AN ACT
1-1 relating to the authority of certain counties to contract with
1-2 private entities for child support and visitation enforcement
1-3 services.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Subtitle B, Title 10, Human Resources Code, is
1-6 amended by adding Chapter 153 to read as follows:
1-7 CHAPTER 153. CHILD SUPPORT COLLECTION BY PRIVATE ENTITY
1-8 Sec. 153.001. APPLICABILITY. This chapter applies only to a
1-9 county that:
1-10 (1) has a population of 1,800,000 or more; and
1-11 (2) did not have the authority to contract with a
1-12 private entity to receive, disburse, and record payments or
1-13 restitution of child support on January 1, 1997.
1-14 Sec. 153.002. AUTHORITY TO CONTRACT. A county, acting
1-15 through its commissioners court or domestic relations office, may
1-16 contract with a private entity to:
1-17 (1) enforce, collect, receive, and disburse:
1-18 (A) child support payments;
1-19 (B) other amounts due under a court order
1-20 containing an order to pay child support; and
1-21 (C) fees, including fees provided by this
1-22 chapter;
1-23 (2) maintain appropriate records, including records of
2-1 child support and other amounts and fees that are due, past due,
2-2 paid, or delinquent;
2-3 (3) locate absent parents;
2-4 (4) furnish statements to parents accounting for
2-5 payments that are due, past due, paid, or delinquent;
2-6 (5) send billings and other appropriate notices to
2-7 parents;
2-8 (6) perform any duty or function that a local
2-9 registry, as that term is defined by Section 101.018, Family Code,
2-10 is authorized to perform;
2-11 (7) perform any duty or function in connection with
2-12 the state case registry established and operated by the Title IV-D
2-13 agency under 42 U.S.C. Section 654a that has responsibility for
2-14 maintaining records with respect to child support orders in all
2-15 Title IV-D cases and in all other cases in which a support order is
2-16 rendered or modified under the Family Code; or
2-17 (8) provide another child support or visitation
2-18 enforcement service authorized by the commissioners court,
2-19 including mediation of disputes related to child support or
2-20 visitation.
2-21 Sec. 153.003. TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF CONTRACT. The
2-22 commissioners court or domestic relations office shall include all
2-23 appropriate terms and conditions in the contract that it determines
2-24 are reasonable to secure the services of a private entity as
2-25 provided by this chapter, including:
3-1 (1) provisions specifying the services to be provided
3-2 by the entity;
3-3 (2) the method, conditions, and amount of compensation
3-4 for the entity;
3-5 (3) provisions for the security of funds collected as
3-6 child support, fees, or other amounts under the contract or that
3-7 otherwise provide reasonable assurance to the county of the
3-8 entity's full and faithful performance of the contract;
3-9 (4) provisions specifying the records to be kept by
3-10 the entity, including any records necessary to fully account for
3-11 all funds received and disbursed as child support, fees, or other
3-12 amounts;
3-13 (5) requirements governing the inspection,
3-14 verification, audit, or explanation of the entity's accounting or
3-15 other records;
3-16 (6) the county's right to terminate the contract on 30
3-17 days' notice to the private entity if the private entity engages in
3-18 an ongoing pattern of child support enforcement that constitutes
3-19 wilful and gross misconduct subjecting delinquent obligors to
3-20 unconscionable duress, abuse, or harassment;
3-21 (7) provisions permitting a payor and payee to jointly
3-22 waive the monitoring procedure, if not required by law, by written
3-23 request approved by order of the court having jurisdiction of the
3-24 suit in which the child support order was issued; and
3-25 (8) provisions for the disclosure or nondisclosure of
4-1 information or records maintained or known to the entity as a
4-2 result of contract performance, including a requirement for the
4-3 private entity to:
4-4 (A) disclose to any child support obligor that
4-5 the private entity is attempting to enforce the obligor's child
4-6 support obligation; and
4-7 (B) make no disclosure of the information or
4-8 records other than in furtherance of the effort to enforce the
4-9 child support order.
4-10 Sec. 153.004. FUNDING. (a) To provide or recover the costs
4-11 of providing services authorized by this chapter, a commissioners
4-12 court, on its behalf or on behalf of the domestic relations office,
4-13 may:
4-14 (1) provide by order for the assessment and collection
4-15 of a reasonable fee at the time a party files a suit affecting the
4-16 parent-child relationship under the Family Code;
4-17 (2) provide by order for the assessment and collection
4-18 of a fee of $3 per month at a time specified for payment of child
4-19 support;
4-20 (3) provide by order for the assessment and collection
4-21 of a late payment fee of $4 per month to be imposed if an obligor
4-22 does not make a payment of child support in full when due;
4-23 (4) accept or receive funds from public grants or
4-24 private sources available for providing services authorized by this
4-25 chapter; or
5-1 (5) use any combination of funding sources specified
5-2 by this subsection.
5-3 (b) The commissioners court, on its behalf or on behalf of
5-4 the domestic relations office, may:
5-5 (1) provide by order for reasonable exemptions from
5-6 the collection of fees authorized by Subsection (a); and
5-7 (2) require payment of a fee authorized by Subsection
5-8 (a)(2) annually and in advance.
5-9 (c) The commissioners court may not charge a fee under
5-10 Subsection (a)(2) if the amount of child support ordered to be paid
5-11 is less than the equivalent of $100 per month.
5-12 (d) The fees established under Subsection (a) may be
5-13 collected by any means provided for the collection of child
5-14 support. The commissioners court may provide by order, on its
5-15 behalf or on behalf of the domestic relations office, for the
5-16 manner of collection of fees and the apportionment of payments
5-17 received to meet fee obligations.
5-18 Sec. 153.005. CUMULATIVE EFFECT OF CHAPTER. A power or duty
5-19 conferred on a county, county official, or county instrumentality
5-20 by this chapter is cumulative of the powers and duties created or
5-21 conferred by other law.
5-22 SECTION 2. Subsection (b), Section 154.242, Family Code, is
5-23 amended to read as follows:
5-24 (b) A local registry may transmit child support payments to
5-25 the Title IV-D agency by electronic funds transfer if the Title
6-1 IV-D agency agrees to accept electronic payment. An obligor may
6-2 make payments, with the approval of the court entering the order,
6-3 directly to the bank account of the obligee by electronic transfer
6-4 and provide verification of the deposit to the local registry. A
6-5 local registry in a county that makes deposits into personal bank
6-6 accounts by electronic funds transfer as of April 1, 1995, shall
6-7 transmit a child support payment to an obligee by electronic funds
6-8 transfer if the obligee maintains a bank account. The obligee
6-9 shall furnish to the local registry the necessary bank account
6-10 information to complete electronic payment if the Title IV-D agency
6-11 agrees to accept electronic payment.
6-12 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.
6-13 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
6-14 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
6-15 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
6-16 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
6-17 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
_______________________________ _______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 1161 passed the Senate on
April 15, 1997, by a viva-voce vote; and that the Senate concurred
in House amendment on May 30, 1997, by a viva-voce vote.
_______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 1161 passed the House, with
amendment, on May 28, 1997, by a non-record vote.
_______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
Approved:
_______________________________
Date
_______________________________
Governor