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1 1 (December 1, 1999)

handle is hein.crs/crsahfq0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Order Code RS20352 Updated December 1, 1999 Centralized Collection and Disbursement of Child Support Payments Carmen Solomon-Fears Specialist in Social Legislation Domestic Social Policy Division Summary Congressional Research Service + The Library of Congress CRS Report for Congress Received through the CRS Web P.L. 104-193 requires state Child Support Enforcement (CSE) agencies to operate a centralized automated unit for collection and disbursement of payments on two categories of child support orders: (1) those enforced by the CSE agency and (2) those issued or modified on or after January 1, 1994, which are not enforced by the state CSE agency but for which the noncustodial parent's income is subject to withholding. The state disbursement unit generally must use automated procedures, electronic processes, and computer-driven technology to collect and disburse support payments, to keep an accurate identification of payments, to promptly disburse money to custodial parents or other states, and to furnish parents with a record of the current status of support payments. The collection and disbursement unit provisions went into effect on October 1, 1998; except that states that processed the receipt of child support payments through local courts could continue to process those payments through such courts until September 30, 1999. All of the jurisdictions with the October 1, 1998 deadline, with the exception of California, are now operating state disbursement units. Information is not yet officially available with regard to states with the October 1, 1999 deadline. (States have until December 31, 1999 to notify the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as to whether or not they have a centralized disbursement unit.) HHS expects that California, Nebraska, Ohio and perhaps five or six other states will not meet the October 1, 1999 deadline. Because of the total loss of CSE funding plus possible loss of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant funding for states that are not in compliance with the state disbursement unit requirements, Congress has passed legislation (H.R. 3194) that would impose a lesser alternative penalty for these states. On November 18, 1999, the House passed H.R. 3194, an omnibus appropriations bill, that contains a provision that would lessen the penalty for states that are not in compliance with the centralized state disbursement unit requirement. On November 19, 1999, the Senate passed H.R. 3194. This bill was signed into law (P.L. 106-113) on November 29, 1999. This report will not be updated.