Bill Text: TX SB355 | 2013-2014 | 83rd Legislature | Enrolled

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Bill Title: Relating to the powers and duties of the Title IV-D agency regarding the establishment, collection, and enforcement of child support and in connection with an application for a marriage license or protective order; authorizing a surcharge.

Sponsorship: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Passed) 2013-06-14 - Effective on 9/1/13 [SB355 Detail]

Download: Texas-2013-SB355-Enrolled.html

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S.B. No. 355

AN ACT
relating to the powers and duties of the Title IV-D agency regarding
the establishment, collection, and enforcement of child support and
in connection with an application for a marriage license or
protective order; authorizing a surcharge.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subsection (c), Section 2.009, Family Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(c) On the proper execution of the application, the clerk
shall:
(1) prepare the license;
(2) enter on the license the names of the licensees,
the date that the license is issued, and, if applicable, the name of
the person appointed to act as proxy for an absent applicant, if
any;
(3) record the time at which the license was issued;
(4) distribute to each applicant printed materials
about acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and human
immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and note on the license that the
distribution was made; and
(5) inform [distribute to] each applicant:
(A) that a premarital education handbook
developed [provided] by the child support division of the office of
the attorney general under Section 2.014 is available on the child
support division's Internet website; or
(B) if the applicant does not have Internet
access, how the applicant may obtain a paper copy of the handbook
described by Paragraph (A).
SECTION 2. Subsections (b) and (c), Section 2.014, Family
Code, are amended to read as follows:
(b) Money in the trust fund is derived from depositing $3 of
each marriage license fee as authorized under Section 118.018(c),
Local Government Code, and may be used only for:
(1) the development [and distribution] of a premarital
education handbook;
(2) grants to institutions of higher education having
academic departments that are capable of research on marriage and
divorce that will assist in determining programs, courses, and
policies to help strengthen families and assist children whose
parents are divorcing;
(3) support for counties to create or administer free
or low-cost premarital education courses;
(4) programs intended to reduce the amount of
delinquent child support; and
(5) other programs the attorney general determines
will assist families in this state.
(c) The premarital education handbook under Subsection
(b)(1) shall be made available [distributed] to each applicant for
a marriage license as provided by Section 2.009(c)(5) and shall
contain information on:
(1) conflict management;
(2) communication skills;
(3) children and parenting responsibilities; and
(4) financial responsibilities.
SECTION 3. Section 82.004, Family Code, is amended to read
as follows:
Sec. 82.004. CONTENTS OF APPLICATION. An application must
state:
(1) the name and county of residence of each
applicant;
(2) the name and county of residence of each
individual alleged to have committed family violence;
(3) the relationships between the applicants and the
individual alleged to have committed family violence; [and]
(4) a request for one or more protective orders; and
(5) whether an applicant is receiving services from
the Title IV-D agency in connection with a child support case and,
if known, the agency case number for each open case.
SECTION 4. Subsection (a), Section 85.042, Family Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(a) The clerk of the court issuing an original or modified
protective order under this subtitle shall send a copy of the order,
along with the information provided by the applicant or the
applicant's attorney that is required under Section 411.042(b)(6),
Government Code, to:
(1) the chief of police of the municipality in which
the person protected by the order resides, if the person resides in
a municipality;
(2) [, or to] the appropriate constable and the
sheriff of the county in which the person resides, if the person
does not reside in a municipality; and
(3) the Title IV-D agency, if the application for the
protective order indicates that the applicant is receiving services
from the Title IV-D agency.
SECTION 5. Subsection (a-2), Section 156.401, Family Code,
is amended to read as follows:
(a-2) A court or administrative order for child support in a
Title IV-D case may be modified at any time, and without a showing
of material and substantial change in the circumstances of the
child or a person affected by the order, [as provided under Section
233.013(c)] to provide for medical support of the [a] child if the
order does not provide health care coverage as required under
Section 154.182.
SECTION 6. Section 158.106, Family Code, is amended to read
as follows:
Sec. 158.106. REQUIRED FORMS FOR INCOME WITHHOLDING. (a)
The Title IV-D agency shall prescribe forms as required by federal
law in a standard format entitled order or notice to withhold income
for child support under this chapter.
(b) The Title IV-D agency shall make the required
[appropriate] forms available to obligors, obligees, domestic
relations offices, friends of the court, clerks of the court, and
private attorneys.
(c) The Title IV-D agency may prescribe additional forms for
the efficient collection of child support from earnings and to
promote the administration of justice for all parties.
(d) The forms prescribed by the Title IV-D agency under this
section shall [may] be used:
(1) for an order or judicial writ of income
withholding under this chapter; and
(2) to request voluntary withholding under Section
158.011.
SECTION 7. Section 158.203, Family Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (d) and adding Subsections (e) and (f) to read
as follows:
(d) In a case in which an obligor's income is subject to
withholding, the employer shall remit the payment of child support
directly to [a local registry, the Title IV-D agency, or to] the
state disbursement unit.
(e) The state disbursement unit may impose on an employer
described by Subsection (b) a payment processing surcharge in an
amount of not more than $25 for each remittance made on behalf of an
employee that is not made by electronic funds transfer or
electronic data exchange. The payment processing surcharge under
this subsection may not be charged against the employee or taken
from amounts withheld from the employee's wages.
(f) The state disbursement unit shall:
(1) notify an employer described by Subsection (b) who
fails to remit withheld income by electronic funds transfer or
electronic data exchange that the employer is subject to a payment
processing surcharge under Subsection (e); and
(2) inform the employer of the amount of the surcharge
owed and the manner in which the surcharge is required to be paid to
the unit.
SECTION 8. Subsection (e), Section 201.101, Family Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(e) If a county has entered into a contract with the Title
IV-D agency under Section 231.0011, enforcement services may be
directly provided in cases identified under the contract by county
personnel as provided under Section 231.0011(d), including judges
and associate judges of the courts of the county.
SECTION 9. Section 231.002, Family Code, is amended by
adding Subsection (j) to read as follows:
(j) In the enforcement or modification of a child support
order, the Title IV-D agency is not:
(1) subject to a mediation or arbitration clause or
requirement in the order to which the Title IV-D agency was not a
party; or
(2) liable for any costs associated with mediation or
arbitration arising from provisions in the order or another
agreement of the parties.
SECTION 10. Section 231.204, Family Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 231.204. PROHIBITED FEES IN TITLE IV-D CASES. Except
as provided by this subchapter, an appellate court, a clerk of an
appellate court, a district or county clerk, sheriff, constable, or
other government officer or employee may not charge the Title IV-D
agency or a private attorney or political subdivision that has
entered into a contract to provide Title IV-D services any fees or
other amounts otherwise imposed by law for services rendered in, or
in connection with, a Title IV-D case, including:
(1) a fee payable to a district clerk for:
(A) performing services related to the estates of
deceased persons or minors;
(B) certifying copies; or
(C) comparing copies to originals;
(2) a court reporter fee, except as provided by
Section 231.209;
(3) a judicial fund fee;
(4) a fee for a child support registry, enforcement
office, or domestic relations office;
(5) a fee for alternative dispute resolution services;
[and]
(6) a filing fee or other costs payable to a clerk of
an appellate court; and
(7) a statewide electronic filing system fund fee.
SECTION 11. Subsection (a), Section 232.0135, Family Code,
is amended to read as follows:
(a) A child support agency, as defined by Section 101.004,
may provide notice to a licensing authority concerning an obligor
who has failed to pay child support under a support order for six
months or more that requests the authority to refuse to approve
[accept] an application for issuance of a license to the obligor or
renewal of an existing license of the obligor.
SECTION 12. Subsections (a) and (b), Section 233.013,
Family Code, are amended to read as follows:
(a) The Title IV-D agency may use any information obtained
by the agency from the parties or any other source and shall apply
the child support guidelines provided by this code to determine the
appropriate amount of child support. In determining the
appropriate amount of child support, the agency may consider
evidence of the factors a court is required to consider under
Section 154.123(b), and, if the agency deviates from the guidelines
in determining the amount of monthly child support, with or without
the agreement of the parties, the child support review order must
include the findings required to be made by a court under Section
154.130(b).
(b) If it has been three years since a child support order
was rendered or last modified and the amount of the child support
award under the order differs by either 20 percent or $100 from the
amount that would be awarded under the child support guidelines,
the Title IV-D agency may [shall] file an appropriate child support
review order, including an order that has the effect of modifying an
existing court or administrative order for child support without
the necessity of filing a motion to modify.
SECTION 13. Section 233.019, Family Code, is amended by
adding Subsection (e) to read as follows:
(e) If a party timely files a motion for a new trial for
reconsideration of an agreed review order and the court grants the
motion, the agreed review order filed with the clerk constitutes a
sufficient pleading by the Title IV-D agency for relief on any issue
addressed in the order.
SECTION 14. The heading to Section 233.027, Family Code, is
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 233.027. NONAGREED ORDER AFTER HEARING[; EFFECT OF
CONFIRMATION ORDER].
SECTION 15. Subsections (a) and (c), Section 233.027,
Family Code, are amended to read as follows:
(a) After the hearing on the confirmation of a nonagreed
child support review order, the court shall:
(1) if the court finds that the nonagreed order should
be confirmed, immediately sign the nonagreed [a confirmation] order
and enter the order as a final [an] order of the court;
(2) if the court finds that the relief granted in the
nonagreed child support review order is inappropriate, sign an
appropriate order at the conclusion of the hearing or as soon after
the conclusion of the hearing as is practical and enter the order as
an order of the court; or
(3) if the court finds that all relief should be
denied, enter an order that denies relief and includes specific
findings explaining the reasons that relief is denied.
(c) If the party who requested the hearing fails to appear
at the hearing, the court shall sign the nonagreed [a confirmation]
order and enter the order as an order of the court.
SECTION 16. Subsections (a), (b), and (c), Section 234.007,
Family Code, are amended to read as follows:
(a) A [The Title IV-D agency shall notify the courts that
the state disbursement unit has been established. After receiving
notice of the establishment of the state disbursement unit, a]
court that orders income to be withheld for child support shall
order that all income ordered withheld for child support shall be
paid to the state disbursement unit.
(b) In order to redirect payments [from a local registry] to
the state disbursement unit [after the date of the establishment of
the state disbursement unit], the Title IV-D agency shall issue a
notice of place of payment informing the obligor, obligee, and
employer that income withheld for child support is to be paid to the
state disbursement unit and may not be remitted to a local registry,
the obligee, or any other person or agency. If withheld support has
been paid to a local registry, the Title IV-D agency shall send the
notice to the registry to redirect any payments to the state
disbursement unit.
(c) A copy of the notice under Subsection (b) shall be filed
with the court of continuing jurisdiction [and with the local child
support registry].
SECTION 17. Section 234.101, Family Code, is amended by
adding Subdivision (3) to read as follows:
(3) "Newly hired employee" means an employee who:
(A) has not been previously employed by the
employer; or
(B) was previously employed by the employer but
has been separated from that employment for at least 60 consecutive
days.
SECTION 18. Subsection (b), Section 233.027, Family Code,
is repealed.
SECTION 19. (a) The changes in law made by this Act to
Sections 2.009 and 2.014, Family Code, apply only to an application
for a marriage license submitted on or after the effective date of
this Act. An application for a marriage license submitted before
the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on
the date the application was submitted, and the former law is
continued in effect for that purpose.
(b) The changes in law made by this Act to Sections 82.004
and 85.042, Family Code, apply only to an application for a
protective order filed on or after the effective date of this Act.
An application for a protective order filed before the effective
date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the date the
application was filed, and the former law is continued in effect for
that purpose.
(c) The changes in law made by this Act to Section 158.203,
Family Code, apply only to a child support withholding remitted by
an employer on or after the effective date of this Act. A child
support withholding remitted by an employer before the effective
date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the date the
withholding was remitted, and the former law is continued in effect
for that purpose.
(d) The changes in law made by this Act to Section 233.013,
Family Code, apply only to a child support review order filed on or
after the effective date of this Act. A child support review order
filed before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law
in effect on the date the order was filed, and the former law is
continued in effect for that purpose.
(e) The change in law made by this Act to Section 233.019,
Family Code, applies only to a motion for a new trial filed on or
after the effective date of this Act. A motion for a new trial filed
before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in
effect on the date the motion was filed, and the former law is
continued in effect for that purpose.
(f) The change in law made by this Act to Section 233.027,
Family Code, applies to a child support review order that is pending
before a trial court on or filed on or after the effective date of
this Act.
SECTION 20. The change in law made by this Act to Section
231.204, Family Code, takes effect only if House Bill No. 2302,
Senate Bill No. 1146, or substantially similar legislation
authorizing a statewide electronic filing system fund fee is
enacted by the 83rd Legislature, Regular Session, 2013, and becomes
law. If legislation described by this section is not enacted or
does not become law, the amendment to Section 231.204, Family Code,
made by this Act has no effect.
SECTION 21. This Act takes effect September 1, 2013.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 355 passed the Senate on
March 13, 2013, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0; and that
the Senate concurred in House amendment on May 20, 2013, by the
following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 355 passed the House, with
amendment, on May 14, 2013, by the following vote: Yeas 142,
Nays 1, two present not voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
Approved:
______________________________
Date
______________________________
Governor