Bill Text: MS HB1039 | 2019 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Child support payments; require DHS recipients of to provide list of expenditures.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2019-02-05 - Died In Committee [HB1039 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2019-HB1039-Introduced.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2019 Regular Session
To: Judiciary A
By: Representative Scott
House Bill 1039
AN ACT TO REQUIRE ANY PERSON WHO IS DEEMED TO HAVE MADE AN ASSIGNMENT OF CHILD SUPPORT TO PROVIDE TO THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES, EVERY THREE (3) MONTHS FROM THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF THIS ACT, AN ITEMIZED LIST OF ALL EXPENDITURES OF CHILD SUPPORT PAYMENTS; TO REQUIRE THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES TO ASSESS SUCH LISTS TO DETERMINE WHETHER THE CHILD SUPPORT MONIES WERE SPENT APPROPRIATELY ON THE CHILD; TO REQUIRE A RECIPIENT WHO HAS SPENT CERTAIN CHILD SUPPORT MONIES INAPPROPRIATELY TO ATTEND PARENTING CLASSES; TO BRING FORWARD SECTION 43-19-35, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, WHICH PROVIDES THAT ANY PERSON WHO RECEIVES PUBLIC ASSISTANCE AND CHILD SUPPORT SERVICES HAS ASSIGNED CHILD SUPPORT PAYMENTS TO THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES, FOR PURPOSES OF AMENDMENT; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. (1) Any person who is deemed to have made an assignment of child support as provided in Section 43-19-35 shall provide to the State Department of Human Services, every three (3) months from the effective date of this act, an itemized list of all expenditures of child support payments. Each list shall contain the actual amount paid for any item or activity and a description of each item or activity.
(2) Upon receipt of such lists, the State Department of Human Services shall:
(a) Assess the lists to determine whether the child support monies were spent appropriately on the child. If the monies or any portion of the monies received for child support were spent inappropriately, the State Department of Human Services shall require the recipient of the child support monies to participate in parenting classes until the inappropriate spending is resolved; and
(b) Provide receipt of payment statements to the person paying the child support to the State Department of Human Services.
SECTION 2. Section 43-19-35, Mississippi Code of 1972, is brought forward as follows:
43-19-35. (1) By currently or previously accepting public assistance or making application for child support services for and on behalf of a child or children, the recipient shall be deemed to have made an assignment to the State Department of Human Services of any and all rights and interests in any cause of action, past, present or future, that said recipient or the children may have against any parent failing to provide for the support and maintenance of said minor child or children; said department shall be subrogated to any and all rights, title and interest the recipient or the children may have against any and all property belonging to the absent or nonsupporting parent in the enforcement of any claim for child or spousal support, whether liquidated through court order or not. The recipient of Title IV-D services shall also be deemed, without the necessity of signing any document, to have appointed the State Department of Human Services to act in his or her, as well as the children's, name, place, and stead to perform the specific act of instituting suit to establish paternity or secure support, collecting any and all amounts due and owing for child or spousal support or any other service as required or permitted under Title IV-D of the federal Social Security Act, and endorsing any and all drafts, checks, money orders or other negotiable instruments representing child or spousal support payments which are received on behalf of the recipient or the children, and retaining any portion thereof permitted under federal and state statutes as reimbursement for public assistance monies previously paid to the recipient or children.
(2) Court orders of support for any child or children receiving services through Title IV-D of the federal Social Security Act shall be amended, by operation of law, and without the necessity of a motion by the Child Support Unit and a hearing thereon to provide that the payment of support shall be directed by the absent parent to the Mississippi Department of Human Services Central Receipting and Disbursement Unit as provided in Section 43-19-37 and not to the recipient. The absent parent shall be notified of such amendment prior to it taking effect.
(3) Any attorney authorized by the state to initiate any action pursuant to Title IV-D of the federal Social Security Act, including, but not limited to, any action initiated pursuant to Sections 43-19-31 et seq. and 93-25-1 et seq. shall be deemed to represent the interest of the State Department of Human Services exclusively; no attorney-client relationship shall exist between said attorney and any recipient of services pursuant to Title IV-D of the federal Social Security Act for and on behalf of a child or children, regardless of the name in which the legal proceedings are initiated. Said attorney representing the state in a Title IV-D case is only authorized to appear and prosecute and/or defend issues of support and cannot in a Title IV-D case address or provide representation to the Title IV-D recipient on any other ancillary issues raised or presented in that action.
(4) Said assignment to the State Department of Human Services shall be free of any legal or equitable defense to the payment of child support that may accrue to any person legally liable for the support of any child or children receiving aid from the State Department of Human Services, as a result of the conduct of the person who is accepting public assistance for and on behalf of said child or children.
SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2019.
