HBA-LCA H.B. 1884 76(R)BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 1884 By: Grusendorf Juvenile Justice & Family Issues 7/9/1999 Enrolled BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE To ensure that child support enforcement and collection efforts are conducted efficiently, counties may need access to certain information provided at the state and federal level. Additionally, the federal government has mandated that the states adopt standardized systems of enforcement and collection. H.B. 1884 modifies the statute that requires the employer of an obligor to comply with child support collection efforts. It allows domestic relations officers or friends of the court, who operate at a county level, to retrieve information from state and federal registries. H.B. 1884 also provides that the Title IV-D agency, which is the Office of the Attorney General, must pay for the costs of establishing and maintaining the state registry and disbursement unit. 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 Section 158.204, Family Code, to authorize an employer to deduct an administrative fee of $10, rather than $5, from a child support obligor's disposable earnings in addition to the amount withheld for child support. SECTION 2. Amends Section 158.206(b), Family Code, to provide that an employer who does not comply with an order or writ of withholding is liable to the obligor for the amount withheld and not paid as required by the order or writ and interest that accrues under Section 157.265, Family Code (Accrual of Interest on Child Support). SECTION 3. Amends Section 203.004(a)(4), Family Code, by adding Paragraph (B) to authorize a domestic relations officer to provide an informal forum in which an agreed repayment schedule for delinquent child support is negotiated as an alternative to filing a suit to enforce a court order under Subdivision (3), and to make conforming changes. SECTION 4. Amends Section 203.007, Family Code, by amending Subsections (a) and (f) through (j), and adding Subsections (d) and (e), as follows: (a) Makes conforming and nonsubstantive changes. (d) Entitles a domestic relations office, to the extent provided by federal law, to obtain from the national directory of new hires established under 42 U.S.C. Section 653(i), as amended, records that relate to a person described under Subsection (a). Specifies certain information to which those records may relate. (e) Entitles a domestice relations office, to the extent provided by federal law, to obtain from the state case registry records that relate to a person described by Subsection (a). Specifies certain information to which those records may relate. (f)-(j) Redesignated from (e)-(h). SECTION 5. Amends Section 231.303(d), Family Code, to authorizes the agency to disclose information in compliance with Section 233.001, Family Code (Request for Information), as added by Chapter 420, Acts of the 75th Legislature, Regular Session, 1997. SECTION 6. Amends Section 233.003, Family Code, to make a conforming change. SECTION 7. Effective date: September 1, 1999 Makes application of this Act prospective. SECTION 8. Emergency clause.