2798-S2.E AMS SPAN S5944.1

2798-S2.E AMS SPAN S5944.1

E2SHB 2798 - S AMD TO S AMD (S-5932.3/94)

By Senators Spanel and Rinehart

On page 10, after line 22 of the amendment, insert the following:

"NEW SECTION. Sec. 17. The legislature finds that the reliable receipt of child support payments by custodial parents is essential to maintaining economic self-sufficiency. It is the intent of the legislature to ensure that child support payments received by custodial parents when such support is owed are retained by those parents regardless of future claims made against such payments.

Sec. 18. RCW 26.23.035 and 1991 c 367 s 38 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 office of support enforcement. These rules shall:

(a) Comply with 42 U.S.C. Sec. 657;

(b) Direct the office of support enforcement 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 office of support enforcement 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 office of support enforcement 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

(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) If the Washington state support registry distributes a support payment to a payee under a support order or to another person who has lawful physical custody of the child or custody with the payee's consent, and the negotiable instrument received for such payment from the payer under a child support order is returned for nonsufficient funds, the registry shall obtain restitution from the payer under the child support order.

(5) If the Washington state support registry distributes funds collected under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 664 to a payee under a support order or to another person who has lawful physical custody of the child or custody with the payee's consent, and another person filing a joint return with the payer owing past due support under a child support order takes appropriate action to secure a share of the refund from which the withholding has been made, the registry shall obtain restitution from the payer under the child support order."

Renumber the remaining sections consecutively and correct any internal references accordingly.

E2SHB 2798 - S AMD TO S AMD (S-5932.3/94)

By Senators Spanel and Rinehart

On page 21, line 7 of the title amendment, after "74.25.020," insert "26.23.035,"