CERTIFICATION OF ENROLLMENT
SECOND SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 5144
66TH LEGISLATURE
2020 REGULAR SESSION
Passed by the Senate February 14, 2020
  Yeas 45  Nays 0

President of the Senate
Passed by the House March 4, 2020
  Yeas 96  Nays 0

Speaker of the House of Representatives
CERTIFICATE
I, Brad Hendrickson, Secretary of the Senate of the State of Washington, do hereby certify that the attached is SECOND SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 5144 as passed by the Senate and the House of Representatives on the dates hereon set forth.

Secretary
Secretary
Approved
FILED
Secretary of State
State of Washington

SECOND SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 5144

Passed Legislature - 2020 Regular Session
State of Washington
66th Legislature
2020 Regular Session
BySenate Human Services, Reentry & Rehabilitation (originally sponsored by Senators Dhingra, O'Ban, Wilson, C., Keiser, Darneille, and Frockt)
READ FIRST TIME 01/23/20.
AN ACT Relating to implementing child support pass-through payments; and amending RCW 26.23.035.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec. 1. RCW 26.23.035 and 2010 2nd sp.s. c 3 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
(1) The department of social and health services shall adopt rules for the distribution of support money collected by the division of child support. These rules shall:
(a) Comply with Title IV-D of the federal social security act as amended by the personal responsibility and work opportunity reconciliation act of 1996 and the federal deficit reduction act of 2005;
(b) Direct the division of child support to distribute support money within eight days of receipt, unless one of the following circumstances, or similar circumstances specified in the rules, prevents prompt distribution:
(i) The location of the custodial parent is unknown;
(ii) The support debt is in litigation;
(iii) The division of child support cannot identify the responsible parent or the custodian;
(c) Provide for proportionate distribution of support payments if the responsible parent owes a support obligation or a support debt for two or more Title IV-D cases; and
(d) Authorize the distribution of support money, except money collected under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 664, to satisfy a support debt owed to the IV-D custodian before the debt owed to the state when the custodian stops receiving a public assistance grant.
(2) The division of child support may distribute support payments to the payee under the support order or to another person who has lawful physical custody of the child or custody with the payee's consent. The payee may file an application for an adjudicative proceeding to challenge distribution to such other person. Prior to distributing support payments to any person other than the payee, the registry shall:
(a) Obtain a written statement from the child's physical custodian, under penalty of perjury, that the custodian has lawful custody of the child or custody with the payee's consent;
(b) Mail to the responsible parent and to the payee at the payee's last known address a copy of the physical custodian's statement and a notice which states that support payments will be sent to the physical custodian; and
(c) File a copy of the notice with the clerk of the court that entered the original support order.
(3) If the Washington state support registry distributes a support payment to a person in error, the registry may obtain restitution by means of a set-off against future payments received on behalf of the person receiving the erroneous payment, or may act according to RCW 74.20A.270 as deemed appropriate. Any set-off against future support payments shall be limited to amounts collected on the support debt and ten percent of amounts collected as current support.
(4) ((The division of child support shall ensure that the fifty dollar pass-through payment, as required by 42 U.S.C. Sec. 657 before the adoption of P.L. 104-193, is terminated immediately upon July 27, 1997, and all rules to the contrary adopted before July 27, 1997, are without force and effect.
(5) The division of child support shall ensure that the child support pass-through payment adopted under section 2, chapter 143, Laws of 2007 pursuant to))Effective February 1, 2021, consistent with 42 U.S.C. Sec. 657(a) as amended by section 7301(b)(7)(B) of the federal deficit reduction act of 2005, ((is suspended as of May 1, 2011, and all rules to the contrary adopted before May 1, 2011, are without force and effect))the department shall pass through child support that does not exceed fifty dollars per month collected on behalf of a family, or in the case of a family that includes two or more children an amount that is not more than one hundred dollars per month. The department has rule-making authority to implement this subsection.
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