[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3811 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]

        H.R.3811

                       One Hundred Fifth Congress

                                 of the

                        United States of America


                          AT THE SECOND SESSION

          Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,
the twenty-seventh day of January, one thousand nine hundred and ninety-
                                  eight


                                 An Act


 
   To establish felony violations for the failure to pay legal child 
              support obligations, and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Deadbeat Parents Punishment Act of 
1998''.

SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF FELONY VIOLATIONS.

    Section 228 of title 18, United States Code, is amended to read as 
follows:

``Sec. 228. Failure to pay legal child support obligations

    ``(a) Offense.--Any person who--
        ``(1) willfully fails to pay a support obligation with respect 
    to a child who resides in another State, if such obligation has 
    remained unpaid for a period longer than 1 year, or is greater than 
    $5,000;
        ``(2) travels in interstate or foreign commerce with the intent 
    to evade a support obligation, if such obligation has remained 
    unpaid for a period longer than 1 year, or is greater than $5,000; 
    or
        ``(3) willfully fails to pay a support obligation with respect 
    to a child who resides in another State, if such obligation has 
    remained unpaid for a period longer than 2 years, or is greater 
    than $10,000;
shall be punished as provided in subsection (c).
    ``(b) Presumption.--The existence of a support obligation that was 
in effect for the time period charged in the indictment or information 
creates a rebuttable presumption that the obligor has the ability to 
pay the support obligation for that time period.
    ``(c) Punishment.--The punishment for an offense under this section 
is--
        ``(1) in the case of a first offense under subsection (a)(1), a 
    fine under this title, imprisonment for not more than 6 months, or 
    both; and
        ``(2) in the case of an offense under paragraph (2) or (3) of 
    subsection (a), or a second or subsequent offense under subsection 
    (a)(1), a fine under this title, imprisonment for not more than 2 
    years, or both.
    ``(d) Mandatory Restitution.--Upon a conviction under this section, 
the court shall order restitution under section 3663A in an amount 
equal to the total unpaid support obligation as it exists at the time 
of sentencing.
    ``(e) Venue.--With respect to an offense under this section, an 
action may be inquired of and prosecuted in a district court of the 
United States for--
        ``(1) the district in which the child who is the subject of the 
    support obligation involved resided during a period during which a 
    person described in subsection (a) (referred to in this subsection 
    as an `obliger') failed to meet that support obligation;
        ``(2) the district in which the obliger resided during a period 
    described in paragraph (1); or
        ``(3) any other district with jurisdiction otherwise provided 
    for by law.
    ``(f) Definitions.--As used in this section--
        ``(1) the term `Indian tribe' has the meaning given that term 
    in section 102 of the Federally Recognized Indian Tribe List Act of 
    1994 (25 U.S.C. 479a);
        ``(2) the term `State' includes any State of the United States, 
    the District of Columbia, and any commonwealth, territory, or 
    possession of the United States; and
        ``(3) the term `support obligation' means any amount determined 
    under a court order or an order of an administrative process 
    pursuant to the law of a State or of an Indian tribe to be due from 
    a person for the support and maintenance of a child or of a child 
    and the parent with whom the child is living.''.

                               Speaker of the House of Representatives.

                            Vice President of the United States and    
                                               President of the Senate.