Bill Text: IL HB0237 | 2017-2018 | 100th General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Amends the Illinois Public Aid Code and the Code of Civil Procedure. Provides that upon the assignment to the Department of Healthcare and Family Services of the right to collect a child support obligation, additional interest on the amount of the obligation owed to the State ceases to accrue.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Failed) 2019-01-08 - Session Sine Die [HB0237 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2017-HB0237-Introduced.html

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100TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2017 and 2018 HB0237 Introduced , by Rep. La Shawn K. Ford SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
305 ILCS 5/10-1 from Ch. 23, par. 10-1
735 ILCS 5/12-109 from Ch. 110, par. 12-109
Amends the Illinois Public Aid Code and the Code of Civil Procedure. Provides that upon the assignment to the Department of Healthcare and Family Services of the right to collect a child support obligation, additional interest on the amount of the obligation owed to the State ceases to accrue.
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FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY
A BILL FOR
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AN ACT concerning public aid.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 5. The Illinois Public Aid Code is amended by
changing Section 10-1 as follows:
(305 ILCS 5/10-1) (from Ch. 23, par. 10-1)
Sec. 10-1. Declaration of Public Policy - Persons Eligible
for Child Support Enforcement Services - Fees for
Non-Applicants and Non-Recipients.) It is the intent of this
Code that the financial aid and social welfare services herein
provided supplement rather than supplant the primary and
continuing obligation of the family unit for self-support to
the fullest extent permitted by the resources available to it.
This primary and continuing obligation applies whether the
family unit of parents and children or of husband and wife
remains intact and resides in a common household or whether the
unit has been broken by absence of one or more members of the
unit. The obligation of the family unit is particularly
applicable when a member is in necessitous circumstances and
lacks the means of a livelihood compatible with health and
well-being.
It is the purpose of this Article to provide for locating
an absent parent or spouse, for determining his financial

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circumstances, and for enforcing his legal obligation of
support, if he is able to furnish support, in whole or in part.
The Department of Healthcare and Family Services shall give
priority to establishing, enforcing and collecting the current
support obligation, and then to past due support owed to the
family unit, except with respect to collections effected
through the intercept programs provided for in this Article.
The child support enforcement services provided hereunder
shall be furnished dependents of an absent parent or spouse who
are applicants for or recipients of financial aid under this
Code. It is not, however, a condition of eligibility for
financial aid that there be no responsible relatives who are
reasonably able to provide support. Nor, except as provided in
Sections 4-1.7 and 10-8, shall the existence of such relatives
or their payment of support contributions disqualify a needy
person for financial aid.
By accepting financial aid under this Code, a spouse or a
parent or other person having custody of a child shall be
deemed to have made assignment to the Illinois Department for
aid under Articles III, IV, V and VII or to a local
governmental unit for aid under Article VI of any and all
rights, title, and interest in any support obligation,
including statutory interest thereon, up to the amount of
financial aid provided. The rights to support assigned to the
Department of Healthcare and Family Services (formerly
Illinois Department of Public Aid) or local governmental unit

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shall constitute an obligation owed the State or local
governmental unit by the person who is responsible for
providing the support, and shall be collectible under all
applicable processes. Upon the assignment to the Department of
Healthcare and Family Services of rights to support, additional
interest on the amount of the obligation owed to the State
ceases to accrue.
The Department of Healthcare and Family Services shall also
furnish the child support enforcement services established
under this Article in behalf of persons who are not applicants
for or recipients of financial aid under this Code in
accordance with the requirements of Title IV, Part D of the
Social Security Act. The Department may establish a schedule of
reasonable fees, to be paid for the services provided and may
deduct a collection fee, not to exceed 10% of the amount
collected, from such collection. The Department of Healthcare
and Family Services shall cause to be published and distributed
publications reasonably calculated to inform the public that
individuals who are not recipients of or applicants for public
aid under this Code are eligible for the child support
enforcement services under this Article X. Such publications
shall set forth an explanation, in plain language, that the
child support enforcement services program is independent of
any public aid program under the Code and that the receiving of
child support enforcement services in no way implies that the
person receiving such services is receiving public aid.

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(Source: P.A. 94-90, eff. 1-1-06; 95-331, eff. 8-21-07.)
Section 10. The Code of Civil Procedure is amended by
changing Section 12-109 as follows:
(735 ILCS 5/12-109) (from Ch. 110, par. 12-109)
Sec. 12-109. Interest on judgments.
(a) Every judgment except those arising by operation of law
from child support orders shall bear interest thereon as
provided in Section 2-1303.
(b) Except as provided in subsection (c) of this Section,
every Every judgment arising by operation of law from a child
support order shall bear interest as provided in this
subsection. The interest on judgments arising by operation of
law from child support orders shall be calculated by applying
one-twelfth of the current statutory interest rate as provided
in Section 2-1303 to the unpaid child support balance as of the
end of each calendar month. The unpaid child support balance at
the end of the month is the total amount of child support
ordered, excluding the child support that was due for that
month to the extent that it was not paid in that month and
including judgments for retroactive child support, less all
payments received and applied as set forth in this subsection.
The accrued interest shall not be included in the unpaid child
support balance when calculating interest at the end of the
month. The unpaid child support balance as of the end of each

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month shall be determined by calculating the current monthly
child support obligation and applying all payments received for
that month, except federal income tax refund intercepts, first
to the current monthly child support obligation and then
applying any payments in excess of the current monthly child
support obligation to the unpaid child support balance owed
from previous months. The current monthly child support
obligation shall be determined from the document that
established the support obligation. Federal income tax refund
intercepts and any payments in excess of the current monthly
child support obligation shall be applied to the unpaid child
support balance. Any payments in excess of the current monthly
child support obligation and the unpaid child support balance
shall be applied to the accrued interest on the unpaid child
support balance. Interest on child support obligations may be
collected by any means available under State law for the
collection of child support judgments.
(c) Upon the assignment to the Department of Healthcare and
Family Services, under Section 10-1 of the Illinois Public Aid
Code, of the right to collect a child support obligation,
additional interest on the amount of the obligation owed to the
State ceases to accrue.
(Source: P.A. 98-563, eff. 8-27-13.)