HBA-SEB C.S.H.B. 1969 76(R)BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisC.S.H.B. 1969
By: Van de Putte
Juvenile Justice and Family Issues
3/28/1999
Committee Report (Substituted)



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Currently, the administering entity of a domestic relations office,
typically a county office, department, or court, may assess and collect a
monthly child support service fee of $3 from a managing conservator and
possessory conservator of a child.  C.S.H.B. 1969 authorizes an
administering entity in a county that has a child support enforcement
cooperative agreement with the Office of the Attorney General-Child Support
Division to also collect an initial child support service fee not to exceed
$36 on the filing of a suit affecting the parent-child relationship.

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 203.005(a), Family Code, to authorize an
administering entity to empower a domestic relations office to assess and
collect an initial child support service fee not to exceed $36 to be paid
to the domestic relations office on the filing of a suit in a county that
has a child support enforcement cooperative agreement with the Title IV-D
agency (Office of the Attorney General-Child Support Division).
Redesignates Subdivisions (3)-(6) to (4)-(7).   

SECTION 2.  Amends Section 110.006, Family Code, as follows:

Sec. 110.006.  New title:  DOMESTIC RELATIONS OFFICE FEES.  Makes a
conforming change. 

SECTION 3.  Effective date: September 1, 1999.

SECTION 4.  Emergency clause.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE

The substitute modifies the original in SECTION 1 by modifying proposed
language in Section 203.005(a)(2), Family Code,  to provide that in a
county that has a child support enforcement cooperative agreement, rather
than a cooperative agreement, with the Title IV-D agency (Office of the
Attorney General-Child Support Division), an administering entity is
authorized to empower a domestic relations office to assess and collect an
initial child support service fee not to exceed $36 to be paid to the
domestic relations office on the filing of a suit.