By Reyna, et al.                                      H.B. No. 1085
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the authority of counties to contract with private
    1-3  entities for the collection of child support and to electronic
    1-4  transfer of the support payments.
    1-5        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-6        SECTION 1.  Subtitle B, Title 10, Human Resources Code, is
    1-7  amended by adding Chapter 153 to read as follows:
    1-8       CHAPTER 153.  CHILD SUPPORT COLLECTION BY PRIVATE ENTITY
    1-9        Sec. 153.001.  AUTHORITY TO CONTRACT.  A county, acting
   1-10  through its commissioners court, may contract with a private entity
   1-11  to:
   1-12              (1)  enforce, collect, receive, and disburse:
   1-13                    (A)  child support payments;
   1-14                    (B)  other amounts due under a court order
   1-15  containing an order to pay child support; and
   1-16                    (C)  fees, including those provided by this
   1-17  chapter;
   1-18              (2)  maintain appropriate records, including records of
   1-19  child support and other amounts and fees that are due, past due,
   1-20  paid, or delinquent;
   1-21              (3)  locate absent parents;
   1-22              (4)  furnish statements to parents accounting for
   1-23  payments that are due, paid, or delinquent;
   1-24              (5)  send billings and other appropriate notices to
    2-1  parents;
    2-2              (6)  perform any duty or function that a local
    2-3  registry, as that term is defined by Section 11.01, Family Code, is
    2-4  authorized to perform; or
    2-5              (7)  provide another child support enforcement service
    2-6  authorized by the commissioners court.
    2-7        Sec. 153.002.  TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF CONTRACT.  The
    2-8  commissioners court shall include all appropriate terms and
    2-9  conditions in the contract that it determines are reasonable to
   2-10  secure the services of a private entity as provided by this
   2-11  chapter, including:
   2-12              (1)  provisions specifying the services to be provided
   2-13  by the entity;
   2-14              (2)  the method, conditions, and amount of compensation
   2-15  for the entity;
   2-16              (3)  provisions for the security of funds collected as
   2-17  child support, fees, or other amounts under the contract or that
   2-18  otherwise provide reasonable assurance to the county of the
   2-19  entity's full and faithful performance of the contract;
   2-20              (4)  provisions specifying the records to be kept by
   2-21  the entity, including any records necessary to fully account for
   2-22  all funds received and disbursed as child support, fees, or other
   2-23  amounts;
   2-24              (5)  requirements governing the inspection,
   2-25  verification, audit, or explanation of the entity's accounting or
   2-26  other records;
   2-27              (6)  provisions for the disclosure or nondisclosure of
    3-1  information or records maintained or known to the entity as a
    3-2  result of contract performance; and
    3-3              (7)  provisions for the option of a payee to waive the
    3-4  monitoring procedure by written request.
    3-5        Sec. 153.003.  FUNDING.  (a)  To provide or recover the costs
    3-6  of providing services authorized by this chapter, a commissioners
    3-7  court may:
    3-8              (1)  provide by order for the assessment and collection
    3-9  of a reasonable fee at the time a party files a suit for
   3-10  dissolution of a marriage that includes a suit affecting the
   3-11  parent-child relationship under the Family Code;
   3-12              (2)  provide by order for the assessment and collection
   3-13  of a reasonable fee not to exceed $10 per month at a time specified
   3-14  for payment of child support;
   3-15              (3)  provide by order for the assessment and collection
   3-16  of a reasonable late payment fee to be imposed if an obligor does
   3-17  not make a payment of child support in full when due;
   3-18              (4)  accept or receive funds from public grants or
   3-19  private sources available for providing services authorized by this
   3-20  chapter; or
   3-21              (5)  use any combination of the funding sources
   3-22  specified by this subsection.
   3-23        (b)  The commissioners court may not charge a fee under
   3-24  Subsection (a)(1) if the person to be charged has already been
   3-25  charged a fee under Section 151.008(a)(1).
   3-26        (c)  The commissioners court may:
   3-27              (1)  provide by order for reasonable exemptions from
    4-1  the collection of the fees authorized by Subsection (a); and
    4-2              (2)  require payment of a fee authorized by Subsection
    4-3  (a)(2) annually and in advance.
    4-4        (d)  The fees established under Subsection (a) may be
    4-5  collected by any means provided for the collection of child
    4-6  support.  The commissioners court may provide by order for the
    4-7  manner of collecting the fees and the apportionment of payments
    4-8  received to meet fee obligations.
    4-9        Sec. 153.004.  CUMULATIVE EFFECT OF CHAPTER.  A power or duty
   4-10  conferred on a county, county official, or county instrumentality
   4-11  by this chapter is cumulative of the powers and duties created or
   4-12  conferred by other law, except that county action under this
   4-13  chapter precludes the exercise or performance of a power or duty
   4-14  created or conferred by other law as expressly provided by order of
   4-15  a commissioners court.
   4-16        SECTION 2.  Section 14.0502(b), Family Code, is amended to
   4-17  read as follows:
   4-18        (b)  A local registry may transmit child support payments to
   4-19  the attorney general by electronic funds transfer if the attorney
   4-20  general agrees to accept electronic payment.  An obligor may make
   4-21  payments, with the approval of the judge, directly to the bank
   4-22  account of the obligee by electronic transfer and provide
   4-23  verification of the deposit to the local registry.
   4-24        SECTION 3.  Section 154.242(b), Family Code, as added by H.B.
   4-25  No. 655, Acts of the 74th Legislature, Regular Session, 1995, is
   4-26  amended to read as follows:
   4-27        (b)  A local registry may transmit child support payments to
    5-1  the Title IV-D agency by electronic funds transfer if the Title
    5-2  IV-D agency agrees to accept electronic payment. A local registry
    5-3  in a county that makes deposits into personal bank accounts by
    5-4  electronic funds transfer as of April 1, 1995, shall transmit a
    5-5  child support payment to an obligee by electronic funds transfer if
    5-6  the obligee maintains a bank account.
    5-7        SECTION 4.  Section 151.0036(b), Tax Code, is amended to read
    5-8  as follows:
    5-9        (b)  "Debt collection service" does not include:
   5-10              (1)  the collection of a judgment by an attorney or by
   5-11  a partnership or professional corporation of attorneys if the
   5-12  attorney, partnership, or corporation represented the person in the
   5-13  suit from which the judgment arose; or
   5-14              (2)  the collection of court-ordered child support by a
   5-15  private entity authorized to collect child support under Chapter
   5-16  153, Human Resources Code.
   5-17        SECTION 5.  The change in law made by this Act does not
   5-18  prevent a county from acting under a provision of Chapter 152,
   5-19  Human Resources Code, to enforce, collect, receive, or disburse
   5-20  child support or another amount due under a court order containing
   5-21  an order to pay child support.
   5-22        SECTION 6.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
   5-23        SECTION 7.  The importance of this legislation and the
   5-24  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   5-25  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   5-26  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   5-27  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.