MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2004 Regular Session
To: Judiciary A; Appropriations
By: Representative Flaggs, Holland
AN ACT TO TRANSFER THE CHILD SUPPORT UNIT AND THE OFFICE OF CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES TO THE ATTORNEY GENERAL'S OFFICE, AND PROVIDE THAT THE ATTORNEY GENERAL'S OFFICE SHALL PERFORM ALL OF THE DUTIES RELATING TO THE COLLECTION AND ENFORCEMENT OF CHILD SUPPORT OBLIGATIONS THAT WERE FORMERLY PERFORMED BY THE OFFICE OF CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES; TO AMEND SECTIONS 25-3-25, 27-7-45, 27-7-83, 41-57-14, 43-1-2, 43-1-3, 43-1-7, 43-13-303, 43-19-31, 43-19-33, 43-19-34, 43-19-35, 43-19-37, 43-19-39, 43-19-41, 43-19-44, 43-19-46, 43-19-47, 43-19-48, 43-19-49, 43-19-51, 43-19-53, 43-19-55, 43-19-57, 43-19-58, 43-19-59, 43-19-101, 71-3-129, 81-5-55, 93-9-9, 93-9-17, 93-9-21, 93-9-23, 93-9-28, 93-9-31, 93-11-64, 93-11-65, 93-11-69, 93-11-71, 93-11-101, 93-11-103, 93-11-105, 93-11-111, 93-11-113, 93-11-115, 93-11-117, 93-11-118, 93-11-153, 93-11-155, 93-11-157, 93-11-161, 93-12-17 AND 93-25-45, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO CONFORM TO THE PRECEDING PROVISIONS; TO REPEAL SECTION 93-25-41, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, WHICH AUTHORIZES THE ATTORNEY GENERAL TO ORDER THE CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT AGENCY TO PERFORM ITS DUTIES UNDER THE UNIFORM INTERSTATE FAMILY SUPPORT ACT OR TO PROVIDE THE SERVICES ITSELF; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. (1) The Child Support Unit and the Office of Child Support Enforcement of the Department of Human Services are transferred to the Attorney General's Office, and the Attorney General's Office shall perform all of the duties relating to the collection and enforcement of child support obligations that were formerly performed by the Office of Child Support Enforcement of the Department of Human Services.
(2) All records, property, funds, other assets and personnel of the Child Support Unit and the Office of Child Support Enforcement of the Department of Human Services shall be transferred to the Attorney General's Office.
SECTION 2. Section 25-3-25, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
25-3-25. (1) Except as otherwise provided in subsections (2) through (9), the salaries of sheriffs of the various counties are * * * fixed as full compensation for their services.
From and after October 1, 1998, the annual salary for each sheriff shall be based upon the total population of his county according to the latest federal decennial census in the following categories and for the following amounts; however, no sheriff shall be paid less than the salary authorized under this section to be paid the sheriff based upon the population of the county according to the 1980 federal decennial census:
(a) For counties with a total population of more than two hundred thousand (200,000), a salary of Seventy-five Thousand Dollars ($75,000.00).
(b) For counties with a total population of more than one hundred thousand (100,000) and not more than two hundred thousand (200,000), a salary of Seventy Thousand Dollars ($70,000.00).
(c) For counties with a total population of more than forty-five thousand (45,000) and not more than one hundred thousand (100,000), a salary of Sixty-five Thousand Dollars ($65,000.00).
(d) For counties with a total population of more than thirty-four thousand (34,000) and not more than forty-five thousand (45,000), a salary of Sixty Thousand Dollars ($60,000.00).
(e) For counties with a total population of more than twenty-five thousand (25,000) and not more than thirty-four thousand (34,000), a salary of Fifty-two Thousand Dollars ($52,000.00).
(f) For counties with a total population of more than fifteen thousand (15,000) and not more than twenty-five thousand (25,000), a salary of Fifty Thousand Dollars ($50,000.00).
(g) For counties with a total population of more than nine thousand five hundred (9,500) and not more than fifteen thousand (15,000), a salary of Forty-seven Thousand Dollars ($47,000.00).
(h) For counties with a total population of more than seven thousand five hundred (7,500) and not more than nine thousand five hundred (9,500), a salary of Forty-five Thousand Dollars ($45,000.00).
(i) For counties with a total population of not more than seven thousand five hundred (7,500), a salary of Forty-two Thousand Dollars ($42,000.00).
(2) In addition to the salary provided for in subsection (1) of this section, the Board of Supervisors of Leflore County may, in its discretion, pay an annual supplement to the sheriff of the county in an amount not to exceed Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00). The Legislature finds and declares that the annual supplement authorized by this subsection is justified in such county for the following reasons:
(a) The Mississippi Department of Corrections operates and maintains a restitution center within the county;
(b) The Mississippi Department of Corrections operates and maintains a community work center within the county;
(c) There is a resident circuit court judge in the county whose office is located at the Leflore County Courthouse;
(d) There is a resident chancery court judge in the county whose office is located at the Leflore County Courthouse;
(e) The Magistrate for the Fourth Circuit Court District is located in the county and maintains his office at the Leflore County Courthouse;
(f) The Region VI Mental Health-Mental Retardation Center, which serves a multicounty area, calls upon the sheriff to provide security for out-of-town mental patients, as well as patients from within the county;
(g) The increased activity of the Child Support Unit of the Attorney General's Office in enforcing in the courts parental obligations has imposed additional duties on the sheriff; and
(h) The dispatchers of the enhanced E-911 system in place in Leflore County has been placed under the direction and control of the sheriff.
(3) In addition to the salary provided for in subsection (1) of this section, the Board of Supervisors of Rankin County may, in its discretion, pay an annual supplement to the sheriff of the county in an amount not to exceed Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00). The Legislature finds and declares that the annual supplement authorized by this subsection is justified in such county for the following reasons:
(a) The Mississippi Department of Corrections operates and maintains the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility within the county;
(b) The State Hospital is operated and maintained within the county at Whitfield;
(c) Hudspeth Regional Center, a facility maintained for the care and treatment of the mentally retarded, is located within the county;
(d) The Mississippi Law Enforcement Officers Training Academy is operated and maintained within the county;
(e) The State Fire Academy is operated and maintained within the county;
(f) The Pearl River Valley Water Supply District, ordinarily known as the "Reservoir District," is located within the county;
(g) The Jackson International Airport is located within the county;
(h) The patrolling of the state properties located within the county has imposed additional duties on the sheriff; and
(i) The sheriff, in addition to providing security to the nearly one hundred thousand (100,000) residents of the county, has the duty to investigate, solve and assist in the prosecution of any misdemeanor or felony committed upon any state property located in Rankin County.
(4) In addition to the salary provided for in subsection (1) of this section, the Board of Supervisors of Neshoba County shall pay an annual supplement to the sheriff of the county an amount equal to Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00).
(5) In addition to the salary provided for in subsection (1) of this section, the Board of Supervisors of Tunica County may, in its discretion, pay an annual supplement to the sheriff of the county an amount equal to Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00), payable beginning April 1, 1997.
(6) In addition to the salary provided for in subsection (1) of this section, the Board of Supervisors of Hinds County shall pay an annual supplement to the sheriff of the county in an amount equal to Fifteen Thousand Dollars ($15,000.00). The Legislature finds and declares that the annual supplement authorized by this subsection is justified in such county for the following reasons:
(a) Hinds County has the greatest population of any county, two hundred fifty-four thousand four hundred forty-one (254,441) by the 1990 census, being almost one hundred thousand (100,000) more than the next most populous county;
(b) Hinds County is home to the State Capitol and the seat of all state government offices;
(c) Hinds County is the third largest county in geographic area, containing eight hundred seventy-five (875) square miles;
(d) Hinds County is comprised of two (2) judicial districts, each having a courthouse and county office buildings;
(e) There are four (4) resident circuit judges, four (4) resident chancery judges, and three (3) resident county judges in Hinds County, the most of any county, with the sheriff acting as chief executive officer and provider of bailiff services for all;
(f) The main offices for the clerk and most of the judges and magistrates for the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi are located within the county;
(g) The state's only urban university, Jackson State University, is located within the county;
(h) The University of Mississippi Medical Center, combining the medical school, dental school, nursing school and hospital, is located within the county;
(i) Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium, the state's largest sports arena, is located within the county;
(j) The Mississippi State Fairgrounds, including the Coliseum and Trade Mart, are located within the county;
(k) Hinds County has the largest criminal population in the state, such that the Hinds County Sheriff's Department operates the largest county jail system in the state, housing almost one thousand (1,000) inmates in three (3) separate detention facilities;
(l) The Hinds County Sheriff's Department handles more mental and drug and alcohol commitments cases than any other sheriff's department in the state;
(m) The Mississippi Department of Corrections maintains a restitution center within the county;
(n) The Mississippi Department of Corrections regularly houses as many as one hundred (100) state convicts within the Hinds County jail system; and
(o) The Hinds County Sheriff's Department is regularly asked to provide security services not only at the Fairgrounds and Memorial Stadium, but also for events at the Mississippi Museum of Art and Jackson City Auditorium.
(7) In addition to the salary provided for in subsection (1) of this section, the Board of Supervisors of Wilkinson County, in its discretion, may pay an annual supplement to the sheriff of the county in an amount not to exceed Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00). The Legislature finds and declares that the annual supplement authorized by this subsection is justified in such county because the Mississippi Department of Corrections contracts for the private incarceration of state inmates at a private correctional facility within the county.
(8) In addition to the salary provided for in subsection (1) of this section, the Board of Supervisors of Marshall County, in its discretion, may pay an annual supplement to the sheriff of the county in an amount not to exceed Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00). The Legislature finds and declares that the annual supplement authorized by this subsection is justified in such county because the Mississippi Department of Corrections contracts for the private incarceration of state inmates at a private correctional facility within the county.
(9) In addition to the salary provided in subsection (1) of this section, the Board of Supervisors of Greene County, in its discretion, may pay an annual supplement to the sheriff of the county in an amount not to exceed Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00). The Legislature finds and declares that the annual supplement authorized by this subsection is justified in such county for the following reasons:
(a) The Mississippi Department of Corrections operates and maintains the South Mississippi Correctional Facility within the county;
(b) In 1996, additional facilities to house another one thousand four hundred sixteen (1,416) male offenders were constructed at the South Mississippi Correctional Facility within the county; and
(c) The patrolling of the state properties located within the county has imposed additional duties on the sheriff justifying additional compensation.
(10) The salaries herein provided shall be payable monthly on the first day of each calendar month by chancery clerk's warrant drawn on the general fund of the county; however, the board of supervisors, by resolution duly adopted and entered on its minutes, may provide that such salaries shall be paid semimonthly on the first and fifteenth day of each month. If a pay date falls on a weekend or legal holiday, salary payments shall be made on the workday immediately preceding the weekend or legal holiday.
SECTION 3. Section 27-7-45, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
27-7-45. (1) The tax levied by this article shall be paid when the return is due except as hereinafter provided.
(2) If any officer or employee of the State of Mississippi, or any political subdivision thereof, does not pay his state income tax on or before August 15 after such income tax becomes due and payable, or is in arrears in child support payments for thirty (30) days after such payments become due and payable, his wages, salary or other compensation shall be withheld and paid to the tax commission or the Attorney General's Office, as the case may be, in satisfaction of the income tax, interest, and penalty, if any, and any child support arrearage until paid in full. This provision shall apply to any installments of income tax or child support due, after the first installment, to require payment of the entire balance of child support tax due, plus interest and penalty, if any, before an officer or employee of the State of Mississippi, or any political subdivision thereof, is eligible to draw any salary or other emoluments of office. The Tax Commissioner is required to furnish the State Fiscal Officer, chancery clerk, city clerk or other appropriate fiscal officer of a political subdivision, as the case may be, with notice that income taxes have not been paid. The Attorney General's Office is required to furnish the officer's or the employee's employer, or other appropriate officer of the State of Mississippi or its political subdivision, as the case may be, with notice that child support payments have not been made. This notice shall serve as a lien or attachment upon any salary or compensation due any employee or officer, disregard of this notice creating personal liability against such officer for the full amount of the income tax due, plus interest and penalty. The State Tax Commission may, in its discretion by order entered upon its minutes, waive the provisions of this subsection on behalf of any public officer or employee in the event of an extended personal illness, an extended illness in his immediate family or other emergency. Regardless of the amount designated in the Attorney General's Office's notice for withholding and regardless of other fees imposed or amounts withheld pursuant to this section, the payor shall not deduct from the income of the officer or employee in excess of the amounts allowed under Section 303(b) of the Consumer Credit Protection Act, being 15 USCS 1673, as amended.
(3) The tax or child support payment may be paid with uncertified check during such time and under such regulations as the commissioner or the Attorney General's Office shall prescribe, but if the check so received is not paid by the bank on which it is drawn, the officer or employee for whom such check is tendered shall remain liable for the payment of the tax, child support payment and for all penalties, the same as if such check had not been tendered.
(4) If a corporation is subject to LIFO recapture pursuant to Section 1363(d) of the Code, then
(a) Any increase in the tax imposed by Section 27-7-5 by reason of the inclusion of the LIFO recapture amount in its income shall be payable in four (4) equal installments;
(b) The first installment shall be paid on or before the due date (determined without regard to extensions) for filing the return for the first taxable year for which the corporation was subject to the LIFO recapture;
(c) The three (3) succeeding installments shall be paid on or before the due date (determined without regard to extensions) for filing the corporation's return for the three (3) succeeding taxable years; and
(d) For purposes of computing interest on underpayments, the last three (3) installments shall not be considered underpayments until after the payment due date specified above.
(5) For purposes of this section, a political subdivision includes, but is not limited to, a county or separate school district, institution of higher learning, state college or university, or state community college.
SECTION 4. Section 27-7-83, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
27-7-83. (1) Returns and return information filed or furnished under the provisions of this chapter shall be confidential, and except in accordance with proper judicial order, or as otherwise authorized by this section, it shall be unlawful for members of the State Tax Commission or members of the Mississippi Department of Information Technology Services, any deputy, agent, clerk or other officer or employee thereof, or any former employee thereof, to divulge or make known in any manner the amount of income or any particulars set forth or disclosed in any report or return required. The provisions of this section shall apply fully to any federal return, a copy of any portion of a federal return, or any information reflected on a federal return which is attached to or made a part of the state tax return. Likewise, the provisions of this section shall apply to any federal return or portion thereof, or to any federal return information data which is acquired from the Internal Revenue Service for state tax administration purposes pursuant to the Federal-State Exchange Program cited at Section 6103, Federal Internal Revenue Code. The term "proper judicial order" as used in this section shall not include subpoenas or subpoenas duces tecum, but shall include only those orders entered by a court of record in this state after furnishing notice and a hearing to the taxpayer and the State Tax Commission. The court shall not authorize the furnishing of such information unless it is satisfied that the information is needed to pursue pending litigation wherein the return itself is in issue, or the judge is satisfied that the need for furnishing the information outweighs the rights of the taxpayer to have such information secreted.
(2) Returns and return information with respect to taxes imposed by this chapter shall be open to inspection by or disclosure to the Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service of the United States, or the proper officer of any state imposing an income tax similar to that imposed by this chapter, or the authorized representatives of such agencies. Such inspection shall be permitted, or such disclosure made, only upon written request by the head of such agencies, or the district director in the case of the Internal Revenue Service, and only to the representatives of such agencies designated in a written statement to the commissioner as the individuals who are to inspect or to receive the return or return information on behalf of such agency. The commissioner is authorized to enter into agreements with the Internal Revenue Service and with other states for the exchange of returns and return information data, or the disclosure of returns or return information data to such agencies, only to the extent that the statutes of the United States or of such other state, as the case may be, grant substantially similar privileges to the proper officer of this state charged with the administration of the tax laws of this state.
(3) (a) The return of a person shall, upon written request, be open to inspection by or disclosure to:
(i) In the case of the return of an individual, that individual;
(ii) In the case of an income tax return filed jointly, either of the individuals with respect to whom the return is filed;
(iii) In the case of the return of a partnership, any person who was a member of such partnership during any part of the period covered by the return;
(iv) In the case of the return of a corporation or a subsidiary thereof, any person designated by resolution of its board of directors or other similar governing body, or any officer or employee of such corporation upon written request signed by any principal officer and attested to by the secretary or other officer;
(v) In the case of the return of an estate, the administrator, executor or trustee of such estate, and any heir at law, next of kin or beneficiary under the will, of the decedent, but only to the extent that such latter persons have a material interest which will be affected by information contained therein;
(vi) In the case of the return of a trust, the trustee or trustees, jointly or separately, and any beneficiary of such trust, but only to the extent that such beneficiary has a material interest which will be affected by information contained therein;
(vii) In the case of the return of an individual or a return filed jointly, any claimant agency seeking to collect a debt through the set-off procedure established in Sections 27-7-701 through 27-7-713 and Sections 27-7-501 through 27-7-519, from an individual with respect to whom the return is filed.
(b) If an individual described in paragraph (a) is legally incompetent, the applicable return shall, upon written request, be open to inspection by or disclosure to the committee, trustee or guardian of his estate.
(c) If substantially all of the property of the person with respect to whom the return is filed is in the hands of a trustee in bankruptcy or receiver, such return or returns for prior years of such person shall, upon written request, be open to inspection by or disclosure to such trustee or receiver, but only if the commissioner finds that such receiver or trustee, in his fiduciary capacity, has a material interest which will be affected by information contained therein.
(d) Any return to which this section applies shall, upon written request, also be open to inspection by or disclosure to the attorney in fact duly authorized in writing by any of the persons described in paragraph (a) of this subsection to inspect the return or receive the information on his behalf, subject to the conditions provided in paragraph (a).
(e) Return information with respect to any taxpayer may be open to inspection by or disclosure to any person authorized by this subsection to inspect any return of such taxpayer if the commissioner determines that such disclosure would not seriously impair state tax administration.
(4) The State Auditor and the employees of his office shall have the right to examine only such tax returns as are necessary for auditing the State Tax Commission, and the same prohibitions against disclosure which apply to the State Tax Commission shall apply to the State Auditor and his employees or former employees.
(5) Nothing herein shall be construed to prohibit the publication of statistics, so classified as to prevent the identification of particular reports or returns and the items thereof, or the inspection by the Attorney General, or any other attorney representing the state, of the report or return of any taxpayer who shall bring action to set aside the tax thereon, or against whom any action or proceeding has been instituted to recover any tax or penalty imposed.
(6) Nothing in this section shall prohibit the chairman of the commission from making available information necessary to recover taxes owing the state pursuant to the authority granted in Section 27-75-16, Mississippi Code of 1972.
(7) Reports and returns required under the provisions of this chapter shall be preserved in accordance with approved records control schedules. No records, however, may be destroyed without the approval of the Director of the Department of Archives and History.
(8) The commission is authorized to disclose to the Child Support Unit of the Attorney General's Office the name, address, social security number, amount of income, source of income and assets for individuals who are delinquent in the payment of any child support as defined in Section 93-11-101.
SECTION 5. Section 41-57-14, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
41-57-14. (1) If the mother was married at the time of either conception or birth, or at any time between conception and birth, the name of the husband shall be entered on the certificate of birth as the father of the child. The social security number of each parent of a child born within this state shall be furnished to the local registrar of vital records at the time of filing the certificate of birth, but such information shall not appear on the portion of the certificate to be issued as a certified copy. Such information shall be sent to the Office of Vital Records Registration of the State Department of Health along with the certificate of birth and shall be retained by the office. The information shall not be disclosed to any person except as authorized by paragraph (2) of this section or as allowed by Section 41-57-2.
(2) The Office of Vital Records Registration shall make available to the * * * Child Support Unit of the Attorney General's Office information concerning the names and social security numbers of the parents obtained under the requirements of paragraph (1) for the use in establishing paternity or enforcing child support obligations. Information obtained by the * * * Child Support Unit under this section may be used in any action or proceeding before any court, administrative tribunal, or other proceeding for the purpose of establishing paternity, establishing a child support obligation, collecting child support or locating persons owing such an obligation.
SECTION 6. Section 43-1-2, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-1-2. (1) There is created the Mississippi Department of Human Services, whose offices shall be located in Jackson, Mississippi, and which shall be under the policy direction of the Governor.
(2) The chief administrative officer of the department shall be the Executive Director of Human Services. The Governor shall appoint the Executive Director of Human Services with the advice and consent of the Senate, and he shall serve at the will and pleasure of the Governor, and until his successor is appointed and qualified. The Executive Director of Human Services shall possess the following qualifications:
(a) A bachelor's degree from an accredited institution of higher learning and ten (10) years' experience in management, public administration, finance or accounting; or
(b) A master's or doctoral degree from an accredited institution of higher learning and five (5) years' experience in management, public administration, finance or accounting.
Those qualifications shall be certified by the State Personnel Board.
(3) There shall be a Joint Oversight Committee of the Department of Human Services composed of the respective chairmen of the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee, the Senate Appropriations Committee, the House Public Health and Welfare Committee and the House Appropriations Committee, two (2) members of the Senate appointed by the Lieutenant Governor to serve at the will and pleasure of the Lieutenant Governor, and two (2) members of the House of Representatives appointed by the Speaker of the House to serve at the will and pleasure of the Speaker. The chairmanship of the committee shall alternate for twelve-month periods between the Senate members and the House members, with the Chairman of the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee serving as the first chairman. The committee shall meet once each month, or upon the call of the chairman at such times as he deems necessary or advisable, and may make recommendations to the Legislature pertaining to any matter within the jurisdiction of the Mississippi Department of Human Services. The appointing authorities may designate an alternate member from their respective houses to serve when the regular designee is unable to attend such meetings of the oversight committee. For attending meetings of the oversight committee, such legislators shall receive per diem and expenses which shall be paid from the contingent expense funds of their respective houses in the same amounts as provided for committee meetings when the Legislature is not in session; however, no per diem and expenses for attending meetings of the committee will be paid while the Legislature is in session. No per diem and expenses will be paid except for attending meetings of the oversight committee without prior approval of the proper committee in their respective houses.
(4) The State Department of Human Services shall provide the services authorized by law to every individual determined to be eligible therefor, and in carrying out the purposes of the department, the executive director is authorized:
(a) To formulate the policy of the department regarding human services within the jurisdiction of the department;
(b) To adopt, modify, repeal and promulgate, after due notice and hearing, and where not otherwise prohibited by federal or state law, to make exceptions to and grant exemptions and variances from, and to enforce rules and regulations implementing or effectuating the powers and duties of the department under any and all statutes within the department's jurisdiction, all of which shall be binding upon the county departments of human services;
(c) To apply for, receive and expend any federal or state funds or contributions, gifts, devises, bequests or funds from any other source;
(d) Except as limited by Section 43-1-3, to enter into and execute contracts, grants and cooperative agreements with any federal or state agency or subdivision thereof, or any public or private institution located inside or outside the State of Mississippi, or any person, corporation or association in connection with carrying out the programs of the department; and
(e) To discharge such other duties, responsibilities and powers as are necessary to implement the programs of the department.
(5) The executive director shall establish the organizational structure of the Mississippi Department of Human Services which shall include the creation of any units necessary to implement the duties assigned to the department and consistent with specific requirements of law, including, but not limited to:
(a) Office of Family and Children's Services;
(b) Office of Youth Services;
(c) Office of Economic Assistance.
* * *
(6) The Executive Director of Human Services shall appoint heads of offices, bureaus and divisions, as defined in Section 7-17-11, who shall serve at the pleasure of the executive director. The salary and compensation of such office, bureau and division heads shall be subject to the rules and regulations adopted and promulgated by the State Personnel Board as created under Section 25-9-101 et seq. The executive director shall have the authority to organize offices as deemed appropriate to carry out the responsibilities of the department. The organization charts of the department shall be presented annually with the budget request of the Governor for review by the Legislature.
(7) This section shall stand repealed on July 1, 2004.
SECTION 7. Section 43-1-3, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-1-3. Notwithstanding the authority granted under subsection (4)(d) of Section 43-1-2, the Department of Human Services or the Executive Director of Human Services shall not be authorized to delegate, privatize or otherwise enter into a contract with a private entity for the operation of any office, bureau or division of the department, as defined in Section 7-17-11, without specific authority to do so by general act of the Legislature. However, nothing in this section shall be construed to invalidate (i) any contract of the department that is in place and operational before January 1, 1994; or (ii) the continued renewal of any such contract with the same entity upon the expiration of the contract; or (iii) the execution of a contract with another legal entity as a replacement of any such contract that is expiring, provided that the replacement contract is substantially the same as the expiring contract. * * *
This section shall stand repealed on July 1, 2004.
SECTION 8. Section 43-1-7, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-1-7. (1) The Department of Human Services may establish family resource centers to help families who are receiving or are eligible to receive assistance from government agencies to facilitate their access to services and resources that will lead to increased family independence.
(2) The department shall carry out an intense public information campaign to inform low-income workers, and especially public assistance recipients, of the availability of and application rules for the federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), in order to maximize the refund of federal income tax withheld from those persons. The information campaign shall include publishing and circulating bulletins or notices to recipients of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) benefits and other public assistance that publicize and explain the EITC and the criteria for family eligibility for the EITC. The department also shall carry out an intense information campaign to inform employers of the availability of and the criteria for eligibility for the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC), which offers employers a credit against their federal tax liability for hiring people from certain target groups, including TANF recipients, and to inform employers of the availability of and the criteria for eligibility for the state income tax credit for employers who hire persons receiving TANF benefits as authorized under Section 27-7-22.1.
(3) The department shall establish and maintain a statewide incoming wide area telephone service hot line for the purpose of reporting suspected cases of welfare eligibility fraud, food stamp fraud and Medicaid fraud. The department is authorized, subject to the extent of appropriations available, to offer financial incentives to individuals for reporting such suspected cases of public assistance fraud.
(4) Any applicant for or recipient of TANF benefits or Food Stamps shall be required to agree that, as a condition of eligibility for those benefits, the person will cooperate with the Attorney General's Office in determining paternity for the purposes of enforcing child support obligations. The Attorney General's Office shall utilize methods and procedures provided for by state or federal law in determining paternity and enforcing child support obligations.
SECTION 9. Section 43-13-303, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-13-303. (1) The Attorney General's Office, in administering its child support enforcement program on behalf of Medicaid and non-Medicaid recipients, or any other attorney representing a Medicaid recipient, shall include a prayer for medical support in complaints and other pleadings in obtaining a child support order whenever health-care coverage is available to the absent parent at a reasonable cost. Nothing in this section shall be construed to contradict the provisions of Section 43-19-101(6).
(2) Health insurance enrollment shall be on the form prescribed by the Attorney General's Office unless a court or administrative order stipulates an alternative form of health-care coverage other than employer-based coverage. Employers must complete the employer response and return to the Attorney General's Office within twenty (20) days. Employers must transfer the Medical Support Notice to Plan Administrator Part B to the appropriate group health plan providing any such health-care coverage for which the child(ren) is eligible within twenty (20) business days after the date of the notice. Employers must withhold any obligation of the employee for employee contributions necessary for coverage of the child(ren) and send any amount withheld directly to the plan. Employees may contest the withholding based on a mistake of fact. If the employee contests such withholding, the employer must initiate withholding until such time as the employer receives notice that the contest is resolved. Employers must notify the Attorney General's Office promptly whenever the noncustodial parent's employment is terminated in the same manner as required for income withholding cases.
(3) Health insurers, including, but not limited to, ERISA plans, preferred provider organizations, and HMO's, shall not have contracts that limit or exclude payments if the individual is eligible for Medicaid, is not claimed as a dependent on the federal income tax return, or does not reside with the parent or in the insurer's service area.
Health insurers and employers shall honor court or administrative orders by permitting enrollment of a child or children at any time and by allowing enrollment by the custodial parent, the Division of Medicaid, or the Child Support Enforcement Agency if the absent parent fails to enroll the child(ren).
The health insurer and the employer shall not disenroll a child unless written documentation substantiates that the court order is no longer in effect, the child will be enrolled through another insurer, or the employer has eliminated family health coverage for all of its employees.
The employer shall allow payroll deduction for the insurance premium from the absent parent's wages and pay the insurer. The health insurer and the employer shall not impose requirements on the Medicaid recipient that are different from those applicable to any other individual. The health insurer shall provide pertinent information to the custodial parent to allow the child to obtain benefits and shall permit custodial parents to submit claims to the insurer.
The health insurer and employer shall notify the Division of Medicaid and the Attorney General's Office when lapses in coverage occur in court-ordered insurance. If the noncustodial parent has provided such coverage and has changed employment, and the new employer provides health-care coverage, the Attorney General's Office shall transfer notice of the provision to the employer, which notice shall operate to enroll the child in the noncustodial parent's health plan, unless the noncustodial parent contests the notice. The health insurer and employer shall allow payments to the provider of medical services, shall honor the assignment of rights to third-party sources by the Medicaid recipient and the subrogation rights of the Division of Medicaid as set forth in Section 43-13-305, and shall permit payment to the custodial parent.
The employer shall allow the Division of Medicaid to garnish wages of the absent parent when such parent has received payment from the third party for medical services rendered to the insured child and such parent has failed to reimburse the Division of Medicaid to the extent of the medical service payment.
Any insurer or the employer who fails to comply with the provisions of this subsection shall be liable to the Division of Medicaid to the extent of payments made to the provider of medical services rendered to a recipient to which the third party or parties, is, are, or may be liable.
(4) The Division of Medicaid shall report to the Mississippi State Tax Commission an absent parent who has received third-party payment(s) for medical services rendered to the insured child and who has not reimbursed the Division of Medicaid for the related medical service payment(s). The Mississippi State Tax Commission shall withhold from the absent parent's state tax refund, and pay to the Division of Medicaid, the amount of the third-party payment(s) for medical services rendered to the insured child and not reimbursed to the Division of Medicaid for the related medical service payment(s).
SECTION 10. Section 43-19-31, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-19-31. The Attorney General's Office shall establish a single and separate Child Support Unit for the following purposes:
(a) To develop and implement a nonsupport and paternity program and institute proceedings in the name of the Attorney General's Office or in the name of the recipient in any court of competent jurisdiction in any county where the mother of the child resides or is found, in the county where the father resides or is found, or in the county where the child resides or is found;
(b) To secure and collect support by any method authorized under state law and establish paternity for any child or children receiving aid from the Department of Human Services any form of public assistance, including, but not limited to, medical assistance, foster care, food stamps, TANF, or any other program under the federal Social Security Act, from a parent or any other person legally liable for such support who has either failed or refused to provide support, deserted, neglected or abandoned the child or children, including cooperating with other states in establishing paternity, locating absent parents and securing compliance with court orders for support of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) children; the Attorney General's Office may petition the court for the inclusion of health insurance as part of any child support order on behalf of any child receiving aid from the Department of Human Services unless good cause for noncooperation, as defined by the Social Security Act or the Attorney General's Office, is established. Unless notified to the contrary, whenever a child or children for whom child support services have been provided ceases to receive public assistance, the Department of Human Services will continue to provide services and the Attorney General's Office shall establish paternity, secure and collect such support payments from a parent or any other person legally liable for such support in accordance with the standards prescribed pursuant to the federal Social Security Act;
(c) To accept applications for child support enforcement services to establish paternity, secure and collect support from any proper party or person as defined by Title IV-D of the federal Social Security Act notwithstanding the fact that the child or children do not currently receive or have never received public assistance. The Attorney General's Office shall have the authority to secure and collect support by any method authorized under state law and establish paternity for any child or children on behalf of a recipient of child support services, including individuals who do not currently receive or have never received public assistance from a parent or any other person legally liable for such support who has either failed or refused to provide support, deserted, neglected or abandoned the child or children, including cooperating with other states in establishing paternity, locating absent parents and securing compliance with court orders for support; the Attorney General's Office may petition the court for the inclusion of health insurance as part of any child support order on behalf of such recipients of child support services. The proceeds of any collections resulting from such application shall be distributed in accordance with the standards prescribed in the federal Social Security Act;
(d) The Attorney General's Office shall seek to recover from the individual who owes a support obligation to any individual who is a recipient of Title IV-D services as set forth in paragraph (b) or (c) on whose behalf the Department of Human Services is providing services, upon judicial proceedings conducted thereon after advance notice to such obligor, reasonable attorney's fees and court costs, in excess of any administrative fees collected and in excess of amounts of current support owed by the obligor, which the Attorney General's Office incurs in recovering and collecting the support obligation, such costs and fees as the Attorney General's Office recovers to be deposited in the Special Fund of the Attorney General's Office, which is * * * established for the pursuit and collection of child support;
(e) To initiate contempt of court proceedings or any other remedial proceedings necessary to enforce (i) any order or decree of court relating to child support, and (ii) any order or decree of court relating to the maintenance and/or alimony of a parent where support collection services on his or her child's behalf are being provided by the Attorney General's Office;
(f) To secure and collect by any method authorized under state law any maintenance and/or alimony on behalf of a parent whose child or children's support is being collected by the Attorney General's Office. The Attorney General's Office shall collect only such maintenance and/or alimony as is ordered or decreed by the court, and only in the event that the minor child and parent to whom such maintenance and/or alimony has been ordered are living in the same household;
(g) To obtain restitution of monies expended for public assistance from a parent or any other person legally liable for the support of any child or children receiving aid from the Department of Human Services; the action for restitution shall arise from the payment of public assistance for the dependent child or children and shall be for the amount of the public assistance paid. The action for restitution shall not arise against the parent or other person legally responsible who receives public assistance for the benefit of any dependent child or children. When a court order of support has been issued, the amount recoverable shall be limited to the amount of the court order;
(h) Setting off against a debtor's income tax refund or rebate any debt which is in the form of a liquidated sum due and owing for the care, support or maintenance of a child;
(i) To have full responsibility in the aforementioned cases for initiating actions under the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act and for responding to the actions of other jurisdictions under that law when Mississippi is the responding state; however, this shall not impair private litigants' rights to proceed under any applicable interstate enforcement mechanisms;
(j) To enter into contracts for the purpose of performing any test which the Attorney General's Office may, from time to time, require;
(k) To maintain a Central Receipting and Disbursement Unit to which all payments required by withholding orders and orders for support in all actions to which the Attorney General's Office is a party shall be forwarded, and from which child support payments ordered by the court in actions to which the Attorney General's Office is a party shall be disbursed to the custodial parent or other such party as may be designated by the court order. The Central Receipting and Disbursement Unit shall be operated by the Attorney General's Office or any financial institution having operations and qualified to do business in Mississippi, whose deposits are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. The Attorney General's Office shall conduct cost-benefit analyses to determine and utilize the more cost efficient manner of operating the unit;
(l) To maintain an Attorney General's Office Case Registry containing records with respect to:
(i) Each case in which services are being provided by the Attorney General's Office under this section; and
(ii) Each support order established or modified in Mississippi on or after October 1, 1998; and
(iii) The Administrative Office of Courts, as established by Section 9-21-1, in consultation with the Attorney General's Office, shall devise, promulgate and require the use of a Uniform Child Support Order Tracking System.
1. Information collected from case filing forms shall be furnished to the Attorney General's Office, in order that compliance with court-ordered obligations of support may be tracked with specificity throughout the duration of those obligations and any subsequent proceedings.
2. Such tracking system shall include: a. the names, residential and mailing addresses, telephone numbers, social security numbers, driver's license numbers and dates of birth of each child and parent named in or subject to the court order; b. the court cause number of the action; c. name, address and telephone number of employer; d. any restraining or protective order indicating domestic violence; and e. any other information which may be used for the purpose of identifying any person named in or subject to the order or for the purposes of establishing, enforcing or modifying a child support order; and
(m) To take administrative actions relating to genetic testing, determine paternity, establish child support orders, modification of child support orders, income withholding, liens and subpoenas without the necessity of obtaining an order from any judicial or other administrative tribunal with respect to cases initiated or enforced by the Attorney General's Office pursuant to Title IV-D of the Social Security Act;
(n) To have the authority to use high-volume automated administrative enforcement in interstate cases to the same extent as used for intrastate cases, in response to a request made by another state to enforce support orders;
(o) To provide any child support enforcement or other service as may be required by the United States of America, Department of Health and Human Services, Family Support Administration, Office of Child Support Enforcement or their successor pursuant to federal law or regulation.
SECTION 11. Section 43-19-33, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-19-33. (1) In lieu of legal proceedings instituted to obtain support for a dependent child from the responsible parent, a written stipulated agreement to support the child by periodic payments executed by the responsible parent when acknowledged before a clerk of the court having jurisdiction over such matters or a notary public and filed with and approved by the judge of the court shall have the same force and effect, retroactively and prospectively, in accordance with the terms of the agreement as an order of support entered by the court, and shall be enforceable and subject to modification in the same manner as is provided by law for orders of the court in such cases.
(2) In lieu of legal proceedings instituted to establish paternity, a written admission of paternity containing a stipulated agreement of support executed by the putative father of the dependent child, when accompanied by a written affirmation of paternity executed and sworn to by the mother of the dependent child, when acknowledged by the putative father before a clerk of the court having jurisdiction over such matters or a notary public and filed with and approved by the judge of the court, shall have the same force and effect, retroactively and prospectively, in accordance with the terms of the agreement, as an order of filiation and support entered by the court, and shall be enforceable and subject to modification in the same manner as is provided by law for orders of the court in such cases.
(3) At any time after filing with the court having continuing jurisdiction of such matters of an acknowledgment of paternity in which a provision of support has not been entered, upon notice the defendant shall be required to appear in court at any time and place named therein, to show cause, if any he can, why the court should not enter an order for the support of the child by periodic payments. The order may include provisions for reimbursement for medical expenses incident to the pregnancy and the birth of the child, accrued maintenance and reasonable expenses of the action under this subsection on the acknowledgment of paternity previously filed with the court. Notice by the Attorney General's Office to the defendant shall be given by certified mail, restricted delivery, return receipt requested at his last known mailing address and without the requirement of a summons being issued, and shall be deemed complete as of the date of delivery as evidenced by the return receipt. The required notice may also be delivered by personal service in accordance with Rule 4 of the Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure insofar as service of an administrative order or notice is concerned. However, in the case of a child who, upon reaching the age of twenty-one (21) years, is mentally or physically incapable of self-support, the putative father shall not be relieved of the duty of support unless the child is a long-term patient in a facility owned or operated by the State of Mississippi. The prior judgment as to paternity shall be res judicata as to that issue and shall not be reconsidered by the court.
(4) Such agreements of support, acknowledgments and affirmations of paternity and support shall be sworn to and shall be binding on the person executing the same whether he be an adult or a minor and may include provisions for the reimbursement of medical expenses incident to the pregnancy and birth of the child, accrued maintenance and reasonable expenses of any action previously filed before the court.
(5) In lieu of legal proceedings instituted to enforce an order for support, a written stipulated agreement for the provision of periodic payments towards an arrearage executed by the defendant when acknowledged before a clerk of the court having jurisdiction over such matters or a notary public and filed with and approved by the judge of the court shall have the same force and effect, retroactively and prospectively, in accordance with the terms of the agreement as a judgment for overdue support entered by the court, and shall be enforceable and subject to modification in the same manner as is provided by law for orders of the court in such cases.
(6) All agreements entered into under the provisions as set forth hereinabove shall be filed by the clerk of the court having jurisdiction over such matters in the county in which they are entered and filing fees shall be taxed to the responsible parent.
SECTION 12. Section 43-19-34, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-19-34. (1) In lieu of legal proceedings instituted to obtain a modification for an order for support, a written stipulated agreement for modification executed by the responsible parent when acknowledged before a clerk of the court having jurisdiction over such matters or a notary public and filed with and approved by the judge of the court shall have the same force and effect, retroactively and prospectively, in accordance with the terms of the agreement as an order for modification of support entered by the court, and shall be enforceable and subject to subsequent modification in the same manner as is provided by law for orders of the court in such cases.
(2) With respect to a child support order in cases initiated or enforced by the Attorney General's Office pursuant to Title IV-D of the Social Security Act, wherein the Attorney General's Office has determined that a modification is appropriate, the Attorney General's Office shall send a motion and notice of intent to modify the order, together with the proposed modification of the order under this section to the last known mailing address of the defendant. Such notice shall specify the date and time certain of the hearing and shall be sent by certified mail, restricted delivery, return receipt requested; notice shall be deemed complete as of the date of delivery as evidenced by the return receipt. The required notice may also be delivered by personal service in accordance with Rule 4 of the Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure insofar as it may be applied to service of an administrative order or notice. The defendant may accept the proposed modification by signing and returning it to the Attorney General's Office prior to the date of hearing for presentation to the court for approval. In the event that the defendant does not sign and return the proposed modification, the court shall on the date and time previously set for hearing review the proposal and make a determination as to whether it should be approved in whole or in part.
(3) Every three (3) years, upon the request of either parent, or if there is an assignment under Section 43-19-35, upon the request of the Attorney General's Office or of either parent, the Attorney General's Office shall review and, if appropriate, seek to adjust a support order being enforced under Section 43-19-31 in accordance with the guidelines established pursuant to Section 43-19-101, if the amount of the child support award under the order differs from the amount that would be awarded in accordance with the guidelines, taking into account the best interests of the child involved. No proof of a material change in circumstances is necessary in the three-year review for adjustment pursuant to this subsection (3). Proof of a material change in circumstances is necessary for modification outside the three-year cycle.
(4) Any order for the support of minor children, whether entered through the judicial system or through an expedited process, shall not be subject to a downward retroactive modification. An upward retroactive modification may be ordered back to the date of the event justifying the upward modification.
SECTION 13. Section 43-19-35, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-19-35. (1) By currently or previously accepting public assistance or making application for child support services for and on behalf of a child or children, the recipient shall be deemed to have made an assignment to the Attorney General's Office of any and all rights and interests in any cause of action, past, present or future, that the recipient or the children may have against any parent failing to provide for the support and maintenance of the minor child or children; the Attorney General's Office shall be subrogated to any and all rights, title and interest the recipient or the children may have against any and all property belonging to the absent or nonsupporting parent in the enforcement of any claim for child or spousal support, whether liquidated through court order or not. The recipient of Title IV-D services shall also be deemed, without the necessity of signing any document, to have appointed the Attorney General's Office to act in his or her, as well as the children's, name, place, and stead to perform the specific act of instituting suit to establish paternity or secure support, collecting any and all amounts due and owing for child or spousal support or any other service as required or permitted under Title IV-D of the federal Social Security Act, and endorsing any and all drafts, checks, money orders or other negotiable instruments representing child or spousal support payments which are received on behalf of the recipient or the children, and retaining any portion thereof permitted under federal and state statutes as reimbursement for public assistance monies previously paid to the recipient or children.
(2) Court orders of support for any child or children receiving services through Title IV-D of the federal Social Security Act shall be amended, by operation of law, and without the necessity of a motion by the Child Support Unit and a hearing thereon to provide that the payment of support shall be directed by the absent parent to the Attorney General's Office Central Receipting and Disbursement Unit as provided in Section 43-19-37 and not to the recipient. The absent parent shall be notified of such amendment prior to it taking effect.
(3) Any attorney authorized by the state to initiate any action pursuant to Title IV-D of the federal Social Security Act, including, but not limited to, any action initiated pursuant to Sections 43-19-31 et seq. and 93-25-1 et seq. shall be deemed to represent the interest of the Attorney General's Office exclusively; no attorney-client relationship shall exist between the attorney and any recipient of services pursuant to Title IV-D of the federal Social Security Act for and on behalf of a child or children, regardless of the name in which the legal proceedings are initiated. The attorney representing the state in a Title IV-D case is only authorized to appear and prosecute and/or defend issues of support and cannot in a Title IV-D case address or provide representation to the Title IV-D recipient on any other ancillary issues raised or presented in that action.
(4) The assignment to the Attorney General's Office shall be free of any legal or equitable defense to the payment of child support that may accrue to any person legally liable for the support of any child or children receiving aid from the State Department of Human Services, as a result of the conduct of the person who is accepting public assistance for and on behalf of the child or children.
SECTION 14. Section 43-19-37, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-19-37. (1) Court orders of support in all cases brought under the provisions of Sections 43-19-31 through 43-19-53 shall specify that the payment of court costs shall be directed by the absent parent to the Attorney General's Office Central Receipting and Disbursement Unit for further disbursement in the manner as prescribed by Title IV-D of the federal Social Security Act. The court shall assess attorney's fees to recover the costs associated with preparing and prosecuting the case, which shall be paid directly to the Attorney General's Office solely for the support of the legal division of the Child Support Unit, in a manner separate and distinct from the payment of child support. The court may allow the defendant to pay the attorney's fee over a period not to exceed four (4) months. The state portion of attorney's fees paid to the Attorney General's Office shall be used to match federal funds for the support of the legal division of the Child Support Unit * * *. Any payments made by the absent parent directly to the recipient or applicant in violation of the court order shall not be deemed to be a support payment or an attorney's fee and shall not be credited to the court-ordered obligation of the absent parent or to the court-ordered obligation for the payment of the attorney's fee. Failure of the absent parent to comply with an order of support or for payment of an attorney's fee for a period of thirty (30) days shall be directed to the court having jurisdiction of the matter for contempt proceedings or execution issued in the manner and form prescribed by statute. Should civil proceedings become ineffective in producing support or attorney's fees in any case involving a legitimate child or a child wherein paternity has been established by law or acknowledged in writing, the case shall promptly be referred to the district attorney for prosecution as a violation of Section 97-5-3.
(2) Each application, petition, order or filing made under this section shall include the social security number(s) of the applicant or father, mother and child(ren), as applicable, in accordance with Section 93-11-64.
SECTION 15. Section 43-19-39, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-19-39. (1) All child support payments collected by the Child Support Unit pursuant to Section 43-19-35 shall be distributed in the manner as prescribed by the federal Social Security Act and any amendments adopted thereto. Nothing contained herein shall preclude the Child Support Unit in processing a paternity or support action for and on behalf of a child or children receiving Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) benefits wherein the applicant or recipient has refused cooperation. If a parent of any child receiving public assistance fails or refuses to cooperate with the local county department or Child Support Unit in locating and securing support from the nonsupporting responsible parent, this parent may be cited to appear before the judge of any court having jurisdiction over such matter and compelled to disclose such information under oath. Any parent who, having been cited to appear before a judge of the court having jurisdiction over such matter, fails or refuses to appear or fails or refuses to provide the information requested may be found to be in contempt of the court and may be fined not more than One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) or imprisoned not more than six (6) months or both.
(2) In a manner which is consistent with the federal Social Security Act, any amendments thereto and its implementing regulations, the Child Support Unit is * * * authorized to withhold from distribution any payment or portion thereof which it may receive on behalf of a child or children for whom it is providing services if reimbursement is needed for any payments which may have been mistakenly or erroneously advanced on behalf of that child or children. The Child Support Unit shall adopt policies that minimize any hardship that is caused by withholding from distribution any current support payments to reimburse past mistaken or erroneous advancements.
SECTION 16. Section 43-19-41, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-19-41. Any applicant or recipient who refuses to provide reasonable assistance to the local county department or to the Child Support Unit established by the Attorney General's Office in identifying and locating the absent parent of a dependent child or otherwise refuses to cooperate with the Attorney General's Office in securing support or in establishing paternity shall be ineligible for Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) benefits, shall not be considered a needy relative and shall not be entitled to receive or use any part of the benefits nor shall be eligible for medical assistance under the Mississippi Medical Assistance Act; * * * however, benefits for the support of the child of such applicant or recipient shall not be denied or terminated as a result of such refusal to provide assistance or cooperation, but that the Department of Human Services may provide benefits to the child in the form of protective vendor payments.
SECTION 17. Section 43-19-44, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-19-44. For purposes of this section, an "authorized person" shall mean:
(a) Any agent or attorney of any state having in effect a plan approved under federal law, who has the duty or authority under such plan to seek to recover any amounts owed as child and spousal support (including, when authorized under the state plan, any official of a political subdivision);
(b) The court which has authority to issue an order or to serve as the initiating court in an action to seek an order against a noncustodial parent of the support and maintenance of a child, or any agent of such court;
(c) The resident parent, legal guardian, attorney or agent of a child (other than a child receiving federal assistance as determined by federal regulation) without regard to the existence of a court order against a noncustodial parent who has a duty to support and maintain any such child;
(d) A state agency that is administering a program operated under a state plan approved under federal law;
(e) Any agent or attorney of any state having an agreement under this section, who has the duty or authority under the law of such state to enforce a child custody or visitation determination;
(f) Any court having jurisdiction to make or enforce such a child custody or visitation determination, or any agent of such court; and
(g) Any agent or attorney of the United States, or of a state having an agreement under this section, who has the duty or authority to investigate, enforce or bring a prosecution with respect to the unlawful taking or restraint of a child.
The Attorney General's Office shall safeguard personal data if the Attorney General's Office is provided with reasonable evidence of a risk of harm. A state agency, court, Attorney General's Office of another state, obligor, obligee and such other persons or entities as the Attorney General's Office may specify may provide the Attorney General's Office with reasonable evidence of a risk of harm in such manner as the Attorney General's Office may require. The Attorney General's Office shall not be required to safeguard personal data in intrastate cases for longer than one (1) year unless the Attorney General's Office is provided with reasonable evidence of a continued risk of harm in such manner as the Attorney General's Office may require. The Attorney General's Office shall notify individuals whose personal data is safeguarded under this section that in order for the safeguards to remain in effect, such individuals must provide the Attorney General's Office annually with reasonable evidence of a continued risk of harm. For the purposes of this section "reasonable evidence of a risk of harm" shall mean reasonable evidence that the release of information may result in physical harm to the parent or child, that the release of information may result in emotional harm to the parent or child which would significantly reduce the parent's capacity to care for the child, or would significantly reduce the parent or child's ability to function adequately, or that a protective order or restraining order has been issued on behalf of the parent or child.
If the Attorney General's Office is provided with reasonable evidence of a risk of harm, the Attorney General's Office, its employees and its contractors shall not disclose any personal data that could otherwise be disclosed about the location of a parent or child, including residential address, telephone number and name, address and telephone number of employer, and shall not disclose the social security number of a parent or child; * * * however, * * * such personal data may be shared by and between employees of the Attorney General's Office and its contractors; and the Attorney General's Office may disclose such personal data to the Federal Parent Locator Service, to the court, or agent of a court that is authorized to receive information from the Federal Parent Locator Service established pursuant to Title IV-D of the Social Security Act.
* * * The Attorney General's Office may disclose the social security number of a child receiving IV-D services for the purposes directly connected to obtaining health care coverage for such child to an employer or provider of health care coverage.
If the Attorney General's Office is provided with reasonable evidence of a risk of harm pursuant to this section, the Attorney General's Office shall notify the Federal Parent Locator Service established pursuant to Title IV-D of the Social Security Act that a risk of harm exists. Upon order of the court in an intrastate matter, the Attorney General's Office shall release personal data, which may include location information and social security numbers, to such court or agent, as required by * * * Title IV-D of the Social Security Act; * * * however, * * * if the Attorney General's Office has been provided with reasonable evidence of a risk of harm, the Attorney General's Office shall notify the court or agent that the Attorney General's Office has received such information; before making any disclosure of such personal data, the court is required to determine whether such disclosure to any other person could be harmful to the parent or child. A person or agency seeking disclosure of personal data which the Attorney General's Office is prohibited from disclosing because of a risk of harm, but which could otherwise be disclosed, may file a petition with the chancery court to request disclosure of such personal data.
Upon an order by the court in interstate cases to override nondisclosure procedures in cases dealing with domestic violence, the court shall order the Attorney General's Office to release this information within thirty (30) days of the order. Whereupon, the Attorney General's Office shall transmit the court order to the Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE), Federal Parent Locator Service (FPLS), whereby OCSE will notify the Attorney General's Office of its decision to remove the nondisclosure code. Upon notification from OCSE, the Attorney General's Office shall release the information unto the court.
Any unauthorized disclosure or unauthorized willful inspection made in a good faith effort to comply with this section shall not be considered a violation of this section.
A person or agency, including the Attorney General's Office, seeking personal data which the Attorney General's Office is prohibited from disclosing because of a risk of harm, but which could otherwise be disclosed or which the Federal Parent Locator Service established pursuant to Title IV-D of the Social Security Act is prohibited from disclosing because the Secretary of the Federal Department of Health and Human Services has been notified that there is a reasonable evidence of domestic violence or child abuse, may file a petition with the court where the person resides to request disclosure of such personal data. The petition shall specify the purpose for which such personal data is required. When a petition is filed, or when the court receives notice from the Attorney General's Office that the Attorney General's Office has been notified of a risk of harm, the court shall determine whether disclosure of personal data could be harmful to the parent or child before releasing such data to any other person or agency. In making such determination, the court shall notify the parent that the court has received a request to release personal data and shall provide a specific date by which the parent must object to release of the information and provide the basis for objection. The parent may provide such information in writing and shall not be required to appear in person to contest the release of information. The court shall also notify the Attorney General's Office of any petition filed pursuant to this section and the Attorney General's Office shall release to the court any information which it has been provided regarding the risk of harm; however, the Attorney General's Office shall not be made a party to the action. Further, the attorney for the Attorney General's Office, in any proceeding herein, shall not be deemed to be appearing in a representative capacity for any party. The court may also request information directly from the Federal Parent Locator Service from the child support collection agency of another state, and from any other source.
In determining whether disclosure of personal data could be harmful to the parent or child, the court shall consider any relevant information provided by the parent or child, any information provided by the Attorney General's Office or by the child support collection agency of another state, and any evidence provided by the person seeking the personal data. Documentary evidence transmitted to the court by facsimile, telecopier or other means that do not provide an original writing may not be excluded from evidence on an objection based on the means of transmission. The court may permit a party or witness to be deposed or to testify by telephone, audiovisual means, or other electronic means.
The court may enter an order (1) impounding the personal data and prohibiting any disclosure by the court or its agents, (2) permitting disclosure by the court or its agents to a specific person or persons, or (3) removing any restrictions on disclosure by the court and its agents. An order permitting disclosure of personal data may specify the purposes for which the data may be used and may prohibit a person to whom the data is disclosed from making further disclosures to any other person. The court shall notify the Attorney General's Office of any order entered pursuant to this section. Any person or agency who violates an order issued pursuant to this section may be held in contempt of court and subject to the penalties provided herein.
The court may disclose location information about a parent for the limited purpose of notifying the parent of a proceeding under this section or of any other proceeding in court, provided that such information shall not be disclosed to another party unless the court issues an order pursuant to this section permitting such disclosure.
SECTION 18. Section 43-19-46, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-19-46. (1) Each employer, as defined in Section 93-11-101, doing business in Mississippi shall report to the Directory of New Hires within the Attorney General's Office:
(a) The hiring of any person who resides or works in this state to whom the employer anticipates paying wages; and
(b) The hiring or return to work of any employee who was laid off, furloughed, separated, granted leave without pay or was terminated from employment.
(2) Employers shall report, by mailing or by other means authorized by the Attorney General's Office, a copy of the employee's W-4 form or its equivalent which will result in timely reporting. Each employer shall submit reports within fifteen (15) days of the hiring, rehiring or return to work of the employee. The report shall contain:
(a) The employee's name, address, social security number and the date of birth;
(b) The employer's name, address, and federal and state withholding tax identification numbers; and
(c) The date upon which the employee began or resumed employment, or is scheduled to begin or otherwise resume employment.
(3) The Attorney General's Office shall retain the information, which shall be forwarded to the federal registry of new hires.
(4) The Attorney General's Office may operate the program, may enter into a mutual agreement with the Mississippi Employment Security Commission or the State Tax Commission, or both, for the operation of the Directory of New Hires Program, or the Attorney General's Office may contract for such service, in which case the Attorney General's Office shall maintain administrative control of the program.
(5) In cases in which an employer fails to report information, as required by this section, an administratively levied civil penalty in an amount not to exceed Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00) shall apply if the failure is the result of a conspiracy between the employer and employee to not supply the required report or to supply a false or incomplete report. The penalty shall otherwise not exceed Twenty-five Dollars ($25.00). Appeal shall be as provided in Section 43-19-58.
SECTION 19. Section 43-19-47, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-19-47. (1) The Child Support Unit of the Attorney General's Office may appoint at least one (1) full-time staff attorney in or for each chancery court district for the purpose of initiating proceedings under the provisions of Sections 43-19-31 through 43-19-53 in securing child support and establishing paternity. The qualifications and annual salary of each of the attorneys appointed by the Child Support Unit * * * under the provisions of Sections 43-19-31 through 43-19-53 shall be fixed at such sums as may be deemed proper in accordance with the salaries of other full-time employed state attorneys with the Attorney General's Office. Such salaries, inclusive of all reimbursable travel and other expenses, inclusive of financial arrangements perfected with the appropriate courts, the law enforcement officials and the district attorneys, shall be paid monthly from the funds appropriated to the Child Support Unit * * * and from the special fund for the * * * Child Support Unit in which the interest from its accounts and all attorney's fees and other fees is placed. The Mississippi Personnel Board shall survey the salaries of other Mississippi attorneys with the Attorney General's Office each year and shall raise the start step of the staff and senior attorneys accordingly and the minimum shall never go below Forty Thousand Dollars ($40,000.00) for staff attorneys or Fifty Thousand Dollars ($50,000.00) for senior attorneys.
(2) To assist in the implementation of the provisions of Sections 43-19-31 through 43-19-53, the Attorney General's Office is empowered to enter into cooperative agreements with district attorneys, county attorneys and attorneys employed by the county boards of supervisors * * *. Those cooperative agreements shall be made in compliance with the regulations established by the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, and may be funded either by funds appropriated to the Child Support Unit * * * or funds appropriated by any county board of supervisors in this state for their respective county. Attorneys may be hired contractually to be paid in amounts commensurate with the Attorney General's Office's staff attorneys.
SECTION 20. Section 43-19-48, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-19-48. (1) The Attorney General's Office and financial institutions doing business in the state are required to enter into agreements:
(a) To develop and operate a data match system, using automated data exchanges, in which each such financial institution is required to provide for each calendar quarter the name, record address, social security number or other taxpayer identification number, and other identifying information for each noncustodial parent who maintains an account at such institution and who owes past-due support, as identified by the Attorney General's Office by name and social security number or other taxpayer identification number;
(b) To encumber or surrender, as the case may be, assets held by such institution on behalf of any noncustodial parent who is subject to a child support lien; and
(c) To provide for payment of reasonable fees to financial institutions for conducting data matches, and for responding to other requests made pursuant to this section, with such fees not to exceed the actual costs incurred by such financial institutions.
(2) When the operation of such data match system results in the location of an account of a noncustodial parent who owes past-due support, or when such account is located through any means, the Attorney General's Office may request and shall receive additional financial or other information including account numbers, names and social security numbers on record for accounts, and account balances, from any financial institution needed to establish, modify or enforce a support order.
(3) The Attorney General's Office shall have the authority to encumber and seize assets held by an obligor in a financial institution doing business in Mississippi. Such assets shall be encumbered for either:
(a) A forty-five-day period; or
(b) Until such time as the issue of overdue support is resolved, provided the obligor has filed a petition for hearing with a court of appropriate jurisdiction and the financial institution receives written notice thereof from the Attorney General's Office before the end of the * * * forty-five-day period.
(4) Notice of such encumbrance initiated by the Attorney General's Office shall be provided to the financial institution and to the obligor:
(a) The Attorney General's Office shall send, by certified mail, notice to the financial institution with which the account is placed, directing that the financial institution shall:
(i) Immediately encumber funds in any account(s) in which the obligor has an interest, and to the extent of the debt indicated in the notice from the Attorney General's Office;
(ii) Forward the encumbered funds to the Attorney General's Office after either the forty-five-day period stated in subsection 3(a) of this section, or a determination favorable to the Attorney General's Office by a court of appropriate jurisdiction; or
(iii) In the event the obligor prevails before the court, immediately release the funds to the obligor.
(b) Notice shall be delivered to the obligor at the current mailing address as recorded by the Attorney General's Office. Such notice shall be sent by regular mail at the commencement of the action described herein.
(c) The financial institution shall not disclose to an account holder or the depositor that the name of such person has been received from or furnished to the Attorney General's Office. The financial institution shall disclose to its account holders or its depositors that under the data match system the Attorney General's Office has the authority to request certain identifying information on the account holders' or the depositor's accounts.
(5) Challenges to encumbrance of an account:
(a) Challenges to such levy for child support arrearage may be initiated only by the obligor or by an account holder of interest.
(b) Challenges shall be made by the filing of a petition for hearing by the obligor in a court of appropriate jurisdiction under Rule 81(d)(2) of the Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure. Service upon the Attorney General's Office shall be as prescribed by Rule 4(d)(5) of the Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure.
(c) Grounds for the petition challenging the encumbrance shall be limited to:
(i) Mistakes of identity; or
(ii) Mistakes in amount of overdue support.
(6) Liability of the financial institution and the Attorney General's Office:
(a) Neither the Attorney General's Office nor the financial institution shall be liable for any applicable early withdrawal penalties on the obligor's account(s).
(b) A financial institution shall be absolutely immune from any civil liability under any law or regulation to any person for the disclosure of or failure to disclose any information pursuant to this chapter or for the escrow, encumbrance, seizure or surrender of any assets held by the financial institution in response to any notice issued by the Attorney General's Office, the Child Support Unit or any contractors or agents thereof unless the disclosure or failure to disclose was willful or intentional, or for any other action taken in good faith to comply with the requirements of this chapter.
(7) Any amount encumbered and forwarded by the financial institution under this section shall not exceed the arrearage owed by the obligor.
(8) The provisions herein and any other relevant sections shall be employed equally by authorized contractors of the Attorney General's Office to collect delinquent support payments.
(9) A financial institution shall not be liable under federal or state law to any person:
(a) For any disclosure of information to the Attorney General's Office;
(b) For encumbering or forwarding any assets held by such financial institution in response to a notice of lien or levy;
(c) For any other action taken in good faith to comply with the requirements of subsection (1)(a) or (b) above.
(10) Definitions. For purposes of this section:
(a) The term "financial institution" has the meaning given to such by Section 81-12-3, and shall include, but not be limited to, credit unions, stock brokerages, public or private entities administering retirement, savings, annuities, life insurance and/or pension funds;
(b) The term "account" means a demand deposit account, checking or negotiable withdrawal order account, savings account, time deposit account or money-market mutual fund account.
(11) Failure to comply with the provisions of this section or the willful rendering of false information shall subject the financial institution to a fine of not less than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00).
SECTION 21. Section 43-19-49, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-19-49. There is * * * authorized to be employed by the Child Support Unit of the Attorney General's Office such other, investigative, technical, secretarial and supportive staff as may be necessary for the proper and necessary implementation of the requirements of Public Law 93-647, 93rd Congress, and any amendments adopted thereto applicable to the program as provided under Sections 43-19-31 through 43-19-53. Those positions shall be subject to the State Personnel Board's rules and regulations and their salaries shall be fixed in such amounts as the Attorney General's Office may deem proper.
SECTION 22. Section 43-19-51, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-19-51. Nothing contained in Sections 43-19-31 through 43-19-53 shall be construed as relieving or diminishing any of the duties, powers and functions of the * * * district attorneys or county attorneys under the statutes of this state relating to the collection of any judgment or debt in favor of the state or the enforcement of the criminal laws under Sections 43-19-31 through 43-19-53 or any other provisions of state law.
SECTION 23. Section 43-19-53, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-19-53. Not later than sixty (60) days after the first day of January of each year, (a) the * * * Department of Human Services shall cause to be published for the preceding calendar year a detailed report showing the total number of cases in the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program reported on the basis of fraud or suspected fraud, the total number investigated, prosecuted and disposed of civilly and/or criminally in each county of the state; and the Attorney General's Office shall cause to be published for the preceding calendar year a detailed report showing the total number of support and paternity cases reported, investigated, continued, prosecuted civilly, and the total amount of support collected.
SECTION 24. Section 43-19-55, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-19-55. The Attorney General's Office shall be authorized in maintaining separate accounts with Mississippi banks to handle funds received as incentives from the federal government earned as a result of collecting support and also any funds maintained on deposit as a result of federal and state income tax offsets and any other relevant account, and to aggressively manage the float in these accounts so as to accrue maximum interest advantage of the funds in the account, and to retain all earned interest on these funds to be applied to defray the expenses of the Child Support Unit.
SECTION 25. Section 43-19-57, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-19-57. (1) Any administrative subpoena issued by the Attorney General's Office pursuant to the provisions of Laws, 1997, Chapter 588, shall be directed to the appropriate party or entity and signed by the Attorney General or his designee.
(2) A person wishing to appeal the issuance of an administrative subpoena shall have recourse to the chancery courts as for any subpoena.
SECTION 26. Section 43-19-58, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-19-58. (1) Persons wishing to contest the imposition of an administrative civil penalty under the provisions of Laws, 1997, Chapter 588, shall be entitled to a hearing before the Attorney General or his designee by so requesting within twenty (20) days after receiving notice of the imposition of the administratively imposed civil penalty. The request shall identify the civil penalty contested and legibly state the contestant's name, mailing address and home and daytime phone numbers. The date, time and place for the hearing shall be made as convenient as possible for the contestant, who shall receive notice thereof not less than seven (7) days before the hearing. A hearing on whether to impose a civil penalty and to consider circumstances in mitigation shall be held on the time and the place specified in the notice. The contestant may appear in person, through his attorney or, prior to the date set for the hearing, submit written testimony and other evidence, subject to the penalty for false swearing, for entry in the hearing record.
(2) After the hearing, the director or his designee shall issue his order, which may be appealed to the chancery court of the county in which the contestant resides in the same manner as is provided by law for appeals originating from county courts.
(3) The director or his designee may file the order assessing the penalty, or a certified copy of the order, with the clerk of any chancery court in the state after expiration of the time in which an appeal may be taken, or final determination of the matter on appeal, whereupon the order assessing the penalty shall be enrolled on the judgment roll and may be enforced in the same manner as a judgment.
SECTION 27. Section 43-19-59, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-19-59. (1) The Attorney General's Office, as the Title IV-D child support enforcement agency of this state, shall use high-volume automated administrative enforcement, to the same extent as used for intrastate cases, in response to a request made by another state to enforce support orders, and shall promptly report the results of such enforcement procedure to the requesting state.
(2) In this section, "high-volume, automated administrative enforcement" means the use of automatic data processing to search various available state data bases, including, but not limited to, license records, employment service data, and state new hire registries, to determine whether information is available regarding a parent who owes a child support obligation.
(3) The Attorney General's Office may, by electronic or other means, transmit to another state or receive from another state a request for assistance in enforcing support orders through high-volume, automated administrative enforcement, which request:
(a) Shall include such information as will enable the state to which the request is transmitted to compare the information about the cases to the information in the data bases of the state receiving the request; and
(b) Shall constitute a certification by the requesting state:
(i) Of the amount of support under an order the payment of which is in arrears; and
(ii) That the requesting state has complied with all procedural due process requirements applicable to each case.
(c) If the Attorney General's Office provides assistance to another state with respect to a case, or if another state seeks assistance from the Attorney General's Office pursuant to this section, neither state shall consider the case to be transferred to the caseload of such other state.
SECTION 28. Section 43-19-101, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-19-101. (1) The following child support award guidelines shall be a rebuttable presumption in all judicial or administrative proceedings regarding the awarding or modifying of child support awards in this state:
Number Of Children Percentage Of Adjusted Gross Income
Due Support That Should Be Awarded For Support
1 14%
2 20%
3 22%
4 24%
5 or more 26%
(2) The guidelines provided for in subsection (1) of this section apply unless the judicial or administrative body awarding or modifying the child support award makes a written finding or specific finding on the record that the application of the guidelines would be unjust or inappropriate in a particular case as determined under the criteria specified in Section 43-19-103.
(3) The amount of "adjusted gross income" as that term is used in subsection (1) of this section shall be calculated as follows:
(a) Determine gross income from all potential sources that may reasonably be expected to be available to the absent parent including, but not limited to, the following: wages and salary income; income from self employment; income from commissions; income from investments, including dividends, interest income and income on any trust account or property; absent parent's portion of any joint income of both parents; workers' compensation, disability, unemployment, annuity and retirement benefits, including an individual retirement account (IRA); any other payments made by any person, private entity, federal or state government or any unit of local government; alimony; any income earned from an interest in or from inherited property; any other form of earned income; and gross income shall exclude any monetary benefits derived from a second household, such as income of the absent parent's current spouse;
(b) Subtract the following legally mandated deductions:
(i) Federal, state and local taxes. Contributions to the payment of taxes over and beyond the actual liability for the taxable year shall not be considered a mandatory deduction;
(ii) Social security contributions;
(iii) Retirement and disability contributions except any voluntary retirement and disability contributions;
(c) If the absent parent is subject to an existing court order for another child or children, subtract the amount of that court-ordered support;
(d) If the absent parent is also the parent of another child or other children residing with him, then the court may subtract an amount that it deems appropriate to account for the needs of the child or children;
(e) Compute the total annual amount of adjusted gross income based on paragraphs (a) through (d), then divide this amount by twelve (12) to obtain the monthly amount of adjusted gross income.
Upon conclusion of the calculation of paragraphs (a) through (e), multiply the monthly amount of adjusted gross income by the appropriate percentage designated in subsection (1) to arrive at the amount of the monthly child support award.
(4) In cases in which the adjusted gross income as defined in this section is more than Fifty Thousand Dollars ($50,000.00) or less than Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00), the court shall make a written finding in the record as to whether or not the application of the guidelines established in this section is reasonable.
(5) The Attorney General's Office shall review the appropriateness of these guidelines beginning January 1, 1994, and every four (4) years thereafter and report its findings to the Legislature no later than the first day of the regular legislative session of that year. The Legislature shall thereafter amend these guidelines when it finds that amendment is necessary to ensure that equitable support is being awarded in all cases involving the support of minor children.
(6) All orders involving support of minor children, as a matter of law, shall include reasonable medical support. Notice to the noncustodial parent's employer that medical support has been ordered shall be on a form as prescribed by the Attorney General's Office.
SECTION 29. Section 71-3-129, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
71-3-129. (1) The Attorney General's Office Child Support Unit ("the Child Support Unit") or the obligee may cause a lien for unpaid and delinquent child or spousal support to be placed upon any workers' compensation benefits payable to an obligor delinquent in child support or spousal support payments where a minor child is living with such spouse and such maintenance or spousal support is collected in conjunction with child support.
(2) The lien shall be effective upon notice being filed with the Executive Director of the Mississippi Workers' Compensation Commission. The notice shall contain the name and address of the delinquent obligor, the social security number of the obligor, if known, the name of the obligee, and the amount of delinquent child or spousal support.
(3) Any person(s), firm(s), corporation(s), including an insurance carrier, making any payment of workers' compensation benefits to such obligor or to his attorney(s), heir(s) or legal representative(s), after receipt of such notice, if support has been assigned to the Child Support Unit pursuant to Section 43-19-31, shall be liable to the obligee. In such event, the lien may be enforced by the Child Support Unit against any person(s), firm(s), corporation(s) making the workers' compensation benefit payment.
(4) Upon the filing of a notice under this section, the Executive Director of the Mississippi Workers' Compensation Commission shall mail to the obligor and to all attorneys and insurance carriers of record, a copy of the notice. The obligor, attorneys and insurance carriers shall be deemed to have received the notice within five (5) days of the mailing of the notice by the Executive Director of the Mississippi Workers' Compensation Commission. The lien described in this section shall attach to all workers' compensation benefits which are thereafter payable.
(5) In cases in which the Child Support Unit is not a party, the obligee or his attorney shall file notice of the lien with such payor as described in subsection (3) above. This notice shall have attached a certified copy of the court order with all modifications and a sworn statement by the obligee attesting to or certifying the amount of the arrearages.
(6) Notice of the lien shall be filed with the Executive Director of the Mississippi Workers' Compensation Commission either by serving a certified copy of the court order by first class mail; or by transmittal of the information described in subsection (2) via automated means.
(7) Any amount deducted and withheld pursuant to subsection (1) shall be paid by the commission to the Child Support Unit.
(8) Any amount deducted and withheld pursuant to subsection (1) shall for all purposes be treated as if it were paid to the individual as benefits and paid by such individual to the Child Support Unit in satisfaction of the individual's child support obligations.
(9) For purposes of this section, the term "benefits" means any compensation payable under this chapter (including amounts payable by the commission pursuant to an agreement under any federal law providing for compensation, assistance or allowances with respect to injury or death).
(10) The Child Support Unit and the Mississippi Workers' Compensation Commission may enter into agreements to carry out the provisions of subsection (6) of this section.
(11) The term "child support obligation" shall be as defined in Section 93-11-101.
SECTION 30. Section 81-5-55, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
81-5-55. In no instance shall the name of any depositor, or the amount of his deposit, be disclosed to anyone, except to report to approved parties, such as credit bureaus, account verification services and others, the forcible closure of a deposit account due to misuse, such as fraud, kiting or chronic bad check writing or when required to be done in legal proceedings, for verification of public assistance in cases wherein the depositor has applied for public assistance and the Department of Human Services submits a written authorization executed by the depositor authorizing the receipt of such information, for verification of the financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult in cases wherein the Attorney General submits a written authorization, or in case of insolvency of banks. The parties referred to herein must be approved by the Commissioner of Banking and Consumer Finance and must satisfactorily demonstrate their reliability and credibility of their activities. Disclosure of depositor information to any affiliate or agent providing services on behalf of the bank shall not be considered disclosure of depositor information within the meaning of this section. The term "affiliate" means a corporation or business entity that controls, is controlled by or is under common control with the bank. The term "agent" means anyone who has an agreement, arrangement or understanding to transact business for the bank by the authority and on account of the bank, provided such agreement binds the agent to the same degree of confidentiality of disclosure of bank records as the bank. Any violation of this provision shall be considered a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, in any court of competent jurisdiction, such person shall be punished by a fine of not more than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) or imprisoned in the county jail not more than six (6) months or both, and in addition thereto, shall be liable upon his bond to any person damaged thereby.
This section shall not be construed to prohibit the disclosure, to the State Treasurer, State Auditor, Legislative Budget Office, Joint Legislative Committee on Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review or the Department of Finance and Administration, of any information about any type of account or investment, including certificates of deposit, owned by any public entity of the State of Mississippi. In addition, this section shall not be construed to prohibit, or to impose liability for, the disclosure of information to the Department of Human Services, the Child Support Unit of the Attorney General's Office, or their contractors or agents, pursuant to Chapter 19 of Title 43, Mississippi Code of 1972.
SECTION 31. Section 93-9-9, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
93-9-9. (1) Paternity may be determined upon the petition of the mother, or father, the child or any public authority chargeable by law with the support of the child; provided that such an adjudication after the death of the defendant must be made only upon clear and convincing evidence. If paternity has been lawfully determined, or has been acknowledged in writing according to the laws of this state, the liabilities of the noncustodial parent may be enforced in the same or other proceedings by the custodial parent, the child, or any public authority which has furnished or may furnish the reasonable expenses of pregnancy, confinement, education, necessary support and maintenance, and medical or funeral expenses for the custodial parent or the child. The trier of fact shall receive without the need for third-party foundation testimony certified, attested or sworn documentation as evidence of (a) childbirth records; (b) cost of filing fees; (c) court costs; (d) services of process fees; (e) mailing cost; (f) genetic tests and testing fees; (g) the Attorney General's Office's attorney's fees; (h) in cases where the state or any of its entities or divisions have provided medical services to the child or the child's mother, all costs of prenatal care, birthing, postnatal care and any other medical expenses incurred by the child or by the mother as a consequence of the mother's pregnancy or delivery; and (i) funeral expenses. All costs and fees shall be ordered paid to the Attorney General's Office in all cases successfully prosecuted with a minimum of Two Hundred Fifty Dollars ($250.00) in attorney's fees or an amount determined by the court without submitting an affidavit. However, proceedings hereunder shall not be instituted by the Attorney General's Office after the child has reached the age of eighteen (18) years but proceedings may be instituted by a private attorney at any time until such child attains the age of twenty-one (21) years unless the child has been emancipated as provided in Section 93-5-23 and Section 93-11-65. In the event of court-determined paternity, the surname of the child shall be that of the father, unless the judgment specifies otherwise.
(2) If the alleged father in an action to determine paternity to which the Attorney General's Office is a party fails to appear for a scheduled hearing after having been served with process or subsequent notice consistent with the Rules of Civil Procedure, his paternity of the child(ren) shall be established by the court if an affidavit sworn to by the mother averring the alleged father's paternity of the child has accompanied the complaint to determine paternity. The affidavit shall constitute sufficient grounds for the court's finding of the alleged father's paternity without the necessity of the presence or testimony of the mother at the * * * hearing. The court shall, upon motion by the Attorney General's Office, enter a judgment of paternity. Any person who shall willfully and knowingly file a false affidavit shall be subject to a fine of not more than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00).
(3) Upon application of both parents to the State Board of Health and receipt by the State Board of Health of a sworn acknowledgement of paternity executed by both parents subsequent to the birth of a child born out of wedlock, the birth certificate of the child shall be amended to show such paternity if paternity is not shown on the birth certificate. Upon request of the parents for the legitimization of a child under this section, the surname of the child shall be changed on the certificate to that of the father.
(4) (a) A signed voluntary acknowledgment of paternity is subject to the right of any signatory to rescind the acknowledgment within the earlier of:
(i) Sixty (60) days; or
(ii) The date of a judicial proceeding relating to the child, including a proceeding to establish a support order, in which the signatory is a party.
(b) After the expiration of the sixty-day period specified in subsection (4)(a)(i) of this section, a signed voluntary acknowledgment of paternity may be challenged in court only on the basis of fraud, duress or material mistake of fact, with the burden of proof upon the challenger; the legal responsibilities, including child support obligations, of any signatory arising from the acknowledgment may not be suspended during the pendency of the challenge, except for good cause shown.
SECTION 32. Section 93-9-17, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
93-9-17. (1) An action under Sections 93-9-1 through 93-9-49 may be brought in the county where the alleged father is present or has property; or in the county where the mother resides; or in the county where the child resides. However, if the alleged father resides or is domiciled in this state, upon the motion of the alleged father filed within thirty (30) days after the date the action is served upon him, the action shall be removed to the county where the alleged father resides or is domiciled. If no such motion is filed by the alleged father within thirty (30) days after the action is served upon him, the court shall hear the action in the county in which the action was brought.
(2) Subsequent to an initial filing in an appropriate court, any action regarding paternity, support, enforcement or modification and to which the Attorney General's Office is a party may be heard in any county by a court which would otherwise have jurisdiction and is a proper venue. Upon written request by the Attorney General's Office, the clerk of the court of the original county shall transfer a certified copy of the court file to the clerk of the appropriate transfer county without need for application to the court. Such written request shall certify that the Attorney General's Office has issued timely notification of the transfer in writing to all interested parties. Such written request and notice shall be entered into the court file by the transferring clerk of the transferring court. The transferred action shall remain on the docket of the transferred court in which the action is heard, subject to another such transfer.
SECTION 33. Section 93-9-21, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
93-9-21. (1) (a) In all cases brought pursuant to Title IV-D of the Social Security Act, upon sworn documentation by the mother, putative father, or the Attorney General's Office alleging paternity, the Attorney General's Office may issue an administrative order for paternity testing which requires the mother, putative father and minor child to submit themselves for paternity testing. The Attorney General's Office shall send the putative father a copy of the Administrative Order and a Notice for Genetic Testing which shall include the date, time and place for collection of the putative father's genetic sample. The Attorney General's Office shall also send the putative father a Notice and Complaint to Establish Paternity which shall specify the date and time certain of the court hearing by certified mail, restricted delivery, return receipt requested. Notice shall be deemed complete as of the date of delivery as evidenced by the return receipt. The required notice may also be delivered by personal service upon the putative father in accordance with Rule 4 of the Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure insofar as service of an administrative order or notice is concerned.
(b) If the putative father does not submit to genetic testing, the court shall, without further notice, on the date and time previously set through the notice for hearing, review the documentation of the refusal to submit to genetic testing and make a determination as to whether the complaint to establish paternity should be granted. The refusal to submit to such testing shall create a rebuttable presumption of an admission to paternity by the putative father.
(c) In any case in which the Attorney General's Office orders genetic testing, the Attorney General's Office is required to advance costs of such tests subject to recoupment from the alleged father if paternity is established. If either party challenges the original test results, the Attorney General's Office shall order additional testing at the expense of the challenging party.
(2) The court, on its own motion or on motion of the plaintiff or the defendant, shall order the mother, the alleged father and the child or children to submit to genetic tests and any other tests which reasonably prove or disprove the probability of paternity.
If any party refuses to submit to such tests, the court may resolve the question of paternity against such party or enforce its order for genetic testing as the rights of others and the interest of justice require.
(3) Any party calling a witness or witnesses for the purpose of testifying that they had sexual intercourse with the mother at any possible time of conception of the child whose paternity is in question shall provide all other parties with the name and address of the witness at least twenty (20) days before the trial. If a witness is produced at the hearing for the purpose provided in this subsection but the party calling the witness failed to provide the twenty-day notice, the court may adjourn the proceeding for the purpose of taking a genetic test of the witness before hearing the testimony of the witness if the court finds that the party calling the witness acted in good faith.
(4) The court shall ensure that all parties are aware of their right to request genetic tests under this section.
(5) (a) Genetic tests shall be performed by a laboratory selected from the approved list as prepared and maintained by the Attorney General's Office.
(b) The Attorney General's Office shall publicly issue a request for proposals, and such requests for proposals when issued shall contain terms and conditions relating to price, technology and such other matters as are determined by the Attorney General's Office to be appropriate for inclusion or required by law. After responses to the request for proposals have been duly received, the Attorney General's Office shall select the lowest and best bid(s) on the basis of price, technology and other relevant factors and from such proposals, but not limited to the terms thereof, negotiate and enter into contract(s) with one or more of the laboratories submitting proposals. The Attorney General's Office shall prepare a list of all laboratories with which it has contracted on these terms. The list and any updates thereto shall be distributed to all chancery clerks. To be eligible to appear on the list, a laboratory must meet the following requirements:
(i) The laboratory is qualified to do business within the State of Mississippi;
(ii) The laboratory can provide test results in less than fourteen (14) days; and
(iii) The laboratory must have participated in the competitive procurement process.
SECTION 34. Section 93-9-23, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
93-9-23. (1) Genetic testing shall be made by experts qualified as examiners of genetic tests who shall be appointed by the court pursuant to Section 93-9-21(5). The expert shall attach to the report of the test results an affidavit stating in substance: (a) that the affiant has been appointed by the court to administer the test and shall give his name, address, telephone number, qualifications, education and experience; (b) how the mother, child and alleged father were identified when the samples were obtained; (c) who obtained the samples and how, when and where obtained; (d) the chain of custody of the samples from the time obtained until the tests were completed; (e) the results of the test and the probability of paternity as calculated by an expert based on the test results; (f) the amount of the fee for performing the test; and (g) the procedures performed to obtain the test results. In cases initiated or enforced by the Attorney General's Office pursuant to Title IV-D of the Social Security Act, the Attorney General's Office shall be responsible for paying the costs of any genetic testing when such testing is required by law to establish paternity, subject to recoupment from the defendant if paternity is established.
(2) The expert or laboratory shall send all parties, or the attorney of record if a party is represented by counsel, a copy of the report by first class mail. The expert or laboratory shall file the original report with the clerk of the court along with proof of mailing to the parties or attorneys. A party may challenge the testing procedure within thirty (30) days of the date of mailing the results. If either party challenges the original test results, the court shall order additional testing at the expense of the challenging party.
(3) If the court, in its discretion, finds cause to order additional testing, then it may do so using the same or another laboratory or expert. If there is no timely challenge to the original test results or if the court finds no cause to order additional testing, then the certified report shall be admitted as evidence in the proceeding as prima facie proof of its contents.
(4) Upon request or motion of any party to the proceeding, the court may require persons making any analysis to appear as a witness and be subject to cross-examination, provided that the request or motion is made at least ten (10) days before the hearing. The court may require the party making the request or motion to pay the costs and/or fees for the expert witness' appearance.
SECTION 35. Section 93-9-28, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
93-9-28. (1) The Mississippi Department of Health in cooperation with the Attorney General's Office shall develop a form and procedure which may be used to secure a voluntary acknowledgement of paternity from the mother and father of any child born out of wedlock in Mississippi. The form shall clearly state on its face that the execution of the acknowledgement of paternity shall result in the same legal effect as if the father and mother had been married at the time of the birth of the child. When such form has been completed according to the established procedure and the signatures of both the mother and father have been notarized, then such voluntary acknowledgement shall constitute a full determination of the legal parentage of the child. The completed voluntary acknowledgement of paternity shall be filed with the Bureau of Vital Statistics of the Mississippi Department of Health. The name of the father shall be entered on the certificate of birth upon receipt of the completed voluntary acknowledgement.
(2) (a) A signed voluntary acknowledgment of paternity is subject to the right of any signatory to rescind the acknowledgment within the earlier of:
(i) Sixty (60) days; or
(ii) The date of a judicial proceeding relating to the child, including a proceeding to establish a support order, in which the signatory is a party.
(b) After the expiration of the sixty-day period specified in subsection (2)(a)(i) of this section, a signed voluntary acknowledgment of paternity may be challenged in court only on the basis of fraud, duress, or material mistake of fact, with the burden of proof upon the challenger; the legal responsibilities, including child support obligations, of any signatory arising from the acknowledgment may not be suspended during the pendency of the challenge, except for good cause shown.
(3) The Mississippi Department of Health and the Attorney General's Office shall cooperate to establish procedures to facilitate the voluntary acknowledgement of paternity by both father and mother at the time of the birth of any child born out of wedlock. Such procedures shall establish responsibilities for * * * the department and the Attorney General's Office, and for hospitals, birthing centers, midwives, and/or other birth attendants to seek and report voluntary acknowledgements of paternity. In establishing such procedures, the department and the Attorney General's Office shall provide for obtaining the social security account numbers of both the father and mother on voluntary acknowledgements.
(4) Upon the birth of a child out of wedlock, the hospital, birthing center, midwife or other birth attendant shall provide an opportunity for the child's mother and natural father to complete an acknowledgement of paternity by giving the mother and natural father the appropriate forms and information developed through the procedures established in paragraph (3). The hospital, birthing center, midwife or other birth attendant shall be responsible for providing printed information, and audio visual material if available, related to the acknowledgement of paternity, and shall be required to provide notary services needed for the completion of acknowledgements of paternity. The information described above shall be provided to the mother and natural father, if present and identifiable, within twenty-four (24) hours of birth or before the mother is released. Such information, including forms, brochures, pamphlets, video tapes and other media, shall be provided at no cost to the hospital, birthing center or midwife by the Mississippi State Department of Health, the Attorney General's Office or other appropriate agency.
SECTION 36. Section 93-9-31, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
93-9-31. (1) The court shall, if need be, require the father to give security by bond or other security, with sufficient sureties approved by the court, for the payment of the order of filiation. Such security, when required, shall not exceed three (3) times the total periodic sum the father shall be required to pay under the terms of the order of filiation in any one (1) calendar year. If bond or security be required, and in case the action has been instituted by a public welfare official, the defendant shall also be required to give security that he will indemnify the state and the county where the child was or may be born and every other county against any expense for the support and education of the child, which * * * undertaking shall also require that all arrears shall be paid by the principal and sureties. In default of such security, when required, the court may commit him to jail, or put him on probation. At any time within one (1) year he may be discharged from jail, but his liability to pay the judgment shall not be thereby affected.
(2) Whenever any order of filiation has been made, but no bond or other security has been required for payment of support of the child, and whenever such payments as have become due remain unpaid for a period of at least thirty (30) days, the court may, upon petition of the person to whom such payments are due, or such person's legal representative, enter an order requiring that bond or other security be given by the father in accordance with and under such terms and conditions as provided for in subsection (1) of this section. The father shall, as in other civil actions, be served with process and shall be entitled to a hearing in such case.
(3) Where security is given and default is made in any payment, the court shall cite the parties bound by the security requiring them to show cause why judgment should not be given against them and execution issued thereon. If the amount due and unpaid shall not be paid before the return day of the citation, and no cause be shown to the contrary, judgment shall be rendered against those served with the citation for the amount due and unpaid together with costs, and execution shall issue therefor, saving all remedies upon the bond for future default. The judgment is a lien on real estate and in other respects enforceable the same as other judgments. The amount collected on such judgment or such sums as may have been deposited as collateral, in lieu of bond when forfeited, may be used for the benefit of the child, as provided for in the order of filiation.
(4) If at any time after an order of filiation in paternity proceedings shall have been made, and an undertaking given thereon, in accordance with the provisions of Sections 93-9-1 to 93-9-49 and such undertaking shall not be complied with, or that for any reason a recovery thereon cannot be had, or if the original undertaking shall have been complied with, and the sureties discharged therefrom, or if money were deposited in lieu of bail, and the same shall have been exhausted, and the natural child still needs support, the county department of human services of any county where the natural child for whose support the order of filiation was made shall be at the time, or the Attorney General's Office upon giving proof of the making of the order of filiation, the giving of the above-mentioned undertaking, and the noncompliance therewith, or that the sureties have been discharged from their liability, or that for any reason a recovery cannot be had on such undertaking, may apply to the court in such county having jurisdiction in filiation proceedings, for a warrant for the arrest of the defendant against whom such order of filiation was made, which shall be executed in the manner provided in criminal procedure for the execution of the warrant; upon the arrest and arraignment of the defendant in the court, and upon proof of the making of the order of filiation, the giving of the above-mentioned undertaking, and the noncompliance therewith, or that for any reason a recovery cannot be had on such undertaking, the * * * court shall make an order requiring him to give a new undertaking, which * * * undertaking shall also require that all arrears shall be paid by the principal and sureties, or upon his failure to give such new undertaking, shall commit him to jail, or put him on probation.
(5) If the child and mother die, or the father and mother be legally married to each other, the court in which such security is filed, on proof of such fact, may cause the security to be marked "cancelled" and be surrendered to the obligors.
SECTION 37. Section 93-11-64, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
93-11-64. (1) The Attorney General's Office and its divisions, and any agency, office or registry established by the department, or which works in conjunction with the Attorney General's Office, or is authorized to supply information to the Attorney General's Office, may use social security numbers for the purpose of locating parents or alleged parents, establishing parentage, and establishing the amount of, modifying, or enforcing child support obligations.
(2) This section requires that the social security number of:
(a) Any applicant for a state-issued license be recorded on the application;
(b) Any individual who is subject to a divorce decree, support order, or paternity determination or acknowledgment be placed in the records relating to the matter; and
(c) Any individual who has died be placed in the records relating to the death and be recorded on the death certificate.
SECTION 38. Section 93-11-65, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
93-11-65. (1) (a) In addition to the right to proceed under Section 93-5-23, and in addition to the remedy of habeas corpus in proper cases, and other existing remedies, the chancery court of the proper county shall have jurisdiction to entertain suits for the custody, care, support and maintenance of minor children and to hear and determine all such matters, and shall, if need be, require bond, sureties or other guarantee to secure any order for periodic payments for the maintenance or support of a child. In the event a legally responsible parent has health insurance available to him or her through an employer or organization that may extend benefits to the dependents of such parent, any order of support issued against such parent may require him or her to exercise the option of additional coverage in favor of such children as he or she is legally responsible to support. Proceedings may be brought by or against a resident or nonresident of the State of Mississippi, whether or not having the actual custody of minor children, for the purpose of judicially determining the legal custody of a child. All actions herein authorized may be brought in the county where the child is actually residing, or in the county of the residence of the party who has actual custody, or of the residence of the defendant. Process shall be had upon the parties as provided by law for process in person or by publication, if they be nonresidents of the state or residents of another jurisdiction or are not found therein after diligent search and inquiry or are unknown after diligent search and inquiry; provided that the court or chancellor in vacation may fix a date in termtime or in vacation to which process may be returnable and shall have power to proceed in termtime or vacation. * * * However, * * * if the court shall find that both parties are fit and proper persons to have custody of the children, and that either party is able to adequately provide for the care and maintenance of the children, and that it would be to the best interest and welfare of the children, then any such child who shall have reached his twelfth birthday shall have the privilege of choosing the parent with whom he shall live.
(b) An order of child support shall specify the sum to be paid weekly or otherwise. In addition to providing for support and education, the order shall also provide for the support of the child prior to the making of the order for child support, and such other expenses as the court may deem proper.
(c) The court may require the payment to be made to the custodial parent, or to some person or corporation to be designated by the court as trustee, but if the child or custodial parent is receiving public assistance, the Attorney General's Office shall be made the trustee.
(d) The noncustodial parent's liabilities for past education and necessary support and maintenance and other expenses are limited to a period of one (1) year next preceding the commencement of an action.
(2) * * * Where the proof shows that both parents have separate incomes or estates, the court may require that each parent contribute to the support and maintenance of the children in proportion to the relative financial ability of each.
(3) Whenever the court has ordered a party to make periodic payments for the maintenance or support of a child, but no bond, sureties or other guarantee has been required to secure such payments, and whenever such payments as have become due remain unpaid for a period of at least thirty (30) days, the court may, upon petition of the person to whom such payments are owing, or such person's legal representative, enter an order requiring that bond, sureties or other security be given by the person obligated to make such payments, the amount and sufficiency of which shall be approved by the court. The obligor shall, as in other civil actions, be served with process and shall be entitled to a hearing in such case.
(4) When a charge of abuse or neglect of a child first arises in the course of a custody or maintenance action pending in the chancery court pursuant to this section, the chancery court may proceed with the investigation, hearing and determination of such abuse or neglect charge as a part of its hearing and determination of the custody or maintenance issue as between the parents, as provided in Section 43-21-151, notwithstanding the other provisions of the Youth Court Law. The proceedings in chancery court on the abuse or neglect charge shall be confidential in the same manner as provided in youth court proceedings, and the chancery court shall appoint a guardian ad litem in such cases, as provided under Section 43-21-121 for youth court proceedings, who shall be an attorney. Unless the chancery court's jurisdiction has been terminated, all disposition orders in such cases for placement with the Department of Human Services shall be reviewed by the court or designated authority at least annually to determine if continued placement with the department is in the best interest of the child or the public.
(5) Each party to a paternity or child support proceeding shall notify the other within five (5) days after any change of address. In addition, the noncustodial and custodial parent shall file and update, with the court and with the state case registry, information on that party's location and identity, including social security number, residential and mailing addresses, telephone numbers, photograph, driver's license number, and name, address and telephone number of the party's employer. This information shall be required upon entry of an order or within five (5) days of a change of address.
(6) In any case subsequently enforced by the Attorney General's Office pursuant to Title IV-D of the Social Security Act, the court shall have continuing jurisdiction.
(7) In any subsequent child support enforcement action between the parties, upon sufficient showing that diligent effort has been made to ascertain the location of a party, due process requirements for notice and service of process shall be deemed to be met with respect to the party upon delivery of written notice to the most recent residential or employer address filed with the state case registry.
(8) The duty of support of a child terminates upon the emancipation of the child. The court may determine that emancipation has occurred and no other support obligation exists when the child:
(a) Attains the age of twenty-one (21) years, or
(b) Marries, or
(c) Discontinues full-time enrollment in school and obtains full-time employment prior to attaining the age of twenty-one (21) years, or
(d) Voluntarily moves from the home of the custodial parent or guardian and establishes independent living arrangements and obtains full-time employment prior to attaining the age of twenty-one (21) years.
(9) Upon motion of a party requesting temporary child support pending a determination of parentage, temporary support shall be ordered if there is clear and convincing evidence of paternity on the basis of genetic tests or other evidence, unless the court makes written findings of fact on the record that the award of temporary support would be unjust or inappropriate in a particular case.
SECTION 39. Section 93-11-69, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
93-11-69. (1) As used in this section:
(a) "Noncustodial parent" means a parent from whom the Attorney General's Office is collecting support payments, and shall have the same meaning as "absent parent."
(b) "Consumer reporting agency" means any person who, for monetary fees, dues, or on a cooperative nonprofit basis, regularly engages in whole or in part in the practice of assembling or evaluating consumer credit information or other information on consumers for the purpose of furnishing consumer reports to third parties, and who uses any means or facility of interstate commerce for the purpose of preparing or furnishing consumer reports.
* * *
(c) "Overdue support" means any payments that are ordered by any court to be paid by an absent parent for the support of a child that have remained unpaid for at least thirty (30) days after payment is due. Overdue support shall also include payments that are ordered by any court to be paid for maintenance of a spouse in cases in which the Attorney General's Office is collecting such support in conjunction with child support.
(2) The Attorney General's Office shall make available to any consumer reporting agency a report of the amount of overdue support owed by an absent parent.
(3) Before any information regarding an absent parent's overdue support may be made available pursuant to subsection (2) of this section, a copy of the report shall be mailed to the absent parent at such parent's last known address and the absent parent shall be given the opportunity to contest the information contained in the report as follows:
(a) The absent parent may, within fifteen (15) days after such notice is mailed, contest the accuracy of the information contained in the report by filing with the Attorney General's Office a brief written statement concerning the nature of the alleged inaccuracies.
(b) Upon receipt of such statement the Attorney General's Office shall, within a reasonable amount of time, reexamine the information contained in the report.
(c) If upon such reexamination the information in the report is found to be inaccurate, the Attorney General's Office shall correct the information and send a copy of such corrected information to the absent parent.
(d) If upon such reexamination the information contained in the report is found to be accurate, the Attorney General's Office shall notify the absent parent of this fact.
(e) Within ten (10) days after a copy of the reexamined information contained in the report is mailed to the absent parent, such absent parent may again contest the accuracy of such information by filing a brief written statement concerning the alleged inaccuracies and the Attorney General's Office shall clearly note in any report to the consumer reporting agency the fact that the information is disputed unless there are reasonable grounds to believe that the statement filed by the absent parent is frivolous or irrelevant.
(4) The fee charged by the Attorney General's Office for furnishing a report pursuant to this section shall not exceed the actual cost of furnishing such report.
(5) The Child Support Unit of the Attorney General's Office may provide overdue support information to consumer reporting agencies through an automated computer system free of charge and with notice to the defendant as required by Title IV-D of the Social Security Act and the implementing regulations.
SECTION 40. Section 93-11-71, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
93-11-71. (1) Whenever a court orders any person to make periodic payments of a sum certain for the maintenance or support of a child, and whenever such payments as have become due remain unpaid for a period of at least thirty (30) days, a judgment by operation of law shall arise against the obligor in an amount equal to all payments which are then due and owing.
(a) A judgment arising under this section shall have the same effect and be fully enforceable as any other judgment entered in this state. A judicial or administrative action to enforce the judgment may be commenced at any time; and
(b) Such judgments arising in other states by operation of law shall be given full faith and credit in this state.
(2) Any judgment arising under the provisions of this section shall operate as a lien upon all the property of the judgment debtor, both real and personal, which lien shall be perfected as to third parties without actual notice thereof only upon enrollment on the judgment roll. The Attorney General's Office or the attorney representing the party to whom support is owed shall furnish an abstract of the judgment for periodic payments for the maintenance and support of a child, along with sworn documentation of the delinquent child support, to the circuit clerk of the county where the judgment is rendered, and it shall be the duty of the circuit clerk to enroll the judgment on the judgment roll. Liens arising under the provisions of this section may be executed upon and enforced in the same manner and to the same extent as any other judgment.
(3) Notwithstanding the provisions in paragraph (2), any judgment arising under the provisions of this section shall subject the following assets to interception or seizure without regard to the entry of the judgment on the judgment roll of the situs district or jurisdiction:
(a) Periodic or lump-sum payments from a federal, state or local agency, including unemployment compensation, workers' compensation and other benefits;
(b) Winnings from lotteries and gaming winnings which are received in periodic payments made over a period in excess of thirty (30) days;
(c) Assets held in financial institutions;
(d) Settlements and awards resulting from civil actions; and
(e) Public and private retirement funds, only to the extent that the obligor is qualified to receive and receives a lump sum or periodic distribution from the funds.
(4) In any case in which a child receives assistance from block grants for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), and the obligor owes past-due child support, the obligor, if not incapacitated, may be required by the court to participate in any work programs offered by any state agency.
SECTION 41. Section 93-11-101, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
93-11-101. As used in Sections 93-11-101 through 93-11-119, the following words shall have the meaning ascribed to them herein unless the context clearly requires otherwise:
(a) "Order for support" means any order of the chancery, circuit, county or family court, which provides for periodic payment of funds for the support of a child, whether temporary or final, and includes any such order which provides for:
(i) Modification or resumption of, or payment of arrearage accrued under, a previously existing order; or
(ii) Reimbursement of support.
"Order for support" shall also mean:
(i) An order for support and maintenance of a spouse if a minor child is living with such spouse; or
(ii) In actions to which the Attorney General's Office is a party, an order for support and maintenance of a spouse if a minor child is living with such spouse and such maintenance is collected in conjunction with child support.
(b) "Court" means the court that enters an order for withholding pursuant to Section 93-11-103(1).
(c) "Clerk of the court" means the clerk of the court that enters an order for withholding pursuant to Section 93-11-103(1).
(d) "Arrearage" means the total amount of unpaid support obligations.
(e) "Delinquency" means any payments that are ordered by any court to be paid by a noncustodial parent for the support of a child that have remained unpaid for at least thirty (30) days after payment is due. Delinquency shall also include payments that are ordered by any court to be paid for maintenance of a spouse in cases in which the Attorney General's Office is collecting such support in conjunction with child support. "Delinquency" shall be synonymous with "overdue support."
* * *
(f) "Employer" means a person who has control of the payment of wages to an individual.
(g) "Income" means any form of periodic payment to an individual, regardless of source, including, but not limited to: wages, salary, commission, compensation as an independent contractor, workers' compensation, disability, annuity and retirement benefits, and any other payments made by any person, private entity, federal or state government or any unit of local government, notwithstanding any other provisions of state or local law which limit or exempt income or the amount or percentage of income that can be withheld; * * * however, * * * income excludes:
(i) Any amounts required by law to be withheld, other than creditor claims, including, but not limited to, federal, state and local taxes, social security and other retirement and disability contributions;
(ii) Any amounts exempted by federal law;
(iii) Public assistance payments; and
(iv) Unemployment insurance benefits except as provided by law.
(i) "Obligor" means the individual who owes a duty to make payments under an order for support.
(j) "Obligee" means:
(i) An individual to whom a duty of support is or is alleged to be owed or in whose favor a support order has been issued or a judgment determining parentage has been rendered;
(ii) A state or political subdivision to which the rights under a duty of support or support order have been assigned or which independent claims based on financial assistance provided to an individual obligee; or
(iii) An individual seeking a judgment determining parentage of the individual's child.
(k) "Payor" means any payor of income to an obligor.
SECTION 42. Section 93-11-103, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
93-11-103. (1) Upon entry of any order for support by a court of this state where the custodial parent is a recipient of services under Title IV-D of the federal Social Security Act, issued on or after October 1, 1996, the court entering such order shall enter a separate order for withholding which shall take effect immediately without any requirement that the obligor be delinquent in payment. All such orders for support issued prior to October 1, 1996, shall, by operation of law, be amended to conform with the provisions contained herein. All such orders for support issued shall:
(a) Contain a provision for monthly income withholding procedures to take effect in the event the obligor becomes delinquent in paying the order for support without further amendment to the order or further action by the court; and
(b) Require that the payor withhold any additional amount for delinquency specified in any order if accompanied by an affidavit of accounting, a notarized record of overdue payments, official payment record or an attested judgment for delinquency or contempt. Any person who willfully and knowingly files a false affidavit, record or judgment shall be subject to a fine of not more than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00). The Attorney General's Office shall be the designated agency to receive payments made by income withholding in child support orders enforced by the Attorney General's Office. All withholding orders shall be on a form as prescribed by the Attorney General's Office.
(2) Upon entry of any order for support by a court of this state where the custodial parent is not a recipient of services under Title IV-D of the federal Social Security Act, issued or modified or found to be in arrears on or after January 1, 1994, the court entering such order shall enter a separate order for withholding which shall take effect immediately. Such orders shall not be subject to immediate income withholding under this subsection: (a) if one (1) of the parties (i.e., noncustodial or custodial parent) demonstrates, and the court finds, that there is good cause not to require immediate income withholding, or (b) if both parties agree in writing to an alternative arrangement. The Attorney General's Office or any other person or entity may be the designated agency to receive payments made by income withholding in all child support orders. Withholding orders shall be on a form as prescribed by the Attorney General's Office.
(3) If a child support order is issued or modified in the state but is not subject to immediate income withholding, it automatically becomes so if the court finds that a support payment is thirty (30) days past due. If the support order was issued or modified in another state but is not subject to immediate income withholding, it becomes subject to immediate income withholding on the date on which child support payments are at least thirty (30) days in arrears, or (a) the date as of which the noncustodial parent requests that withholding begin, (b) the date as of which the custodial parent requests that withholding begin, or (c) an earlier date chosen by the court whichever is earlier.
(4) The clerk of the court shall submit copies of such orders to the obligor's payor, any additional or subsequent payor, and to the Attorney General's Office Case Registry. The clerk of the court, the obligee's attorney, or the Attorney General's Office may serve such immediate order for withholding by first class mail or personal delivery on the obligor's payor, superintendent, manager, agent or subsequent payor, as the case may be. In a case where the obligee's attorney or the Attorney General's Office serves such immediate order, the clerk of the court shall be notified in writing, which notice shall be placed in the court file. There shall be no need for further notice, hearing, order, process or procedure before service of the order on the payor or any additional or subsequent payor. The obligor may contest, if grounds exist, service of the order of withholding on additional or subsequent payors, by filing an action with the issuing court. Such filing shall not stay the obligor's duty to support pending judicial determination of the obligor's claim. Nothing herein shall be construed to restrict the authority of the courts of this state from entering any order it deems appropriate to protect the rights of any parties involved.
(5) The order for withholding shall:
(a) Direct any payor to withhold an amount equal to the order for current support;
(b) Direct any payor to withhold an additional amount, not less than fifteen percent (15%) of the order for support, until payment in full of any delinquency; and
(c) Direct the payor not to withhold in excess of the amounts allowed under Section 303(b) of the Consumer Credit Protection Act, being 15 USCS 1673, as amended.
(6) All orders for withholding may permit the Attorney General's Office to withhold through the withholding order additional amounts to recover costs incurred through its efforts to secure the support order, including, but not limited to, all filing fees, court costs, service of process fees, mailing costs, birth certificate certification fee, genetic testing fees, the Attorney General's Office's attorney's fees; and, in cases where the state or any of its entities or divisions have provided medical services to the child or the child's mother, all medical costs of prenatal care, birthing, postnatal care and any other medical expenses incurred by the child or by the mother as a consequence of her pregnancy or delivery.
(7) At the time the order for withholding is entered, the clerk of the court shall provide copies of the order for withholding and the order for support to the obligor, which shall be accompanied by a statement of the rights, remedies and duties of the obligor under Sections 93-11-101 through 93-11-119. The clerk of the court shall make copies available to the obligee and to the Attorney General's Office or its local attorney.
(8) The order for withholding shall remain in effect for as long as the order for support upon which it is based.
(9) The failure of an order for withholding to state an arrearage is not conclusive of the issue of whether an arrearage is owing.
(10) Any order for withholding entered pursuant to this section shall not be considered a garnishment.
(11) All existing orders for support shall become subject to additional withholding if arrearages occur, subject to court hearing and order. The Attorney General's Office or the obligee or his agent or attorney must send to each delinquent obligor notice that:
(a) The withholding on the delinquency has commenced;
(b) The information along with the required affidavit of accounting, notarized record of overdue payment or attested judgment of delinquency or contempt has been sent to the employer; and
(c) The obligor may file an action with the issuing court on the grounds of mistake of fact. Such filing must be made within thirty (30) days of receipt of the notice and shall not stay the obligor's duty to support pending judicial determination of the obligor's claim.
(12) An employer who complies with an income withholding notice that is regular on its face and which is accompanied by the required accounting affidavit, notarized record of overdue payments or attested judgment of delinquency or contempt shall not be subject to civil liability to any individual or agency for conduct in compliance with the notice.
SECTION 43. Section 93-11-105, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
93-11-105. (1) Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 93-11-103, the Attorney General's Office shall be authorized to implement administrative orders for withholding without the necessity of obtaining an order through judicial proceedings. The administrative order for withholding shall be implemented pursuant to a previously rendered order for support and shall be on a form prescribed by the Attorney General's Office. Unless inconsistent with the provisions of this section, the order for withholding shall be subject to the same requirements as provided in Sections 93-11-101 through 93-11-118.
(2) The administrative order shall be filed with the clerk by the Attorney General's Office and a copy shall be transmitted to the obligor by regular mail to the last known address of the obligor.
(3) The order for withholding shall:
(a) Direct any payor to withhold an amount equal to the order for the current support obligation;
(b) Direct any payor to withhold an additional amount equal to twenty percent (20%) of the current support obligation, unless a different amount has been previously ordered by the court, until payment in full of any delinquency; and
(c) Direct the payor not to withhold in excess of the amounts allowed under Section 303(b) of the Consumer Credit Protection Act, being 15 USCS 1673, as amended.
SECTION 44. Section 93-11-111, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
93-11-111. (1) It shall be the duty of any payor who has been served with a copy of the order for withholding and an attached affidavit of accounting, a certified record of payments, or judgment for delinquency to deduct and pay over income as provided in this section. The payor shall deduct the amount designated in the order for withholding beginning with the next payment of income which is payable to the obligor after fourteen (14) days following service of the order and notice. The payor shall pay the amounts withheld to the Attorney General's Office within seven (7) days of the date the obligor is paid in accordance with the order for withholding and in accordance with any subsequent notification received redirecting payments. The Attorney General's Office shall then forward such amounts to the obligee.
(2) For each intrastate withholding of income, the payor shall be entitled to receive a fee of Two Dollars ($2.00) to be withheld from the income of the obligor in addition to the support payments, regardless of the number of payments the payor makes to the Attorney General's Office. However, in all interstate withholding, the rules and laws of the state where the obligor works shall determine the payor's processing fee.
(3) The payor shall, unless otherwise notified by the Attorney General's Office, withhold from the income of the obligor and forward to the Attorney General's Office each month, an amount specified by the Attorney General's Office not to exceed Five Dollars ($5.00) per month to defray the Attorney General's Office's administrative costs incurred in receiving and distributing money withheld pursuant to Sections 93-11-101 through 93-11-119. The payor may pay such amount to the Attorney General's Office in any manner determined by the payor to be convenient and may include such amount in checks to the Attorney General's Office for amounts withheld pursuant to the order for withholding.
(4) Regardless of the amount designated in the order for withholding and regardless of other fees imposed or amounts withheld pursuant to this section, the payor shall not deduct from the income of the obligor in excess of the amounts allowed under Section 303(b) of the Consumer Credit Protection Act, being 15 USCS 1673, as amended.
(5) A payor may combine all amounts that he is required to withhold and pay to the Attorney General's Office in one (1) payment; * * * however, the payor must send to the Attorney General's Office a list showing the amount of the payment attributable to each obligor.
(6) Whenever the obligor is no longer receiving income from the payor, the payor shall return a copy of the order for withholding to the Attorney General's Office and shall forward the obligor's last known address and name and address of the obligor's new employer, if known, to the Attorney General's Office. The payor shall cooperate in providing further information for the purpose of enforcing Sections 93-11-101 through 93-11-119.
(7) Withholding of income under this section shall be made without regard to any prior or subsequent garnishments, attachments, wage assignments or any other claims of creditors. Payment as required by the order for withholding shall be a complete defense by the payor against any claims of the obligor or his creditors as to the sum so paid.
(8) In cases in which the payor has been served more than one (1) order for withholding for the same obligor, the payor shall honor the orders on a pro rata basis to result in withholding an amount for each order that is in direct proportion to the percentage of the obligor's adjusted gross income that the order represents, and the payor shall honor all such withholdings to the extent that the total amount withheld does not exceed the maximum amount specified in subsection (1) of this section.
(9) No payor shall discharge, discipline, refuse to hire or otherwise penalize any obligor because of the duty to withhold income.
SECTION 45. Section 93-11-113, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
93-11-113. (1) At any time, an obligor, obligee, the Attorney General's Office or clerk of the court may petition the court to:
(a) Modify, suspend or terminate the order for withholding because of a modification, suspension or termination of the underlying order for support; or
(b) Modify the amount of income to be withheld to reflect payment in full of the delinquency by income withholding or otherwise; or
(c) Suspend the order for withholding because of inability to deliver income withheld to the obligee due to the obligee's failure to provide a mailing address or other means of delivery.
(2) The clerk shall serve on the payor, by first class mail or personal delivery, a copy of any order entered pursuant to this section that affects the duties of the payor.
(3) The order for withholding shall continue to be binding upon the payor until service of any order of the court entered under this section.
SECTION 46. Section 93-11-115, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
93-11-115. (1) An obligee who is receiving income withholding payments under Sections 93-11-101 through 93-11-119 shall notify the Attorney General's Office of any change of address within seven (7) days of such change.
(2) An obligee who is a recipient of public aid shall send a copy of any notice filed pursuant to Section 93-11-103 to the Attorney General's Office.
(3) An obligor whose income is being withheld pursuant to Sections 93-11-101 through 93-11-119 shall notify the Attorney General's Office and the clerk of the court of any new payor, within seven (7) days.
(4) When the Attorney General's Office is no longer authorized to receive payments for the obligee, it shall, within seven (7) days, notify the payor and the clerk of the court.
(5) The Attorney General's Office shall provide notice to the payor and the clerk of the court of any other support payment made, including, but not limited to, a set-off under federal and state law or partial payment of the delinquency.
(6) The Attorney General's Office shall maintain complete, accurate and clear records of all payments and their disbursements. Certified copies of payment records maintained by the Attorney General's Office shall, without further proof, be admitted into evidence in any legal proceedings under Sections 93-11-101 through 93-11-119.
(7) The Attorney General's Office shall design suggested legal forms for proceeding under Sections 93-11-101 through 93-11-119 and shall make available to the courts such forms and informational materials which describe the procedures and remedies set forth herein for distribution to all parties in support actions.
SECTION 47. Section 93-11-117, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
93-11-117. (1) In cases in which a payor willfully fails to withhold or pay over income pursuant to a valid order for withholding, the following penalties shall apply:
(a) The payor shall be liable for a civil penalty of not more than:
(i) One Hundred Dollars ($100.00); or
(ii) Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00) in an instance where the failure to comply is the result of collusion between the payor and the obligor; and
(b) The court, upon due notice and hearing, shall enter judgment and direct the issuance of an execution for the total amount that the payor willfully failed to withhold or pay over.
(2) In cases in which a payor discharges, disciplines, refuses to hire or otherwise penalizes an obligor as prohibited by subsection (9) of Section 93-11-111, the court, upon due notice and hearing, shall fine the payor in an amount not to exceed Fifty Dollars ($50.00).
(3) Any obligee, the Attorney General's Office or obligor who willfully initiates a false proceeding under Sections 93-11-101 through 93-11-119 or who willfully fails to comply with the requirements of Sections 93-11-101 through 93-11-119 shall be punished as in cases of contempt of court.
SECTION 48. Section 93-11-118, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
93-11-118. (1) Indicia of fraud which create a prima facie case that an obligor transferred income or property to avoid payment of child support to an obligee or the Attorney General's Office on behalf of an obligee shall be as stated in Section 15-3-3, Mississippi Code of 1972.
(2) Remedies for such fraudulent conveyance shall include, but not be limited to, the setting aside of such conveyance.
(3) Penalties for such fraudulent conveyance shall be a fine of not more than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00).
SECTION 49. Section 93-11-153, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
93-11-153. As used in Sections 93-11-151 through 93-11-163, the following words and terms shall have the meanings ascribed herein:
(a) "Licensing entity" or "entity" means any entity specified in Title 73, Professions and Vocations, of the Mississippi Code, and includes the Mississippi Department of Public Safety with respect to driver's licenses, the Mississippi State Tax Commission with respect to licenses for the sale of alcoholic beverages and other licenses or registration authorizing a person to engage in a business, the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks with respect to hunting and fishing licenses, and any other state agency that issues a license authorizing a person to engage in a business, occupation or profession. For the purposes of this article, the Supreme Court shall be considered to be the licensing entity for attorneys.
(b) "License" means a license, certificate, permit, credential, registration, or any other authorization issued by a licensing entity that allows a person to engage in a business, occupation or profession, to operate a motor vehicle, to sell alcoholic beverages, or to hunt and fish.
(c) "Licensee" means any person holding a license issued by a licensing entity.
(d) "Order for support" means any judgment or order that provides for payments of a sum certain for the support of a child, whether it is temporary or final, and includes, but is not limited to, an order for reimbursement for public assistance or an order for making periodic payments on a support arrearage, or a sum certain due for a support arrearage.
(e) "Out of compliance with an order for support" means that the obligor is at least thirty (30) days in arrears or delinquent in making payments in full for current support, or in making periodic payments on a support arrearage.
* * *
(f) "Delinquency" means any payments of a sum certain ordered by any court to be paid by a noncustodial parent for the support of a child that have remained unpaid for at least thirty (30) days after payment is due. Delinquency shall also include payments of a sum certain ordered by any court to be paid for maintenance of a spouse that have remained unpaid for at least thirty (30) days.
SECTION 50. Section 93-11-155, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
93-11-155. (1) In the manner and form prescribed by the Attorney General's Office, all licensing entities shall provide to the Attorney General's Office, on at least a quarterly basis, information on licensees for use in the establishment, enforcement and collection of child support obligations including, but not limited to: name, address, social security number, sex, date of birth, employer's name and address, type of license, effective date of the license, expiration date of the license, and active or inactive license status. Whenever technologically feasible, the Attorney General's Office and licensing entities shall seek to reach agreements to provide the information required by this section by way of electronic data media, including, but not limited to, on-line access and records on magnetic/optical disk or tape. In lieu of providing the licensing information to the Attorney General's Office as outlined above and in the discretion of the licensing entity, the Attorney General's Office shall provide the identity of the individual who is delinquent in support payments to the licensing entity who will then match that information with their records and provide the Attorney General's Office with all necessary information for those individuals licensed by that entity.
(2) Any licensed attorney representing the party to whom support is due may submit to the Attorney General's Office the name and record of accounting showing an arrearage of an individual who is out of compliance with an order for support which is not being enforced by the Attorney General's Office under Title IV-D, and the Attorney General's Office shall submit the name of such individual to the licensing entities who will match the name with their records in the same manner as provided in subsection (1) to provide the attorney with necessary information regarding licensees. The attorney applying for such information shall pay a fee not to exceed Twenty-five Dollars ($25.00) for such service.
SECTION 51. Section 93-11-157, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
93-11-157. (1) The Attorney General's Office shall review the information received under Section 93-11-155 and any other information available to the Attorney General's Office, and shall determine if a licensee is out of compliance with an order for support. If a licensee is out of compliance with the order for support, the Attorney General's Office shall notify the licensee by first class mail that ninety (90) days after the licensee receives the notice of being out of compliance with the order, the licensing entity will be notified to immediately suspend the licensee's license unless the licensee pays the arrearage owing, according to the accounting records of the Attorney General's Office or the attorney representing the party to whom support is due, as the case may be, or enters into a stipulated agreement and agreed judgment establishing a schedule for the payment of the arrearage. The licensee shall be presumed to have received the notice five (5) days after it is deposited in the mail.
(2) Upon receiving the notice provided in subsection (1) of this section the licensee may:
(a) Request a review with the Attorney General's Office; however, the issues the licensee may raise at the review are limited to whether the licensee is the person required to pay under the order for support and whether the licensee is out of compliance with the order for support; or
(b) Request to participate in negotiations with the Attorney General's Office for the purpose of establishing a payment schedule for the arrearage.
(3) The Attorney General's Office may and, upon request of a licensee, shall negotiate with a licensee to establish a payment schedule for the arrearage. Payments made under the payment schedule shall be in addition to the licensee's ongoing obligation under the latest entered periodic order for support.
(4) Should the Attorney General's Office and the licensee reach an agreement on a payment schedule for the arrearage, the Attorney General's Office shall submit to the court the stipulated agreement and agreed judgment containing the payment schedule which, upon the court's approval, is enforceable as any order of the court. If the court does not approve the stipulated agreement and agreed judgment, the court may require a hearing on a case-by-case basis for the judicial review of the payment schedule agreement.
(5) If the licensee and the Attorney General's Office do not reach an agreement on a payment schedule for the arrearage, the licensee may move the court to establish a payment schedule. However, this action does not stay the license suspension.
(6) The notice given to a licensee that the licensee's license will be suspended in ninety (90) days must clearly state the remedies and procedures that are available to a licensee under this section.
(7) If at the end of the ninety (90) days the licensee has an arrearage according to the accounting records of the Attorney General's Office or the attorney representing the party to whom support is due, as the case may be, and the licensee has not entered into a stipulated agreement and agreed judgment establishing a payment schedule for the arrearage, the Attorney General's Office shall immediately notify all applicable licensing entities in writing to suspend the licensee's license, and the licensing entities shall immediately suspend the license and shall within three (3) business days notify the licensee and the licensee's employer, where known, of the license suspension and the date of such suspension by certified mail return receipt requested. Within forty-eight (48) hours of receipt of a request in writing delivered personally, by mail or by electronic means, the Attorney General's Office shall furnish to the licensee, licensee's attorney or other authorized representative a copy of the Attorney General's Office's accounting records of the licensee's payment history. A licensing entity shall immediately reinstate the suspended license upon the Attorney General's Office's notification of the licensing entities in writing that the licensee no longer has an arrearage or that the licensee has entered into a stipulated agreement and agreed judgment.
(8) Within thirty (30) days after a licensing entity suspends the licensee's license at the direction of the Attorney General's Office under subsection (7) of this section, the licensee may appeal the license suspension to the chancery court of the county in which the licensee resides or to the Chancery Court of the First Judicial District of Hinds County, Mississippi, upon giving bond with sufficient sureties in the amount of Two Hundred Dollars ($200.00), approved by the clerk of the chancery court and conditioned to pay any costs that may be adjudged against the licensee. Notice of appeal shall be filed in the office of the clerk of the chancery court. If there is an appeal, the appeal may, in the discretion of and on motion to the chancery court, act as a supersedeas of the license suspension. The Attorney General's Office shall be the appellee in the appeal, and the licensing entity shall not be a party in the appeal. The chancery court shall dispose of the appeal and enter its decision within thirty (30) days of the filing of the appeal. The hearing on the appeal may, in the discretion of the chancellor, be tried in vacation. The decision of the chancery court may be appealed to the Supreme Court in the manner provided by the rules of the Supreme Court. In the discretion of and on motion to the chancery court, no person shall be allowed to practice any business, occupation or profession or take any other action under the authority of any license the suspension of which has been affirmed by the chancery court while an appeal to the Supreme Court from the decision of the chancery court is pending.
(9) If a licensee who has entered a stipulated agreement and agreed judgment for the payment of an arrearage under this section subsequently is out of compliance with an order for support, the Attorney General's Office shall immediately notify the licensing entity to suspend the licensee's license, and the licensing entity shall immediately suspend the license without a hearing and shall within three (3) business days notify the licensee in writing of the license suspension. In the case of a license suspension under the provisions of this subsection, the procedures provided for under subsections (1) and (2) of this section are not required; however, the appeal provisions of subsection (8) of this section still apply. After suspension of the license, if the licensee subsequently enters into a stipulated agreement and agreed judgment or the licensee otherwise informs the Attorney General's Office of compliance with the order for support, the Attorney General's Office shall within seven (7) days notify in writing the licensing entity that the licensee is in compliance. Upon receipt of that notice from the Attorney General's Office, a licensing entity shall immediately reinstate the license of the licensee and shall within three (3) business days notify the licensee of the reinstatement.
(10) Nothing in this section prohibits a licensee from filing a motion for the modification of an order for support or for any other applicable relief. However, no such action shall stay the license suspension procedure, except as may be allowed under subsection (8) of this section.
(11) If a license is suspended under the provisions of this section, the licensing entity is not required to refund any fees paid by a licensee in connection with obtaining or renewing a license.
(12) The requirement of a licensing entity to suspend a license under this section does not affect the power of the licensing entity to deny, suspend, revoke or terminate a license for any other reason.
(13) The procedure for suspension of a license for being out of compliance with an order for support, and the procedure for the reissuance or reinstatement of a license suspended for that purpose, shall be governed by this section and not by the general licensing and disciplinary provisions applicable to a licensing entity. Actions taken by a licensing entity in suspending a license when required by this section are not actions from which an appeal may be taken under the general licensing and disciplinary provisions applicable to the licensing entity. Any appeal of a license suspension that is required by this section shall be taken in accordance with the appeal procedure specified in subsection (8) of this section rather than any procedure specified in the general licensing and disciplinary provisions applicable to the licensing entity. If there is any conflict between any provision of this section and any provision of the general licensing and disciplinary provisions applicable to a licensing entity, the provisions of this section shall control.
(14) No license shall be suspended under this section until ninety (90) days after July 1, 1996. This ninety-day period shall be a one-time amnesty period in which any person who may be subject to license suspension under this article may comply with an order of support in order to avoid the suspension of any license.
(15) Any individual who fails to comply with a subpoena or warrant relating to paternity or child support proceedings after receiving appropriate notice may be subject to suspension or withholding of issuance of a license under this section.
SECTION 52. Section 93-11-161, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
93-11-161. The Attorney General's Office shall adopt regulations as necessary to carry out the provisions of Sections 93-11-151 through 93-11-161 and shall consult with licensing entities in developing these regulations.
SECTION 53. Section 93-12-17, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
93-12-17. Any person who is the obligor in a support order of another jurisdiction may obtain a voluntary order of withholding by filing with the court a request for such withholding and a certified copy of the support order of a sister state. The court shall issue an order for withholding pursuant to Sections 93-12-1 et seq. Payment shall be made to the Attorney General's Office.
SECTION 54. Section 93-25-45, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
93-25-45. (1) The Attorney General's Office is the state information agency under this chapter.
(2) The state information agency shall:
(a) Compile and maintain a current list, including addresses, of the tribunals in this state which have jurisdiction under this chapter and any support enforcement agencies in this state, and transmit a copy to the state information agency of every other state;
(b) Maintain a register of tribunals and support enforcement agencies received from other states;
(c) Forward to the appropriate tribunal in the place in this state in which the individual obligee or the obligor resides, or in which the obligor's property is believed to be located, all documents concerning a proceeding under this chapter received from an initiating tribunal or the state information agency of the initiating state; and
(d) Obtain information concerning the location of the obligor and the obligor's property within this state not exempt from execution, by such means as postal verification and federal or state locator services, examination of telephone directories, requests for the obligor's address from employers, and examination of governmental records, including, to the extent not prohibited by other law, those relating to real property, vital statistics, law enforcement, taxation, motor vehicles, driver's licenses and social security.
SECTION 55. Section 93-25-41, Mississippi Code of 1972, which authorizes the Attorney General to order the child support enforcement agency to perform its duties under the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act or to provide the services itself, is repealed.
SECTION 56. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2004.