74R11778 CLG-F
          By Van de Putte                                       H.B. No. 1189
          Substitute the following for H.B. No. 1189:
          By De La Garza                                    C.S.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.