By:  Harris                                            S.B. No. 581
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                       AN ACT
 1-1     relating to the requirements for and the liability of certain
 1-2     employers who are required to withhold child support from an
 1-3     employee's earnings.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Subsection (b), Section 158.203, Family Code, is
 1-6     amended to read as follows:
 1-7           (b)  The employer shall include with each payment
 1-8     transmitted:
 1-9                 (1)  the number assigned by the Title IV-D agency, if
1-10     available, the county identification number, if available, and [or]
1-11     the cause number of the suit under which withholding is required;
1-12                 (2)  the payor's name and social security number; and
1-13                 (3)  the payee's name and, if available, social
1-14     security number, unless the payment is transmitted by electronic
1-15     funds transfer.
1-16           SECTION 2.  Subsection (b), Section 158.206, Family Code, is
1-17     amended to read as follows:
1-18           (b)  An employer receiving an order or writ of withholding
1-19     who does not comply with the order or writ is liable:
1-20                 (1)  to the obligee for the amount not paid in
1-21     compliance with the order or writ, including the amount the obligor
1-22     is required to pay for health insurance under Chapter 154;
1-23                 (2)  to the obligor for:
1-24                       (A)  the amount withheld and not paid as required
 2-1     by the order or writ; and
 2-2                       (B)  an amount equal to the interest that accrues
 2-3     under Section 157.265 on the amount withheld and not paid; and
 2-4                 (3)  for reasonable attorney's fees and court costs.
 2-5           SECTION 3.  (a)  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
 2-6           (b)  The changes in law made by this Act to Sections 158.203
 2-7     and 158.206, Family Code, apply only to child support withheld on
 2-8     or after that date.  Child support withheld before the effective
 2-9     date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the date the
2-10     child support was withheld, and the former law is continued in
2-11     effect for that purpose.
2-12           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-13     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-14     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-15     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-16     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.