D) the consideration of incarceration; 
(E) the consideration of disability; 
(F) the treatment of arrearages, including 
interest charged, and laws or procedures that 
interfere with forgiveness, adjustment, waiver, 
or compromise of arrears owed to the State by 
low-income noncustodial parents who lack suffi-
cient assets or physical ability to pay such ar-
rearages; 
(G) the procedures related to retroactive 
support; and 
(H) State pass-through and disregard poli-
cies for recipients of means-tested public bene-
fits. 
(2) The effect of State criminal laws and law 
enforcement practices on the employment acquisi-
tion, retention, and advancement prospects of an in-
dividual following arrest, conviction, or incarcer-
ation, including— 
(A) any efforts, including counseling or 
employment support, to assist ex-prisoners with 
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reentry to a community and successful reunifi-
cation with their families; and 
(B) an assessment of any efforts to seal or 
expunge arrest and conviction records and any 
efforts to grant certificates or other acknowl-
edgments of rehabilitation to ex-prisoners, and 
to examine State occupational licensing and cer-
tification procedures. 
(3) An assessment of the effect of debt on em-
ployment retention, including child support and non- 
child support debts imposed to recover costs related 
to welfare and criminal justice. 
(4) An assessment of State practices related to 
providing prisoners and ex-prisoners with valid iden-
tification documents upon release from prison. 
(5) Identification of any other barriers to 
healthy family formation or sustainable economic op-
portunity for custodial and noncustodial parents that 
are created or exacerbated by Federal or State laws, 
policies, or procedures, including an examination of 
the rules of Federal and State means-tested pro-
grams, the operation of the State workforce system, 
the availability of financial education services, and 
the availability of domestic violence services and 
child support procedures to help victims of domestic 
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violence stay safe and obtain the child support they 
are owed. 
(c) GRANTS TO STATES FOR COMMISSIONS ON STATE 
LAW IMPROVEMENTS IN THE BEST INTEREST OF CHIL-
DREN
AND FAMILIES.—The Secretary of Health and 
Human Services shall award grants to States to establish 
or support commissions to review the State assessment 
conducted in accordance with subsection (a) and to make 
recommendations on ways to improve State law in the best 
interest of children and families. 
(d) APPROPRIATIONS.—Out of any money in the 
Treasury of the United States not otherwise appropriated, 
there are appropriated to the Secretary of Health and 
Human Services for each of fiscal years 2016 through 
2020, $3,000,000, to remain available until expended, for 
the purpose of making— 
(1) payments to States to offset all or a portion 
of the costs of conducting the State assessments and 
reports required under subsection (a); and 
(2) grants to States under subsection (c). 
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SEC. 102. GRANTS TO STATES TO CONDUCT DEMONSTRA-
TION PROJECTS TO PROMOTE ECONOMIC OP-
PORTUNITY FOR LOW-INCOME PARENTS. 
(a) COURT-SUPERVISED OR IV–D AGENCY-SUPER-
VISED EMPLOYMENT PROGRAMS
FOR NONCUSTODIAL 
PARENTS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—To assist States in imple-
menting section 466(a)(15) of the Social Security 
Act, the Secretary of Health and Human Services 
shall award grants to States to conduct demonstra-
tion projects to establish, in coordination with coun-
ties and other local or tribal governments, court-su-
pervised or IV–D agency-supervised employment 
programs for noncustodial parents who have barriers 
to employment and a history of nonpayment of child 
support obligations, as determined by a court or the 
IV–D agency, and who are determined by the court 
or agency to be in need of employment services or 
placement in order to pay child support obligations. 
A noncustodial parent described in the preceding 
sentence who is an ex-offender shall be eligible to 
participate in a program established under this sub-
section. 
(2) REQUIREMENTS.— 
(A) OPTION
TO
PARTICIPATE
PRIOR
TO 
CONTEMPT FINDING.—A State shall not be eli-
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gible to receive a grant under this subsection 
unless any program established with funds 
made available under the grant provides a non-
custodial parent described in paragraph (1) 
with an option to participate in the program 
prior to the court or agency entering a finding 
that the noncustodial parent is in contempt for 
failure to pay a child support obligation and, 
potentially subject to criminal penalties. 
(B) PROGRAM
GOALS.—An employment 
program established with funds made available 
under a grant awarded under this subsection 
shall be designed to do the following: 
(i) To assist a noncustodial parent de-
scribed in paragraph (1) obtain and main-
tain unsubsidized employment. 
(ii) To increase the amount of finan-
cial support received by children. 
(iii) To help a noncustodial parent de-
scribed in paragraph (1) improve relation-
ships with their children and their chil-
dren’s custodial parent. 
(C) 6 MONTHS OF CONTINUOUS, TIMELY 
PAYMENTS.—An employment program estab-
lished with funds made available under this 
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subsection shall not permit a noncustodial par-
ent placed in the program to graduate from the 
program and avoid penalties for failure to pay 
a child support obligation until the noncustodial 
parent completes at least 6 months of contin-
uous, timely payment of the parent’s child sup-
port obligations. 
(D) USE OF FUNDS.— 
(i) Services provided under an employ-
ment program established with funds made 
available under this subsection must in-
clude the following: 
(I) Job placement, including job 
development and supervised job search 
as necessary. 
(II) Case management, including 
educational assessment and advising, 
vocational assessment and career ex-
ploration services, and court liaison 
services. 
(III) Counseling on responsible 
parenthood. 
(IV) Referral for support and 
educational services. 
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(V) Employment retention serv-
ices. 
(ii) Services provided under an em-
ployment program established with funds 
made available under this subsection may 
include the following: 
(I) Remedial education services 
or educational referral. 
(II) Support funds for services 
such as transportation, child care, or 
short-term training. 
(III) Transitional jobs programs. 
(IV) Public-private career path-
way partnerships established in ac-
cordance with subsection (b)(2). 
(V) Occupational skill training, 
including college credit programs. 
(VI) Curricula development. 
(E) ADMINISTRATION.—A State that re-
ceives a grant under this subsection may con-
tract with a public or private nonprofit organi-
zation, including a faith-based or community- 
based organization, to administer (in conjunc-
tion with the court of jurisdiction or the IV–D 
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agency) the court-supervised or IV–D agency- 
supervised employment program. 
(b) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Health and 
Human Services may not award a grant to a State 
under this section unless the State agrees that, with 
respect to the costs to be incurred by the State in 
conducting a demonstration project with funds pro-
vided under the grant, the State will provide to carry 
out the project non-Federal contributions valued at 
10 percent of the amount of Federal funds paid to 
the State under such grant. 
(2) NON-FEDERAL
CONTRIBUTIONS.—In this 
subsection, the term ‘‘non-Federal contributions’’ in-
cludes contributions by the State and by public and 
private entities that may be in cash or in kind, but 
does not include any amounts provided by the Fed-
eral Government, or services assisted or subsidized 
to any significant extent by the Federal Government, 
or any amount expended by a State before October 
1, 2015. 
(c) WORKER PROTECTIONS
AND LABOR STAND-
ARDS.— 
(1) RATE
OF
PAY; BENEFITS
AND
WORKING 
CONDITIONS.— 
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(A) IN GENERAL.—An employer of a par-
ticipant in a program or activity funded under 
this section shall pay the participant at the rate 
paid to an employee of the employer who is not 
a participant in the program or activity and 
who performs comparable work at the worksite, 
including periodic increases where appropriate. 
If no other employee of the employer performs 
comparable work at the worksite, the employer 
shall pay the participant not less than the ap-
plicable Federal or State minimum wage, 
whichever is higher. 
(B) BENEFITS AND CONDITIONS.—A State 
receiving a grant under this section shall ensure 
that an individual employed through participa-
tion in a program or activity funded by the 
grant is provided with benefits and working 
conditions at the same level and to the same ex-
tent as the benefits and conditions are provided 
to other employees of the employer of the indi-
vidual who have worked a similar length of time 
and perform the same work. 
(2) NONDUPLICATION.— 
(A) IN
GENERAL.—A State receiving a 
grant under this section shall ensure that the 
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grant funds are used only for a program or ac-
tivity that does not duplicate, and is in addition 
to, a program or activity otherwise available in 
the locality of the program or activity. 
(B) PRIVATE, 
NONPROFIT
ENTITY.—A 
State receiving a grant under this section shall 
ensure that the grant funds are not provided to 
a private nonprofit entity to conduct a program 
or activity that is the same as or substantially 
equivalent to a program or activity provided by 
a State or local government agency in the area 
in which the entity is located, unless the re-
quirements of paragraph (3) are met. 
(3) NONDISPLACEMENT.— 
(A) IN GENERAL.—An employer shall not 
displace an employee or position (including par-
tial displacement such as reduction in hours, 
wages, or employment benefits) or impair con-
tracts for services or collective bargaining 
agreements, as a result of the use by the em-
ployer of a participant in a program or activity 
funded under this section, and no participant in 
the program or activity shall be assigned to fill 
any established unfilled position vacancy. 
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(B) JOB
OPPORTUNITIES.—A job oppor-
tunity shall not be created under this paragraph 
that will infringe on the promotional oppor-
tunity of an employed individual. 
(C) LIMITATION ON SERVICES.— 
(i) SUPPLANTATION
OF
HIRING.—A 
participant in a program or activity funded 
under this section shall not perform any 
service or duty, or engage in any activity, 
that will supplant the hiring of an em-
ployee that is not a participant in the pro-
gram or activity. 
(ii) DUTIES
FORMERLY
PERFORMED 
BY
ANOTHER
EMPLOYEE.—A participant 
in a program or activity funded under this 
section shall not perform any service or 
duty, or engage in any activity, that is a 
service, duty, or activity that had been per-
formed by or was assigned to any employee 
who— 
(I) resigned or was discharged 
less than 3 months before the date on 
which the participant performs the 
service or duty or engages in the ac-
tivity; 
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