Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 98 Part 2.djvu/150

 98 STAT. 1310

42 USC 654.

Exemption.

PUBLIC LAW 98-378—AUG. 16, 1984

"(9) The State must extend its withholding system under this subsection so that such system will include withholding from income derived within such State in cases where the applicable support orders were issued in other States, in order to assure that child support owed by absent parents in such State or any other State will be collected without regard to the residence of the child for whom the support is payable or of such child's custodial parent. "(10) Provision must be made for terminating withholding. "(c) Any State may at its option, under its plan approved under section 454, establish procedures under which support payments under this part will be made through the State agency or other entity which administers the State's income withholding system in any case where either the absent parent or the custodial parent requests it, even though no arrearages in child support payments are involved and no income withholding procedures have been instituted; but in any such case an annual fee for handling and processing such payments, in an amount not exceeding the actual costs incurred by the State in connection therewith or $25, whichever is less, shall be imposed on the requesting parent by the State. "(d) If a State demonstrates to the satisfaction of the Secretary, through the presentation to the Secretary of such data pertaining to caseloads, processing times, administrative costs, and average support collections, and such other data or estimates as the Secretary may specify, that the enactment of any law or the use of any procedure or procedures required by or pursuant to this section will not increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the State child support enforcement program, the Secretary may exempt the State, subject to the Secretary's continuing review and to termination of the exemption should circumstances change, from the requirement to enact the law or use the procedure or procedures involved. "(e) For purposes of this section, the term 'overdue support' means the amount of a delinquency pursuant to an obligation determined under a court order, or an order of an administrative process established under State law, for support and maintenance of a minor child which is owed to or on behalf of such child, or for support and maintenance of the absent parent's spouse (or former spouse) with whom the child is living if and to the extent that spousal support (with respect to such spouse or former spouse) would be included for purposes of paragraph (4) or (6) of section 454. At the option of the State, overdue support may include amounts which otherwise meet the definition in the first sentence of this subsection but which are owed to or on behalf of a child who is not a minor child. The option to include support owed to children who are not minors shall apply independently to each procedure specified under this section.". (c) Section 454(6)(B) of such Act is amended to read as follows: "(B) an application fee for furnishing such services shall be imposed, which shall be paid by the individual applying for such services, or recovered from the absent parent, or paid by the State out of its own funds (the payment of which from State funds shall not be considered as an administrative cost of the State for the operation of the plan, and shall be considered income to the program), the amount of which (i) will not exceed $25 (or such higher or lower amount (which shall be uniform for all States) as the Secretary may determine to be appropriate for any fiscal year to reflect increases or decreases in

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