May 28, 2003, Introduced by Reps. Elkins, Lipsey, Sak, Gillard, Meisner, Murphy, Byrum, Gaffney, Tobocman, Hager, Caul, Kolb, Anderson, Pumford, Spade, Vander Veen, McConico, Hune, Condino, Law, Plakas, Richardville, Hart, Garfield, Casperson and Ward and referred to the Committee on Family and Children Services.
A bill to amend 1971 PA 174, entitled
"Office of child support act,"
by amending sections 3 and 3a (MCL 400.233 and 400.233a), section
3 as amended by 2002 PA 564 and section 3a as amended by 1998 PA
112.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
1 Sec. 3. The office shall do all of the following:
2 (a) Serve as a state agency authorized to administer
3 title IV-D.
4 (b) Assist a governmental agency or department in locating an
5 adult responsible for the child for any of the following
6 purposes:
7 (i) To establish parentage.
8 (ii) To establish, set the amount of, modify, or enforce
9 support obligations.
1 (iii) To disburse support receipts.
2 (iv) To make or enforce child custody or parenting time
3 orders.
4 (c) Coordinate activity on a state level in a search for an
5 adult responsible for the child.
6 (d) Obtain information that directly relates to the identity
7 or location of an adult responsible for the child.
8 (e) Serve as the information agency as provided in the
9 revised uniform reciprocal enforcement of support act, 1952 PA 8,
10 MCL 780.151 to 780.183, and uniform interstate family support
11 act, 1996 PA 310, MCL 552.1101 to 552.1901.
12 (f) Develop guidelines for coordinating activities of a
13 governmental department, board, commission, bureau, agency, or
14 council, or a public or private agency, in providing information
15 necessary for the location of an adult responsible for the
16 child.
17 (g) Develop As
provided in section 3a, develop, administer,
18 and coordinate with the state and federal departments of treasury
19 a procedure the tax refund offset program for offsetting
the
20 state tax refunds and federal income tax refunds of a parent who
21 is obligated to support a child and who owes past due support.
22 The procedure shall
include a guideline that the office shall
23 submit to the state department of treasury, not later than
24 November 15 of each year, all requests for the offset of state
25 tax refunds claimed on returns filed or to be filed for that tax
26 year.
27 (h) Develop and implement a statewide information system to
1 facilitate the establishment and enforcement of child support
2 obligations.
3 (i) Publicize through regular and frequent, nonsexist public
4 service announcements the availability of support establishment
5 and enforcement services.
6 (j) Develop and implement in cooperation with financial
7 institutions a data matching and lien and levy system to identify
8 assets of and to facilitate the collection of support from the
9 assets of individuals who have an account at a financial
10 institution and who are obligated to pay support as provided in
11 this act.
12 (k) Provide discovery and support for support enforcement
13 activities as provided in the support and parenting time
14 enforcement act, 1982 PA 295, MCL 552.601 to 552.650.
15 (l) Have in effect safeguards against the unauthorized use or
16 disclosure of case record information that are designed to
17 protect the privacy rights of the parties as specified in
18 sections 454 and 454a of title IV-D, 42 U.S.C. 654 and 654a, and
19 that are consistent with the use and disclosure standards
20 provided under section 64 of the social welfare act, 1939 PA 280,
21 MCL 400.64.
22 (m) As provided in section 10 for friend of the court cases,
23 centralize administrative enforcement remedies and develop and
24 implement a centralized enforcement program to facilitate the
25 collection of support.
26 Sec. 3a. (1) The office shall develop and implement a tax
27 refund offset program for friend of the court cases to provide
1 for the collection of past due support from the state and federal
2 income tax refunds of a parent who is obligated to support a
3 child.
4 (2) (1) Upon
receipt of a request from the office of the
5 friend of the court under section 24 of the support and parenting
6 time enforcement act, 1982 PA 295, MCL 552.624, the office of
7 child support shall initiate offset proceedings against the state
8 tax refunds and federal income tax refunds of a parent who is
9 obligated to support a child and who owes past due support.
10 (3) (2) The
office shall send to a parent who is the
11 subject of a request
under subsection (1) (2) advance written
12 notice of the proposed
offset. The notice shall inform do all
13 of the following:
14 (a) Explain that the friend of the court has requested a tax
15 refund offset.
16 (b) Provide the amount of past due support.
17 (c) Provide joint tax return options.
18 (d) Provide information about the administrative review
19 procedure.
20 (e) Inform the parent of the opportunity to contest the
21 offset of his or her state income tax refund on the grounds that
22 the offset is not proper because of a mistake of fact concerning
23 the amount of overdue support or the identity of the parent.
24 (4) If the friend of the court case involves a party
25 receiving public assistance under title IV-D, the office shall
26 seek federal and state tax refund offsets if $150.00 or more is
27 owed in past due child support. If the friend of the court case
1 involves a party eligible for title IV-D services because the
2 party received public assistance under title IV-D, the office
3 shall seek federal tax refund offsets if $500.00 or more is owed
4 in past due child support and the child for whom support is owed
5 is under the age of 18, unless the child over age 18 was disabled
6 before age 18, continues to be disabled, and has a support order
7 in effect.
8 (5) Approximately every 2 weeks, the office shall report to
9 the state department of treasury all parents who are obligated to
10 support a child and who have a balance of at least $150.00 of
11 past due child support. This subsection applies whether or not
12 the parent has a history of regular support payments.
13 (6) If past due support is owed to this state, money received
14 from federal tax refunds is first paid to eliminate that past due
15 support. Remaining money from a federal tax refund is paid on
16 past due support owed to an adult responsible for a child. If
17 the adult responsible for a child is not receiving title IV-D
18 services, money received from state tax refunds is first paid to
19 eliminate current support and past due support owed to the adult
20 responsible for a child.
21 (7) (3) The
office shall provide for the prompt
22 reimbursement of an amount withheld in error or an amount found
23 to exceed the amount of overdue support.