[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5140 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5140

To provide for improved procedures for the enforcement of child support 
              obligations of members of the Armed Forces.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 30, 1994

  Mr. Skelton (for himself, Mr. Dellums, Mr. Kyl, Mrs. Schroeder, Ms. 
Harman, Mrs. Lloyd, Mrs. Fowler, Ms. Furse, Mr. Pickett, Mr. Lancaster, 
  Mr. Ravenel, Mr. Farr of California, Mr. Buyer, and Mr. Underwood) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                             Armed Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To provide for improved procedures for the enforcement of child support 
              obligations of members of the Armed Forces.

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

SECTION 1. ENFORCEMENT OF CHILD SUPPORT OBLIGATIONS OF MEMBERS OF THE 
              ARMED FORCES.

    (a) Availability of Locator Information.--
            (1) Maintenance of address information.--The Secretary of 
        Defense shall establish a centralized personnel locator service 
        that includes the address of each member of the Armed Forces 
        under the jurisdiction of the Secretary. Upon request of the 
        Secretary of Transportation, addresses for members of the Coast 
        Guard shall be included in the centralized personnel locator 
        service.
            (2) Type of address.--
                    (A) Residential address.--Except as provided in 
                subparagraph (B), the address for a member of the Armed 
                Forces shown in the locator service shall be the 
                residential address of that member.
                    (B) Duty address.--The address for a member of the 
                Armed Forces shown in the locator service shall be the 
                duty address of that member in the case of a member--
                            (i) who is permanently assigned overseas, 
                        to a vessel, or to a routinely deployable unit; 
                        or
                            (ii) with respect to whom the Secretary 
                        concerned makes a determination that the 
                        member's residential address should not be 
                        disclosed due to national security or safety 
                        concerns.
            (3) Updating of locator information.--Within 30 days after 
        a member listed in the locator service establishes a new 
        residential address (or a new duty address, in the case of a 
        member covered by paragraph (2)(B)), the Secretary concerned 
        shall update the locator service to indicate the new address of 
        the member.
            (4) Availability of information.--The Secretary of Defense 
        shall make information regarding the address of a member of the 
        Armed Forces listed in the locator service available, on 
        request, to the Federal Parent Locator Service.
    (b) Facilitating Granting of Leave for Attendance at Hearings.--
            (1) Regulations.--The Secretary of each military 
        department, and the Secretary of Transportation with respect to 
        the Coast Guard when it is not operating as a service in the 
        Navy, shall prescribe regulations to facilitate the granting of 
        leave to a member of the Armed Forces under the jurisdiction of 
        that Secretary in a case in which--
                    (A) the leave is needed for the member to attend a 
                court hearing described in paragraph (2);
                    (B) the member is not serving in or with a unit 
                deployed in a contingency operation (as defined in 
                section 101 of title 10, United States Code); and
                    (C) the exigencies of military service (as 
                determined by the Secretary concerned) do not otherwise 
                require that such leave not be granted.
            (2) Covered court hearings.--Paragraph (1) applies to a 
        court hearing that is conducted in connection with a civil 
        action--
                    (A) to determine whether a member of the Armed 
                Forces is a natural parent of a child; or
                    (B) to determine an obligation of a member of the 
                Armed Forces to provide child support.
            (3) Definitions.--For purposes of this subsection:
                    (A) The term ``court'' has the meaning given that 
                term in section 1408(a) of title 10, United States 
                Code.
                    (B) The term ``child support'' has the meaning 
                given such term in section 462 of the Social Security 
                Act (42 U.S.C. 662).
    (c) Payment of Military Retired Pay in Compliance With Court 
Orders.--
            (1) Date of certification of court order.--Section 1408 of 
        title 10, United States Code, is amended--
                    (A) by redesignating subsection (i) as subsection 
                (j); and
                    (B) by inserting after subsection (h) the following 
                new subsection (i):
    ``(i) Certification Date.--It is not necessary that the date of a 
certification of the authenticity or completeness of a copy of a court 
order for child support received by the Secretary concerned for the 
purposes of this section be recent in relation to the date of receipt 
by the Secretary.''.
            (2) Payments consistent with assignments of rights to 
        states.--Subsection (d)(1) of such section is amended by 
        inserting after the first sentence the following: ``In the case 
        of a spouse or former spouse who, pursuant to section 
        402(a)(26) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 602(26)), 
        assigns to a State the rights of the spouse or former spouse to 
        receive support, the Secretary concerned may make the child 
        support payments referred to in the preceding sentence to that 
        State in amounts consistent with that assignment of rights.''.
            (3) Arrearages owed by members of the uniformed services.--
        Section 1408(d) of title 10, United States Code, is amended by 
        adding at the end the following new paragraph:
    ``(6) In the case of a court order for which effective service is 
made on the Secretary concerned on or after the date of the enactment 
of this paragraph and which provides for payments from the disposable 
retired pay of a member to satisy the amount of child support set forth 
in the court order, the authority provided in paragraph (1) to make 
payments from the disposable retired pay of a member to satisy the 
amount of child support set forth in a court order shall apply to 
payment of any amount of child support arrearages set forth in that 
court order as well as to amounts of child support that currently 
become due.''.
                                 <all>