HBA-SEB H.B. 1327 76(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 1327 By: Bosse Juvenile Justice and Family Issues 3/3/1999 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Currently, the Family Code requires an obligee of a child support payment to notify the obligor of a change of address. In this way, the obligor is still able to make a child support payment. If no notice of a change of residence is given, however, the obligor remains responsible for paying child support and any accruing interest on the child support payments. H.B. 1327 authorizes a court to waive all or part of the accruing interest on delinquent child support if the obligor has made a good faith effort to pay the child support but is unable to locate the obligee or if the obligee did not take any action to collect the child support. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Subchapter F, Chapter 157, Family Code, by adding Section 157.2655, as follows: Sec. 157.2655. WAIVER OF INTEREST ON CHILD SUPPORT. Authorizes a court to waive all or a portion of the interest that accrues on delinquent child support if the court finds that the obligor has made a good faith effort to pay the child support, but is unable to locate the obligee and cannot pay the child support without locating the obligee, or the obligee did not take any action to collect the child support from the obligor. Provides that an obligee is not required to bring an enforcement action under this chapter (Enforcement) for the court to find that the obligee took action to collect unpaid child support. SECTION 2. (a) Effective date: September 1, 1999. (b) Makes application of this Act prospective. (c) Provides that the enactment of this Act does not by itself constitute a material and substantial change of circumstances sufficient to warrant modification of an order that provides for the support of a child rendered before the effective date of this Act. SECTION 3. Emergency clause.