[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4898 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4898

                 To strengthen paternity establishment.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             August 4, 1994

Mr. Cooper (for himself and Mr. Gordon) introduced the following bill; 
         which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
                 To strengthen paternity establishment.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. PROCEDURES AT TIME OF BIRTH.

    (a) Hospital- and Other Birthing Center-Based Paternity.--Section 
466(a)(5)(C) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 666(a)(5)(C)) is 
amended by adding at the end the following: ``Such procedures shall 
also apply to birthing centers other than hospitals, shall require that 
any State agency that provides such services use the same materials 
used by, provide the personnel providing such services with the same 
training as, and evaluate the provision of such services in the same 
manner as, hospital-based paternity establishment programs, and shall 
require the hospital or other birthing center, at the time a pregnant 
woman is admitted to the hospital or other birthing center to give 
birth, to request the father of the child to provide his name and 
social security account number, which the hospital or other birthing 
center shall transmit to the State agency responsible for issuing birth 
certificates for inclusion in the birth certificate of the child.''.
    (b) Inclusion of Parents' Social Security Numbers on Child's Birth 
Certificate.--Section 466(a) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 666(a)) is amended 
by inserting after paragraph (11) the following:
            ``(12) Procedures which require the State agency 
        responsible for issuing birth certificates to include on the 
        birth certificate of a child the name and social security 
        account number (if available) of each parent of the child.''.

SEC. 2. PATERNITY ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AFFIDAVITS.

    (a) Establishment of National Affidavit.--Section 452(a)(7) of the 
Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 652(a)(7)) is amended by inserting ``, 
and develop an affidavit to be used for the voluntary acknowledgement 
of paternity'' before the semicolon.
    (b) Signed Affidavit Conclusively Used to Establish Paternity.--
Section 466(a)(5)(D) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 666(a)(5)(D)) is amended--
            (1) by inserting ``(i)'' after ``(D)''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(ii)(I) Such procedures shall provide that a written voluntary 
acknowledgement of the paternity of a child shall, upon the expiration 
of the challenge period, create a legal finding of paternity--
            ``(aa) without any further action; or
            ``(bb) at the option of the State, after a court or 
        administrative agency with which the document containing the 
        acknowledgement has been filed within 5 business days after the 
        expiration of the challenge period issues an order establishing 
        such paternity.
    ``(II) As used in subclause (I), the term `challenge period' means, 
with respect to an acknowledgement of paternity--
            ``(aa) the 30-day period that begins on the date of 
        acknowledgement; or
            ``(bb) if the person who executed the acknowledgement 
        undergoes genetic testing within the 30 days after the date of 
        the acknowledgement, the 30-day period that begins with the 
        date the person is notified of the results of the genetic 
        testing.''.
    (c) Sense of the Congress.--The Congress encourages States to 
develop procedures in public hospitals and clinics to facilitate the 
acknowledgement of paternity.

SEC. 3. AFDC BENEFITS CONDITIONED ON COOPERATION IN PATERNITY 
              ESTABLISHMENT.

    Section 402(a) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 602(a)) is 
amended--
            (1) by striking ``and'' at the end of paragraph (44);
            (2) by striking the period at the end of paragraph (45) and 
        inserting ``; and''; and
            (3) by inserting after paragraph (45) the following:
            ``(46)(A) except as provided in subparagraph (B), aid under 
        the State plan shall not be payable to a family applying for 
        such aid with respect to a dependent child whose paternity has 
        not been established, unless--
                    ``(i) the child was conceived as a result of rape 
                or incest; or
                    ``(ii) the State determines that efforts to 
                establish such paternity would result in physical 
                danger to the relative claiming such aid;
            ``(B) if the paternity of a dependent child has not been 
        established, the relative claiming such aid alleges that any of 
        not more than 3 named individuals may be the father of the 
        child and provides the address of each of the named 
        individuals, or the immediate relatives of each of the named 
        individuals, and the State has not disproved the allegation, 
        then--
                    ``(i) aid under the State plan shall be payable to 
                the family in the amount payable to a family whose size 
                is determined without regard to the dependent child, 
                and
                    ``(ii) the entire family shall be eligible for 
                medical assistance under the State plan approved under 
                title XIX; and
            ``(C) the relative claiming such aid shall have the burden 
        of proving any allegation of paternity of a dependent child by 
        an individual who is deceased, in accordance with procedures 
        established by the State in consultation with the Secretary.''.

SEC. 4. INCREASE IN PATERNITY ESTABLISHMENT PERCENTAGE.

    Section 452(g)(1) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 652(g)(1)) 
is amended by striking all that follows ``--'' and inserting the 
following:
                    ``(A) 90 percent;
                    ``(B) for a State with a paternity establishment 
                rate of not less than 50 percent but less than 90 
                percent for such fiscal year, the paternity 
                establishment percentage of the State for the 
                immediately preceding fiscal year plus 6 percentage 
                points; or
                    ``(C) for a State with a paternity establishment 
                rate of less than 50 percent for such a fiscal year, 
                the paternity establishment percentage of the State for 
                the immediately preceding fiscal year plus 10 
                percentage points.''.

SEC. 5. PRENATAL ESTABLISHMENT EFFORTS BY STATES.

    Section 466(a)(5)(A) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 
666(a)(5)(A)) is amended by redesignating clauses (i) and (ii) as 
clauses (ii) and (iii), respectively, and by inserting after ``(5)(A)'' 
the following:
            ``(i) Procedures which require that, as soon as an officer 
        or employee of the State becomes aware, in the performance of 
        official duties, of a pregnant, unmarried woman, the officer or 
        employee must--
                    ``(I) inform the woman, orally and in writing, that 
                she will be ineligible for aid under the State plan 
                under part A unless she informs the State of the 
                identity of the prospective father and, after the woman 
                gives birth, cooperates in establishing the paternity 
                of the child; and
                    ``(II) encourage the woman to urge the prospective 
                father to acknowledge paternity of the child.''.
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