SRC-VRA H.B. 3087 78(R) BILL ANALYSIS Senate Research Center H.B. 3087 By: Hodge (Carona) Finance 5/12/2003 Engrossed BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Presently, child support obligors, many of whom fall below the federal poverty line, owe the state of Texas approximately three billion dollars in assigned arrears. Moreover, the Title IV-D agency (Office of the Attorney General) retains a portion of collected child support to reimburse the state for public assistance expenditures. Administering this practice requires the Office of the Attorney General to execute different strategies of compromise to collect arrearages owed by certain obligors. Following the recommendations of the Federal Commissioner of the Office of Child Support Enforcement, H.B. 3087 would codify this practice into state law, by allowing the Office of the Attorney General greater flexibility in collecting child-support debt owed by low-income obligors. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY This bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Section 231.002, Family Code, by adding Subsection (i), as follows: (i) Authorizes the Title IV-D agency to provide a release or satisfaction of a judgment for all or part of the amount of the arrearages assigned to the Title IV-D agency under Section 231.104(a). SECTION 2. Effective date: September 1, 2003.