74R11778 CLG-F
By Van de Putte H.B. No. 1189
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to reporting certain child support payments to a consumer
1-3 reporting agency.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Subchapter B, Chapter 231, Family Code, as added
1-6 by House Bill 655, Acts of the 74th Legislature, Regular Session,
1-7 1995, is amended by adding Section 231.113 to read as follows:
1-8 Sec. 231.113. REPORTS OF CHILD SUPPORT PAYMENTS TO CONSUMER
1-9 REPORTING AGENCIES. (a) The Title IV-D agency shall make
1-10 information available in accordance with this section to a consumer
1-11 reporting agency regarding the amount of child support owed and the
1-12 amount paid by an obligor in a Title IV-D case.
1-13 (b) Before disclosing the information to consumer reporting
1-14 agencies, the Title IV-D agency shall send the obligor a notice by
1-15 mail to the obligor's last known address. The notice must include:
1-16 (1) the information to be released, including the
1-17 amount of the obligor's child support obligation and delinquency,
1-18 if any, that will be reported;
1-19 (2) the procedure available for the obligor to contest
1-20 the accuracy of the information; and
1-21 (3) a statement that the information will be released
1-22 if the obligor fails to contest the disclosure before the 30th day
1-23 after the date of mailing of the notice.
1-24 (c) If the obligor does not contest the disclosure within
2-1 the period specified by Subsection (b), the Title IV-D agency shall
2-2 make the information available to the consumer reporting agency.
2-3 (d) The Title IV-D agency shall regularly update the
2-4 information released to a consumer reporting agency under this
2-5 section to ensure the accuracy of the released information.
2-6 (e) The Title IV-D agency may charge a consumer reporting
2-7 agency a reasonable fee for making information available under this
2-8 section, including all applicable mailing costs.
2-9 (f) In this section:
2-10 (1) "Consumer reporting agency" means any person that
2-11 regularly engages in whole or in part in the practice of assembling
2-12 or evaluating consumer credit information or other information on
2-13 consumers for monetary fees, for dues, or on a cooperative
2-14 nonprofit basis, to furnish consumer reports to third parties.
2-15 (2) "Obligor" means any person required to make
2-16 payments under the terms of a support order for a child.
2-17 (3) "Title IV-D case" means a case in which services
2-18 are being provided by the Title IV-D agency under Part D of Title
2-19 IV of the federal Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. Section 651 et
2-20 seq.) seeking to locate an absent parent, determine parentage, or
2-21 establish, modify, enforce, or monitor a child support obligation.
2-22 SECTION 2. Section 231.108(c), Family Code, as added by
2-23 House Bill 655, Acts of the 74th Legislature, Regular Session,
2-24 1995, is amended to read as follows:
2-25 (c) The Title IV-D agency may use or release information
2-26 from the files and records, including information that results from
2-27 a communication made by a recipient of financial assistance under
3-1 Chapter 31, Human Resources Code, or by an applicant for or
3-2 recipient of services under this chapter, for purposes directly
3-3 connected with the administration of the child support, paternity
3-4 determination, parent locator, or aid to families with dependent
3-5 children programs. The Title IV-D agency may release information
3-6 from the files and records to a consumer reporting agency in
3-7 accordance with Section 231.113.
3-8 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
3-9 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-10 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-11 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-12 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-13 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
3-14 passage, and it is so enacted.