1-1     By:  Harris                                            S.B. No. 776
 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed February 19, 2001; February 20, 2001,
 1-3     read first time and referred to Committee on Jurisprudence;
 1-4     April 10, 2001, reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 6,
 1-5     Nays 0; April 10, 2001, sent to printer.)
 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-7                                   AN ACT
 1-8     relating to the collection of accrued interest on child support
 1-9     arrearages; providing a penalty.
1-10           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11           SECTION 1.  Section 157.262, Family Code, is amended to read
1-12     as follows:
1-13           Sec. 157.262.  REDUCTION OF ARREARAGES.  (a)  Except as
1-14     provided by Subsection (b), in [In] a contempt proceeding or in
1-15     rendering a money judgment, the court may not reduce or modify the
1-16     amount of child support arrearages.
1-17           (b)  On or after the first anniversary of the date the court
1-18     renders a money judgment, the court may reduce the interest accrued
1-19     on child support arrearages included in that judgment if the
1-20     obligor meets the requirements of Section 157.270.
1-21           (c)  The money judgment for arrearages rendered by the court
1-22     may be subject to a counterclaim or offset as provided by this
1-23     subchapter.
1-24           SECTION 2.  Subchapter F, Chapter 157, Family Code, is
1-25     amended by adding Sections 157.270 and 157.271 to read as follows:
1-26           Sec. 157.270.  REDUCTION OF ACCRUED INTEREST.  (a)  On or
1-27     after the first anniversary of the date a court renders a money
1-28     judgment under Section 157.263, the obligor against whom the
1-29     judgment was rendered may file a motion requesting that the court
1-30     reduce the amount of interest that was confirmed in the judgment
1-31     and owed on the child support arrearages.
1-32           (b)  On finding that the obligor has substantially complied
1-33     with the terms of an order requiring periodic payments toward the
1-34     money judgment rendered under Section 157.263, the court may render
1-35     an order reducing the interest to be paid by an amount that results
1-36     in the repayment of an amount that will not create an undue
1-37     hardship on the obligor or the obligor's family.
1-38           (c)  The court shall state in the order reducing the amount
1-39     of interest owed that the amount by which the interest is reduced
1-40     may be included in a subsequent cumulative money judgment if the
1-41     obligor does not comply with an order to make periodic payments for
1-42     current support and child support arrearages.
1-43           Sec. 157.271.  PENALTY FOR NONPAYMENT.  (a)  On or after the
1-44     first anniversary of the date a court renders a money judgment
1-45     under Section 157.263, the obligee or the Title IV-D agency may
1-46     file a motion requesting that the court order the obligor to pay
1-47     additional interest on the money judgment as a penalty if the court
1-48     finds that the obligor did not substantially comply with the terms
1-49     of an order requiring periodic payments toward the money judgment.
1-50           (b)  Notwithstanding Section 157.265(b), the court, on making
1-51     the finding required by Subsection (a), may order that interest
1-52     accrues on the child support arrearages confirmed and reduced to a
1-53     money judgment at the rate of 13 percent simple interest per year
1-54     from the date the court rendered the money judgment under Section
1-55     157.263 until the date the judgment is paid.
1-56           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2001.
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