By Harris                                              S.B. No. 887
         76R8241 MCK-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to certain payments to the state disbursement unit and
 1-3     the transfer of certain child support information from the state
 1-4     case registry and disbursement unit to a local registry.
 1-5           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-6           SECTION 1.  Subchapter C, Chapter 158, Family Code, is
 1-7     amended by adding Section 158.212 to read as follows:
 1-8           Sec. 158.212.  IMPROPER PAYMENT.  If an employer remits a
 1-9     payment to an incorrect office or person, the employer shall remit
1-10     the payment to the  agency or person identified in the order of
1-11     withholding not later than the second working day after the date
1-12     the employer receives the returned payment.
1-13           SECTION 2.  Subchapter A, Chapter 234, Family Code, as added
1-14     by Section 94, Chapter 911, Acts of the 75th Legislature, Regular
1-15     Session, 1997, is amended by amending Section 234.001 and adding
1-16     Section 234.006 to read as follows:
1-17           Sec. 234.001.  ESTABLISHMENT AND OPERATION OF UNIFIED
1-18     REGISTRY AND DISBURSEMENT UNIT.  The Title IV-D agency shall
1-19     establish and operate a unified state case registry and state
1-20     disbursement unit meeting the requirements of 42 U.S.C.  Sections
1-21     654a(e) and 654b.  The registry and unit shall:
1-22                 (1)  maintain records of child support orders in Title
1-23     IV-D cases and in other cases in which a child support order has
1-24     been established or modified in this state on or after October 1,
 2-1     1998;
 2-2                 (2)  receive, maintain, and furnish records of child
 2-3     support payments in Title IV-D cases and other cases as required by
 2-4     law;
 2-5                 (3)  in a Title IV-D case, monitor support payments and
 2-6     initiate appropriate enforcement actions immediately on the
 2-7     occurrence of a delinquency in payment;
 2-8                 (4)  distribute child support payments as required by
 2-9     law; [and]
2-10                 (5)  maintain custody of official child support payment
2-11     records in the registry and disbursement unit; and
2-12                 (6)  send to a local registry each day in a medium
2-13     acceptable to the local registry the following information:
2-14                       (A)  the cause number of the suit under which
2-15     withholding is required;
2-16                       (B)  the payor's name and social security number;
2-17                       (C)  the payee's name;
2-18                       (D)  the date the disbursement unit received the
2-19     payment;
2-20                       (E)  the amount of the payment;
2-21                       (F)  the instrument identification information;
2-22     and
2-23                       (G)  the date the payment was withheld.
2-24           Sec. 234.006.  RETURN OF PAYMENTS.  Not later than the second
2-25     working day after the date the state disbursement unit receives a
2-26     child support payment, the state disbursement unit shall:
2-27                 (1)  distribute the payment to the Title IV-D agency or
 3-1     the obligee; or
 3-2                 (2)  return the payment to the person who remitted the
 3-3     payment if the state disbursement unit:
 3-4                       (A)  does not process child support payments for
 3-5     the case for which the payment is made; or
 3-6                       (B)  has insufficient information to identify the
 3-7     case for which the payment is made.
 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.