OFFICE OF CHILD SUPPORT AND UNDISBURSED CHILD SUPPORT
House Bill 5834
Sponsor: Rep. Michael Murphy
Committee: Family and Children Services
Complete to 4-10-02
A SUMMARY OF HOUSE BILL 5834 AS INTRODUCED 4-9-02
The bill would amend the Office of Child Support Act to add provisions concerning undisbursed child support. The bill would define "undisbursed child support" to mean money paid as child support to the friend of the court or the State Disbursement Unit that is reportable and payable to the children's trustee as required under the Uniform Unclaimed Property Act. (House Bill 4918 would amend the unclaimed property act to add provisions pertaining to the children's trustee within the Department of Treasury.) House Bill 5834 is tie-barred to House Bill 4918, and to House Bill 5833, which would create a child support assurance project.
The bill would require the Office of Child Support to:
· Develop an electronic database capable of monitoring child support, centrally and at the local level, on a monthly basis.
· Provide policies and procedures for the monthly monitoring of friend of the court offices and their caseloads, child support collections, and undisbursed child support.
· Establish performance standards for friend of the court offices and identify those offices not meeting the standards.
· Develop an undisbursed child support reduction team that assists friend of the court offices to ensure a more timely disbursement of child support.
· To ensure a more timely disbursement of child support, develop a communication system with the IRS, Bureau of Revenue within the Department of Treasury, U.S. Postal Service, other agencies within the Family Independence Agency, Social Security Administration, Department of Community Health, state Friend of the Court Bureau, employers required to comply with withholding orders, and interstate child support collection programs.
· Develop best practice procedures and training programs for friend of the court offices and the SDU regarding voluntary payers, the inability to locate custodial and non-custodial parents, future or advanced payers, closed cases, interstate collections, and tax intercepts.
· Establish performance standards to determine acceptable limits of undisbursed child support.
· Develop a payment history database of repeat unidentified payers.
· Promote the use of direct deposit by payers.
· Report to the House and Senate appropriations committees, one year after the effective date of the bill, on the monthly undisbursed child support amounts and the causes and steps taken to reduce the amount of undisbursed child support.
The bill would be repealed three years after its effective date.
MCL 400.231 et al.
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This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan House staff for use by House members in their deliberations, and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.