HR 8193 — Ensuring Children Receive Support Act

(a) Establishment of separate organizational unit; duties The Secretary shall establish, within the Department of Health and Human Services a separate organizational unit, under the direction of a designee of the Secretary, who shall report directly to the Secretary and who shall— (1) establish such standards for State programs for locating noncustodial parents, establishing paternity, and obtaining child support and support for the spouse (or former spouse) with whom the noncustodial parent’s child is living as he determines to be necessary to assure that such programs will be effective; (2) establish minimum organizational and staffing requirements for State units engaged in carrying out such programs under plans approved under this part; (3) review and approve State plans for such programs; (4) (A) review data and calculations transmitted by State agencies pursuant to section 654(15)(B) of this title on State program accomplishments with respect to performance indicators for purposes of subsection (g) of this section and section 658a of this title; (B) review annual reports submitted pursuant to section 654(15)(A) of this title and, as appropriate, provide to the State comments, recommendations for additional or alternative corrective actions, and technical assistance; and (C) conduct audits, in accordance with the Government auditing standards of the Comptroller General of the United States— (i) at least once every 3 years (or more frequently, in the case of a State which fails to meet the requirements of this part concerning performance standards and reliability of program data) to assess the completeness, reliability, and security of the data and the accuracy of the reporting systems used in calculating performance indicators under subsection (g) of this section and section 658a of this title; (ii) of the adequacy of financial management of the State program operated under the State plan approved under this part, including assessments of— (I) whether Federal and other funds made available to carry out the State program are being appropriately expended, and are properly and fully accounted for; and (II) whether collections and disbursements of support payments are carried out correctly and are fully accounted for; and (iii) for such other purposes as the Secretary may find necessary; (5) assist States in establishing adequate reporting procedures and maintain records of the operations of programs established pursuant to this part in each State, and establish procedures to be followed by States for collecting and reporting information required to be provided under this part, and establish uniform definitions (including those necessary to enable the measurement of State compliance with the requirements of this part relating to expedited processes) to be applied in following such procedures; (6) maintain records of all amounts collected and disbursed under programs established pursuant to the provisions of this part and of the costs incurred in collecting such amounts; (7) provide technical assistance to the States to help them establish effective systems for collecting child and spousal support and establishing paternity, and specify the minimum requirements of an affidavit to be used for the voluntary acknowledgment of paternity which shall include the social security number of each parent and, after consultation with the States, other common elements as determined by such designee; (8) receive applications from States for permission to utilize the courts of the United States to enforce court orders for support against noncustodial parents and, upon a finding that (A) another State has not undertaken to enforce the court order of the originating State against the noncustodial parent within a reasonable time, and (B) that utilization of the Federal courts is the only reasonable method of enforcing such order, approve such applications; (9) operate the Federal Parent Locator Service established by section 653 of this titl...