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.