[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1791 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







105th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 1791

To provide for an alternative penalty procedure for States that fail to 
        meet Federal child support data processing requirements.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 18, 1998

Mrs. Feinstein introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
                  referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To provide for an alternative penalty procedure for States that fail to 
        meet Federal child support data processing requirements.

    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 ``Child Support Performance Act of 
1998''.

SEC. 2. ALTERNATIVE PENALTY PROCEDURE APPLICABLE TO FEDERAL CHILD 
              SUPPORT DATA PROCESSING REQUIREMENTS.

    (a) In General.--Section 455(a) of the Social Security Act (42 
U.S.C. 655(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
            ``(4)(A) If--
                    ``(i) the Secretary determines that a State plan 
                under section 454 would (in the absence of this 
                paragraph) be disapproved for the failure of the State 
                to comply with section 454(24)(A), and that the State 
                has made and is continuing to make a good faith effort 
                to so comply; and
                    ``(ii) the State has submitted to the Secretary a 
                corrective compliance plan that describes how the State 
                will achieve such compliance, which has been approved 
                by the Secretary,
        then the Secretary shall not disapprove the State plan under 
        section 454, and the Secretary shall reduce the amount 
        otherwise payable to the State under paragraph (1)(A) of this 
        subsection for the fiscal year by the penalty amount.
            ``(B) In this paragraph:
                    ``(i) The term `penalty amount' means, with respect 
                to a failure of a State to comply with section 
                454(24)--
                            ``(I) 4 percent of the penalty base, in the 
                        case of the 1st fiscal year in which such a 
                        failure by the State occurs;
                            ``(II) 8 percent of the penalty base, in 
                        the case of the 2nd such fiscal year;
                            ``(III) 12 percent of the penalty base, in 
                        the case of the 3rd such fiscal year;
                            ``(IV) 16 percent of the penalty base, in 
                        the case of the 4th such fiscal year; or
                            ``(V) 20 percent of the penalty base, in 
                        the case of the 5th or any subsequent such 
                        fiscal year.
                    ``(ii) The term `penalty base' means, with respect 
                to a failure of a State to comply with section 454(24) 
                during a fiscal year, the amount otherwise payable to 
                the State under paragraph (1)(A) of this subsection for 
                the preceding fiscal year, minus the applicable share 
                of such amount which would otherwise be payable to any 
                county to which the Secretary granted a waiver under 
                the Family Support Act of 1988 (Public Law 100-485; 102 
                Stat. 2343) for 90 percent enhanced Federal funding to 
                develop an automated data processing and information 
                retrieval system provided that such system was 
                implemented prior to October 1, 1997.
            ``(C)(i) The Secretary shall waive a penalty under this 
        paragraph for any failure of a State to comply with section 
        454(24)(A) during fiscal year 1998 if, by December 31, 1997, 
        the State has submitted to the Secretary a request that the 
        Secretary certify the State as having met the requirements of 
        such section and, by June 1, 1998, the Secretary has provided 
        the certification as a result of a review conducted pursuant to 
        the request.
            ``(ii) If a State with respect to which a reduction is made 
        under this paragraph for a fiscal year achieves compliance with 
        the milestones in the corrective compliance plan for that year 
        by the beginning of the succeeding fiscal year, the Secretary 
        shall increase the amount otherwise payable to the State under 
        paragraph (1)(A) of this subsection for the succeeding fiscal 
        year by an amount equal to 75 percent of the reduction for the 
        fiscal year.
            ``(iii) The Secretary shall reduce the amount of any 
        reduction that, in the absence of this clause, would be 
        required to be made under this paragraph by reason of the 
failure of a State to achieve compliance with section 454(24)(B) during 
the fiscal year, by an amount equal to 20 percent of the amount of the 
otherwise required reduction, for each State performance measure 
described in section 458A(b)(4) with respect to which the applicable 
percentage under section 458A(b)(6) for the fiscal year is 100 percent, 
if the Secretary has made the determination described in section 
458A(b)(5)(B) with respect to the State for the fiscal year.
            ``(D)(i) Subject to clause (ii), the preceding provisions 
        of this paragraph (except for subparagraph (C)(i)) shall apply, 
        separately and independently, to a failure to comply with 
        section 454(24)(B) in the same manner in which the preceding 
        provisions apply to a failure to comply with section 
        454(24)(A).
            ``(ii) The requirement under clause (i) to impose a 
        separate and independent penalty amount for a fiscal year for a 
        failure to comply with section 454(24)(B) shall not apply in 
        the case of any State that the Secretary determines has 
        achieved, by such date as the Secretary may specify, compliance 
        with the milestones of the corrective compliance plan submitted 
        by the State that the Secretary determines are necessary for 
        the State to progress toward certification under section 
        454(24)(B).''.
    (b) Inapplicability of Penalty Under TANF Program.--Section 
409(a)(8)(A)(i)(III) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 609(a)(8)(A)(i)(III)) is 
amended by inserting ``(other than section 454(24))'' before the 
semicolon.

SEC. 3. AUTHORITY TO WAIVE SINGLE STATEWIDE AUTOMATED DATA PROCESSING 
              AND INFORMATION RETRIEVAL SYSTEM REQUIREMENT.

    (a) In General.--Section 452(d)(3) of the Social Security Act (42 
U.S.C. 652(d)(3)) is amended to read as follows:
            ``(3) The Secretary may waive any requirement of paragraph 
        (1) or any condition specified under section 454(16), and shall 
        waive the single statewide system requirement under sections 
        454(16) and 454A, with respect to a State if--
                    ``(A) the State demonstrates to the satisfaction of 
                the Secretary that the State has or can develop an 
                alternative system or systems that enable the State--
                            ``(i) for purposes of section 409(a)(8), to 
                        achieve the paternity establishment percentages 
                        (as defined in section 452(g)(2)) and other 
                        performance measures that may be established by 
                        the Secretary;
                            ``(ii) to submit data under section 
                        454(15)(B) that is complete and reliable;
                            ``(iii) to substantially comply with the 
                        requirements of this part; and
                            ``(iv) in the case of a request to waive 
                        the single statewide system requirement, to--
                                    ``(I) meet all functional 
                                requirements of sections 454(16) and 
                                454A;
                                    ``(II) ensure that the calculation 
                                of distribution of collected support is 
                                according to the requirements of 
                                section 457;
                                    ``(III) ensure that there is only 1 
                                point of contact in the State for all 
                                interstate case processing and 
                                coordinated intrastate case management;
                                    ``(IV) ensure that standardized 
                                data elements, forms, and definitions 
                                are used throughout the State; and
                                    ``(V) complete the alternative 
                                system in no more time than it would 
                                take to complete a single statewide 
                                system that meets such requirement;
                    ``(B)(i) the waiver meets the criteria of 
                paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) of section 1115(c); or
                    ``(ii) the State provides assurances to the 
                Secretary that steps will be taken to otherwise improve 
                the State's child support enforcement program; and
                    ``(C) in the case of a request to waive the single 
                statewide system requirement, the State has submitted 
                to the Secretary separate estimates of the total cost 
                of a single statewide system that meets such 
                requirement, and of any such alternative system or 
                systems, which shall include estimates of the cost of 
                developing and completing the system and of operating 
                the system for 5 years, and the Secretary has agreed 
                with the estimates.''.
    (b) Payments to States.--Section 455(a)(1) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 
655(a)(1)) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``and'' at the end of subparagraph (B);
            (2) by striking the semicolon at the end of subparagraph 
        (C) and inserting ``, and''; and
            (3) by inserting after subparagraph (C) the following:
                    ``(D) equal to 66 percent of the sums expended by 
                the State during the quarter for an alternative 
                statewide system for which a waiver has been granted 
                under section 452(d)(3), but only to the extent that 
                the total of the sums so expended by the State on or 
                after the date of the enactment of this subparagraph 
                does not exceed the least total cost estimate submitted 
                by the State pursuant to section 452(d)(3)(C) in the 
                request for the waiver.''.
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